Tom, actually I'm glad that you came up with that topic about the Vlaams Blok.

The arrest has dominated the press over here.

I wanted to edit a piece on this event, but compared to the developments in Iraq, where the stakes for our Western Civilization and, indeed,
for the sake of Democracy, Peace and Prosperity in the Middle East are crucial, I considered it to be a if not a non-topic, at least a minor one, to be addressed at a more appropriate time.

Well, Politically Correct Belgium has struck again.

As Mr. Pollard's update clarifies, the Party itself is not outlawed (yet), but supporting organizations are, revenues are curtailed, steps can now be taken to prevent the distribution of Party-publicized printing via the Postal Services, etc. etc... In short, it's a strategy aimed at strangling the voice of what is soon to be Flanders biggest party.

Can I be just angry yes? Depressed? ANGRY YES?????? VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY ANGRY???????

Look friends (good to know I got friends across the Atlantic), I got no time.


I have kitchen furniture to order (requires filling in order forms, drawing plans, double-checking the order codes etc...).

I have faxes to prepare (for ordering spare parts for electrical appliances).

I have online payments to do (social security, goods purchased, electricity, taxes...)

I have invoices to make, quotations.

At the end of that, when I go to sleep, I want to try to make my desk look halfway decent.

In short, I'm doing the type of work that keeps a society going.


All this while a bunch of full-of-themselves morally bankrupt self-deluding coward reds and greens are trying hard to stifle MY political voice, when ALL I WANT FOR THE IMMIGRANTS WHO FLOCK TO MY COUNTRY IS TO LEARN THE LANGUAGE, ASSIMILATE WHILE BEING FREE TO WORSHIP WHOEVER THEY WANT, CALL THEIR NEWBORNS WHATEVER THEY WANT, CLOTHE HOWEVER THEY WANT, AND ABIDE BY OUR LAWS.


Meanwhile the nice boys of the Arab European League, led by Brussels-based former Hezbollah member Dyab Abu Jahjah roam the streets of Antwerp SHADOWING POLICE PATROLS.

Understand who can.

So I'm very sorry. I feel like I should rant and rant and rant and RANT AND RANT AND RANT!!!!!!!!

But I can't. Work comes first.

Sorry for the dark thoughts and poor writing (I consider it poor). It's just that I've been so adversely affected by this arrest the past days that, well yeah, I'm so ANGRY it affects my capacity for coherent writing.

Sorry for now, I'll be back later. Keep up your good work. Kerry, noticed you've been mentioned on Instapundit and Buzz Machine (JohnL, a fine gent from Massachusetts, made me aware of it). Congratulations!!!

Michael, any comments on this story about the Vlaams Blok?

Ok people, this week I finally got ME's answer to my concerns expressed in my post of March 21st.

In short, it was a piece on the West's concerns with the worldwide rise of Islamic fundamentalism. I've been in contact through email for some time now with a Middle-Easterner I refer to on this blog simply as "ME", since I promised not to reveal his/her identity, gender, profession or nationality. What I can tell you is that ME is IMO a respectable, hightly educated person. The following is ME's answer to my rant, which I truncated in two because it's quite an elaborate piece. Btw, thank you for your effort ME.

NOTE THAT PERSONALLY I DO NOT AGREE WITH ME's OPINION CONCERNING:


a.) the reasons he/she cites for the rise of militant Islamism in especially Europe, at least only to some extent namely
that European racism is partially responsible for creating extremist Islam.

b.) his/her assessment of the Mujahideen being "abandoned" by the West after the Soviets were driven out of Afghanistan

c.) the wording at times used, most notably in the horrendous killing of the four Blacwater employees in Fallujah

d.) the so-called extermination of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Although many live in appalling conditions, (to what extent is it their own fault?) I don't call that an extermination. 6 million shot, gassed or otherwise murdered Jews I call an extermination. 8,000 gunned down Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica is an extermination.


That said, I think it's really worthwile to read through ME's addressing of the "problems with Islam" as we perceive it in the West.

If we can agree to disagree it's already a starting point. For the hardliners here, don't think I've gone soft, I'm only attempting to grasp what's on a Middle Easterner's mind.

Go ahead ME:


You know Michael , Kerry ,Tom, Scott, Drazil and Mark , I enjoy reading your blog immensely. even though I found it pro-Israel and pro-America and frighteningly anti-Arab and anti-Muslim. So maybe you are hardliners in your view but I don’t think so you are probably just like me afraid of the future. I nevertheless think that if I could talk with you we could perhaps make our voice heard and tell our mutual friends that we are not a threat to each other.

After you finish reading please do not flame or curse me, I think you will find that I have been very pragmatic . Dissect whatever you want and keep on asking questions we will find a solution together in the end.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Michael’s diatribe carried a lot of heavy loaded questions, which would require rivers of ink figuratively speaking or megabytes to answer. However it is summed up in 2 questions.


(1) What is the root cause of so called Islamic terrorism

(2) Why is it mounting?



Before voicing my theory, I would like to explain my opening statement to him with regards to the rise of Islam in Europe. I said this not because I was making a demographic count, not at all, I just stated what is widely believed by many Muslims according to the theology studies. For me that is a fact, but I am aware that for you it is not easy see this nor be convinced as that requires a leap of faith. I am unable to back this up scientifically; it is all in the realm of beliefs.



However, in discussing the part about demographics, I would like to stress that most converts I met are highly educated individuals, successful I their own fields. Though I was wondering why should there be a stigma to people financially challenged embracing Islam? Islam usually acts as a catalyst for them to strive to better themselves, feel worthy and rise from their sorry state. It is more like a way of life.



It is not my duty to preach, nor my intention; I’m hardly the candidate for that. I would simply like to address the two questions above mentioned and which started this whole debate.



The majority of North African Muslims have immigrated to Europe for economical not ideological purposes. This probably also applies to Asians and Turks. None had a pre-packaged baggage of ideologies or religious fervour; but traditions and their own culture yes. If they could make that kind of money at home then they would have definitely remained there. Please remember that Europe and the West in general had encouraged them and still do because they are cheaper labour, although nowadays they have competition from the former Soviet bloc states.



I am not going to discuss the other African or Asian people who have also gone to Europe but who are not Muslims.



Here’s the lowdown, we have literarily millions of Muslims of various ethnic backgrounds living, working becoming citizens, marrying and procreating in Europe. Their offspings consider themselves, French, Belgian, British, German etc.. They are not thinking of going back to the land of their ancestors. Yet still do not tell me that these people have been treated like the other Caucasian Europeans as equals, there has always been that item of condescendence and misunderstanding towards their customs. I am talking of the traditions indigenous to each country ( ie Algeria, Morocco, Egypt ,etc..) not to Islam. This resulted in them marrying people of their own race of even someone from back home Getting a bride from the old homeland is not because she is a better Muslim, it is just because the white French girls would not all have been widely excited about marrying them. You know sleeping with an exotic person may be okay but actually marrying the person is a difficult decision. This goes both was for men and women.

It is not because the generation of Muslim women in the west has become more ‘emancipated’ and therefore would stand up to their men. Though I admit that these ladies have become more westernised, which is not a crime in my book. I think it is good to learn from other people take the good part and make your decisions on how you wish to lead your life. Maybe these women wanted to marry a French man for example?

So racism has and continues to be an important factor. Please note that in France they still call French youngsters of Arab origin ‘Beurre’, despite these kids being 3rd or 4th generation immigrants. I’ve heard it as recently as last year from a French friend of mine who was describing the gorgeous girls he met at a beach in St.Tropez, even though I know that he is cultured and non-racist, but this expression did slip his tongue . How does that sound then when someone seriously means it . You cannot ignore that these small factors , molehills , add up to make mountains. So all the bills passed and all the efforts made by respective European governments have never been able to get at the underlying racism. Do not proceed to tell me that there has been no aggression or mistreatment towards these immigrant, no racial profiling , no thinking that the worst comes from them. This is even prior to 9/11 and earlier terrorist attacks. Have you heard of the 1967 massacre of Arabs in France and why this was carried out ? 1961 Massacre of Algerians in Paris.

I think that mostly comes from the inner fear of the ‘alien’ other, from ignorance about others and from unwillingness to learn, meet, interact with them at a deeper level, because of not really caring. A cheap working force is good for those jobs the Europeans may not want to do anymore, but there is an attitude of let’s not socialise with these people. Misunderstanding breeds and festers very negative feelings. I am not negating here all the efforts of serious, kind enlightened Europeans who have welcome these people in their midst but I would like to say that the current against them was more prevalent. Please try this little exercise, you are poor and have come to Tunis to work because you heard that there were jobs available and you will be earning much more than in Belgium. Then you find out that the population tolerates you barely at work and has absolutely no intention of socialising with you , except as a prostitute for example because that is not binding. How would you feel? No friends, no human contact? You will try and find some other person from you village or country and living in Tunis so that you may talk to each other and go out for a drink and generally be supportive. But you would be hurt by this snub and rebuke from the host country especially if after many years you have made your life there, have become Tunisian and feel a stranger on the other side of the Mediterranean, and economically you would be literally a beggar if you immigrate in reverse. Then why should you ? Tunis is as much you country as theirs now, you pay taxes, rent, serve in the police and work in all the strata of the society . Now that was a very simple example. Try multiplying it by thousands and hundred of thousands, what do you get ? Especially that if something happens, the Tunisian police will immediately raid your house. These combined situations: FEAR & SUSPICION and the rise of European nationalism because the economy has not been that healthy make the view of the outsiders even more as enemies and job-grabbers. Europe does not have my Jew cousins as a scapegoat anymore.



This leads to, depression, dissatisfaction, impotence (not in a sexual context here) maybe even anger, we are humans after all. Find me one ordinary person who has never felt angry ( except for Gandhi or Jesus Christ ) Look at you all, on the comments section , emotions flare up and people hurl insults at each other , and yet these are total strangers so how would it feel if you perceive to be deliberately targeted continuously? You freak out right ? look at America after 9/11.



Now let’s move to the next step, many immigrants have had great to moderate success and were able to move out of the ghettos, they are relatively safer from the discrimination. But what about the millions of others? They are making a living, they are in their own country but they are in essence poor . What happens to poor people, many of them drop out of school. Please look at the statistics of the British schools, many 16 years old kids drop and these are not just Muslims or Arabs, they are white little British kids. Where do dropouts hang ? logically they try to get menial, simple part time jobs if they still think correctly no decent institution would hire them since they have no skills or experience. I wouldn’t if I could choose between a graduate and a dropout it is a simple as that ! So let’s baby step back to where or with whom these poor dropouts hang: drug gangs, thieves and other undesirable shady groups who lure them with easy money, but money nonetheless which caters for their financial needs. This is common to all, be they European or American Caucasian youths or Japanese or even Arabs for that matter it has absolutely nothing to do with religion. So they all head for a life of crime, unless someone fishes them out before they are killed or imprisoned.



The ranks of the immigrants have been swelled in the last decade by those who have escaped from wars in the Middle-East namely Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine. Some have decided to evade the draft; other just could not stand the civil war whilst some just wanted a chance of a fresh start in a peaceful land.



I’m not a political analyst not even a sociologist so I will not venture any opinion from that aspect nor try to prove anything I just want to speak about it from the average understanding of the man on the street . I won’t tay that Arabs have not made mistakes , oh no we’ve made scores , but so have others if it is any consolation. This though does not in any way excuse our shortcomings. But we are in agreement that at some point in recent/modern history America and other western countries have armed and trained and sponsored Islamic factions because that was perceived as in the interest of the west. These people have become better trained, highly experienced combatants with an agenda. When their use had expired they were left high and dry, no hero’s welcome back home as they were thought to be a threat to their respective government and totally undesirable in the countries which has supported them in the first place. That is a huge number of disenchanted individualswith a sense of betrayal. These are not thugs or bandits; many are doctors and teachers, and engineers and lawyers and other people who really believed they were performing a good deed to repel the communists. They succeeded brilliantly with the help of western and specifically American firepower. Their mistake was they did not stop to think that America was not waging a Jihad against the communists to defend an Islamic country; it was doing this because of its own personal vested interest of defeating the Reds. They were in a sense used as canon fodder in America’s wars ..



Now you’re thinking oops ME’s digressed into the usual boring bla bla wich was hashed over and over again. Please bear with me; we are still talking about the roots of so called Islamic terrorism.



In parallel to these events, sponsorships and encouragement from the West, results in the rise of what for lack of a better word I will call here ‘Islamic fundamentalism’, although it has nothing to do with Islam but the name. These people infiltrated the social ranks , they seem to know what the are talking about. Try it yourself, you’re trying to convince me of something so you hurl at me all these urls now, I don’t know much about that subject, I’m ignorant, young, disenchanted, I’m having an identity crisis in the West and am very impressionable. I’m a school dropout who has not been thought how to look for information on my own (cause if I did I would still be in school anyway) but I hardly know Arabic culture remember as I’m French , German or Belgian or even American , but there is still some hope in me and I want to be saved. I therefore listen fervently to the incomplete information spoon-fed to me by these people, and I see that they have legal status and encouragement by my country ( in the EU or the US). The result, two types of people straying from the normal path : education, work, contribution to society ad family building. The first are those becoming criminals and the second as are those who arrogantly think that now they know all the answers and turn into ‘extremists’ . These are an ignorant and dangerous species. Let us agree that these 2 are bad youths.



What do usually BAD youth do ? Easiest thing is to bully people.

We all know how bullies are and how should we act with them.

Why is no one offended when black gangs in NY prevent people from entering their street or are constantly jibing others , standing in defiance of transgressors on what their see as their turf .Now I’m being mild I’m not even mentioning the drug wars. Others bully their peers at school or family members. It is the same thing , a EU citizen of Arab/Muslim ethnic origin could possibly bully his sister and maybe even mother for many things including wearing a scarf ? So why the shock ? why the racist intonations?



Another factor goes into the equation, most of us have studied maths and we know that the more factors you add to an equation, the more it becomes complex right ?

The media , what is it doing ? it is blaring non-stop about events in the Middle-East , also the other geographical areas too , but this is what I’m focusing on. Now please do not bring Aljazeera of Alarabiya into the equation as these are fairly recent, I’m talking about CNN, Fox , BBC , TV5 and many other not mentioned here each with their own agenda . There is obvious double–standard applied… do not tell me that Western broadcasting is fair and impartial, do not tell me it is only for the sake of getting to the truth … there is always a hidden or open agenda. I am not talking about conspiracy theories here, merely about the right of any country/individual to do what it is best for her/him.So I’m not even laying on blame, I’m quite content and accept that this is what the westernes think is good for them and they want to achieve that goal. So there is this double-standard in treatment dished out to the countries from which the ancestors of these European citizens originate and in which they still have families . There is surely an added element of pain and humiliation, which is doubled because they realise for many of them it would be impossible to escape their conditions, and there is nothing to look back upon in the land of their ancestors. They would not even know how to, they are European citizens remember, albeit of different ethnic background. They identify with both, they look like their ancestors and behave like their host countries, they are lost between the East and the West .

Meanwhile Palestinians are being exterminated, (I’ll talk about that thorny issue another time), other Arabs (Muslim or not ) are humiliated worldwide or perceived so. Their ancestral homes are daily robbed by those in power , propped up with the tacit support of the West for its own interests ( I don’t blame them, the West has a right to do so for it’s own sake . I mean let’s be realistic why not if you have everything to gain !!).

The seething anger is poised to explode, criminals and drug dealers and junkies (whites and non-whites) commit felonies, crimes and murders, the others become potential recruits for terrorist agencies with private agendas, promising them Valhallas. These kids come usually from broken homes and their parents have rarely knowledge about Islam to answer their simple or more sophisticated inquiries. I don’t think their parents even pray. As for the terrorist agencies, I believe that it is difficult to begin to even know who is really and I mean really behind them and what are their motives. The fight for power is all consuming. I even heard that someone had given 20 $ to some people in Fallujah to mutilate those for mercenaries for the benefit of filming them, so some unscrupulous people did that, after all the guys were dead so would not even feel the mutilations. I agree that it was barbaric and uncalled for , but this theory could also be possible when you think about it . Scary hey that this may have been done for money or show, who benefits? I just wanted to illustrate that everything is possible and fair in war.

I am not defending anybody, nor being a racist anti-western.



We have also established that not all become, thugs and criminals nor potential terrorists.

There are also those as I mentioned above who successfully complete their education, but this does not delay the experiencing of that all defining identity crisis. I would be correct to assume so right ? I would further be correct that belief in a higher being or God is a very important factor too. Therefore we agree once more that Religion or faith is an important question. If we cannot find the answers at home or within ourselves, we resort to our church, mosque , synagogue or temple , the more enlightened devour books in libraries. In all these places, one either learns about heritage and religion, and has some kind of plan or idea on how to find his/her path or regrettably one becomes a brainwashed fundamentalist Christian, Muslim, Jew or even Budhist. We agree that there are a lot gun-toting wackos running around, from the American heartland to the Far South East Asia, passing through Africa and Europe. Not even Australia is spared.


I thank our readers who have come this far for their effort and I also think it was worthwile.

Any comments are welcome.

Will you now leave me alone, I got some work to do and it's getting late.

Man I love the citizen soldier! Army re-enlistments are going strong. Oh, and I love the feeble attempt by the author to throw a monkey wrench into this: "Some contend a poor job market and re-enlistment bonuses worth thousands of dollars are keeping soldiers in the Army."

Blow me.

Oh great, another toothless UN resolution. These clowns can't enforce resolutions dealing with outside entities, so what makes anyone think that they're going to enforce a resolution that calls for all their members to cooperate in an investigation that is likely going to implicate many of them? Maybe we should follow suit and put the Jackson family in charge of the investigation of Michael Jackson.

It's clear that the UN Oil for Food program was seriously corrupt, but I don't see this investigation going anywhere. France and Russia have too much to lose, as does the balance of the political left. If their beloved UN was found guilty of such a crime their whole "Bush lied" universe would get all messy.

This was a close one for our friends the Brits (hat tip to Kim du Toit.) Somehow I don't see England running and hiding like Spain if they are attacked...

Heh.

Tom, nice work getting rid of the Spanish flag. What a bunch of sissies. My niece is over there right now on a school trip, and her group has been getting constantly harassed by the locals because they are American, and of course they have a problem with our involvement in Iraq. She was even attacked by some guy, but apparently some of the boys in her group (this is a high school trip) overwhelmed him and eventually beat the crap out of him (like we needed more proof that these people can't fight.) If we hadn't paid for her trip in advance I would have definitely cancelled it. I don't care to have my hard earned dollars going to help support such a cowardly excuse for a country. My apologies to the few remaining Spaniards who haven't succumbed to the flaccid "post modern" ideology of Europe.

This story about our "silent war" with Syria is very interesting (and unsurprising).

'lo out there. Am back. This is a test.

Polish Air Force MIG in mint condition

I believe John Derbyshire and I share a brain. I think just like this and pretty much agree with everything he says here.

Much of the conservative media outlets are covering the President's press conference as if it were a strong showing for the President, but I have to disagree. While most of the things he said were relevant and did go some way to answering some of the questions swirling around the administration, his delivery was at time awkward and uneasy. Bush often seemed nervous and a bit disheveled, although at other times he seemed confident and resolute. Die hard bush lovers will say that it's what you say not how you say it, but he really didn't exude confidence to me. Of course, the only clip the mainstrem media is playing (I saw it 3 times on NBC this morning) is when Bush stumbled all over his answer about admitting mistakes. He essentially admitted that he was caught off guard and couldn't think of any on the spot. Not a good answer, even if it is truthful. The bottom line: Bush is horrible off the cuff, and he needs to do as little of this as possible. It's also clear that this election is now going to hinge on Iraq. The recent events in Iraq have torpedoed Bush's poll numbers more effectively than all of Kerry's attacks combined. Bush is betting his presidency on Iraq, and based on last night's performance, I'm not sure the American people are going to buy it. Let's hope things clear up over there soon, because I'm not sure Bush can sell this to middle America much longer.

I'm afraid I have to side with John Kerry on this one. Actually, I'm not siding with Kerry so much as I am siding against the members of the Catholic church pushing this silliness. So now they withhold sacraments based on one's political views? So much for forgiveness. I guess priests will now be like communion Nazis; "No Christ for you!"

Hi guys and gals, I'm off to Wroclaw, Poland this weekend and the next week to visit my mother-in-law and brother-in-law with Agata and Eva. Will pay a short visit to PM Miller and Prez Kwasniewski to persuade them to stay the course. By the way Polish troops did some good fighting this week, they also killed a top lieutenant of the Fat Babyface.

There's a lot of international outrage against the perfidious behaviour of your heavy-handed Marines in Fuckjuah. Mr. Human Rights Champion Vlad Putin being the most verbose, I'm told. Good ole Pootie-Poot, I'm sure these Chechnyans are sooooo happy they live in Grozny and not in Fuckjuah...

I'm awfully sorry for the losses your troops are taking. Just imagine, one week ago all was looking relatively good, despite the ocasional bomb attack or IED's, Interim Constitution signed, lots of good economic parameters (read about a drastic cut in unemployment figures in Iraq, till 28% or so.... find it hard to believe that though) and then Mr. Fat Babyface-with-Black-Towel-wrapped-around-his-Poor-Excuse-For-a-Brain decided otherwise...

Don't give up though. Your military can handle the situation with one hand tied behind their back. Now if only the world would pay some more attention to the drama in Darfur, Sudan, where the Islamic Government is apparently intent on some kind of genocide against black Sudanese. I suggest the US drops some napalm bombs on the refugees in order to get the cameras over there....

Bye, take care,


Michael



P.S.: there's a chance I am able to follow and even post in Downeast from Poland...IF I can chase my brother-in-law Kamil from behind his puter.

Charles Krauthammer gets it.

I felt the need to chime in on several aspects of the widespread fighting in Iraq. First of all, my thoughts are with our amazing military personel, who are once again putting everything on the line for us. There's simply no way to express the debt of gratitude we owe these outstanding individuals.

While it is easy and understandable to be depressed by the events of the last few days, I believe there may be a hidden positive in the current uprising. While it seems we have a new enemy, we have a visible enemy who has made a decision to show himself. A visible enemy is one who can be killed. One must also ask the question, why has this well trained and well organized group decided to break cover only months before the handoff of power in Iraq? Wouldn't it have been easier to accomplish their goals after power had been officially turned over to the Iraqis? I believe the answer to these questions is that these people are desperate. They clearly fear that the US is going to succeed in their mission in Iraq, and they are staging a last ditch effort to dislodge us. A more strategic move would have been to wait until after the Iraqis took power, or even wait until the US was closer to the presidential election. I believe they have chosen to act now because they feel their window of opportunity is closing. This is a positive development, and it underscores the fact that we cannot deviate from this mission. There is just too much hanging in the balance. If it costs George Bush the presidency, then it will be worth it. This is bigger than any domestic issue being batted around in the media.

It seems we hit a mosque today, with possibly 40 casualties. While the circumstances of the attack are unclear, I wonder if this represents a change in tactics on the part of our forces. So much the better if it does. While I understand the political ramifications of "desecrating" a mosque, they can no longer be a sanctuary for terrorists. The terrorists who hide themselves and their weapons in mosques are the ones desecrating them. If that's where we happen to find them, we owe it to ourselves and the Iraqis to forget about politics and kill the bastards inside, period. I sincerely hope that this was not an accidental attack on innocent civilians. But if terrorists chose to hide among innocent worshippers, they are the ones responsible for the carnage. It needs to be made clear that there is no place for the scum of the earth to hide.

It has been widely reported that there has been a major influx of terrorists from places like Syria and Iran. It's time for us to take the gloves off. Again, possibly political suicide, but I'm over that. Give them one final warning, and the next day BLOW THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF THESE SCUMBAGS! In fact, forget abut the warning. I don't care how much it costs. Iran would probably implode from revolution the day we crossed the border, and Syria has all the military might of Vermont. It's time we deal with ALL of our enemies, not just the ones that pass the politically correct muster.

Do I sound pissed? You bet I am. I'm not watching TV at all today, because if I see one John Kerry ad I'm going to smash my head through the TV set.

Things seem to have calmed down a bit in Iraq. All very unclear yet still.

Stumbled upon this. Guys, I'm proud of you in your place!!!!!

Here's a solid piece from Bruce Bartlett appropriate for tax season. Anyone who thinks "the rich" don't pay "their fair share" needs to read this. That's right, I used the scare quotes because neither term has any meaning after years of abuse from the left. "The rich" is anyone who has made good choices in their life and can support themselves financially and "their fair share" is equivalent to the amount that it would take to keep a majority of citizens under the 24/7 care of the government.

As many of you know, I'm self employed, so despite having a really good accountant find every possible loophole, my family still pays over 40% of our income back to the gubment. (The president of IBM pays a smaller percentage of his income back to the government than I do.) In addition to the ridiculous system of progressive taxation we have, we really have address how difficult we make it for small businesses to survive. (I can't imagine what poor Michael goes through every year paying taxes in Belgium.)

It's time for the Fair Tax (fairtax.org). Either that or just come up with a flat tax rate. Let "the poor" decide what it will be. Enough of this crap already.

On Omar's blog, more specifically in the comments section, I came across this link.

My heart and my prayers go out to the victims and their families. I am depressed.

Can you say hyperbole? Check out this statement by John Kerry:

"After three years of punishing job losses, the one month job creation announced today is welcome news for America's workers. I hope it continues. But for too many families, living through the worst job recovery since the Great Depression has been, and continues to be, far too painful. With nearly 2.6 million private sector jobs lost during the Bush presidency, America's families need and deserve a new economic strategy. In every single month of this Administration, we haven't seen the creation of a single manufacturing job in America. That's why I've proposed a strategy that that revitalizes our manufacturing sector and puts us on track to create 10 million new jobs in the next four years."

Wow. Not one, single manufacturing job in the ENTIRE United States during the last 3 years. That's funny, I manufactured a PC for my sister and her husband and was paid for it. But I'm not a beautiful person like the haughty, French looking senator from Massachusetts so what the hell do I know?

And I see he's up to 10 million new jobs now. If he is so damned amazing why doesn't he just do away with unemployment altogether? Perhaps modesty is to blame, I hear he served in Vietnam but you wouldn't know it from listening to him. He wouldn't DARE politicize that.

Tom, I felt I needed more space than the comments section to react to Victor Davis Hanson's article on US/European realtions. First of all, it's an excellent article and nail on the head.

Let me now give my assessment as a European.


1° We indeed need a sea-change in mentality over here to influence our defense policy in an effective way. I don't see that happen soon. The Left is too strong.

There are attempts however to create a common defense policy. Instruments for that, on the strategic level are the Western European Union (WEU), currently hibernating, and on the operative level the Eurocorps. You can also click here for a sketchy introduction to this happy campers outfit.

But admitted, there's no firm hand behind a common defense policy.


2° Gifted writer as he is, he has his flaws. He seems to be unaware of the process of political unification. I think this knowledge is absolutely NECESSARY when judging "Europe". Furthermore, the Poles chilling for the Germans once the US leaves? Come on!!! Hey, I just went to the kitchen to prepare myself a cup of coffee (I ate “Sprits zandkoeken” with it (some kind of cookies) (they tasted) and asked my wife Agata (from the Polish city of Wroclaw) whether Poles would be chilling for the Germans if the US Army left its barracks over there. She found the idea absurd. In short, VDH is very much okay but on European matters he'd do well to do some field research over here.


3° Throughout the article I perceive a willingness to label the departure of US troops from Western Europe as some kind of policy to make the EU stand on its feet rather than coddling it, thus forcing us to act mature on defense matters. Hmmmm, I would say that the reasons making the US to consider downgrading its presence here are purely financial and organizational. There’s less threat here, other fronts further to the east (Middle East, Uzbekistan, Korea) are gaining importance AND your military is strained across the globe.

But the effect may be just the same. It may push Europe to hasten taking care of its own defense business.


4° Throughout VDH’s rant I perceive nevertheless a love of Europe. He recognizes our common cultural and historical roots. And here I’d like to end with a positive note. It is my sincere wish that we manage to level the Inter European borders and sensitivities to such an extent that we become a forceful economical, political and military bloc AS ALLIES of the United States. I would like to see NATO evolve to some kind of an alliance between USA, USE, Canada and some minor member states.

Maybe I’m too optimistic here, but in the same way as redeploying your troops elsewhere because of external reasons may encourage us to fend more for ourselves militarily, the to be expected drastic geopolitical changes in tomorrow’s world will force USA and EU towards each other. In both cases it’s a welcome development brought about by external circumstances.



And for the love of God, why are you Americans picking the Belgian military time and again as your favourite target??? Goddammit, our Air Force secures NATO’s utmost northeastern flank thus ensuring your daily beauty sleep passes uneventful! And don’t you know past autumn our Navy, in the form of the Frigate F912 Wandelaar kept a presence in the Caribbean, occasionally combating drugs trafficking as well as guarding the US’s soft underbelly??? And what’s our reward? Victor Davis Hanson with four deprecating comments! One of these days I’m really gonna be pissed off you know!!!

Great post on the Corner by John Derbyshire.

Best Line: "The State is the cold, stern guardian of our rights and liberties, not a frigging psychoanalyst leading Group.

Excellent article (as usual) by Victor Davis Hanson on U.S.\European relations.

It appears Lt. Shifrin has his head on straight. Thank God we have people like him in our armed forces.

GO BELGIUM!!!

Possible good news on the energy front. Nuclear baby!

God damn these people. I know they do not represent all Iraqis but it is discouraging.

Did I ever mention that the International Criminal Court sucks?

Don't click on this link people. Don't. No, Tom!!! No!NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

When should we stop supporting Israel? Good stuff by Victor Davis Hanson.

If you think our website is dull, you should check this one out.

Ahem. Michael? WTF?

This is a cool little freelance ad for President Bush.

Hat tip to Jonah at the Corner.

Tom, Kerry, Scott and Mark, DON'T WORRY ANY LONGER!!!

You may be aware that by accepting Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia et al in its ranks, NATOs airspace
has expanded eastwards. These countries lacking proper fighter interceptors, this left the newly created
eastern boundary of NATO dangerously exposed.

Luckily the Belgian Air Force is keeping watch.

So don't be afraid for possible hordes of Fulcrums and Flankers coming out of Putin's Evil Empire.

Here's a good article from NRO about how jobs are created. By the way, they're talking about real jobs, not the pretend ones that John Kerry would like to create by raising taxes to pay for all kinds of new government programs. He claims he will create 10 Million new jobs in his first 4 years in office. What he isn't telling us is that we (that is, those of us who actually pay taxes) will be the ones paying the salaries of those lucky enough to get one of Kerry's hand out jobs.

Another enlightened Frenchman

This isn't good for anybody. Damn you and your EU, Michael!

Required reading for the "No War for Oil" crowd. Where the hell is all the free oil, anyway? I guess Bush and his Halliburton cronies are stockpiling it somewhere waiting for the price to get REALLY high before selling it. Or something.

This is laughable: "The government's former top counterterrorism adviser testified Wednesday that the Clinton administration had 'no higher priority' than combatting terrorists while the Bush administration made it 'an important issue but not an urgent issue.'"

Uh huh. Right.

Another great column by OMOTLS (Our Man of the Large Spectacles).

Nothing is more irritating to me than the inferiority complex American lefties have towards Europe. Despite Europe's ridiculous 20th century track record, people like John Kerry would like to get approval from them for our own foreign policy, as if they are somehow more sophisticated and better able to understand the world. As Sowell so eloquently states in this piece, history is repeating itself, and the left is too caught up in their own internationalist fantasy to see it. What is it about history that the left just doesn't seem to get?

Hm, I did not expect an answer so soon. ME has preferred to respond via email and I was allowed to repeat his answer in full. While ME does not defend any stance for the moment (ME is preparing it, well I can't blame him/her because it took a lot of time for preparing mine), I nevertheless found it worthwile to post his/her letter. For one thing, it will convince you already that ME is not Layth.

Here it is:


Hello Michael,

Thank you very much for inviting me to comment on your guest entry. No, I do not think you are playing hardball. In fact I would have thought it strange if you had written otherwise. I enjoyed reading your balanced post with relevant links etc..

You reminded so much of a dear friend of mine 20 years ago today, with whom I used to have this type of conversation. It always ended up with S. screaming at me to convince me while I was trying my best to do the same ( minus the screaming of course ;)) . But I can see your screaming is only within, and I am pained for all those decent human beings like you who honestly care and want to understand and perhaps suggest a solution.

I admit I'm not as good as you are in providing links or quotations or other such items. I will try to convey my thoughts and the feelings. However, Michael please remember that I have no need to defend myself or anything or anyone else as this is not a Court but only a discussion with hopefully rational mature and cultured people wishing to understand someone/something alien to them. Twenty years later my friend admitted I was right, but that was never my aim "proving how right I am " . No my goal is to extend hands of friendship to people whom I grew up with and learnt to understand but who never did the same step in return as they simply assumed that I or my people would have to change/conform for their sake.

Nowadays it looks that there may be an opportunity for dialogue or better a 'multiplelogue'. I will address your fears and hopefully try to alleviate them, you obviously had time to prepare you 'ammunition' , so please allow me the necessary time as well. You may of course print this letter in your blog along with a greeting to all the others there.

No news yet of my sister, calling Iraq from here is only possible from internet. Their phone line is not repaired yet.

Best regards

ME

I swear to Allah that ME does not stand for Mad Engineer from Belgovakia or something. I'm not faking this thing up.

So ME, we are eagerly awaiting your response.

Mr. Tom, you might have noticed ME calls me decent. So now you hear it from somebody else.


Michael, United States of Belgium.

Ladies and Gentlemen, can I have your attention please? For awhile now I have been emailing with an Arab living in a country in the Middle East. Despite differing views, so far this virtual conversation has been decent and civilized, or at least I might hope my acquaintance perceives it so. I do, in any case. At some point I began to think that the thoughts and threads developing in these conversations might also be interesting for my fellow bloggers at Downeast and our audience. Suspecting that our Arab in question might prefer some kind of anonymity, I proposed that upon mentioning him/her or presenting his/her views, I would always refer to him/her in a way that would reveal nothing about nationality, gender, age or profession and the like. That is why from now on I will be referring to him/her simply as ?ME? (Middle-Easterner).

In a recent letter ME presented a number of views which I would like to repeat here, answer to directly, and wait for reactions to come from both ME and readers. It may be a step to mutual understanding. So, here are some excerpts from ME?s email:

?I understand your fear from Islam as a European , because this religion has been badly portrayed in Europe and the West especially after 9/11.?

?(now follow some congratulatory remarks which are irrelevant because they concerned your servant)?

?With regards to the growing influence of Islam in Europe, I don?t know how to tell you this please do not be afraid , but it will continue growing it is the only religion which does not need preaching. Let me tell you this as well when open-minded Europeans/Westerners approach this religion to learn about it that like it so much that they convert and converts Michael are even better Muslims than those who have inherited it ( or just born Muslims as we say here ). It truly is a universal religion , I a not preaching here as I would not even know how to , I am not theologist ,though I know my basic Bible and Koran. Islam is compatible with freedom and democracy . It the humans which are flawed."

?(Michael the Troll from now on)?

OK, here you have it ME. Through our conversations and also because I pointed you to a rant of mine on this blog, I assume that you are aware of my/our concerns about the growing influence of Islam in Europe and elsewhere. So basically you say to me that Islam is growing, that it will continue to grow but that we need not to worry because it is compatible with freedom and democracy. With all due respect ME, now I would like to elaborate on a few of the events and developments that have made us Westerners acutely concerned about Islam?s growing influence:


First of all, during the past two decades the world has seen a steady rise in terrorist attacks committed by organizations that claim to act in the name of Islam. We have had:

a.) the two attacks on the World Trade Center

b.) the 1998 bombing of the US Embassy in Tanzania

c.) the 1998 bombing of the US Embassy in Kenya

d.) a foiled plot to bomb the US Embassy in Kampala, Uganda

e.) the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole

f.) the 2003 Mumbai bomb attacks

g.) the October 2002 Bali bombing
....

Not to mention the spate of bombings in Israel, which are at least to some degree religiously motivated, as are the bombing attacks in Iraq, and of course the gruseome monstrosity committed just recently in Madrid. Regardless the political motovations, these crimes are all committed in the name of Allah.

A succint overview of the evolution of Islamic terrorism can be found here.



Secondly, apart from the deluge of news regarding attacks by Islamic terrorists, the biggest challenge (in the Western world) to imagining a peaceful coexistence between European (western) natives and the Islamic communities in their midst, is the seemingly nonexistent desire of the latter to assimilate and integrate in their host nations? societies, despite generous and far-reaching government-funded concessions. The Belgian State e.g. provided funding for a ?Muslim Executive Body" ("Moslimexecutieve") which, a.o., appoints Imams (paid by the Belgian State) and organizes and defines religious education. Yet half of the sixteen members of this council are fundamentalists opposed to integration. Forty years after Muslims (mainly Moroccans and Turks) started arriving in Belgium, we see a disturbing trend aimed at widening the gap between natives and ?newcomers?.

E.g., a majority of Muslim youths, upon reaching the age to marry, prefer to import a bride from one of the ?home countries?, since they deem Muslim girls born and raised here as ?spoiled? by western society. Furthermore, a really frightening development in Belgium is the rise of the militant AEL or Arab European League, led by Lebanese firebrand and former Hizballah member Abu Jahjah, who advocates a.o. declaring Arabic as fourth official language in Belgium!!!

Then there are the reports on the significant number of Muslim girls sent back to their native countries during summer holidays for undergoing circumcision.

And the press coverage on honor killings (small in number but growing) do not do much to calm our unrest...

Many Imams, although as said paid by the governments of the states where they reside, see fit to deliver fiery anti-Western sermons on Fridays. Although Belgium has its share of these, the most blatant example of them is a London based imam called Abu Hamza (though I?m not certain whether he is paid by the UK government).

And Denmark recently passed a law requiring Imams willing to enter the country to apply to a number of conditions (such as learning the Danish language) so as to limit the influx of the radical ones.

Last but not least, in most Western European countries, mine, Belgium, included, there?s a growing threat of Antisemitism. Unfortunately many if not most of the acts of violence, such as physically attacking Jews, burning synagogues, desecrating jewish graveyards, verbal abuse etc? are committed by Muslim youths. Despite the evident threat, the EU?s RAXEN (Racism and Xenophobua Network) saw fit to try to suppress a study proving this fact. In the end it was published but, given the prevailing ?politically correct? attitude of the grand majority of European press, it received only minimal coverage.

Furthermore I could mention the so-called black schools in the Netherlands, where Muslim youths, upon the teacher willing to start history lessons on the Holocaust, begin to chant slogans like "Death to the Jews", to such an extent that the teachers are forced to suspend the lessons.


So you see, ME, although I can certainly be found to tolerate the practicing of an Islamic faith at peace with other religions and with itself, hell, I presume the above will make it clear to you that when Muslims pretend that we don't need to worry because Islam is growing (your words), we westerners are anything but reassured.

I think my fellow bloggers and you would find it interesting if you could provide us with a reply. For that purpose you could use the comments section. However, should you feel the limited space there does not give you a fair chance to "defend" your take, you can always email me so that I can publish your answer in full in the actual blog space.

Best regards from the Land of Smurfs and Chocolate.

A must look by Dog of Flanders. Only fpor Tom, Scott, Mark and other real men. We do produce other things than chocolate and beer ya know.

Ok ok, my level has recently sunk to rock-bottom. Tomorrow I will post something sane.

Guess this was just one of those unsolicited opinions.

Here's an entertaining exchange between Neal Boortz and some poor unsuspecting lefty. I particularly like the way Boortz finished this one. How many times have we all had this same conversation...

A friend of mine made an interesting point yesterday. We were talking about the ramifications of the Spain elections, and the point came up the the Spain electorate essentially just told Al Qaeda that they should attack us just before our presidential election in November, in hopes to achieve similar results. His point was that perhaps Al Qaeda would rather have Bush in office rather than Kerry. This sounded preposterous to me at first, but it's interesting when you think about it. If AQ is looking in the long term to defeat us, it may be easier for them to do this if they can completely isolate us from the international community first. The best way to do this would be to continue to attack coalition members other than the US with Bush still in the White House. The anti-Bush sentiment in Europe, coupled with ongoing terrorist attacks, could persuade other coalition members to call it quits, just as Spain has. With Kerry in the White House, relations with Europe (at least the non coalition states) would likely improve, which might make it more difficult for AQ to sever the ties between The US and Europe. AQ has shown considerable patience in the past. It might be that the answer to the question "Who would Osama vote for?" is different than you may think.

Brilliant.

This could be the beginning of the end for the mullahcracy in Iran. We can hope. Yeah, George W. Bush is such an idiot...

Huh. Imagine that. Those giant, dumbass, enviropussy windmills aren't very efficient and are about 2.5 times more expensive than nuclear power.

Who'd have thunk it?

Me.

One line stood out to me in this CNN piece on the Spanish election.

[Zapatero said he wanted "cordial" ties with Washington but "magnificent" relations with France and Germany.]

You've got it, Zapatero. We'd be more than happy to leave you to rot in "post modern" Europe with those other morally and intellectually bankrupt nations. Enjoy your Socialist utopia while you can. It will be a cruel irony the day you realize that you helped usher in the second Islamic conquest of Spain.

Assclown. Imagine that: "operations were conducted in ways that sometimes risked injuring civilians." In a war? No way!



Stupid fuck.

A quote from Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission:

"It is clear that using force is not the answer to resolving the conflict with terrorists,' Prodi said. 'Terrorism is infinitely more powerful than a year ago,' and all of Europe now feels threatened, he told the paper."

Stupid fuck.


EDIT: You beat me to the punch Kerry, but I'm leaving my post up too because I'm pissed.

With the amazing success of the film "The Passion of the Christ" and despite the fact that all of the beautiful people in Hollywood tooled on it, this was inevitable.

Ladies and Gentlemen, BREAKING NEWS:
AL QAEDA THANKS SPANIARDS.

Scott, I watched BBC. How DARE you be so naïve! Noooooo, nothing on the demos in Iran and Syria. But check out the last paragraph on how PM Aznar is thanked for an excellent record as Prime Minister and wartime leader.

Europe is lost. Europeans have become sheep.

This is a black, black day. I'm very sorry for the victims, Tom, but I wouldn't mind if you removed the Spanish flag. Clement Atlee is in charge now. Worse, Neville Chamberlain.

This is a good thing, sends the right message. I have seen some reports over the last few months discussing a U.S. foray into the Bekaa Valley to crush Hizbollah. Assad must be feeling a bit like Muammar Khadaffi about now.....

Damnit! If this is true.....

Official Says He Was Told To Withhold Medicare Data

Requires registration

Some good news in the war on terror. Protests in Iran and Syria(!). Yeah, George W. Bush is such an idiot...

Now, if only we could see some of this Europe. Lead on, Michael!

This is for those who don't think the war on terror is the most important issue facing us in the coming election.

Unfortunately Spain is too far away for many Americans to relate to, much less find on a map. It will take another attack on our soil to wake up the "Where's my free job and free healthcare?" crowd, and maybe not even then. These clowns are so worried about expanding the size of the government teat they suckle on a daily basis that they fail to realize it will cease to exist should we be become complacent in this war.

I suspect we will not hear as much about this as we did about Justice Scalia. Just a hunch.

WHOAAAAWWWW!!!!!

Always knew I’d become famous one day but never expected that day would break so soon!
I have been mentioned in The White House! YEEEEAAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!

Well, Prez Bartlet’s one, actually. Uh, ok, and not me personally, but my new party, the Vlaams Blok (Flemish Bloc). Fact remains that I stumble upon these fragments just after joining the anti-immigrationalist Flemish Bloc. This can’t be a coincidence. Some excerpts Ladies and Gentlemen from POTUS himself:

"What's the problem with the Belgian elections, Leo? The intelligence briefing! The anti-immigrationalists are gaining in the North. Doesn't say why or how. I want a CIA briefer here in person every morning, why do I get the front page?"

"The Flemish Bloc is gaining in the North. The Flemish Bloc, ultra-nationalists in Belgium. Skinheads really, neo-nazis. They're wearing three-piece suits, speaking in coded discourse now instead of angry chants, and they're gaining in the North. And everyone wears the same suit, how does anyone know which side they're on anymore?"

Bwah. Sucker calls me a neo-nazi. Sheenie, ya know what “nazi” means? That’s Nazional-Sozialist man. Socialists, reds! In other words, the likes of you!!!


Mark, I'm not forgetting you. This didn't require intelligence nor a lot of time. Btw, Tuchman is a hell of a writer. If you can find the time, read also "The Guns of August" and "The Zimmermann Telegram" (the former on the outbreak of WWI, the latter on how the US became involved in it).

Michael, what's up with this?

You guys better get your act together. Before I get too patriotic, I'll point out that we're all still getting spanked by the Japanese.

Scott, you might want to check out Former Belgian's weblog. This Belgian seems to have crossed the Rubicon. I'm adressing you especially because the guy is a Rush aficionado too, see under "About me".

On the interview with John Rhys-Davies:

KERRY THANK YOU FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's true, it's all so damn true!!!! IT'S-SO-DAMN-TRUE!!!!! All those leftists over here, they are essentially craving for tanathos, they actually WANT to be succumbed, they are selling out our beautiful Europe! Europe is sick. Profoundly sick!!! Two years ago I visited the marvellous Saint-Denis Cathedral in a Paris suburb and one hundred yards away was a Muslim market full with babbling and buzzing Moroccans, Algerians and Tunisians. All native French looked old, weak and not particularly fit. There I really got my first tinge of doom.

Upon reading John Rhys-Davies, can you understand me now? Millions of Muslims have fled and are fleeing their backward societies. Backward because they clinge to an intolerant and hateful religion, which outclasses half of their population.

They are realizing their society model is beyond fixing and instead of trying to find out why it isn't working, they simply come here to start imposing it anew. Like a dumbass who, upon running out of petrol, instead of looking for a gas station hijacks a passersby car and shoves the occupant out! THEY ARE TOO GODDAM STUPID TO ASK THEMSELVES WHERE THE HEAVENLY MANNA WILL KEEP COMING FROM ONCE THEY HAVE SCREWED UP HERE AS WELL AND HAVE THEIR FUCKING EUROPEAN CALIPHATE !!!!

I'm distressed. I'm glad finally one actor has the guts to call a spade a spade. At the same time I'm so sad that it all seems so irreversible. Lunatic leftism rules over here. I'm sad. I'm lonely over here. I have my own business and I work hard for it and my family has it good. Belgium is still very prosperous, especially Flanders. But in twenty years? I read the surveys, Rhys-Davies is right. With our birth rates there's gonna be 500,000 Belgians less IN TWENTY YEARS! It's true about 56% of babies in Brussels being from Muslim parents.

America is strong. It's the hope of the West. The West's heritage is safe with guys like GWB at the helm. Forget the spending spree for awhile or grill him later for it when the coast is clear. When I see all those f*cking socialists with their raised little fingers, their O-mouths, articulate self-possessed talking and oh-so-civilized manners, their petty preoccupancies... I get this feeling of doom and gloom. Then I see your GI's in Iraq, doing their magnificent job of actually fixing the Muslim's business, and I see strength, optimism and belief in the future. I'm so craving for that over here and it's nowhere to be seen.

You'll have to pardon me for taking so much space when right now you got very important things going on in the USA. I guess I just let myself go. I'll try to keep quieter for a coupla days.

Hey, but please ladies and gentlemen, I hope I'm still wrong but I fear that Europe is sailing straight to the cliffs.

DON'T-LET-THE-SAME-HAPPEN-OVER-THERE.

LET NO-ONE STEAL YOUR VALUES AND CULTURE AND EVERYTHING AMERICA STANDS FOR.

I guess I'm acting emotional but this article really got me going.


Have a nice weekend.

Here's some good news for supporters of the Fair Tax. This is a great idea. For those not familiar with the Fair Tax, it's a consumption based tax system that would eliminate our current ridiculous-on-so-many-levels income tax system. I wish the President had the stones to get behind this. This is the best economic idea out there.

For more details, check out fairtax.org.

This speaks volumes:

In the past few weeks, speeches by the Massachusetts senator have been broadcast on Radio Pyongyang and reported in glowing terms by the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA), the official mouthpiece of Mr Kim's communist regime.

Kerry, my pleasure to elaborate.

"In the meantime, the big news is the anti-immigration piece by Samuel Huntington in the current issue of Foreign Policy (and my thanks to Derb for linking to the article last week as I was prepping for today's shoot). To quote a just a few sentences:

Continuation of this large immigration...could divide the United States into a country of two languages and two cultures....such as Canada and Belgium....The transformation of the United States into a country like these would not necessarily be the end of the world; it would, however be the end of the America we have known for more than three centuries. Americans should not let that change happen unless that are convinced that this new nation would be a better one."

Transformation of the United States into a country like Belgium? DON'T!!!!!

On a more serious note:

A country with two (or more) languages and cultures IS a workable option, as is proven all over the world. The trick is to make the existing communities live together in such a way that no group feels left out and has its share of power. I'm a little astonished Huntington picks a.o. Belgium for illustrating his case. First of all, the Belgian divide Flemings/Walloons is an artificial creation by the Brits in the wake of Waterloo. There's a curious analogy with Iraq here where it was, again, the Brits who housed Kurds, Shia, Sunni et al in the same building. The analogy with Iraq, with respect to the Sunni/Shia question, gets even weirder given the fact that for decades it was the Wallonian minority pulling the strings, whereas the Flemings, comprising roughly 60% of the population, were... yeah, let's call it that way... second-class citizens. Without much exaggeration you might say the Flemings were Belgium's Shiites and the Walloons, for a long time the ruling elite, its Sunnis.

Now, I'm not going to make this a long and boring thread on how present-day Belgium came to be. Suffice to say that anno 2004 Belgium is a federal state, consisting of two Regions, Flanders and Wallonia, each with its own Government and Parliament. A lot of authority has been transferred to the regional level, with key ministries (defence, justice, foreign affairs...) remaining at the national level.

So in a way one could speak of the United States of Belgium (USB). As my mother always said, "after A comes B", so after the USA comes the USB. In the greater framework of the ever expanding EU it is interesting to note that our capital, Brussels, is also being regarded more and more as the EU's capital. Also, NATO Headquarters is here, as well as some 2,000 international organizations. Furthermore, so as to avoid infights between Flemings and Walloons over whose territory Brussels is on, a special status was created for it, much in the same way as for Washington D.C. In short, Brussels does not lay in Flanders, neither does it in Wallonia; it's a Region in itself ("Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest" - "Brussels Capital Region").

To cut a long story short: while the Belgian solution DOES function without Flemings and Walloons caving each other's heads in, it came about because of the insurpassable language/culture abyss: neither side willing to give up its mother-tongue or its customs. It works, but it is costly. If you can avoid it, don't go for it.

And here we come to the conclusion: I don't think you can avoid immigration. No law will ultimately stop a certain influx of Mexicans, Azerbeidjans, Yemenis, Belgians, Dagestans or whatever. What you should do, and here I endorse Marks idea: FORCE THEM TO ASSIMILATE. No soft words here. They must learn English and be able to disinguish Britney Spears from Pink. (*) Period. Setting up Spanish classes is the same foolishness leftist clowns over here commit when they call for Berber or Arabic language courses for our immigrants: they will withdraw into their ghettos and never be reliable and contributing countrymen. On the contrary, they are a recipe for disaster. You have had guys like Shalikashvili, Shinseki and Abizaid in your armed forces and they served, and continue to serve, well. That was not by allowing them to live in a Georgian, Japanese or Arabian enclave.





(*) I'm already assimilated. Pink has bigger bo...um... is built heavier.

Here's some interesting speculation regarding Bush's running mate options.

As much as I respect Dick Cheney, I think it might be a good move to cut him loose. I don't think he's done anything wrong, in fact, he is surely one of the main players behind this administration's policies, which taken as a whole have been effective. However, the Halliburton taint, though largely based on fantasy, is unavoidable, and he's just not the type of guy that people get excited about. I think either Condi Rice or Rudy Julianni would be slam dunk selections. Anyone who thinks Tom Ridge or Bill Frist would be good choices is probably a liberal.

What a bunch of crap. The Democrats are rallying behind Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Nice choice of company, there guys. First, Bush gets heat from the Dems, especially the congressional black caucus, to use the US military to intervene in Haiti (sort of puts their "lack of imminent threat" argument against the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq in the toilet, doesn't it.) Next, Bush sends in the Marines, who are mainly there to protect our embassy personnel. Aristide, desperate to get the hell out of dodge before his head is put on a pole, arranges an exodus with the help of the US state department to the Central African Republic. The Marines escort him out of the country. Now the Dems are in a froth because they feel the Marines forcibly removed Aristide, a so called democratically elected president (the corruption of Aristide's election is well known, and was endorsed by Clinton.) John Kerry fuels the fire by calling for an investigation. What a supreme jackass. If the American people don't see through this clown then we deserve to suffer under his rule.

Haiti is a cesspool. The only reason Democrats are pretending to give a damn is because, lo and behold, Haiti is populated mostly by blacks. More race warfare from the left. They can't muster any sympathy for the millions of Iraqis who suffered under Saddam Hussein, but as soon as some black people are having a rough time, we need to send in the Marines! Of course, since the guy who was ousted is also black, that must be our fault too. It still amazes me that the Democrats have managed to apply the racist label to conservatives when those on the left have consistently been the ones treating minorities like idiots, children, or both.

Here's my solution to the Haiti issue: Get our people out, then leave. Actually, that's my solution to just about every conflict other than the ones that represent a direct threat to our interests.

"President Clinton was often known as the first black president. I wouldn't be upset if I could earn the right to be the second,"

John F. Kerry speaking on a black radio station March 2nd, 2004

What a pathetic, pandering, embarassing loser...

Kerry, I'm responding here to your comment on the "violent undercurrents" in Europe where leftism, anti-Americanism, Anti-Semitism and radical Islam merge.

I fear this holds certainly true for the first three phenomena. Personally I often feel like I'm CHOKING over here. Just some examples of anti-Americanism. I tore pages 7 and 8 out of "De Standaard", chapter Foreign Developments, from the day before yesterday.

a.) article on Haïti: in bold "Ten years ago Aristide came back thanks to US troops, now they stayed away to let him leave". The tone of the article is that the US is to blame for getting another black despot at the helm...

b.) In bold "Iraqis are wrestling with constitution". While that may be true, the tone is set. "It's a quagmire." Given the fact that the interim constitution was ready yesterday, one could also print a more optimistic header, on much more valuable grounds.

c.) Interview with a Professor Marjorie Cohn (National Lawyers Guild USA). Bold headers:

"Europe lets itself intimidate by Bush."

"Never before civil rights were threatened so much in the US"

"Witch Hunt is going on" (referring to the Patriot Act and its implications)

Oh yeah, she was also quoted as saying: "(Guantanamo is) a lawless place, where they (the US) can do what they want without accountability to anyone. As a result 600 people have been kept for almost two years now in complete isolation, like animals in a cage. There were reports in the media on torture of Guantanamo-prisoners..."

But this was not in bold. Sigh.

The press group "De Standaard" also runs a book chain. There's NOT ONE book to find which is positive on the current Administration. At Christmas time, my wife, knowing my interests in politics and history, wanted to buy me a book on America and/or Bush. There were five of them, all, repeat ALL, negative. Oh yeah, two or three years ago she WAS able to find a Joe Klein biography on Clinton. In "De Standaard"'s book chain. Coincidence this could, but finding neutral press on GWB can not? Nope. I think some noxious agenda is at work here.

I don't have that much to say about the link left/radical Islam. I think there's not much Mainstream Leftism in contact with European Islamofascism. With Radical Left, yeah. Absolutely. Al-Zawahiri endorsed it, as an afterthought. All alliances are good, even with atheists, to beat the Great Satan.

Hey Americanos. Don't let me get you depressed you know. All over Europe there must be people like me. But John Q in the street, subjected to all the negative propaganda...

I told it before, if Americans can be accused of anything it's that they are too modest. If the French had done a hundredth of what the US did in terms of restoring peace, order and democracy on the global scale, rest assured the algae living in shallow Antarctic waters would know it.

Bwah. The Mad Belgian Troll.

Say it aint so... Kim du Toit takes a swipe at the greatest band in the universe. Just when I thought this guy was a genius...

This is an interesting story. Note the line about funding the school system "under order of the Supreme Court". Frightening.

I hope they succeed.

Excellent piece by Thomas Sowell on gay marriage.

I love this photo.

This article concerning John Kerry's Vietnam tour (I know he never talks about it, but apparently he was there) is rather interesting.

The money quote:

“[T]he fabled and distinguished chief of naval operations,Admiral Elmo Zumwalt,told me — 30 years ago when he was still CNO —that during his own command of U.S. naval forces in Vietnam,just prior to his anointment as CNO, young Kerry had created great problems for him and the other top brass,by killing so many non-combatant civilians and going after other non-military targets.‘We had virtually to straitjacket him to keep him under control,’ the admiral said. ‘Bud’ Zumwalt got it right when he assessed Kerry as having large ambitions — but promised that his career in Vietnam would haunt him if he were ever on the national stage.” And this statement was made despite the fact Zumwalt had personally pinned a Silver Star on Mr. Kerry.

Oh, so I guess when he was testifying before the Senate in 1971 he was talking about his own actions.

Scumbag.

Here's something for those who think that the war on terror is no longer the nation's top priority (as if we needed more proof.)

Before anyone starts in about "exporting jobs," take a look at this data from the Department of Labor: (Hat tip to Neal Boortz @ boortz.com)

The peak unemployment rate during the recession that began in Clinton's term was 6.4 percent.  The current unemployment rate is 5.6 percent.

In the last year more than 2,000,000 new jobs have been added in the United States. 

Between 1983 and 2003 outsourcing went from 6.5 million jobs to about 10 million jobs. 

Between 1983 and 2002 jobs in-sourcing -- jobs coming TO the United States -- went from 2.5 million to 6.5 million.

If you subtract the jobs coming to the United States every year from the jobs going out every year you come up with a "net" figure.  The net outsourced jobs reached its peak in the early 1980's; a peak of about 4 million jobs.  In other words, things were worse at the end of the Carter Administration then they are right now.

During this same period ... from '83 to '03 a total of 38 million jobs have been created by private businesses in the United States.  No other industrialized country in the world has matched this number.

Ok, here's a fresh one: As a follow up to a conversation last night with Tom and Kerry, I'd like to weigh in on all they hype surrounding Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. First of all, I haven't seen the film, and was originally going to wait until I saw it to blog on it. However, I've realized the principles regarding the charges or anti-Semitism and the corresponding actions of some Hollywood moguls are actually independent of the content of the film, so I'm jumping in.

Let's assume, just for the sake of argument, that the film portrays the Jews as being responsible for the murder of Christ (I'll leave the debate as to whether or not the film does this to those who have seen it.) I do not understand why there is such an outcry from some in the Jewish community regarding this. Is there a law that say all Jews must be portrayed in a positive light in films? Are we to believe for the sake of political correctness that the Jews had no part in the death or Christ, despite what is written in the bible and in historical reports by the Jewish historian Josephus? I am disappointed that a people that have in the past been so graciously self deprecating in their depiction of themselves are so outraged by the depiction of an event in which some Jews are seen doing wrong. I understand the fears of anti-semitism, and the fact that Jewish people might be a bit more sensitive to how they are portrayed because of their troubled past. But really, in this case, they need to get a grip. It reminds me of the fracas surrounding the movie The Color Purple, which enraged some members of the black community because it negatively depicted black males. Let's forget the heroic black characters in the film, and that fact that this happened a long time ago. All that matters is our own modern political agenda! Of course, this is to say nothing of artistic integrity or free speech.

Yeah, yeah, I'm a white male and I've never been oppressed. Deal with it. (Anyone can look back far enough into their ancestry and find descendants who were oppressed.) In case you haven't noticed, we're the only ones left you're allowed to make fun of in the media, and you don't see us crying about it. I haven't heard a single report of Jews being harassed by people who saw the Passion film and left with anti-Semitic hatred coursing through their veins. And as Kerry mentioned last night, now that the numbers are in and the film is a huge success, many of these Hollywood moguls are now retracting their statements. So much for the strength of their convictions. It's sadly ironic that they played right into one of the biggest Jewish stereotypes by putting financial interests before their supposed morality.

I suppose we'll have this sort of thing to look foward to if John Kerry wins the next election.

Hillary Clinton weighs in on the future of the US military. This is good for some laughs now, but is pretty scary when you consider that this woman could be president. Here's one of my favorite lines:

Clinton said U.S. officers in Iraq had specifically told her that they did not have enough troops to accomplish their mission.

"Off the record, they'll tell you they don't have enough and have never had enough," she said.

These must have been the officers that didn't get up and walk out every time she entered a room. Or maybe it was that guy with his fingers crossed.

Here's what Dick Morris has to say about Bush's reelection chances.

His most interesting observation is that Bush's success in the war on terror is making Americans believe this is no longer an important issue, which therefore makes it more likely they will vote for Kerry. Score another one for the American short attention span. As if we'd have jobs or an economy if Al Qaeda was allowed to have their way. There should be a 5 minute video of the World Trade Center attack that every American must watch before entering the voting booth. If you vote for Kerry after that, you're hopelessly lost anyway.

Here's to hoping that GWB isn't a repeat of his father; doing the nation's dirty work only to have someone else swoop in to enjoy the rewards.

Hey you Mainers, hey hooooooo!!!!! Slow down, I can't read as fast as you write!!!

Not gonna comment further, it all has to sink in.

The following excerpts from a National Review article by Mark Krikorian pretty much sum up my feelings on the President's "non-amnesty".

There is now a backlog of more than 5.5 million applications for immigration benefits, up 26 percent from the year before, and the Department of Homeland Security is developing and implementing huge new systems to track foreign students and visitors. Do immigration workers in the midst of all this have so much time on their hands that they can take on the additional task of ensuring that millions of illegal aliens comply with the terms of their "phased-in access to earned regularization" — not to mention doing their background checks?

Of course, the corollary of administrative overload is massive fraud, as overworked bureaucrats start hurrying people through the system, usually with political encouragement. We saw this in the 1986 amnesty, when applicants who claimed to have picked watermelons from trees were legalized as farm workers, because the INS was prohibited from devoting too much attention to suspicious applications, lest the process bog down. This can become a national-security problem, when ineligible people get legal status — people like, say, Mahmud Abouhalima, a cabbie in New York, who got amnesty as a farm worker under the 1986 law and went on to help lead the first World Trade Center attack. Having an illegal-alien terrorist in your country is bad; having one with legal status is worse, since he can work and travel freely, as Abouhalima did, going to Afghanistan to receive terrorist training only after he got amnesty. And don't fall for the claim that illegal aliens who have sneaked across the Mexican border yearn only to wash our dishes; an Iraqi-born smuggler pled guilty in 2001 to sneaking 1,000 Middle Easterners through Mexico into the U.S., and the former Mexican consul in Beirut was recently arrested for her involvement in a similar enterprise. Another amnesty is guaranteed — guaranteed — to give legal residence to a future terrorist.

Amnesties don't solve the problem of illegal immigration — they exacerbate it. An INS report released about three years ago showed that after the 1986 amnesty, illegal immigration increased markedly as family and friends of the newly legalized aliens sneaked into the country. And the new illegals weren't just Mexicans, emboldened to hop across the border; illegal immigration from other countries surged even more dramatically, suggesting that amnesty's role in encouraging further illegal immigration is a general phenomenon.

Illegal aliens can't receive welfare; legal immigrants can. The fear of a fiscal earthquake is why Congress in 1986 barred amnesty recipients from some welfare programs for five years and reimbursed states a small portion of their aid costs for the former illegals. But no amount of fancy footwork could avoid the fact that permanently settling millions of unskilled laborers into a modern economy costs the public treasury billions. A study ten years after the last amnesty estimated that the newly legalized aliens had already generated a net fiscal deficit of $24 billion. Is this really the time to saddle states and localities — which would bear most of the costs — with an additional unfunded mandate?

Looks as if the President's amnesty plan is actually less popular than "genital herpes". I think I'd rather crush my left testicle in a garlic press than see that abomination become law.

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Scott, Michael,

Maybe these immigration laws aren't such a bad idea, maybe President Bush is on to something. Wait, hear me out. I'm sure many of these immigrants are willing to commit crimes that Americans just don't want to commit. This will be great for the economy, think of all the new police jobs and new prisons being built.

Oh, yeah but they'll probably be consuming more in welfare, SSI, etc. and getting college degrees from prison (gratis, naturally) than this great, new crime economy will generate.....

Never mind.

This piece highlights the insanity of Bush's immigration proposal. I just didn't want Michael to think that he was alone in being screwed by proponents of this madness.

Thanks to Mark for pointing me to this article by John Podhoretz. The more I read about Kerry's past the more I agree with this quote from the article: "Thus was John Kerry a key midwife in the birthing of one of of the worst myths ever fostered in this country: The myth of the crazed, violent, dangerous Vietnam vet who had come back to America to wreak the same kind of devastation here he had wreaked in Southeast Asia. "

Hounds for Bush 2004

Riley


Brie


Finney


Orion

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has sent a letter to President George W. Bush, accusing him of using the painful topic of Vietnam for his "personal political gain". Alrighty then, what does one say to that? The word ass-clown leaps to mind...

RHAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

I am F-U-R-I-O-U-S ! ! ! !


Friday February 20, Belgium Parliament’s Lower House passed a bill granting non-EU immigrants the right to vote in local elections! Can you understand that? It means Moroccans, Algerians, Tunisians et al who reside here but show no willingness to assimilate whatsoever HAVE-THE-FUCKING-RIGHT-TO-VOTE for the town and city councils where they reside WITHOUT bEING A BELGIAN!!! I-AM-MAD-AS-HELL! ! ! ! ! ! !

Oh yes, smooth-talking socialists and greens from both Flanders and Wallonia were quick to point out that there are some conditions:

*the immigrants have to reside here at least 5 years
*they have to register as voters
*they have to sign a document that they will respect Belgian law


Respect Belgian law, my ass. Now already they are trodding Belgian law wherever they can find it. Hell, they trod on law-enforcers. Belgian law forbids ritual slaughtering of sheep at home at the time of the Ramadan or the Hajj. Oh, but this year it was found out that actually only some 10-15% of Muslims abide by that law and slice those nice little fourfooters’ throats in one of the designated official slaughterhouses? The rest still happily do the butcher’s job in their backyard? Oops, so much for the respect for Belgian law. And I could give you example upon example of more such things.

People, it’s a Sunday afternoon here and I want to cut a long story short. The point is: over here in Europe we face a day-by-day increasing problem of especially Muslim immigrants who, instead of assimilating and integrating in our society, and thus contributing to our welfare, MAKE A NUISANCE OF THEMSELVES. You know what the net effect of the passing of this law will be? It means that in the very near future Muslim parties will spring up in, say, Brussels suburbs, that Muslim mayors will become a real possibility and that when funding is needed for, say, an opera house and a mosque, the money will go to the mosque. Now already there are large parts in Brussels where you better not venture as a Belgian. Don’t park your car there, you tires will be cut up. In Schaarbeek there’s ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS POLICE harassing Muslim women if they don’t appear pious enough or don't wear the veil!!!!

No racist speak Ladies and gentlemen. From over the Atlantic a reasonable citizen talks to you, a citizen who would like to shake hands with and help any red, yellow, brown or green immigrant – provided they don’t see our country as a playground where they think they can impose their backward society model after having just fled such an environment, like dwellers who flee an apartment to spoil another one because they are too lazy to clean up their mess.

You will ask how this is possible, how such a law could ever pass whatever claims to be our House of Representatives. I told you: the Socialists (SP – Socialistische Partij – in Flanders and the PS – Parti Socialiste – in Wallonia) along with the greens forced it down our throats. Scott, this WAS a Deliverance moment and the Cavalry did NOT come!

Flemish Socialists were in favour because… because, you know, they have this weird mindset that the West is guilty of every sorry issue on God’s Green Earth and that we should be compassionate and that if the Muslim community shows no fucking sign to integrate it’s because we are not welcoming enough. The Wallonian Socialists are in favour because they think the Muslims, who are largely ignorant of the Dutch language but generally do speak French, will bolster their ranks. The Greens are just as mad as my backdoor.

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, in the Netherlands they DID authorize, a couple of years ago, immigrants to vote for municipal councils. Twelve years ago already, the respected Dutch politican and former Minister of Defense Frits Bolkestein warned that the Netherlands' Integrating Policy, (in)famous for its coddling of foreigners, granting them everything without asking something in return, had failed TOTALLY. He was nearly crucified for it by the well-meaning Politically Right. And where have the Netherlands come today? Oh, for example some nice facility in Eindhoven as well as desperate measures to turn back time.

Well, I guess I’m through with my party Membership of the VLD, Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten, literally translated “Flemish Lberals and Democrats”. Put that grin off your face Scott. You, Kerry, that air of amazement and horror. Tom, what are you gonna do with that baseball bat? Put it away!

We got us this naming thingy on both sides of the Atlantic people. For instance, what you call “High School”, which is translated as “Hogeschool” in Dutch, are two different things. In the US it means education between, say, ages 12 and 18 if I’m not mistaken. Well, over here we call something like that “secondary school”, whereas “Hogeschool” means any education/formation after age 18 that is not related to University.

So when I confess now that since I was 19 I have been a member of the Flemish Liberals and Democrats, this BY NO MEANS is indicative of my political inclination to, well, US Liberals and Democrats. The VLD was what you would call soft-spoken Republicans – promoting free entrepreneurship, free markets, the well-being and personal development of the individual, tax cuts etc…

Over the years the party absorbed an influx of left-leaning or malcontent s*ckers from other or dissolved parties. The net effect of this was a gradual shifting of the VLD to the center-left, to my utter horror and dismay.

Well, Friday came the drop that made the bucket flood over. I’m through with the VLD. They betrayed me and many others. I just sent my application for membership to the Vlaams Blok (Flemish Bloc), a right-wing party which the others, VLD included, love to hate and cast pretty names on, such as “extreme right”, fascists etc… Never mind it was the Vlaams Blok that last year came up for the defence of Jews in Antwerp, who like Jews all over Europe are experiencing a frightening increase in Antisemitism at the hands of – oooooooooooooooooohh, this is soooooooooo politically incorrect – Muslim youths.

Tom. Maybe you should make sure these Green Cards don’t get lost you know. Oh, and when the first turbans show up in Maine, BEWARE. Let’s just cut the crap and call a spade a spade, ok? Also, keep an eye on that Nader guy. He's more dangerous than you'd think.