Looks like GM, icon of the American auto industry, is in deep trouble.

Ok, there's no doubt that these guys have made a series of management errors over the years, but I can't help but think that if this massive corporation goes down, the words "Killed by the UAW" should be inscribed on its grave stone.

I thought it appropriate on April 15 to post this diatribe from T. Coleman Andrews, who is a former commissioner of the IRS:

(I ripped this off from Neal Boortz's site. Boortz is a huge pusher of the FairTax plan, and has just finished a book with John Linder (R) Georgia on the subject.)

"Congress went beyond merely enacting an income tax law and repealed Article IV of the Bill of Rights, by empowering the tax collector to do the very things from which that article says we were to be secure. It opened up our homes, our papers and our effects to the prying eyes of government agents and set the stage for searches of our books and vaults and for inquiries into our private affairs whenever the tax men might decide, even though there might not be any justification beyond mere cynical suspicion.

The income tax is bad because it has robbed you and me of the guarantee of privacy and the respect for our property that were given to us in Article IV of the Bill of Rights. This invasion is absolute and complete as far as the amount of tax that can be assessed is concerned. Please remember that under the Sixteenth Amendment, Congress can take 100% of our income anytime it wants to. As a matter of fact, right now it is imposing a tax as high as 91%. This is downright confiscation and cannot be defended on any other grounds.

The income tax is bad because it was conceived in class hatred, is an instrument of vengeance and plays right into the hands of the communists. It employs the vicious communist principle of taking from each according to his accumulation of the fruits of his labor and giving to others according to their needs, regardless of whether those needs are the result of indolence or lack of pride, self-respect, personal dignity or other attributes of men.

The income tax is fulfilling the Marxist prophecy that the surest way to destroy a capitalist society is by steeply graduated taxes on income and heavy levies upon the estates of people when they die.  

As matters now stand, if our children make the most of their capabilities and training, they will have to give most of it to the tax collector and so become slaves of the government. People cannot pull themselves up by the bootstraps anymore because the tax collector gets the boots and the straps as well.  

The income tax is bad because it is oppressive to all and discriminates particularly against those people who prove themselves most adept at keeping the wheels of business turning and creating maximum employment and a high standard of living for their fellow men.  

I believe that a better way to raise revenue not only can be found but must be found because I am convinced that the present system is leading us right back to the very tyranny from which those, who established this land of freedom, risked their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to forever free themselves..."  

T. Coleman Andrews.  Andrews Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service for three years, from 1953 until 1955.

THE GATES OF HELL ARE OPEN IN IRAQ

I could have used another fancy title, like "THE STAVDA WATCH" , "BELGIAN COMMIES ARE AT IT AGAIN", or "GULP???". Instead I chose this one. It’s the literal translation of the caption above the article shown below, as it appeared in this weekend’s edition (April 9/10, 2005) of leading Belgian newspaper "The Daily Crap", aka "De Standaard" aka "The Stavda" aka whatever wait till we smoke your rat’s hole out.





The caption is capitals under Talabani's photo reads: "THE ATTITUDE OF THE US TOWARDS SYRIA AND IRAN IS NOT AT ALL MEANT TO STIMULATE DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM".


Said article is the rotten fruit of a imperfect brainstorm inside the head of a fella named Ayatollah Jawad al-Khalisi, who is the Secretary-General of an outfit called the Iraqi National Constituent Congress. On June 17, 2004, Auntie Beeb had this to say about the INCC:


The Iraqi National Constituent Congress has brought together prominent Sunni and Shia figures to oppose the US-led occupation of Iraq. It was formed in May 2004 and is led by the respected Shia cleric Jawad al-Khalisi.

On its 16-strong leadership panel are other Shia leaders, and also Sheikh Harith al-Dhari, leader of the Sunni Muslim Ulema Council (note from MFBB: the Association of Muslim Scholars).The group's 500 members also include Kurds and Arab nationalists.
It has pledged to boycott any US-sponsored political group, including the Iraqi Governing Council, to re-establish the national army and to restore sovereignty under the auspices of blah blah blah...


Ok, now that you know that, I’ll have the honor of providing some translated excerpts. Watch out though:

"The US-British occupation of Iraq is poisoning all political processes in my country and across the Middle East. The elections held under the control of the occupying forces in January were neither free nor fair.

The occupying powers are now following a policy of divide and rule, encouraging sectarian and ethnic divisions and imposing them on all the institutions they have created.

Incidents such as the recent kidnapping of an Italian journalist, released only to be received by a hail of bullets from the US liberators, have fuelled widespread suspicions in Iraq as to who is in fact responsible for many of the terrorist acts - kidnappings, assassinations, and indiscriminate bombing and killing -that are engulfing the whole of Iraq...

Not one of the terrorist crimes has been solved and not a single perpetrator put on trial. After each major terrorist crime, the arrest of perpetrators is proclaimed, using names and personalities spread by the US-controlled media...

These crimes are a taste of the hell created by the US project in the Middle East..

In the same way, the Iraq crisis cannot be resolved by patching up a detested occupation with fraudulent elections and sectarian and ethnic caucuses supported by the occupiers...

The US today is still the ally and backer of many such tyrannical regimes in our region and elsewhere..."


Had enough? I certainly do. Now, take a look at how this article was published in the Guardian, since "De Standaard" copyrighted it from that newspaper in the first place. I'd say that Belgians beat Brits in opinionmaking.


…and compare it with the way The Pride of Belgian Journalism puts it, above. The format you see is the one used in the "Opinie & Analyse" pages (Opinion & Analysis, I’m sure you were smart enough to figure that out). In these pages, De Standaard’s selected, ahem, analysts review global political issues and offer, well, opinions and analysis, in other words informed comment. The way Mr. al-Khalisis ramblings were trusted onto precious Flemish recycled paper however tends to lead the innocent, or shall we say, the silly reader to take what is printed for granted. The article and the way the layout is done leaves no room on the page for other topics, since below it (not shown), there’s just an overview of De Standaard staff explaining who does what.

My point is, I’ve been looking on the Web for more info on Jawad al-Khalisi. I’ve been querying on ITM and Big Pharaoh, searching for election results here and there and, to cut a long story short, found no evidence whatsoever that this dude represents anything more than "vijf man en een paardekop", or five blokes and a horsehead, as we here in Flemingland say. Meaning the INCC Secretary-General weighs in on Iraqs political decisionmaking about as heavily as Camilla Parker-Bowles.

Now the question is: WHY for God’s sake would newspapers like the Guardian or De Standaard be willing to spend so much attention to a dipshit raving Khomeini clone whom they think worthy of offering his insights on Iraqi democracy while he can’t in all likelihood tell the US’s electoral processus from, say, Zimbabwes? The answer is simple: a nice rant fitting exactly in the gloomy picture they so LOOOOOOVE to present. Looooooooots of sappy quotes castigating the evil US of A.

Ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake. Drivel like this is no exception. Like I said time and again before, "news" like this is the rule. Comprendo? Now if you feel ever so apt to blame the euroweenies for their ungrateful attitude towards Uncle Sam, try to imagine for a moment how YOU would look at your government if you were fed nonsense like this not for two months, not for two years, not for two decades, no, for FORTY GODDAM YEARS!!!!

Oh, I know how proud you all are of your "winner-takes-all electoral system". And frankly, you have every right to. It makes for clean and straight politics and quick formation of administrations. No mess like in Europe or Iraq (ok, forget 2000, blame that on, uh, Bush). We all know the fancy maps of the States with Jesusland colored bright red and some fringe areas on the east and west coast in blue huh? Now, while that’s a nice way to illustrate Dubyas victory, you’d maybe do well to ponder how the map would have looked if you had adopted Europes representative system. The States would be Purple from LA till Bangor and from Anchorage to Nogales folks.

By which I mean to say: you had FOX. You had Power Line. You had the WSJ. You had Buckhead. You had Rush Limbaugh. You had LGF. You even had Sandy Bergers, Joe Wilsons and Dan Rathers screwups. AND STILL Bush won only by a – admit it – narrow margin!!! Now, over here in the Union of Nanny States we have NOTHING of all that. But we have PLENTY of stinkin sh*t like The Stavda. Why are you surprised Europe is anti-American?

The media is the key people. Take my word for it. I won't say it twice. The media is the key. The media is the key. The media is the key. The media is the key. the media is the key. The media is the key. We need a European FOX. For starters. Presto.


MFBB


UPDATE:

In Iraq The Model's comments section, I asked the Fadhil Brothers and the other posters if they knew who this Jawad al-Khalisi was. Omar was so kind to answer me by email not two hours later:

Hi Michael,
regarding your question on the comment section:

I actually don't think that this Ayatollah is a member of the National Assembly because he was against the elections in the 1st place.
but still, the constitution drafting society may include many members from outside the Assembly. I will do more research on this and update you if I happen to find any further information.

Best my friend,

--
Omar.
www.iraqthemodel.com


So. This guy al-Chalico is in all likelihood not even a member of the 275-strong Iraqi Assembly. I gather he means doodley-squat in Iraqi politics. The Graudian and De Standaard see fit to give the A-hole a FORUM.... just because he says what they LOVE TO HEAR. Thanks Omar. May you eat Belgian Fries at least once in your lifetime.

THE BOEING-AIRBUS SAGA.

For some time I have been wanting to write some stuff on the Boeing-Airbus mêlée, since it is reminiscent of the greater economic struggle being waged between the USA and the EU. Its example can thus not only highlight the pitfalls but also the mutual benefits of economic interaction between adversaries which sport both striking similarities as well as radical differences in philosophy and approach.

Initially, I meant to keep the story short, but as I began digging into the ample material available on the Net, it became apparent I'd need to make this a fleshed-out post around several chapters or else leave the task to others. Indeed, the intricate Boeing/Airbus Saga is something deserving far more attention than the piecemeal media reporting, and I hope that in the nearby future some author will take up the challenge to devote a volume on the subject. In the meantime, I hope the following post, structured around five chapters, can shed some light and offer new insights on a conflict which, while it threatens to turn ugly, also holds the promise of substantial mutual benefits. The chapters are:


1.) A new era: the Airbus A380

2.) A Brief History of Airbus

3.) The Boeing/Airbus Feud

4.) A difficult choice - and Boeings dilemma

5.) Conclusions


Today, I will submit the first two chapters.



1.) A new era: the Airbus A380.

It must have been a glorious moment for the quartet of key European leaders President Chirac, Chancellor Schroeder, PM Zapatero and PM Blair, marred as all four of them had been for different reasons, when on January 18, 2005, the Airbus management, before a 5,000-strong audience and in the presence of said gentlemen, revealed its new flagship, the A380, to the press. The 73-meter (238ft 8in) long triple-deck passenger jet was proudly displayed in Airbus’s gigantic assembly hall, the biggest building (490m x 250m x 46m) on the site of the so-called Jean-Luc Lagadère factory in Blagnac near Toulouse. The A380, which will eclipse the Boeing 747 as the world’s biggest airliner, can seat 555 passengers in a three-class arrangement, but this can be raised to 800, which is why the official denomination is A380-800. Its specifications are impressive: a wing span of 79.8 m (261ft 10 in), a height of 24.1m (79ft), and a maximum takeoff weight of 560 tons (1,234,600 lb). Thrust is provided by four 302 to 374kN (68,000 to 84,000lb) Rolls Royce Trent RB 967 turbofans or four EA GP-7267 turbofans (EA = Engine Alliance, a joint venture of General Electric and Pratt&Whitney).




For all its innovative technology like advanced avionics and novel materials (a.o. a fibre-aluminium composite material called GLARE), the outward appearance of the A380 is, apart from its size, rather conventional. Indeed, were it not for the double row of windows, the big Airbus would simply look like an upscaled version of the veteran A330/340. That is not to say no trails leading to a distinctly different look have been considered, since one of the numerous models provided for a very wide (twelve seats abreast) rather than high airframe as well as twin tails. But in the end the designers returned to the trusted basic passenger’s jet configuration as we have known it for forty years, a sleek cylindrical body upon swept-back wings with engines podded underneath. It should also be noted that this conventional layout greatly attributes to easier pilot conversion and commonality throughout the Airbus family.





The massive Airbus is, as everyone realizes, the first true competitor to Boeings 35-year old 747. And it shows: on the very day the A380 was presented, January 18, 2005, Airbus could boast 149 firm orders. The company claims the break even point for the gigantic investment is some 260 orders. By contrast, sales for the Jumbo have all but dried up, the few examples sold yet being mostly intended for cargo.


b.) A Brief History of Airbus

The story of Airbus is a study in microcosm of successful European cooperation. It all started in 1970 when Frances Aerospatiale and Germany’s Deutsche Aerospace merged to form the Airbus Industrie GIE (Groupement d’Intérêt Economique, literally Group of Economic Interest) consortium, as by the late sixties it had become increasingly clear that no single European aircraft company could compete effectively with US giants like Lockheed, McDonnell-Douglas and especially Boeing. In 1971 Spains Construcciones Aeronauticas S.A. (CASA) joined, and 1972 saw the launch of Airbus’ first aircraft, the A300, which could transport 226 passengers in a two-class layout. It is interesting to note that by introducing this plane, Airbus directly entered the middle class segment of commercial airliners.

The mid-seventies were by far the toughest years for the young consortium with very few new orders placed (none in 1976!). All that changed after a desperate attempt by Airbus to break into the US market when the US’s bankrupt Eastern Airlines leased 23 A300B4s (initially four) at very favourable conditions (a.o. with maintenance and US certification paid for by Airbus). This apparently boosted airline confidence in the new company enough to resume placing orders. And so, by the beginning of 1978 Airbus had 133 plus firm orders as well as a market share by value of 26 percent. 1978 also saw the introduction of the A310, in outward appearance a shorter A300 but incorporating such novelties as a two-man cockpit and CRT displays instead of dials.

In 1979 British Aerospace became Airbus’s fourth full member. In 1984 the A320 entered the market, setting a new standard as the first commercial jet with fly-by-wire and sidesticks. Now while the A300 and the shorter A310 were essentially middle-class jets, the A320 was meant to be Airbus’s competitor for the so-called "narrow bodies" (single aisle, short range), competing in that field with jets like Boeings 727 and 737, BAC’s One-Eleven and Douglas’ DC-9. The A320 was the first of Airbus’ "small" family, a range that since 1984 has seen the emergence of the A318, for 100 passengers, and the A319, capable of transporting 125 passengers. Linking Airbus’s lower manufacturing end to its middle class was the A321, essentially a longer A320.

Having thus established itself in the market for small and medium-sized commercial jet planes, Airbus then embarked, in 1987, on the production of jets in the "widebody" segment (double aisle, medium to long range), and these would eventually become known as the four-engined A340 (launched 1993) and the twin-engined A330 (launched 1994).

In 1991, Airbus began talks with major international airline companies to investigate the development of a new super-huge passenger aircraft, of which production finally started in 2000. Before the advent of the 747’s first true nemesis though, in 2002, almost ten years after the introduction of the A340, came first two larger versions of this plane with extended fuselages, the A340-600 and the A340-500.

It should furthermore be noted that only in 2001, thus thirty years after its creation, Airbus formally became a single integrated company instead of a conglomerate. Shareholders in the new Airbus company are EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, being the merger between Aerospatiale Matra SA of France, Daimler Chrysler Aerospace AG of Germany and Construcciones Aeronauticas SA of Spain), with 80%, and the UK’s BAE SYSTEMS, with 20% of the new stock.


MFBB

THE TOUR OF FLANDERS

Time flies. It’s not one year yet since on July 3rd, 2004 the Tour de France, that Mother of All Cyclist Races, started – but the string of minor tournaments leading up to it has. That string includes classics like Italy’s Giro d'Italia, Holland’s Amstel Gold Race, and the so-called Spring Classics: Belgium’s Tour of Flanders, Ghent-Wevelgem-Ghent, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and France’s Paris-Roubaix, the "Hell of the North". Tomorrow, April 3, the Tour of Flanders will be held.

I’m covering it this year for two reasons: first, frankly said, I need a break from the (load of ) bad news reporting – and God knows there’s a lot of. There is the developing power struggle between an EU Commission asserting itself and several European governments who think the EU should be meant as a cloak to serve their interests. Most important of all there’s the utter failure of multiculturalism which is becoming more clear day after day with, sadly, the recent surge of violent attacks by mobs of mainly young Moroccans on police patrols in France, The Netherlands and Beligum. More on that later, alas.

Secondly, I thought that this years’ cycling frenzy might interest you since for the first time, US cycling legend and sixfold Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, has decided to participate in at least some of the preluding events – including tomorrow’s Tour of Flanders.

That Tour of Flanders is actually a 256km-long race held in the western part of Flanders, with a trajectory spanning a wide arc starting somewhere to the southwest of Brussels going northwesterly towards Bruges, and encompassing a region called the "Flemish Ardennes", which sports many low hills featuring narrow cobblestoned streets leading to their summits. Now while the race actually starts in Bruges, where the land is flat, the Flemish Ardennes are reserved for the last part of the Tour – see map – kind of keeping the best for the last. And of those "calf-biters", no one is dreaded more than the so-called Muur van Geraardsbergen, where a height difference of 92 meters over a distance of 1,000 meters (9.2% on average, one steep stretch of 20% on the last part of the Muur) shifts the cyborgs from the mere mortals. The "Muur" leads to the summit of the 111-m high Oudenberg, the hill overlooking Geraardsbergen – which is my beloved hometown, one of Flanders oldest cities (1068).

Since the Tour of Flanders is in fact outgrowing its status of minor TdF preluding event and becoming a huge tournament in itself, with tickets being sold long in advance (even in the States!) there’s no way I will be able to secure myself a nice spot on top of the Oudenberg to personally take a shot of Lance on this 89th Edition of the Tour. So instead I took to the site this evening, to give you at least an idea of the battlefield of one of tomorrow’s hot spots. The first picture below shows the last meters of the cobblestoned road to the Oudenberg's summit, which is crowned by a nice chapel. The guy on the photo - one of the ubiquitous amateurs today - obviously has had enough. I can sympathize.



The second picture shows the Chapel from another angle and from a plateau on which there is also a small pond...



Finally, this photo was taken from the very summit of the Oudenberg, 111 m above sea level. In the distance you can make out the land below. The cyclists have to climb 80% of the height difference over a fairly short distance, at some point confronting a 20% slope. It's excruciating!





I will be glad to report on the race's outcome tomorrow evening.


MFBB


UPDATE:

The Tour of Flanders has been won by 24-year old Belgian promise Tom Boonen, who also one of the first rides in 2004's Tour de France as well as its last one. Details here. As you can notice, Lance was 28th (248 cyclists participated). Nothing to worry about, Lance did not intend to win.

REAGANOMICS THROUGH EUROPEAN GLASSES/ DEATH OF THE BOLKESTEIN DIRECTIVE?


A lot of people are way smarter than me. Still, I can’t really say I was lingering somewhere near the restrooms when God handed out neuron kits and brain cells. That is why, now some five years ago, I was surprised myself how I could ever have mistaken Ronald Reagan for a dumb cowboy. Five years ago a friend of mine asked me who I thought was the most important 20th Century US President. I guess that while I considered my cautious answer – Roosevelt – certainly not the sole candidate for the laurels, I’d never have contemplated bestowing the honour on Ronald Reagan. At that time.

The reason? European MSM. During all of the Reagan years, we in Europe were fed with a continuous battering of negative spin and half-truths on Mr. Reagan. Unrightful beneficiary of the credit for liberating the US hostages in Tehran. Religious zealot. B-film actor fallen upward. Heinous warmonger in central America. Player with fire in scoffing the USSR. Dumbass. Liar to Congress and the American People. Social Butcher. Idiot. Etc etc… No occasion was missed to highlight his – admitted – numerous lapsuses. That’s why the quotes that stick with yours truly are not that his economic thinking was influenced by Von Mises, Hazlitt or Hayek, but that he once toasted on Bolivia while on an official visit to Brazil. Or that he once claimed that it’s actually trees which are mainly responsible for air pollution.

Anyway, on that day, now some five years ago, my friend, a rightwing madman and a Michael like myself, showed me another Reagan, one who should have gotten the Nobel Peace Prize for eliminating the nuclear threat through pioneering ICBM reduction talks. One whose Administration produced important legislation slashing insanely high taxes (70%!) from the Carter era. One who gave Americans not only their jobs back but also their Pride. And one who, simple as the phrase may sound, by denominating the USSR as an "Evil Empire" saw a hundredfold clearer the inhuman face of the Warsaw Pact regimes while Western Europes socialist "elites" had no qualms being thick with their namesakes on yonder side of the Iron Curtain.

But that was politics.

Politics is easy stuff. One can be a Professor in Politics, tell nonsense for three decades and at the end of his/her carer still come away with honorary doctorates in nanny states and retire as Sir or Herr or whatever.

Economics though, is another matter. Belgian, or should I say Flemish, Blogger LVB has a first installment on Reagan as seen through an economic lens. In an eloquent way he sheds some light on Reaganomics from a European Point-of-View. That’s why I think that the Americans reading Downeast (afaik the majority of our readership) should read this. FYI, LVB is a pro free market type. Professionally, he's an Internet entrepreneur. Some excerpts:


[Reagans policy] ...policy meant a radical rupture with Keynesianism where consumption was stimulated by massive government spending. Keynes put the emphasis of economic policy on the demand-side (consumption). Reagan, by contrast, put the accent on the supply-side (production). Keynes believed that demand would create supply, but Reaganomics started from the opposite idea, namely that supply would create demand. In this way of thinking, the supply side of the economy (the economic activity, production etc…) had to be stimulated in order to create wealth. The best way to do this was to cut the marginal tax rates on personal income. Such a tax cut would create a strong incentive to increase economic activity and would have spectacular effects on growth, investment, risk-taking and saving...

....

When tax rates are raised, people reduce their participation in taxed activities, such as working, risk taking, saving and investing. When tax rates fall, people increase their participation. Fortunately, Reagan understood this logic immediately. Few people know that Reagan had a major in economics, which he obtained at the Eureka College (Illinois) in 1932. The economic theory he was taught was untouched by Keynesian thinking and, as a consequence, very appropriate to the problems of the eighties. Reagan followed the advice and took action. The top marginal tax rate of 70% was lowered in two phases: to 50% with the "ERTA" (Economic Recovery Tax Act of October 1, 1981) and in a later phase to 28% (The Tax Act of 1986). These tax cuts created 18 million new jobs in 8 years, lowered inflation to 4.3% and cut unemployment from 9.7% to 5.4%. One of the longest and strongest economic expansions since World War II had begun, with an average annual growth rate of 3.5%.





(Economic mentors Von Mises and Hayek and President Reagan)



If you have read the post, you may want to read a little further and check out his post on the so-called Bolkestein Directive, which was essentially shot off this weekend. Bolkestein is EU Commissioner for Internal Markets and Taxation; as a leading proponent of the Dutch Centre Right VVD, he was nearly crucified by the PC Crowd in the early nineties for haveing the audacity to say that the integration efforts in The Netherlands were a shambles. If only they had listened to him: the news coming out of Holland these days is appalling.

Anyway, the Bolkestein Directive was meant to create the legal framework for liberalizing services throughout the EU. For example, if you are a Czech flower arranger, making it easy for you to set up business in Austria. Or if you are a Lithuanian plumber, facilitate working in another EU country. All this under the regulations of the service provider’s country. In other words, if you work as a Polish architect in France, you still pay the (lower) Polish taxes. The Bolkestein Directive was one of the tools to generate millions of new jobs and make Europes economy the strongest by 2010. (Old) European neoprotectionism killed it prematurely. One of the most outrageous statements of the past week was Chirac's, who more or less said that unlimited free markets are as bad as communism.

Poor Europe. Read it at LVB. It's in English.



MFBB

Hey European types - this story can't possibly be true can it?

"Lets take a look at the case of Gerhard Haderer. He's an Austrian cartoonist who published a satire on the life of Jesus. Like most satires, it is not very respectful, but it contravenes no Austrian law. Unbeknown to him, however, the book was republished in Greece, a country not known these days for its attachment to freedom. The book was banned, Haderer was found guilty of blasphemy and sentenced to jail. He's appealing, but if he loses, he can under EU law be extradited to Greece to serve his time and Austria cannot do anything about it."

WTF?

HAPPY THOUGHTS OF THE DAY.


Yesterday evening at around 7pm, yours truly (to the left of the goatf*cker) was heading off with his lady to some eating event organised by a diving club (there were salmon and fries on the menu card) and on dropping off the kid at my parents house I was able to see a few TV newsshots. Just a few secs of watching neocommie Belgian TV was enough to get furious and possibly have my appetite spoiled, so we quickly left for our salmon. However, fellow Blogger De Andere Kijk (The Other View) had the guts to watch "Eén" (One), as the Belgian/Flemish state-run TV broadcaster has recently been renamed. Watch it out, rather. This is a translation of the report he filed:



You are wrong, wrong, wrong!


Two years ago Operation Iraqi Freedom started. "Our" national broadcast again did its utmost best to "offer content" at this anniversary. The 7pm news was typical again:

*one could see the victims of American bombs, but not those of suicide terrorists driving [their bomb-laden cars] into [crowds of] their own compatriots.

*"remorseful" ex-soldiers and angry parents of deceased soldiers were allowed to have their say, while soldiers stationed right now in Iraq and parents who did not want the name of their killed son was used for propaganda, could not be heard.

*the man/woman in the street who can complain about the so-called absence of an "exit-strategy"

*the demonstrations of "the population" against Bush while your TV screen was full of red flags, of UK Socialist Party banners and of communist symbols and strongmen

*I even saw a placard with "HANDS OFF IRAN AND SYRIA". Indeed, let dictator Assad and Mullah Khamenei go on terrorizing their own and other populations.

*the moral bankruptcy of the Left is devastating. The show they perform is shameful and yes, dangerous.


UPDATE 20/3: today again some "coverage" of "our" national broadcaster. Again a couple of "remorseful" ex-soldiers and angry parents. To top it all off, an interview with Giuliana Sgrena who wants an explanation of George W. Bush himself.


Thank you De Andere Kijk.

I will say it again and again: while there may indeed be a certain resentment and inherent anti-Americanism among European populations, mostly born out of a certain sense of inferiority and impotence, I keep insisting that the media is the key in (starting to) altering the political landscape in Europe. I would say that 10-15% of the European populace are diehard moonbats, 7-8% pro-US and the middle field, well, in the absence of the European Neocommunist networks they would be either indifferent or mildly pro-US. As it is now, this undecided, lukewarm-for-everything-but-soaps-wages-vacations-sexlife-retirement mob is prone to a constant bombardment of false impressions and outright deep red propaganda. Take our national TV broadcaster: I have a fairly good idea who the producers are, the directors, the anchormen: I know their backgrounds, I know the circles they come from: leftist to extreme leftist, all of them. You won’t find a single rightwinger at "Eén", except for an occasional lower level technician maybe, and even that is doubtful.

Our state-run TV networks have to be privatised. And Europe needs its FOX, or FOX-like, networks. The media is the key.


MFBB

P.S.: the salmon and fries were good, just a tipsy getting cold.

THE DUTCH ARE SCREWED BIG TIME...


Teachers of the Mozaiek elementary school are very concerned about the radicalization of their pupils. Mohammed B. [Bouyeri :The killer of Van Gogh] is revered as a hero, when Hirsi Ali is shown on school TV they mimic ‘shooting’ movements. When they visited the Anne Frank House pupils said “they deserved it” and
"They should have killed more Jews".

The radical behavior is not new. The teachers of the Christian elementary school say they ask for years now attention to this problem. Teacher Marlene van den Berg: "After the September 11 attacks, they made a St. Nicolas [children feast where presents are packet in self made creative wrappings] surprise of the WTC towers, complete with flames and falling people. We started the dialog: What do you mean, why do you do this? Then you get a ruthless answer: They deserved it, they had to do it a long time ago"...


Hat tip to Dutch Report. I recommend you bookmark that site.

On a population of 16 million, The Netherlands count 1.6 million, or 10%, non-western immigrants. 1 million of them is Muslim. Somali-born Dutch MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who spoke out against Islam and who since the fall of 2004 has to be kept under close guard on a Dutch marine basis in central Amsterdam because of death threats by Islamic extremists, estimates that 2/3 of those 1 million Muslims are NOT integrated, nor do they show any desire to do so. Criminality among young Moroccans, who make up the bulk of the Muslim population in The Netherlands, is rampant: 80% of crimes committed in Utrecht, famous for its university, is contributed to Moroccan youths. It is estimated that by the middle of the century the Dutch population will count some 18 million plus inhabitants, of which 32% will be immigrants or their descendants. The number of native Dutch emigrating from their homeland is growing year after year, and in 2004 passed the peak of 1954.

MFBB

Maine state legislature taking on the tough issues Part 2.

Time to head up to Augusta with some pitchforks and torches...

"My name is Walter Moore and I'm running for mayor, and you know what? I don't speak Spanish and I don't intend to learn." -- L.A. mayoral candidate Walter Moore

I don't think he'll win but I do admire his refreshing lack of pandering.

Good to know that our local Maine lawmakers are paying attention to the pressing issues of our time. Never mind that we are the most overtaxed state in the union and still have massive, escalating debt; never mind the pathetic, failing state health care debacle; never mind the out of control property tax situation; let's keep mothers of the future from aborting their fetuses based on knowledge of the baby's sexual orientation!

As if the Democrats who control this state aren't screwing the pooch hard enough, now we've got Republicans going off the deep end too. Hmmm, how are those real estate prices in New Hampshire?

Just in case you needed another reason to hate the UAW...

FREEDOM OF SPEECH ACCORDING TO THE LEFT...






Ok, this is not #@ù%*!!?=+/?!#!!!?§!?!Giuliana Sgrenas car riddled with 400 American bullets but, as it happens to be, the Alfa Romeo of Vlaams Belang strongman Filip Dewinter. On February 28, he was invited to participate in a debate at the University of Leuven organised by the LVSV (Liberaal Vlaams Studentenverbond, or Liberal Flemish Student’s Association). Also participating in the debate was Bart De Wever, another Flemish politican (NVA) with a secessionist agenda. Before the debate started, six leftwing militants protested against Mr. Dewinter’s presence. After the debate, the Flemish Rightwing politician found that his car had been busted: the windshield and one sidewindow caved in, extensive damage to the paint, and eggs, black paint and an unknown substance smeared here and there (not all damage visible). No doubt the work of sensitive, sophisticated persons of tolerance and diversity. Estimated damage costs: 4,000 Euros.

Although the debate was considered "risky", there was no police. Police in Leuven falls under the authority of Socialist mayor Louis Tobback, archenemy of Flemish Conservatives and the Concept of Sanity. Hat tip for this story: Visual Hugo’s Flying Circus and Deekodiver.

Freedom of speech according to the Left, yeah. I know all about it.

MFBB

OUTRAGE: EUROPEAN PUBLIC BOMBARDED DAY AND NIGHT WITH NEOMARXIST PROPAGANDA!!!

First of all, I want to extend my heartfelt condolences to the relatives of the Italian top security agent Mr. Nicola Calipari.

........

It may not be very polite to elaborate in the following way on the circumstances surrounding Mr. Calipari’s death. Nevertheless, if the Left uses the tragic passing of this no doubt brave officer in such a callous way, I don’t see why I shouldn’t be allowed to add my view on the story. So here goes:

You can’t have failed to miss the Left’s cause célèbre of the day. Make that days. I have no intention to smear Downeast with the ramblings of a May ’68 fossil, so from that BBC article I will only pluck this quote:


"Everyone knows that the Americans do not like negotiations to free hostages, and because of this I don't see why I should exclude the possibility of me having been the target," she said.


No, "Mrs." Sgrena, that’s the first time that I hear that "Americans don’t like to free hostages". And 'lo and behold, it gets better.


And in an article for Sunday's edition of her newspaper, Il Manifesto, she said the shooting, which occurred Friday as agents were taking her to the airport in Baghdad, recalled her captors' warning that "the Americans don't want you to return."


Right cunt. IIRC, not so long ago you were begging for your life:


Kidnapped Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena appealed to her government to withdraw troops from Iraq in a video tape released by militants on Wednesday. She was shown by the Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV channel begging her government to put an end to the occupation. Sgrena, whose speech was translated into Arabic by the channel, wore a light green jacket and a shirt, locking her fingers together and shaking her hands as if begging.


Then we were all treated to the joyful news of your release… we even learned that despite the fact that the Iraqi freedom fighters intended to kill you, they nevertheless saw fit to treat you well. How touching. And now this: hours after you have been freed the car in which you travelled to BIAP was riddled with bullets by evil US troops, the security official who freed you killed, and you yourself wounded. Which all gives the dipshit toilet paper you "work" for a hell of a scoop, isn’t it?

Bottom line: Saddam may be in jail, the Iraqi elections may have been a success, Living conditions may have improved dramatically, the Iraqi economy may be booming and in the whole of the Middle East there’s a democratic tsunami in the making…

…but still the US are the bad guys…. Fooking unbelievable. And of course, European MSM, desperately in need to find bad news, have jumped on your "story":





The caption of the clip above reads "Vrij, maar gewond door Amerikaans vuur". Which translates as:

FREE, BUT WOUNDED BY AMERICAN FIRE (The Daily Crap, aka De "Standaard", March 6, 2005)

The one below is all too happy to quote Mr. Pier Scolari, husband to Giulianana Sgrena: "Amerikanen wilden niet dat Giuliana bleef leven". Or:

"AMERICANS DID NOT WANT THAT GIULIANA STAYED ALIVE".(De Zondag, March 6, 2005)


How wonderful. Now to make sure that the message came through, Belgian state-run commie TV on its channel "Eén" (One) happily spread the "news". Now for all those wondering why such a large portion of Europeans are so anti-American, what else do you expect? When I said hello to my folks at noon, the first thing I heard from my dad was that the Americans "had made a grave error" again, "that the news was everywhere", "they had killed an Italian" etc. etc. Now mind you, although my dad is not the guy to know the finesses of Iraqi news, he is PRO-AMERICAN!!! Yours truly immediately had to rebuke the drivel and free daddy’s mind from the bias, telling him that at least according to the US account, the car had been warned with flashlights, warning shots had been fired, and finally the US guards had shot in the vehicles engine. Now I don’t know what it is exactly that happened. I suppose that after a series of car bombings with vehicles ramming into crowds and murdering hundreds of civilians, troops have strict orders to stop cars not heeding the warnings, if necessary with lethal force. I assume that is what happened. Commie fossil Giuliana Sgrena herself admitted "that the car was not going particularly fast". Yeah, if you have ever driven through Rome and tried to avoid those the natives "not driving particularly fast" I assure you you will understand that Italians don’t have to take lessons on understatements from nobody.

Bah. I’m so fed up with the whole story. Luckily I’m not ranting alone: "Value for money" from De andere kijk, "Return of the Jawa" from Dog of Flanders and "The coalition of the killing" from Visual Hugo’s Flying Circus all cover the same story in one way or another.

I’m pissed off. I could’ve spent my Sunday afternoon better than to rant on the ravings of a May 68 leftover. Look, normally I’m a pretty decent guy, or so I kid myself, but sometimes… sometimes I can’t restrain myself from a little pottymouthing no more than Eric Bana could restrain himself from turning green. So Mrs. Giuliana Sgrena, SCR*W YOU! And if I could, I’D KICK YOUR BUTT!!!


MFBB, feeling better afterwards.

Wow. Things are moving quickly in Lebanon.

BEIRUT: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is expected to announce on Saturday the pullout of some Syrian troops from Lebanon and the redeployment of the rest close to the border, a Lebanese political source said on Friday.

The blog EU Referendum has a frightening example of EU anti-business legislation that may eventually lead to loss of life.

I just don't see how this thing is supposed to succeed with what seems like almost deliberate efforts to guarantee that it won't.

President Chirac set out yesterday to persuade disgruntled French citizens to put aside their distaste for Europe and his own Government and vote oui to the EU constitution in a referendum.
The President and Jean-Pierre Raffarin, his Prime Minister, used a solemn parliamentary session at the Château de Versailles and a Franco-Polish summit to open a campaign to head off a possible political rout and death for the European treaty.

Interesting. As an ignorant Americano I guess I assumed constitutional (or whatever the hell you call that mess) approval was a slam dunk, especially in France.

WTF???

According to the legend, New York was founded in 1626 by the Dutch in the southern part of Manhattan Island. Some schoolbooks, history books, television broadcasts - and down to cigarettes makers - even say that the founder of New York was named Peter Stuyvesant.

The reality is somewhat different...


"In 1609, an English sailor named Henri Hudson discovered a great bay with a big river flowing into it from the mountains, at a latitude of forty-one degrees north and a longitude of seventy-four degrees west.

Hudson had been entrusted by the Flemings Emmanuel Van Meteren, Judocus Hondius and Petrus Plancius to discover a new passage to the land of Tartars and to China, on behalf of the East-Indies Company."

...

"From 1615, the region between Virginia and New-England was equally named New-Belgium (Novum Belgium, Novo Belgio, Nova Belgica, Novi Belgii)..."





"In 1626, Pierre Minuit, governor of New-Belgium, became famous by the purchase of Manhattan Island. He bought it from the Manhattes Indians in exchange for glittering beads and other trinkets. The total value was about sixty guilders or $24."


Alas, the worst is yet to come...


"Pierre Minuit was a Walloon, born in Wesel (Rheinland). His parents, from Tournai (Hainault), had settled there in 1581 in order to flee the religious persecutions..."

So you guys descend primarily from Walloons huh? Listen, I've been on this blog now for fifteen months and I have yet to encounter the first person who actually believes me. Fine. Like so many times before, I don't expect you to change. Well, check out this book then:

"The Belgians, first settlers in New York and in the Middle States" - by Henry G. Bayer

(Originally published in New York, 1925 by Devin-Adair.)


MFBB (laughing his *rse off)

COME AND SEE: PRO BUSH PROF ON BELGIAN TV!!!

An amazing thing has happened. Some of you may recall that recently in Downeasts comments section a Mr. Marc Cogen , Professor in International Law at Ghent University was mentioned. Fellow Belgian blogger De andere kijk and I said a.o. that Mr. Cogen was last allowed on Belgian TV prior to OIF, where he defended the upcoming liberation of Iraq by US troops. This was really too much for Belgian commie television, and Mr. Cogen was not invited anymore. Ironically, Professor Cogen was then Chairman of the Belgian Association for the United Nations! (current chairman is Professor Dr. Jan Wouters - note by MFBB).

(Prof Marc Cogen. Pic illegally stolen. By MFBB from LVB.)

Since then, the Belgian TV audience has been fed nothing but the continuing anti-American drivel. For academic assistance Mr. Cogen's colleague, Professor Rik Coolsaet, who is virulently anti-American, was so kind to be on permanent standby. While Professor Cogen does not have an own website, Professor Coolsaet has, so you gather that like in the US, in Belgium the loudmouths can all be found on the same side of the political spectrum. FYI, Prof. Coolsaet is the author of the book: AL-QAEDA – THE MYTH. The Root Causes of International Terrorism and how to tackle them. In short, the Prof thinks Al-Qaeda exists only in our imagination and - yawn - we all have to thank it to ourselves. Ok, enough 'bout Ricky.

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that Prof Cogen has made a reappearance on Belgian TV!!! On Saturday night, February 26th, he was a panel member in De Nachtwacht (The Night Watch), a discussion program on Flemish TV.

The Nachtwacht every week puts forward a thesis by some important dude which is then challenged by other important dudes (I have not been called yet). This week Dutch journalist of leading Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad Henk Hofland propounded that:

"American soldiers still have no business in the Middle East. One can never turn 350 million Arabs to democrats by pointing guns at their head. And so the West can only serve as a good example and the people in the Arab World must liberate themselves on their own of dictatorial regimes AND Muslim fundamentalism".

(MFBB would wager that Mr. Hofland thinks Mubaraks U-turn has been brought about by "the good example of the West". But I digress.)

Well, Mr. Cogen replied a.o. the following:


Dialogue alone will not work. Europe is talking with the Arab world for 30 years now, with a lot of diplomats, experts and committees. The result? Very few reforms, and no solutions. I find it amazing how Europe keeps believing in something that yields no results. And they have the same attitude towards Africa, where the problems are even greater. Europe believes that by throwing money and experts at the problems, they will disappear. The hard conclusion should be that with some regimes, talking is useless. Even economic sanctions do not help, as they reinforce the local dictatorship, and make only the people suffer, and not the elites.


Excellent post about the event at LVB, who has more or less become Belgium's top political blogger.


Mr. Cogen is not the only sane person at Ghent University though. Professor Boudewijn Bouckaert is another ardent supporter of US international policy. Bouckaert is also a law professor, and is currently Erasmus lecturer at Harvard University. In 2003, he had this to say about the widening gap between the States and Europe (quote translated by Luc Van Braekel):


Continental Europe is evolving towards a socialist economy where the state absorbs and redistributes the largest part of the national product. The private sector is tolerated as a cow to be milked to the limits of the sustainable. Entrepreneurs are diabolized by the socialist-bureaucratic elites as scrooges, polluters, tax evaders etc.


Got some time, read the whole thing. Furthermore, you may be interested to know that Mr. Bouckaert is also the Chairman of Nova Civitas, a Flemish pro free market think tank.





Nova Civitas's homepage sports a.o. the following statement:

The principles of Nova Civitas are :

• that freedom is linked to responsability;
• that the family must be revalorized as cornerstone of a free society;
• that the economy should be de-feodalized, and the free entrepreneurship should be protected;
• that the rule of law must be upheld.

But what is perhaps more telling about Nova Civitas are the sites they link to. And immediately after the US Presidential elections, Nova Civitas also called for nothing less than a European Republican Party:


In almost all newspapers, magazines and television programs, the [US] elections were a pretext to a true orgy of anti-americanism. The Americans were depicted as dumb, fat, superficial, retarded, reactionary, etc. The president was shown as a moron, completely manipulated by a cabal of oil barons. [...] The leftist political and intellectual elite, that has Europe in a strong grip at this moment, will probably use Bush's victory to make the gap between the US and Europe even larger, and boast about the superiority of the euro-socialist model.

Nova Civitas is asking itself if wat is possible in the US, would also be possible in Europe. With each election, whether in the US or Europe, the same pattern emerges: the bulk of the population thinks more right-wing than the elite of leftist (socialist, green and left-liberal) politicians, subsidized artists and journalists that think they know better). The center-right forces in Europe are divided among different factions: christian democrats, liberals and nationalists, they often lack adequate leadership and power, and don't have enough intellectual backing because of the total dominance of the left in the human sciences. [...]

Everyone that rejects the perspective of a islamo-leftist dictatorship, must engage in the construction of a center-right European republican front. Therefore, we must take distance from differences that are unimportant but have grown historically, like between christians and atheists, between nationalists and globalists. We must have the courage to build a consistent center-right program, thereby facing the curses of the leftist intellectual elite. The historic reelection of president Bush can become the new start for a center-right Europe.


MFBB keeps thinking that in an age where distances have shrunk by cheap air transport and chatting with pals on the other side of the world, there is no more excuse for American and European conservatives to go their own ways. If you don't like being labeled as "conservative", make that rightwinger or libertarian or whatever, as long as it's right of center. We should cooperate. The Atlantic has become but a psychological barrier.

MFBB