During a visit to a mental asylum, a visitor asked the director, "How do you determine whether or not a patient should be institutionalised?"
"Well," said the director "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup, and a bucket to the patient and ask him to empty the bathtub".
"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it is bigger than the spoon or the teacup".
"No," said the director, "a normal person would pull out the plug. Do you want the bed near the window?"
From : http://revjph.blogspot.com/.
Gevraagd : staatslieden
Walter Zinzen in De Standaard :
"Neen, meneer ... , dit is geen regimecrisis. Neen, meneer ... , dit zijn niet de grenzen van het federaal overlegmodel. Wat we de afgelopen dagen hebben meegemaakt, is de crisis van een politieke klasse. Een klasse die niet bij machte of, erger, niet bereid is om over haar eigen schaduw te springen, de vastgeroeste standpunten te relativeren en creatief naar oplossingen te zoeken omdat ze alleen maar denkt aan de volgende stembusslag. "
Ik heb de namen weggelaten. Er is voor die heren al meer dan genoeg publiciteit gemaakt.
Lees verder : http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelId=J620LFSI.
"Neen, meneer ... , dit is geen regimecrisis. Neen, meneer ... , dit zijn niet de grenzen van het federaal overlegmodel. Wat we de afgelopen dagen hebben meegemaakt, is de crisis van een politieke klasse. Een klasse die niet bij machte of, erger, niet bereid is om over haar eigen schaduw te springen, de vastgeroeste standpunten te relativeren en creatief naar oplossingen te zoeken omdat ze alleen maar denkt aan de volgende stembusslag. "
Ik heb de namen weggelaten. Er is voor die heren al meer dan genoeg publiciteit gemaakt.
Lees verder : http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelId=J620LFSI.
Yes, I am back
To my very few regular readers : yes, I am back, and really sorry to be.
I don't really feel the urgent need to comment on the happenings of the last few days, except for two points :
-- the unbelievable, bottomless pit of stupidity of our Belgian politicians who are indeed dead intent on destroying our country and our welfare : these have to be sacrificed on the altar of their arrogant egocentricity : better be the king of a graveyard than a servant of a prosperous country...
It is a deep shame indeed that there is no law against this kind of criminal adventurers.
-- the world wide financial crisis, which widened into an international chasm and deepened into a terryfying pit last week, and which endangers our savings, our jobs, and even world peace. The game addicts, sometimes called bankers or world business leaders, who operated those banks ware immeasurably more stupid and arrogant than our Belgian politicians.
Greed was their god, is their god, and will be their god. This is the worst crisis since the 1930's ... and it may turn much worse still.
-- Remember I predicted all this, in tempore non suspecto, when all politicians and bankers were singing us their lullabies.
-- But sometimes, some good is born out of deep and bottomless pain. Let us hope that something good comes out of this horrible mess. Personally I don't believe it, but feel free to do so.
-- As for my absence : I made an almost heavenly "tour de France" in absolutely outstanding company. The focus of the trip was Lourdes, my second home. That's all you need to know for the time being.
I don't really feel the urgent need to comment on the happenings of the last few days, except for two points :
-- the unbelievable, bottomless pit of stupidity of our Belgian politicians who are indeed dead intent on destroying our country and our welfare : these have to be sacrificed on the altar of their arrogant egocentricity : better be the king of a graveyard than a servant of a prosperous country...
It is a deep shame indeed that there is no law against this kind of criminal adventurers.
-- the world wide financial crisis, which widened into an international chasm and deepened into a terryfying pit last week, and which endangers our savings, our jobs, and even world peace. The game addicts, sometimes called bankers or world business leaders, who operated those banks ware immeasurably more stupid and arrogant than our Belgian politicians.
Greed was their god, is their god, and will be their god. This is the worst crisis since the 1930's ... and it may turn much worse still.
-- Remember I predicted all this, in tempore non suspecto, when all politicians and bankers were singing us their lullabies.
-- But sometimes, some good is born out of deep and bottomless pain. Let us hope that something good comes out of this horrible mess. Personally I don't believe it, but feel free to do so.
-- As for my absence : I made an almost heavenly "tour de France" in absolutely outstanding company. The focus of the trip was Lourdes, my second home. That's all you need to know for the time being.
Sad
So we weren't swallowed by the black hole on wednesday - much ado about nothing - but I am getting scared stiff nevertheless when I listen to the comments of (and the comments about) America's would-be presidentials, all four of them.
I do not think any of them can do worse than Dubya - although I wouldn't care to bet on that issue - but I have lost all hope that they will do better.
Poor America ... I sincerely hope time will prove me wrong !
By the way, black hole or not, there will be no new posting on this blog for over a week.
I do not think any of them can do worse than Dubya - although I wouldn't care to bet on that issue - but I have lost all hope that they will do better.
Poor America ... I sincerely hope time will prove me wrong !
By the way, black hole or not, there will be no new posting on this blog for over a week.
Fannie and Freddie again
An article by John Quiggin, found on "Crooked Timber" :
"Measured by the dollar amount involved, the nationalisation of the mortgage guarantors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, announced today by the Bush Administration, is the largest in history. No less than $5 trillion of assets and obligations have been taken over by the US government in one hit.
Of course, that debt had long been regarded as having an implicit government guarantee and the companies involved were quangos (in the original sense of quasi-NGOs) rather than genuine private firms. Fannie was a government agency privatised in the 1960s, and Freddie was created to provide competiion for Fannie. So even though the US government will now guarantee virtually all new mortgages, this is more an admission of existing reality than a big step towards socialism.
The significance of the event is not in the marginal change in the status of Fannie and Freddie from quasi-private to quasi-public, but in the abandonment of the pretence that the normal operations of financial markets are capable of cleaning up the mess they have created, even with the liberal helpings of public money that have already been dished out.
While the quasi-governmental status of Fannie and Freddie was always problematic, this wasn’t the main reason for their problems. Rather, they were pushed to accept increasingly bad loans made by the private sector. And when their difficulties became acute, the most satisfactory solution, under normal conditions, would have been to formalise the government guarantee of their existing obligations, then put them into run-off mode, writing no new business.
It’s the impossibility of doing that, thanks to the near-total breakdown of the markets for securitised mortgage obligations (other than those coming with a government guarantee) that has necessitated the acceptance of open-ended liabiliities by the government.
The fact that the credit crisis has reached this point marks the failure of the central claim of the neoliberal program, namely that private capital markets, free from intrusive government regulation, can enable individuals and households to handle the risks they face more flexibly and efficiently than a social-democratic welfare state.
In the boom that created this crisis, every part of the financial system (retail banks and mortgage businesses, major investment banks, the financial engineers who designed new securitisation assets, investment funds, ratings agencies and bond insurers) had a major role to play. All have failed miserably, even though most will get to keep the rich rewards they received when things were going well. The financial sector triumphalism that dominated the 1990s looks pretty silly in retrospect."
My italics.
"Measured by the dollar amount involved, the nationalisation of the mortgage guarantors Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, announced today by the Bush Administration, is the largest in history. No less than $5 trillion of assets and obligations have been taken over by the US government in one hit.
Of course, that debt had long been regarded as having an implicit government guarantee and the companies involved were quangos (in the original sense of quasi-NGOs) rather than genuine private firms. Fannie was a government agency privatised in the 1960s, and Freddie was created to provide competiion for Fannie. So even though the US government will now guarantee virtually all new mortgages, this is more an admission of existing reality than a big step towards socialism.
The significance of the event is not in the marginal change in the status of Fannie and Freddie from quasi-private to quasi-public, but in the abandonment of the pretence that the normal operations of financial markets are capable of cleaning up the mess they have created, even with the liberal helpings of public money that have already been dished out.
While the quasi-governmental status of Fannie and Freddie was always problematic, this wasn’t the main reason for their problems. Rather, they were pushed to accept increasingly bad loans made by the private sector. And when their difficulties became acute, the most satisfactory solution, under normal conditions, would have been to formalise the government guarantee of their existing obligations, then put them into run-off mode, writing no new business.
It’s the impossibility of doing that, thanks to the near-total breakdown of the markets for securitised mortgage obligations (other than those coming with a government guarantee) that has necessitated the acceptance of open-ended liabiliities by the government.
The fact that the credit crisis has reached this point marks the failure of the central claim of the neoliberal program, namely that private capital markets, free from intrusive government regulation, can enable individuals and households to handle the risks they face more flexibly and efficiently than a social-democratic welfare state.
In the boom that created this crisis, every part of the financial system (retail banks and mortgage businesses, major investment banks, the financial engineers who designed new securitisation assets, investment funds, ratings agencies and bond insurers) had a major role to play. All have failed miserably, even though most will get to keep the rich rewards they received when things were going well. The financial sector triumphalism that dominated the 1990s looks pretty silly in retrospect."
My italics.
Worldwide growth
According to the IMF worldwide growth is going to accelerate again in 2009. Hurray !!!
Problems solved ?
Never ! Growth is not the solution to the problems of the world economy. The structure of the world economy and its markets is the problem ; the predominance of greed is the problem.
Growth masks the problems, it does not solve them. We have fallen in this "growth" trap for some sixty years now. It made some countries very rich, but most of them very poor. The same holds for individuals within these countries. Inequality is a crying shame all over the globe.
To the poor we said : do like us, and you will become rich too. Horse manure ... the world simply does not have the resources to let all countries and humans live at our present level of "development".
It is high time to change our attitudes and behaviour. About half a century ago, one of my economy professors said : do not fight over the distribution of the cake ; make a bigger cake, let it grow. Nowadays the problem no longer is to bake a bigger cake, but to slice even parts of it for everybody.
Problems solved ?
Never ! Growth is not the solution to the problems of the world economy. The structure of the world economy and its markets is the problem ; the predominance of greed is the problem.
Growth masks the problems, it does not solve them. We have fallen in this "growth" trap for some sixty years now. It made some countries very rich, but most of them very poor. The same holds for individuals within these countries. Inequality is a crying shame all over the globe.
To the poor we said : do like us, and you will become rich too. Horse manure ... the world simply does not have the resources to let all countries and humans live at our present level of "development".
It is high time to change our attitudes and behaviour. About half a century ago, one of my economy professors said : do not fight over the distribution of the cake ; make a bigger cake, let it grow. Nowadays the problem no longer is to bake a bigger cake, but to slice even parts of it for everybody.
Oeps
The vocal leader of a smallish Flemish party - which is striving for independence, and which is one of the main causes of the year long stalemate in Belgian politics - has been caught with his pants down.
Last weekend, he was asked to list the six "communes à facilités" in the Brussels region : he could name only four of them. That same weekend, the names were prominently displayed in most of the papers yet again.
Those Flemich municipalities, with facilities for French speakers, are among the main stumblestones on the way to the elusive pacification of Belgian politics.
See : http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=DMF08092008_047&ref=nieuwsoverzicht.
Last weekend, he was asked to list the six "communes à facilités" in the Brussels region : he could name only four of them. That same weekend, the names were prominently displayed in most of the papers yet again.
Those Flemich municipalities, with facilities for French speakers, are among the main stumblestones on the way to the elusive pacification of Belgian politics.
See : http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=DMF08092008_047&ref=nieuwsoverzicht.
Fannie and Freddie
Stock exchanges had an almost delirious Monday after the US government "nationalized" Fannie and Freddie. But that potential euphoria may turn into just another bubble.
Nothing had changed, except for the appearances. The crisis is far from over.
See : http://www.counterpunch.org/. The author is not always very objective, but then who is ?
Nothing had changed, except for the appearances. The crisis is far from over.
See : http://www.counterpunch.org/. The author is not always very objective, but then who is ?
Family tree
Readers will have noticed that I haven't published any genealogical posts for almost a month now. That is due to several factors : the main one is that my failing eyesight does not allow me to sit at a desktop screen for hours on end, or to endlessly scrutinise badly lit microfilms in the archives.
Another reason is that I have been traveling and will be traveling even more in the months to come. So readers should not be alarmed (hahaha !) by week-long interruptions in the feeding of this blog.
All that of course shall be completely without interest if we disappear in Geneva's black hole tomorrow.
Another reason is that I have been traveling and will be traveling even more in the months to come. So readers should not be alarmed (hahaha !) by week-long interruptions in the feeding of this blog.
All that of course shall be completely without interest if we disappear in Geneva's black hole tomorrow.
Mutual consent
Divorce by mutual consent has been greatly facilitated in Belgium some time ago. Now there are voices claiming that the almost unbearable burden of appearing in court should be abolished. Both ex partners are required to appear before a judge at two points in the procedure. And most of them have to take half a free day to do that. Imagine the trouble !
Read : http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=TK2063IS&ref=front.
As marriage and divorce have become pure and apparently troublesome conventions, denatured and denuded of any real meaning, why not go one step further ? A mutual "I divorce thee", pronounced in the presence of two witnesses, could do the trick, or couldn't it ?
Read : http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=TK2063IS&ref=front.
As marriage and divorce have become pure and apparently troublesome conventions, denatured and denuded of any real meaning, why not go one step further ? A mutual "I divorce thee", pronounced in the presence of two witnesses, could do the trick, or couldn't it ?
Armageddon
Once more, the end of the world is near. And now it's not religious nuts who predict it, but so-called scientists. Wednesday, the curtain is to fall ; the black hole created by Geneva mad-men will devour us all.
Read : http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/news/1150560,3_1_EL08_A3FERMI-EL_S1.article.
Don't say you haven't been warned !
Captain Picard, au secours !
Read : http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/couriernews/news/1150560,3_1_EL08_A3FERMI-EL_S1.article.
Don't say you haven't been warned !
Captain Picard, au secours !
The problem ...
A (slightly edited) post from Klein Verzet - a Dutch blog with apparently extreme tendencies and links. The post is called : "The problem in a nutshell".
"You may remember Mohammed Faizel Ali Enait from our reporting of his refusal to shake hands with women, the approval he got from the Centre for Equal Treatment (CGB) and the smack down he got from the Dutch court. Back then we reported the last item with the question : are we watching the tide turning?
Well, we're not. Enait, a lawyer by profession, has taken to refusing to stand up when the judge enters the court room. He justifies this arrogance by citing his view that all men are created equal, including judges. Hence, he feels no need to acknowledge the arrival of the judge by standing up, which is customary in Dutch courts.
Contempt of court is a part of the Dutch judicial system as well, so one would think the solution to this problem is simplicity itself. But alas : the Rotterdam court has decided Enait may remain seated if his 'deeply held religious convictions' prescribe such. The liberal conservative VVD fraction in Second Chamber is deeply offended by the courts decision, calling it 'the height of cultural relativism' and wants to end this 'madness'. They will raise the issue at question time, next Tuesday afternoon.
And that, dear reader, is the problem in a nutshell. Enait is obtuse facsimile of human life, constantly looking for a quarrel. The best, and really only, solution to the behavior of the likes of Enait is to not mind them. But he is muslim, and we are of the multi-cult, bent on selling out our own traditions in a misguided display of 'enlightenment'. Dutch customs and traditions are on sale to the lowest bidder, and one would have to make an effort to get any lower then this Enait creature.
And is this little anecdote not symptomatic for the current state of the entire Western world? "
Strongly worded, but extreme positions sometimes require extreme reactions ...
"You may remember Mohammed Faizel Ali Enait from our reporting of his refusal to shake hands with women, the approval he got from the Centre for Equal Treatment (CGB) and the smack down he got from the Dutch court. Back then we reported the last item with the question : are we watching the tide turning?
Well, we're not. Enait, a lawyer by profession, has taken to refusing to stand up when the judge enters the court room. He justifies this arrogance by citing his view that all men are created equal, including judges. Hence, he feels no need to acknowledge the arrival of the judge by standing up, which is customary in Dutch courts.
Contempt of court is a part of the Dutch judicial system as well, so one would think the solution to this problem is simplicity itself. But alas : the Rotterdam court has decided Enait may remain seated if his 'deeply held religious convictions' prescribe such. The liberal conservative VVD fraction in Second Chamber is deeply offended by the courts decision, calling it 'the height of cultural relativism' and wants to end this 'madness'. They will raise the issue at question time, next Tuesday afternoon.
And that, dear reader, is the problem in a nutshell. Enait is obtuse facsimile of human life, constantly looking for a quarrel. The best, and really only, solution to the behavior of the likes of Enait is to not mind them. But he is muslim, and we are of the multi-cult, bent on selling out our own traditions in a misguided display of 'enlightenment'. Dutch customs and traditions are on sale to the lowest bidder, and one would have to make an effort to get any lower then this Enait creature.
And is this little anecdote not symptomatic for the current state of the entire Western world? "
Strongly worded, but extreme positions sometimes require extreme reactions ...
Religion ?
-- In Rotterdam, a newly installed muslim lawyer refuses to stand up when the court enters the room. The deeply religious man says that is against his religion. The court accepts his attitude. Multicultural political correctness at its very worst.
-- Last week all the media and a lot of political and religious leaders extensively covered the start of Ramadan. I am curious to see what their attitude will be next Ash Wednesday, or am I ? No, not really. I know the answer perfectly well.
-- I often asked myself how the Roman catholic church evolved from a very dominant, often intolerant and bigoted institution to a small minority movement in less than half a century (I consider the religious field exclusively here). In Tertio this week there were some very interesting articles about the organisation and contents of religious teaching in so called catholic schools. I need no more explanation ...
-- Last week all the media and a lot of political and religious leaders extensively covered the start of Ramadan. I am curious to see what their attitude will be next Ash Wednesday, or am I ? No, not really. I know the answer perfectly well.
-- I often asked myself how the Roman catholic church evolved from a very dominant, often intolerant and bigoted institution to a small minority movement in less than half a century (I consider the religious field exclusively here). In Tertio this week there were some very interesting articles about the organisation and contents of religious teaching in so called catholic schools. I need no more explanation ...
Gordel
Volgens de website van mijn krant wordt het een gordel vol pesterijen.
Lees : http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=B26167975080907&ref=nieuwsoverzicht.
De gordel mag dan in de loop der jaren verworden zijn tot een hoogdag voor een marginale groep politiek geïnspireerde Vlamingen, maar is dat initiatief eigenlijk niet gestart als een nauwelijks gecamoufleerd - zij het 105 % wettelijke, en misschien zelfs gewettigde - pesterij(tje) ?
Hier in Gent is het prachtig gordelweer : het giet water. In Brussel en omsterken waarschijnlijk ook. Is dat ook een pesterij, van de weermaker dan ?
Het lijkt er wel erg op dat "iedereen" tegen Calimero-Flaanderen is.
Lees : http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=B26167975080907&ref=nieuwsoverzicht.
De gordel mag dan in de loop der jaren verworden zijn tot een hoogdag voor een marginale groep politiek geïnspireerde Vlamingen, maar is dat initiatief eigenlijk niet gestart als een nauwelijks gecamoufleerd - zij het 105 % wettelijke, en misschien zelfs gewettigde - pesterij(tje) ?
Hier in Gent is het prachtig gordelweer : het giet water. In Brussel en omsterken waarschijnlijk ook. Is dat ook een pesterij, van de weermaker dan ?
Het lijkt er wel erg op dat "iedereen" tegen Calimero-Flaanderen is.
Voor mijn hartspecialist
Ik ben de laatste dagen nogal lui en heb niet de behoefte om op alles en nog wat te reageren. Maar dit juweeltje kan ik gewoon niet laten voorbijgaan : si non é vero ...
"Volgens recent onderzoek hebben mensen met overgewicht geen hoger, maar een lager sterfterisico dan personen met een normale BMI (Body Mass Index). Dat schrijft het weekblad De Huisarts donderdag.
Uit verschillende recente studies blijkt dat mensen met een BMI tussen 25 en 30, wat volgende de huidige inzichten gelijkstaat met overgewicht, een lagere mortaliteit vertonen dan personen met een normale BMI."
Lees : http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=DMF03092008_117&word=obesitas.
Obesity is good for your health ... but be careful nevertheless. You know what I think about statistics and would-be statisticians !!!
"Volgens recent onderzoek hebben mensen met overgewicht geen hoger, maar een lager sterfterisico dan personen met een normale BMI (Body Mass Index). Dat schrijft het weekblad De Huisarts donderdag.
Uit verschillende recente studies blijkt dat mensen met een BMI tussen 25 en 30, wat volgende de huidige inzichten gelijkstaat met overgewicht, een lagere mortaliteit vertonen dan personen met een normale BMI."
Lees : http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=DMF03092008_117&word=obesitas.
Obesity is good for your health ... but be careful nevertheless. You know what I think about statistics and would-be statisticians !!!
Arrogantie ten top
Kinderen zijn een last, en meer van dat moois in : http://www.standaard.be/Artikel/Detail.aspx?artikelId=111VP0OI.
Daar word ik dus echt ziek van. Voornamelijk het stukje over het sterrenrestaurant heeft me geraakt : dat is recht uit het leven gegrepen ! Waarom wordt er zoveel over kindvriendelijke restaurants gesproken en geschreven ? Waarom zijn kinderen niet welkom in zoveel restaurants en nu zelfs ook in vacantiehotels ? Zijn kinderen dan een andere soort of een ander ras ? Wat ik wel begrijp is dat sommige kinderen zo slecht zijn opgevoed (of eerlijk gezegd niet zijn opgevoed) dat ze in bepaalde omstandigheden inderdaad echte pestkopjes kunnen worden. Maar daar kunnen of mogen hun leeftijdgenootjes geen slachtoffer van worden.
Kids can be a nuisance, but arrogant, egocentric, childless adults generally are so much more of a nuisance than kids. The problem is that they are too selfcentered and stupid to see it.
Daar word ik dus echt ziek van. Voornamelijk het stukje over het sterrenrestaurant heeft me geraakt : dat is recht uit het leven gegrepen ! Waarom wordt er zoveel over kindvriendelijke restaurants gesproken en geschreven ? Waarom zijn kinderen niet welkom in zoveel restaurants en nu zelfs ook in vacantiehotels ? Zijn kinderen dan een andere soort of een ander ras ? Wat ik wel begrijp is dat sommige kinderen zo slecht zijn opgevoed (of eerlijk gezegd niet zijn opgevoed) dat ze in bepaalde omstandigheden inderdaad echte pestkopjes kunnen worden. Maar daar kunnen of mogen hun leeftijdgenootjes geen slachtoffer van worden.
Kids can be a nuisance, but arrogant, egocentric, childless adults generally are so much more of a nuisance than kids. The problem is that they are too selfcentered and stupid to see it.
IJzerbedevaart
Het piepkleine overschot van wat eens zwart Vlaanderen mobiliseerde, is gisteren bijna onopgemerkt verlopen. De oudste, harde generaties, sterven uit en de "modernisering" schijnt niet veel zoden aan de dijk gezet te hebben. Gelukkig maar.
Ik heb het diepste respect voor al onze jongens - en burgers - die in 1914-1918 totaal zinloos aan de IJzer geslacht zijn, maar dat soort manifestatie helpt zeker niet om ons, en voornamelijk de jeugd, aan de totale zinloosheid van die slachting te herinneren. "Nooit meer oorlog" is nog steeds een heel verre droom.
Maar harde toespraken moeten er zijn. Daarvoor gaan de klanten naar Diksmuide. Nu heeft een van de kopstukken gezegd dat er onderhandeld moet worden over de fusie van Brussel met Vlaanderen (in oudere politiek incorrecte termen : Vlaanderen moet Brussel annexeren), en indien dat niet lukt dan moet Vlaanderen maar uit België stappen.
Heeft die man Brussel ooit wel al bestudeerd ? Bruxelles - Brussel 2001 is niet meer het Brussel van de 17e - 18e eeuw. Laten we meteen de US teruggeven aan de Indianen ...
Maar eigenlijk is zijn idee niet zo gek, maar wel onvolledig. Mijn natte droom : Vlaanderen annexeert Brussel, en Frankrijk annexeert Vlaanderen. Dan stuiven al die ultra-nationalisten waarschijnlijk naar betere oorden (Nederland, Duitsland, Zuid Afrika ... - keuze genoeg), en wordt het leven hier weer een pak rustiger. Of het beter wordt weet ik niet ; maar rustiger wordt het zeker.
Ik heb het diepste respect voor al onze jongens - en burgers - die in 1914-1918 totaal zinloos aan de IJzer geslacht zijn, maar dat soort manifestatie helpt zeker niet om ons, en voornamelijk de jeugd, aan de totale zinloosheid van die slachting te herinneren. "Nooit meer oorlog" is nog steeds een heel verre droom.
Maar harde toespraken moeten er zijn. Daarvoor gaan de klanten naar Diksmuide. Nu heeft een van de kopstukken gezegd dat er onderhandeld moet worden over de fusie van Brussel met Vlaanderen (in oudere politiek incorrecte termen : Vlaanderen moet Brussel annexeren), en indien dat niet lukt dan moet Vlaanderen maar uit België stappen.
Heeft die man Brussel ooit wel al bestudeerd ? Bruxelles - Brussel 2001 is niet meer het Brussel van de 17e - 18e eeuw. Laten we meteen de US teruggeven aan de Indianen ...
Maar eigenlijk is zijn idee niet zo gek, maar wel onvolledig. Mijn natte droom : Vlaanderen annexeert Brussel, en Frankrijk annexeert Vlaanderen. Dan stuiven al die ultra-nationalisten waarschijnlijk naar betere oorden (Nederland, Duitsland, Zuid Afrika ... - keuze genoeg), en wordt het leven hier weer een pak rustiger. Of het beter wordt weet ik niet ; maar rustiger wordt het zeker.
An all American hero
Three years after Katrina killed hundreds of thousands of people. Now its possible successor Gustav is blowing at the gates of New Orleans. But this time, mayor Ray Nagin appears to have decided to act faster and more decisevely against what may become "the mother of all storms".
He has ordered the evacuation of the city.
He added that people who do not take the warning seriously and stay will be on their own. An unmasked threat : they can drown, die of infection or thirst if they so chose. But looters will be dealt with most severely.
Once again property appears to be put before people. But maybe, just maybe, given the "right" circumstances, it is easier to shoot someone than to help him ?
And, funny enough, in as far as I know, that mayoral speech has not provoked any protest in the media. Has the world gone mad indeed ?
He has ordered the evacuation of the city.
He added that people who do not take the warning seriously and stay will be on their own. An unmasked threat : they can drown, die of infection or thirst if they so chose. But looters will be dealt with most severely.
Once again property appears to be put before people. But maybe, just maybe, given the "right" circumstances, it is easier to shoot someone than to help him ?
And, funny enough, in as far as I know, that mayoral speech has not provoked any protest in the media. Has the world gone mad indeed ?
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