Belgian senate goes live

Sorry for the low-profile blogging [insert usual yadayada here: summer, vacation, visits, bbq, ...].

Tuesday, 29 th of July, we should be able to see Belgian Senate at work ... live. It's a plenary session,
so I suspect there are no big issues at hand (if politicians know the cameras are in place, they make sure to be there ... usually), but it's always nice to stand by and look when the Fathers of the Nation spend our money.

Subjects will be proposals (pro memory, just to be sure everyone's asleep by then I presume) against  advertising tobbaco products, and a secret vote (are there going to be commercials then?) on something concerning Intelligence & Security Services.

There should be something to see at 10.00 AM (Central European Time) and at 14.30 PM.
Link here (Real Player needed).

Oh ... the former broadcast was "far more" interesting: it featured Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, invited by the Senate Chairman to come to Belgium, for a Convention on the Future Of Europe (in the good tradition of Belgian surrealism, the Chairman kicks off by forgetting his microphone is already on -- for the Bush-bashing people: yes, I know that reminds you of someone ...) .

For those of you with a closed-minded boss at work, you can always watch later. Bring on the popcorn!

   Todos los terroristas acaban en prisión ... . Todos.

[Title: "All terrorists will wind up in prison ... . All." -- Jose Maria Aznar]

Here's two of them "todos" -- in better times:

 The Ace of Clubs, Qusai Hussein: (both pictures thanks to Sparkey!)

And the Ace of Hearts, Odai Hussein.

Two down, one to go!

Heh. (expression unscrupulously stolen from the Insta, sorry, I just felt like it)

  Numbed out

Today is Belgium's National holiday, a crowd is already gathering in Brussels waving the National Colors. Black, yellow and red. If some feel a certain need to propagate their sentiments toward one of our country's regions, they may also be seen waving a yellow flag with a black lion on it (and red claws!), or another flag with a black rooster on it. In either case, do not start a discussion with them on politics. They will start to baffle you with endless rants about Belgium's History or the lack thereof. It promises to be too nice a day to ruin.

You want my opinion on the subject? Nope. Not today. Maybe not even this week. My brain is on strike. It's telling me to go out to a lake nearby, rent a boat, forget about the world and float on the water.

I will give you two links though, both Flemish (not meant intentionally ... you really have to measure your words in this little piece of Europe!), and the subject of both posts is Iran:

Dog of Flanders (again, not meant ... , oh whatever) is trying to figure out whether the Saudis are getting into Iran, and
Luc Van Braekel has more on the jamming of Iranian tv-channels by the Mullahs. Contains details and overall background information on how Cuba is involved in the story as well. 

If you can see her, enjoy the sun, otherwise just enjoy the air!

UPDATE: sorry, it really is a red rooster, not a black one, I really am a disrespectful Belgian. See here.

  140 years ago - Abraham Lincoln

Via Strategypage:

DÉJÀ VU IN D.C.

Yet, the people continue to support the man, admiring the very qualities the intellectual elite despises. The president continues to do what he believes is necessary for the nation's security and survival, ignoring his exasperated critics. 

President Bush? No. 

Abraham Lincoln. 

And the approaching elections were those of 1864, not 2004. 

While history will decide whether our current president truly is another Lincoln or merely a revved-up Ford, many of the political parallels are striking - right down to the disputed, three-faction campaign that put him in office (one of the consistent failures of the post-modern left is its inattention to history - perhaps because history rarely supports its views).

Read the whole  article from the New York Post.

  Blogwashing

If you scroll down, you will notice that the posts from May and June are missing, I'm uhm ... trying something. G$@*^%!!! It really is not easy to blog with only some M$ F****page at hand. Yes, I know, Blogger, free, Skynetblogs, easy, etc., but I'm a really stubborn man if I have my day, so, here goes nothing.

In the meantime, I'll try not to get dehydrated ... .

Contact              Wednesday     8:05 17/07/2003     (CET)

  Bl***ing politicians

The Dissident Frogman -- he's the one that is responsable for the spiffy banners on my frontpage -- is on vacation in London, shooting nice pics (they really are!) and

being intensively trained and emboldened by a wild bunch of uncompromising and upright individual liberties activists.

The latter are the people from Samizdata, whom he joined to visit a seminar were bloggers will be trying (or succeeded in it by this time) to persuade politicians to blog:

There has been so much interest in the meeting that the organisers, online think tank Voxpolitics, have had to hire a bigger room.

"Blogs are an exceptionally good way of talking to people who are interested in what you do," said Voxpolitics director James Crabtree.

"They could provide a place for people to go and see what MPs are doing, what they are thinking about."

Good idea? I think so, but how are they going to avoid flame wars? Furthermore, politicians are not always the best in their class when it comes down to remembering things. "Yes, you said it, here's the link" ... .

I checked out the two blogging politicians mentioned in the Beeb's article: Tom Watson's looks nice enough, it even has comments and all, but if you look in the archives for September 2001 for instance, I would expect to find a post there about a certain very important day in History, wouldn't you? Nothing at all.
Then there is Richard Allan's blog: same here, nice lay-out (I assume politicians tend to invest in it), comments, all the buttons and lights today's blogs are usually [err ... I know -- ed.] equipped with.
Richard ("Blogging politicians will be called by their first names quicker!") even has a nice post up already:
(Look for a titel that says "Weapons of Mass Distraction", the linking doesn't work fine for some reason.)

The decision to go to war was based on all these factors and we should avoid the temptation of saying only one was relevant. It was not “all about oil” any more than it was “all about human rights”.

And:

Still, having said all that, I do resent the way in which the Government did put their case, especially with the February dossier which is the one with the plagiarised PhD thesis. The Prime Minister was very telling on this in the Liaison Committee last week. He said that this material came “I think from some reference document or the internet” as though this was a trivial detail that he had not really followed up. Of course he knew exactly where it came from as it has caused such a row! If I can respectfully comment, Prime Minister, you really don’t need to try so hard…

I don't know either of these blogging politicians, so don't blame me for looking over possible crimes they have been committing, but overall, it all looks nice. I wish I would see some more of that in Belgium. Can you imagine Louis "Loulou" Michel blogging away about his weaseling out of things? Now that would be a good definition of flame bait!

Contact              Tuesday     8:25 15/07/2003     (CET)

  A thing of beauty

Now and then I like to think of these pages as actually being visited and read by people and I start to imagine myself who they are, where they work, where they live and so on. Do they like what I write, do they hate it? Are there any newbees around who come here and ask themselves "What in the name ... is a blog?"

After 9/11, bloggers started roaming the net, searching for every bit of news they could find. Like sponges, sucking themselves full of knowledge about history, politics, geography. Everybody wanted to know how the world was going to evolve, everybody could feel something had changed.

I remember the first times I saw Glenn "Mac" Frazier's pages (you can try the link, but he has calmed things down for a while now, here's where you can find Google's cache -- everything is still out of place though, it used to look quite clean).
This must have been in January or so last year. Googling my way through the internet (I had no idea something like the Blogosphere existed), looking for this term in combination with that word, an article, a person in the news, whatever. It was pure coincidence to stumble on something like "Mac's" pages.
In those days -- maybe his system was down -- there was nothing but plain text on them. Black letters on a white page, filling the screen completely, then and again you could see a date, a permalink (wtf?), and a word called "trackback". I'll be honest with you: I had only started to work on a computer full time not even half a year before that. Took me quite some time to figure out what these people were talking about. What was blogging? Why did they do it? Did they do it for free?
And then came James Lileks. Hey look, here's someone collecting all kinds of old postcards, books about cooking and ... what's this? A column? No, it looks like a blog. Is it? What is this Backfence thing?
Then there was Stryker, Sparkey, Sergeant Mom, Mandrake, Grognard, and a whole bunch of others all on Sergeant Stryker's Daily Briefing.
And it didn't stop: Mandrake & Shell, USS Clueless, ...

Here's another one, an Accidental Jedi that wrote down a thing of beauty, another piece of text that can tell you more about "this thing of ours":

But Friday nights are special. It's quiet in the 'sphere, and between the compulsive checking of updated sites on my blogroll ...

... there is time to think, to wander, to stray into the far corners of the 'sphere, to check out all of those sites I've been meaning to check out, to find silliness and appreciate it, and to find beauty and appreciate that, too.
...
I was totally entranced with this world where people would write, and read, and write about what they just read, and debate each other, and do it all for the love of it.

Have fun reading it, and when you're done, go read this too. It's a techie that explains us how things work in Blogistan and at the same time it's kind of a history of blogging.

Explore. Read. Write. Read again. Explore further. Have a nice weekend.

 Sunday 8:31 12/07/2003  (CET)

  Old wine in new flasks

That's how Former Belgian calls the new government, and I can't say I disagree much. I'm especially disappointed in the way our little country behaved in trying to "profile" itself on the international podium, as you might have guessed already, and I fear things are not going to change for the best in the near future.

I fear we miss leaders who carry the  spirit of "pagan ethos" that Robert D. Kaplan is talking about. And the two ministers on my frontpage remain in place. Rest assured, nor Flahaut nor Michel will give much support in the battle against terrorism.

Ever get that feeling that it's easier to blog when it's cold and wintery outside? Well, seems like it's going to be just fine outside today. Actually I just wanted to post Former Belgian's new URL, and I wanted to blog about something lighter than politics, the Middle East or any other nightmare-inducing subject this weekend: here's a hint, be patient please.

 Saturday 8:31 12/07/2003  (CET)

  The world according to ...

... Belgian state television:

Friday 04/07 -- After an attack on a mosque in Pakistan riots broke out. Shias put vehicles on fire and threw stones to the police. This man went out of his roof with anger.

[Is there an English translation for the last one? Anyway, you get the gist: lost his marbles, one too many marbles rolling around upstairs, went nuts, ... -- ed.]

Friday 04/07 -- In the United States Independence Day was celebrated today. The American troops in Iraq cozily gathered around the campfire with Uncle Bob in the back of their minds, as they sang the American Anthem. 

[Uncle Bob is a former singer-guitarist. Performing popular Belgian children's songs in the late 60's and early 70's, he's know become known as a quite dusty figure, in analogy with Belgian history in those days -- in this context it is NOT a compliment -- ed.]

Neat huh? Translation is mine, yes. I'm not a translator, no. Don't believe me, do you? It says what it says, I even translated the by-lines a bit more literally, in order to make the message more clear, doing nothing but harm to the English language, as you may have noticed.

This is where you can find the pictures, go see for yourself, then come back here to click on this link (the question in the subject means "Is VRT acting professionally?") and e-mail them to let them know you're proud to be a Belgian, ashamed to be a Belgian abroad, or just an individual with a piece of advice for a television network, your call.
I mean honestly, this is a national television station, paid by, amongst others, my taxmoney. The purpose of this million-€-organisation is to provide the public with information that is as objective as possible. I believe this is far from it, don't you? Sure, I can stand a joke, even two if they're any good, but this isn't even funny, any further than this and we'll end up at Fark to get better news (which already happens regularly,  they have more b***ies!)

Mind you, Pravda Reyerslaan (Reyerslaan is the avenue in Brussels where the studios are) has always been famous for being a bit of a leftist fortress, both Walloon ánd Flemish divisions can take the competition with the BBC (don't get me wrong, I love BBC, but they too haven't been acting as healthy as they should have been these latest months).

On a more serious note: Dog of Flanders talks about an article describing how a women got into a coma after being interrogated by the Iranian Mullahs ... because she was taking pictures. No surprise in that is there? DoF has got a few links towards the people blogging their butts off to let the world know something is happening in Iran; start from there (Insta, Jeff Jarvis, ...) to get around.

You were saying? Iran? In the Belgian media? No, same here ... . Don't even get me started.

UPDATE: over at Cox & Forkum they have a great post about Iran too, also with lots of links and updates, but their cartoon gives a pretty good summary of the mediacoverage:

 Thursday 20:11 10/07/2003  (CET)

  The Blogosphere according to ...

...  James Lileks:

Three national hosts; they get it. I sometimes listen to the local AM talk guys; they don't get it. For them, the internet is something the assistant prints off for the host to read. The hosts I mentioned above seem to understand the potential of this self-created network, this thing of ours, and they like it. Some don’t see, and if they do see they don’t quite get it. Imagine a train rumbling through the Dakota Territory at night. A traveler wakes, and lifts the windowshade, and sees moonlight glinting off something alongside the train. Reflections on the river, he thinks, and goes back to sleep. But another observer hears something; he puts his nose to the glass, and alongside the train he sees ten thousand bison thundering alongside.

And then he goes to the other window on the other side of the car, lifts the shade, and sees ten thousand more heading in the other direction. That's the blogosphere.

What more can you add if you're quoting Lileks?
Happy Fourth of July to the American people!

 Friday 18:31 4/07/2003  (CET)

  Our Dearly Beloved Constitution To Be -- Part II

As the Constitution of Europe is being discussed, every organisation, beliefsystem, even industry, tries to bring in its' two cents, or is lobbying heavily to make sure their influence is felt. In the process, even Pope John-Paul II is delivering a final twitch, as required:

The Pope has issued a lengthy document - a so-called exhortation to the Church in Europe - in which he urges those drawing up the constitution to include a reference to the religious, and in particular the Christian heritage of the continent. 

The actual text in which the Vatican claims his fair share of space in the New Constitution can be
found here, and here is more of the same.

Personally I think religion - albeit responsable for some of our present "positive" values and/or norms, should be kept out of a New Nation's Constitution. I think we should embrace the future of the Young European Lady by giving every religion, race, and individual the same amount of value.
No matter how influenced we are by the Roman Church, we should not give it the privilege to insure its' future existence by placing a reference to its' values  in the Constitution, even if it was only in a preamble.
What about Islamism, the Orthodox Christians, the Protestants? Why not go back to 2000 A.D. and refer to the Celts and the Vikings? I'm sure they brought us some values too.

[Rantmode OFF] These last few years have been very difficult for the EU, and will be for many years to come. There's the Trans-Atlantic breach to be solved, and at this moment, for many citizens the Union is nothing more than a puzzled compromise between different countries, making life difficult with all kinds of complex rulings. For them, and I agree, things shouln't be made complicated. "There was no consensus in favor of adding the word Christian ...", said Valery Giscard d'Estaing: I'm afraid there will be much more things to disagree on, if the Constitution isn't kept "dry".

I would like to end with a quote that you can find on Eric Muller's Is ThatLegal?, in a very nice post on the July the 4th Celebration:

“In the Declaration the foundation of the United States is indissolubly associated with
a theory of politics,a philosophy of human rights, which is valid, if at all, not for Americans only,
but for all men.” -- Carl Lotus Becker

Hear that? A theory of politics, human rights, for all men! What more do we need? Europe is a fresh leaf, the Vatican has had its' time in History. 

 Thursday 23:05 3/07/2003  (CET)

  E-mailpolicies

We all get a lot of mail with a few hundreds of addressees in the  CC-header, lots of people still don't know how to do it the proper way (to all of them: BCC means Blind Carbon Copy, you should try it now and then). Whenever they get a smart worm in their system, something like this gets sent into the world:

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: potsmoker [mailto:[email protected]]
Verzonden: donderdag 3 juli 2003 13:04
Aan: person1, person2, person3 ... person n ...
Onderwerp: werchter [one of two major musicfestivals in Belgium -- ed.]

Translation is mine, the stupidity presented in this mail is from an unknown person. Be careful when sending mail please, or be smart. If you want to mess up your own system, fine, but leave me out of it!

 Thursday 19:50 3/07/2003  (CET)

  LVB's poll of the month

What do you do when you can't catch sleep and you're well on the road to geekdom lately? Right, you get out of bed and you start reading about politics, internet and all the other stuff  like a cat craves for milk. Hello? Is anybody out there? [To self] No, that's why you start sending mails to people, stupid.

LVB has put up his new monthly poll: "Who would be the most suitable person to become the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs in a purple government?" ... . Oh, about this strange habit of Belgians to give each of their governments a colour: red i.e. socialist + blue i.e. liberal equals purple, it's as simple as that.

Whoever it's going to be -- I hope someone who's blessed with a better health than the present one, poor bloke -- he or she will face a lot of challenges. Get Belgium back up there, I say! Or get down!

 Tuesday 5:03 2/07/2003  (CET)