The incredibly imploding hockeystick

An update to (and much needed correction of) this post.

Bishop Hill has a highly readable post up about the shenanigans around the Yamal chronology: The Yamal implosion. That post focusses mostly on the friction that McIntyre experienced in his efforts to get access to the data underlying the hockey stick.

Meanwhile, independent confirmation of McIntyres findings comes from a presentation on climate on the Yamal peninsula by Walker at al. Watts up with that has the goods.

This should be the bell tolling for the climate changes hype. After this story has played itself out, climate change credibility will have been reduced to zero.

Light the torches, sharpen the pitchforks

A couple of days ago we wrote:

If our intrepid PM ends up as commissar in the EU Commission or (God forbid) as EUnion president, we'll know why the Turnip was ratified. That would be a good signal to start a general (and violent) insurrection against all (cabinet members former and current, journalists, parliamentarians) who conspired in this treachery.

And what do we read today?

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende is conducting a "very subtle" lobbying campaign in Brussels to be considered a candidate for the job of EU Council president, according to sources, who forecast that should the Lisbon Treaty enter into force, he will be strongly backed by Angela Merkel.

Judas Iscariot, Anton Mussert, Vidkun Quisling. Just a few of the names that fluttering around in my brain when reading this. EurActive.com makes a point of the support our intrepid PM enjoys from the likes of Angela Merkel and (presumably) Nicolas Sarkozy. I'll bet! Endowed with the spine of a jellyfish and the initiative rivalling that of the worst of lazy municipal civil servants, he'll be like putty in the hands of those that really pull the strings.

Mind you, this is the man who presided over four cabinets, the first three of which collapsed well before the end of the normal four year term. And whether the current cabinet (the term of which ends in 2011) will improve our intrepid PMs record in that regard is also very much in doubt. Having someone so accident-prone for president of the EUnion Council doesn't spell out news that is all bad, now does it?

Still, there remains that niggling coincidence... The Dutch 'NO!' on the EUnion constitution was neatly shuffled under the rug by this man. That same man was centrally and actively involved in denying Dutch voters a referendum on Son of the Constitution, the Lisbon Treaty. And now, out of the seeming blue, this man is in line to become EUnion Council president? It might be just me, but there's a distinct smell of corruption on a grand scale thickening the air...

[UPDATE001] Dutchnew.nl adds this tidbit:

The Lisbon treaty on EU reform includes the establishment of a permanent president - unlike the current rotating presidency. Balkenende's name is being touted in Brussels as a strong candidate, the Financieele Dagblad said at the time. An appointment is likely to be made early next year.

Which makes it all the more likely the record of our intrepid PM of not seeing any of his cabinets to term will indeed remain untarnished.

[UPDATE002] We reported it before, but to re-emphasize what a ghastly piece of work the Turnip really is head over to Gates of Vienna: Diametrically in opposition to many a member state constitution the Lisbon Treaty will re-instate the death penalty, up to and including legitimizing killings “to legitimately crush a riot or a rebellion”.

Fjordman -- September updates

[29 - 9] On Brussels Journal: A Brief History of Zero and Indian Numerals

I heard the claim from one European reader that “The Arab world invented the zero, and it’s been downhill ever since.” This is false, but unfortunately not an uncommon mistake. Our numeral system dates back to India during the post-Roman era, but it came to Europe via the medieval Middle East which is why these numbers are called “Arabic” numbers in many European languages. Yet even Muslims admit that they imported these numerals from India. Calling them “Arabic” numerals is this therefore deeply misleading. “Hindu-Arabic” number system could be accepted, but the preferred term should be “Indian numerals.”

[24 - 9] On Atlas Shrugs: What was the First Novel?

Long narrative romances in prose were written by Greek writers as early as the second and third centuries AD. Typically they dealt with separated lovers who are reunited at the end of the story. Another influential predecessor of the modern novel was the picaresque narrative, which emerged in sixteenth-century Spain. Whether or not Cervantes Don Quixote was “the first European novel” is perhaps debatable, but there is now question that it constituted a major step in the development of this genre.

[22 - 9] Fjordman has started a new series: Why Did Europeans Create the Modern World? The first two parts were posted on Gates of Vienna (Part1 and part 2).

[21 - 9] On Brussels Journal a short one: Six Percent of Swedish Girls Raped Every Year.

According to a recent report, six percent of Swedish girls are raped EVERY YEAR, and that's just the official numbers. Reality is probably even worse. The hostile Wikipedia entry on “Fjordman” previously claimed that my essays about the Swedish rape epidemic are false because the massive increase in rapes was caused by “a widening of the legal definition of rape.” I bet it was. In this situation, the number one preoccupation of Swedish media is demonizing Israel, and the number two preoccupation is demonizing native Swedish critics of mass immigration and barring them from access to the mass media.

[15 - 9] The complete version of A History of Beer is up at Gates of Vienna (including a printer friendly version).

[13 - 9] On Brussels Journal: Europe and Human Accomplishment.

Nevertheless, while you can argue that a certain individual is ranked too high or too low or that a handful of people might be included here and there, this doesn’t do much to change the basic conclusion: The lists of human achievement, especially in the sciences, are heavily dominated by those widely denounced today as Dead White Males, for they are almost all men from Europe or Europe’s offspring overseas. For good or bad, people of European origins largely created the modern world. You can certainly find great achievements such as the spectacular mountainous Inca city of Machu Picchu in Peru, or the magnificent Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia in Southeast Asia, yet as Charles Murray writes:

“Evidence scattered from Angkor Wat to Machu Picchu attests to the ability of human beings throughout the globe, not confined to the leading civilizations, to achieve amazing technological feats. And yet, and yet….Modern Europe has overwhelmingly dominated accomplishment in both the arts and sciences. The estimates of the European contribution are robust. They cannot, in any way I have been able to devise, be attenuated more than fractionally. As I write, it appears that Europe’s run is over. In another few hundred years, books will probably be exploring the reasons why some completely different part of the world became the locus of great human accomplishment. Now is a good time to stand back in admiration. What the human species is today owes in astonishing degree to what was accomplished in just half a dozen centuries by the peoples of one small portion of the northwestern Eurasian land mass. Not only does Europe dominate the narrative of human accomplishment, so does the minority that has become known in recent years as dead white males.”

[9 - 9] A History of Beer - Part 6 is up at Brussels Journal.

[6 - 9] A History of Beer - Part 5 is up at Europe News.

[3 - 9] A History of Beer - Part 4 is up at Brussels Journal.


RECENT FJORDMAN
A Brief History of Zero and Indian Numerals
What was the First Novel?
Why Did Europeans Create the Modern World? - Part 2
Why Did Europeans Create the Modern World? - Part 1
Six Percent of Swedish Girls Raped Every Year
Europe and Human Accomplishment
istory of Beer - Part 6
A History of Beer - Part 5
A History of Beer - Part 4
A History of Beer - Part 3
A History of Beer - Part 2
A History of Beer - Part 1
Swedish Hypocrisy Regarding Israel and Muslims
Culturally Enriched Homophobia in Oslo
European Wine - A Draft
A History of European Music -- Part 5

More Fjordman Files here.

Wilders' Party of Freedom still the biggest

Much has been made of Wilders' (rather unserious) suggestion for a headscarf tax. In the Netherlands many a blogger and the MSM (both NL) as a whole revelled in what was judged as 'serious overreaching' and an epic error in judgement on Wilders' part. Especially in the MSM the diagnosis was that (finally, at last) Wilders and his party have jumped the shark.

And then a new poll was published. According to TNS/NIPO (NL) the PVV currently stands as largest, with 28 (out of 150) in Second Chamber of Dutch parliament, followed by the Christian Democrat CDA(22 seats) and, curiously, the flamingly multicultural Democrats '66 with around 20 seats as well.

Last week another poll, by Maurice de Hond (NL) has the PVV and CDA vying for first place. Currently the CDA stands at 28 and the PVV at 27 seats according to this poll. In both polls the current government coalition, CDA, PvdA and CU (christian democrats, labour and christian union) accrue no more the 49 seats. In other words, they represent less then a third of Dutch voters.

Thus the news about the demise of Geert Wilders' political career and his PVV seem greatly exaggerate, even after the much criticised suggestion for the tax on islamic headcovers. Indications are that if and when we finally get to go into the booth, the Wilders and the PVV will unambiguously emerge as a political force to be reckoned with.

Hockey stick goes poof too

After Global Warming has disappeared into thin air, now *the* symbol of AGW, the 'Hockey stick' graph my Mann et al. is now rapidly dissipating into the ether as well.

The blog 'Watt's up with that' has an important item up: Ding dong the stick is dead. The infamous 'Hockey stick' graph that has been used by the UN's climate panel IPCC has always been suspect. And in fact has has severe credibility issues for some time now (see here, for instance).

But now it turns out the issues with the 'analysis' done by Mann et al. are even more severe then imagined. In fact, it begs the question whether climate science in particular, and science in general, will ever recover any of its former hallowed status of objective, independent and trustworthy.

To put the story as short and concise as I can: Mann et al. made a global temperature reconstruction using tree rings as indicators (proxies) of historical temperatures. In simple terms: A tree shows broader rings in warmer years, because it grows more in such years. For analysis, series of observations from different trees from the same site are combined in a so-called chronology. Generally it is accepted that for a reliable chronology you need at least 10 and preferably (a lot) more trees.

Steve McIntyre, one of the two original debunkers of the Hockey stick, managed to get his hands on some of the data used by Mann et al. As it turns out, the blade portion of the hockey stick graph can be attributed to a single chronology consisting of just 10 trees.

A bit on the thin side, you might say, but if they don't have a larger sample you have to make due, don't you? Well, yes. However, McIntyre found that far from having a sample of just 10 trees, the actual sample consisted of 34 trees. What's more, the 10 trees used in the sample seem to be pre-selected to produce the blade portion of the hockey stick. McIntyre did an analysis using the trees left out of the sample and found another blade: This one turned down, not up as in the Mann et al. analysis (See graph above. In red the Mann et al. series, in black the other series and in green the mean of both).

Steve McIntyre comments: 'I hardly know where to begin in terms of commentary on this difference.' As the green line in the graph shows: The last 10-15 years were not (repeat: not) the hottest period in the last 2000 years.

Go on over and read the whole thing. It is a bit on the technical side, but the fraud (yes, I am going to use that word) shines through in sickly bright colors. It seems that out of 34 trees, Mann et al. selected 10 trees that together would suggest a massive warming in the last 20 years. Trees that suggested the opposite were left out of the sample. On purpose, it seems, in what would be a gross violation of one of the most basic principles of doing science.

This is a serious indictment of Mann et al., the IPCC, the UN and global warming 'science'. By rights, the graph reproduced above should mean the decisive blow to the whole AGW 'climate change' narrative. And by rights the perpetrators of this staggering piece of scientific fraud should be terminated. And I am not sure whether I mean that literally or not, either. At the end of this saga it may well turn out that these jokers have damned the scientific community as a whole into irrelevance. What started out with Galileo, Kepler and Newton and has brought Western civilization its unsurpassed success will have come to a bitter and sleazy end. The demise of science indeed.

Devouring us whole

EU Referendum flags up a bit of rather important news, that went totally and completely unreported: The EUnion is set to usurp power over the financial sectors of all its member states.

On the table is what even the EU commission calls an "important package" of draft legislation, which it tells us "significantly strengthen the supervision of the financial sector in Europe."

The legislation will create a raft new EU institutions, comprising a European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), which will "detect risks to the financial system as a whole with a critical function to issue early risk warnings to be rapidly acted on", a European System of Financial Supervisors (ESFS), composed of national supervisors, and three new European Supervisory Authorities for the banking, securities and insurance and occupational pensions sectors.

This is standard operating procedure for the EUnion. It isn't an outright take-over. It sets up regulatory entities that have a final say over national (formerly sovereign) institutions. And it does so in language and detail that, in the words of Mr. North 'so technical and arcane' that 'few people will understand their significance and they will thus pass into our legislative system with little comment and no political controversy'. And thus we will have delivered yet more of our sovereignty to our (unwanted, unelected) overlord EUnion bureaucrats. And although the working is still a mystery, the outcome is depressingly predictable:

At this stage no one can even begin to assess the long-term effect of these institutions on our financial sector, but what is very clear is that they do involve a substantial transfer of power from national authorities to the EU – the results of which, as history tells us, are bound to be malign.

Of course, we can't expect anything from this government in the way of defence of our national sovereignty. Our intrepid PM, Jan-Peter Balkenende (p) bought his next job (a EUnion job) with the Dutch ratification of the Turnip the Lisbon Treaty, or so rumours go. And have gone for quite some time. First we heard of that rumour was back in late 2007 when our governments betrayal was in full swing:

Lately rumours as to the ambitions of our PM towards a high level EU job have become rather persistent, which would mean that he will do everything in his power to rescue his career prospects.

Lately, the rumours have become so loud, that our intrepid PM felt obliged to come out and openly deny it (NL). And as the cliché goes: In politics a fact isn't a fact until somebody denies it.

But where is our MSM? Where are our parliamentarians? Does anybody have the common decency to do the job for which they were hired anymore? The whole political class, including its purported watchdogs seem to be in collusion to let the EUnion devour us whole. In the words of Mr. North: 'The only thing certain, we said, is that we will pay, directly and indirectly, and keep on paying ... until such time as we are forced to leave the EU or go bankrupt'.

[Instant Update] That'll be a sign to watch out for: If our intrepid PM ends up as commissar in the EU Commission or (God forbid) as EUnion president (NL), we'll know why the Turnip was ratified. That would be a good signal to start a general (and violent) insurrection against all (cabinet members former and current, journalists, parliamentarians) who conspired in this treachery.

[UPDATE001] And the hits just keep on coming. French minister of European affairs, Pierre Lellouche, is now suggesting the EUnion should set up a common defence budget similar to the the Common Agricultural Policy, usurping yet another area that by rights is strictly within the purview of sovereign nation states. And thus the EUnion keeps on eating its way through Europe, untill there is nothing left...

Good news for all

Via Jihad Watch: Pakistans AQ Khan shared nuclear secrets with such paragons of freedom and civilization as China, Iran, North Korea, and Libya.

An angry, humiliated, and wounded A.Q.Khan has finally made public and official what has long been suspected: his nuclear proliferation activities that included exchanging and passing blue-prints and equipment to China, Iran, North Korea, and Libya was done at the behest of the Pakistani government and military, and he was forced to take the rap for it. ( Watch Video ) (...)

Describing the four-page letter as ''extraordinary,'' Henderson says in numbered paragraphs, it outlines Pakistan's nuclear co-operation with China, Iran and North Korea, and also mentions Libya. Some of the disclosures are stunning , and in one para that is bound to embarrass Beijing, besides implicating it, Khan writes about how Pakistan helped China in enrichment technology in return for bomb blueprints.

Don't you just feel that little bit safer?

Epic fail (Watch out for Dutch police IV)

In the Netherlands names and current addressed of witnesses of a crime are specified in the indictment. Over the years criminals and their lawyers have started to use this convenience. After sitting out their (usually ridiculously low, touchy-feely, crime-is-a-symptom-of-socio-economic-deprivation) non-punishment, criminals had all the information needed to visit retribution on those that had dared to tell the authorities of their criminal activities.

Naturally, after a while Dutch police noticed a certain... reluctance of witnesses to come forward, pushing down even further the embarrassingly low percentage of cases solved. Hence the foundation of 'M.' a report-crime-anonymously hotline. It was a smashing success. Last year some 76,000 tips led to 710 cases of serious crimes solved.

That ringing success came to a crashing halt today. EN reporting from Dutch News: Crime hotline caller's details made public.

The identity of a woman who rang a telephone crime hotline with a tip-off about a fatal stabbing has been made known to the defendant because her phone was being tapped at the time, news agency ANP reports on Monday.

The woman was considered a key witness in the case and her details ended up in official files.

'We have spoken to the women. This is the most awful thing that can happen. She is very emotional and scared,' Guus Wesselink, director of the hotline told ANP.

What the rather anodyne report does not tell, is that the crime in this matter was a fatal stabbing during a Caribbean Summer Carnival in Rotterdam.

The women in question was tapped, because she travelled in the immediate circles of one of the suspects (being best friends to the suspects girlfriend). Torn between not wanting to risk a good friendship and her sense of civic duty, she called 'M.' as the best compromise under the circumstances.

The police, listening in, took down all the details she was providing. And diligently noted down her details in the file they were preparing for prosecution. A file, which by law is made available to the defence of the suspects.

In what must be the lowest, slimiest attempt at shifting blame, the prosecutor suggested that maybe this woman should have thought things through a little better (NL): Couldn't she have used an anonymous prepaid cell phone to make the report? Which is what made an already embarrassing fail an epic one. One is trying to put this in the perspective of gross incompetence on the part of public prosecutor and police. But one is severely tempted to think in terms of sheer malignancy.

Earlier episodes:
Will we draw a line anywhere?
Watch out for Dutch police III
Watch out for Dutch police II
Watch out for Dutch police

Wilders Wants Headscarf Tax

Last Tuesday was Prinsjesdag (Budget Day). Traditionally the single most important day in the parliamentary year, it is the day the government reveals its plans for the coming year.

Following Budget Day is the General Consideration, the debate in Second Chamber in which every party comments on the proposed budget. Generally, it is a day of posturing of the different fractions making up Dutch parliament.

In this light Geert Wilders chased up the curtains all and sundry when he earnestly proposed a tax on headscarfs (NL): Calling it a 'head rag tax', Wilders proposed that if one is adamant about wearing a headscarf, one would get a permit (at for instance 1,000 euro per year) for wearing a headscarf in public. 'This way we finally start earning back a little from islam', according to Wilders.

Reactions in parliament were swift and predictable. Asked whether Wilders was aiming to introduce an Iranian-style virtue police, he answered 'No, that is something we are trying to prevent'.

What to make of this? Obviously it isn't a serious proposal. Rather, Wilders is styling himself as the Thyl Uilenspiegel of Dutch parliament, exposing the ridiculousness of our current class of rulers through mischief. It is similar to Wilders' proposal to ban the Koran: It points out an absurdity, making a serious point through an over the top assertion.

With that he will achieve two goals. First the Dutch general population will recognize it for what it is. Disenfranchised as the general population feels toward the political process, he'll score some points with this tax proposal. Second, he forces the rest the parliament to come out and defend their correct (multicul, non-racist, non-judgemental) credentials (which they did, in spades) and with that reveal the distance between them and the large, silent majority of the Netherlands. It puts into stark focus, what the Dutch situation actually is.

There is method to the madness, it seems.

[UPDATE001] Gates of Vienna has the translation of Wilders' turn in the first term of the General Considerations: "The Battery is Dead".

Someone else did it for us

There were a couple of items with regard to Geert Wilders last week that I wanted to blog, but didn't get around to. Luckily Thomas Landen of the Brussels Journal is on the case.

Go here to read about the preposterous attempt by a left-wing cultural anthropologist to explain Wilders' views as a pathology stemming from his 'confused' heritage. Also covered: The governments refusal to deal with Wilders' questions around the costs of mass-immigration.

[UPDATE001] And don't miss the interview Wilders gave to Nu.nl (video). It's in Dutch but the Baron has the synopsis.

The reason trumping all others

.. for being a conservative:

Of course politicians are corrupt. That's why I am a conservative. I want fewer of them, with less power over me.

Gagdad Bob in a highly readable and thought provoking post on wingnuts, moonbats and Friedrich Hayeks 'The Road to Serfdom'.

Unlimited oil?

Via Pigilito:

Now there is a new paper -- in Nature Geoscience (abstract) no less -- that claims to have discovered how the non-biological origin (abiogenic) of petroleum occurs. Apart from advancing an esoteric argument, what this means is that petroleum need not be a finite resource. Should the experiment be able to predict where petroleum is found, we will have practically unlimited amounts of oil and natural gas.

From Science Daily:

[...] Together with two research colleagues, Vladimir Kutcherov has simulated the process involving pressure and heat that occurs naturally in the inner layers of the earth, the process that generates hydrocarbon, the primary component in oil and natural gas.

According to Vladimir Kutcherov, the findings are a clear indication that the oil supply is not about to end, which researchers and experts in the field have long feared.

He adds that there is no way that fossil oil, with the help of gravity or other forces, could have seeped down to a depth of 10.5 kilometers in the state of Texas, for example, which is rich in oil deposits. As Vladimir Kutcherov sees it, this is further proof, alongside his own research findings, of the genesis of these energy sources – that they can be created in other ways than via fossils. This has long been a matter of lively discussion among scientists. [....]

If true, this upends a century of what geologists -- myself included -- have been taught about how petroleum is formed and where it should be found. This would be an unbelievable scientific breakthrough.

Pigilito points out that the theory of biogenic origins of oil has been quite successful in predicting where major oilfields are to be found. This new theory of oil origin would have to up that predictive power considerably (finding oil where is was previously thought not to exist) to have a snowball's chance in a very hot place of wide acceptance.

But suppose it turns out to be true. Club of Rome? Peak Oil? All panic for nothing... Wouldn't that be great?

Breaking: Geert Wilders on trial January 20th 2010

Breaking news from the Netherlands. Dutch biggest newspaper calls it the trial of the century (NL), because the government today, September 12th, announced it is going to trial Geert Wilders on January 20th (See also: the earlier court ruling that made it possible). The timing is remarkable, because it’s just before the municipality elections, a busy time for the politician.

Busy or not, Geert Wilders will have to defend him self in criminal court for speaking out against Islam. The charges brought against him are: racism and hate mongering (no actual hate crimes have ever been connected to him, his political movement or his speeches).

Renowned criminal trial lawyer Bram Moszkowicz will represent him during the trial. It’s still unknown what his defence will look like. But in today’s paper Wilders says he might call radical Imams and other idiots to the stand in support of his defence.

“I find it horrible that I’m prosecuted” says Wilders. “This is a political trial and it’s sad that I'm prosecuted as a criminal for only voicing my political opinions. I hope free speech will prevail. [But] I am convinced that the trial can only lead to my acquittal”.

The trial might even gain him some extra votes. After all, he can be easily perceived as the political underdog, speaking up against a powerful, but very corrupt, Dutch political elite. But Wilders says he does not care for extra votes: “This will cost me a lot of time and energy. This is not a [just a regular] debate. Here my neck is on the line. I much rather didn't have this trial and have 5 parliamentary seats less in the polls. I don’t want to be a suspect” in a criminal trial.

His lawyer, Bram Moszkowicz says he want to call “internationally renowned free speech specialist” to the stand. A logical move, if you perceive this trial as one of the most import trials against free speech in Europe and the rest of the Western world.

Or will 2010 be the year in which speaking out against Islam makes you a criminal?

Eight years on...

We've learned nothing:

Instead of cracking down on Islamist extremism, we've excused it.

Instead of killing terrorists, we free them.

Instead of relentlessly hunting Islamist madmen, we seek to appease them.

To add insult to injury, Dutch commercial TV station RTL5 'commemorated' 9/11 by broadcasting a documentary claiming to prove that WTC building 7 was brought down by controlled demolition.

Ralph Peters continues:

We've forgotten the men and women who burned to death or suffocated in the Pentagon. We've forgotten our promises, our vows, our commitments.

We've forgotten what we owe our dead and what we owe our children. We've even forgotten who attacked us.

We have betrayed the memory of our dead. In doing so, we betrayed ourselves and our country. Our troops continue to fight -- when they're allowed to do so -- but our politicians have surrendered.

Are we willing to let the terrorists win?

It certainly feels like that at times.

Even on the left they are now saying it out loud

Femke Halsema, fraction leader of the flamingly leftist and multicul Groen Links, wants muslim women to throw of the head scarf (NL). Despite in earlier times arguing for sexe-separated train carriages, she now seems to have rediscovered her feminist roots. At least, that is what she told the Pers in an interview.

Moreover, she roundly admitted that islam is a problem. Color me flabbergasted! Femke? She said that? Well, yes:

Naturally Islam is a problem. Indeed, especially Islam in combination with illiteracy. It is: having few opinions of your own about the good life. Not having much foothold in education and work, fearing our society and thereby being very receptive to what the imam thinks. Who is often very conservative.

Esther has parts of the interview translated in EN. Head on over and take in the curious spectacle of the leader of a party that has its roots firmly in communist and pacifist (i.e. hard-core leftist) circles, openly siding with Geert Wilders on matters islam.

Be still my heart...

[UPDATE001] EN reporting can be found here.

The government blinked!

It seems that in the saga of the Dutch smoking ban (see here and links therein) will end with the slaying of the monster. Today Minister of Health Ab Klink announced a liberalization of the smoking ban for small cafe's, bars and restaurants (NL).

Ventilation systems should make smoking in small cafés possible again. That is the solution minister of Health Ab Klink (CDA) has thought of to break the impasse obver the smoking ban. Klink is investigating the solution, well informed sources in The Hague report.

If ventilation systems work as expected, a separate smoking room will no longer be necessary.

Elsevier commentator Gertjan van Schoonhoven calls it as he sees it: The 'liberalization' is just the end of the smoking ban (NL). In all likelihood he is right. If small bars are allowed to have smoking customers (if they have sufficient ventilation) then why not larger bars? Or discotheques? IF minister Klink is planning on holding on to the ban in all other cases, he leaves this government wide open to more suits on grounds of discrimination.

Be that as it may, the fact remains that in a staring contest between government and the population, the government blinked. The people win. The smoking ban is dead.

The big question that now remains: How will the EU react?

As if things weren't bad enough

UN wants new global currency to replace dollar.

In a radical report, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said the system of currencies and capital rules which binds the world economy is not working properly, and was largely responsible for the financial and economic crises.

It added that the present system, under which the dollar acts as the world's reserve currency , should be subject to a wholesale reconsideration (...)

"Replacing the dollar with an artificial currency would solve some of the problems related to the potential of countries running large deficits and would help stability," said Detlef Kotte, one of the report's authors.

One currency for all, including Zimbabwe, the Brown government and Obama's stimulus. We'll have to redefine what constitutes a disaster...

On government mandate and Saxons

This post started out as an update to our previous post, but it grew in such a manner that I feel it merits its own post. So... for what it's worth:

A big 'thank you' to Richard North for the kind mention (one is tempted to add 'in dispatches', but that would be a bit too presumptuous). Richard takes a more jaded view, saying 'They've been trying it on for years and, in the fullness of time, will succeed – as they always do'. And quite understandably so.

I thought it worth a post because I believe people should know this. Our intrepid MSM will not touch it (or any other story about the EUnions ever increasing intrusion in our daily lives), even though by rights this should be big, big news across Europe.

But a story is only a story if enough people think it is. Nobody knows this better then Mr. North, who, together with Mrs. Szamuely and Mr. Booker have worked tirelessly to explain to us the nefarious plot that is the EUnion, only to be met with blank stares and complete disregard by the political and media elites as well as most of the population at large.

This is, ceteris paribus, how the EUnion will gain dominion over all of our lives. Many are the stories of incompetence and even malicious neglect within the halls of Brussels (and the complicity of our local governments), but unless people wake up and take notice, the EUnion will get what it wants (incandescent light bulbs, or gloeilampen in NL, come to mind). All it takes for evil to triumph, etc... you know?

This is a most crucial point: No government can survive that does not have the consent (tacit or otherwise) of the people. If your government abandons you (which, in the case of for instance the Turnip Lisbon Treaty is true for a number of European member states) the social contract is voided. You are not beholden to a government that does not honour its mandate.

But the nature of government is that it views all it can survey as its mandate, unless, forcefully or not, it is confronted with its limits. And it is up to us, individual citizens gathering in common views, to enforce those limits. Peacefully, if we can. But if all else fails (as in the case of the Turnip Lisbon Treaty) our founding document, the 'Plakkaat van Verlatinghe', grants us the right to 'legally proceed to the choice of another prince for their defense'.

Of course, that only works if enough Saxons rise up and sigh 'You lied to us'.

EUnion taxes on the way

From the Daily Mail, EU Comission president Manuel Barroso: Plan for EU tax to appear on all receipts. Remember how we were promised the EU would not become a 'super-state', with its own army, police force or taxes, by certain parties (yes, Jan-Peter, I am looking at your irritatingly sanctimonious visage, you sorry excuse for a decent human being)?

The European Commission President said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph the idea of an EU tax will be discussed in the autumn as part of a major rethink about of how European funding is collected.

There will be "no taboos", with every radical option left on the table for discussion, he said.

Mr Barroso said under the proposals, "EU and national VAT should appear as separate taxes on the invoices or receipts" every time consumers make a purchase, buy fuel or pay for an airline ticket.

The article makes it sound as if we're already paying EUnion taxes and the proposal by El Presidente would merely make it explicit. But this is in fact not the case, as becomes clear towards the end of the interview:

The Commission President is concerned that the current system of negotiating EU contributions from strained national budgets leads to resentment and a "who pays and who benefits" blame culture.

Be that as it may: We did not sign up for this. Are you listening, over there in The Hague: WE DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS! We voted 'NO', which you lot backhandedly twisted into a 'yes' to satisfy your own petty ambitions. Do you really think we will take kindly to you lot rolling over on this issue?

[UPDATE001] And a big 'thank you' to Richard North for the kind mention (one is tempted to add 'in dispatches', but that would be a bit too presumptuous). Richard takes a more jaded view, saying 'They've been trying it on for years and, in the fullness of time, will succeed – as they always do'.

(continued here)

Half time score: Muslims 8: Infidels 0

Over on Gates of Vienna the Baron is taking score in the battle islam is waging on Western Civilization: Barking up the Wrong Tree. And it ain't all that good. While we concentrate on a small number of high profile issues (Iraq, Afghanistan, domestic terrorism, ridiculous court cases) under the radar a veritable deluge of 'probes' is undertaken to test Western resolve to defend its character and values.

The Baron partially lists probes in the legal, territorial, educational, social and cultural arenas. The list is depressingly familiar, certainly when one realizes how much territory we have already given up in these arenas. Without putting up much of a fight, I might add (they won't let us. Defending what is ours is racist, after all).

Read the entire thing. Western civilization is bleeding from a thousand little cuts. And it is only when you take in the bigger picture, like in the Baron's post, that you realize the damage that has been done. Why are we not waking up?

Pure, unadulterated evil

As the American president has stated in his Iftar adress he considers islam a "a great religion and its commitment to justice and progress.", we get news that Iranian imam and spiritual advisor to Irans little big man, Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, shone an islamic light on interrogation techniques:

Asked if a confession obtained "by applying psychological, emotional and physical pressure" was "valid and considered credible according to Islam," Mesbah-Yazdi replied: "Getting a confession from any person who is against the Velayat-e Faqih ("Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists", or the regime of Iran's mullahs) is permissible under any condition." The ayatollah gave the identical answer when asked about confessions obtained through drugging the prisoner with opiates or addictive substances.

and sexual assault:

"Can an interrogator rape the prisoner in order to obtain a confession?" was the follow-up question posed to the Islamic cleric.

Mesbah-Yazdi answered: "The necessary precaution is for the interrogator to perform a ritual washing first and say prayers while raping the prisoner. If the prisoner is female, it is permissible to rape through the vagina or anus. It is better not to have a witness present. If it is a male prisoner, then it's acceptable for someone else to watch while the rape is committed."

This reply, and reports of the rape of teen male prisoners in Iranian jails, may have prompted the following question: "Is the rape of men and young boys considered sodomy?"

Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi: "No, because it is not consensual. Of course, if the prisoner is aroused and enjoys the rape, then caution must be taken not to repeat the rape."

A related issue, in the eyes of the questioners, was the rape of virgin female prisoners. In this instance, Mesbah-Yazdi went beyond the permissibility issue and described the Allah-sanctioned rewards accorded the rapist-in-the-name-of-Islam:

"If the judgment for the [female] prisoner is execution, then rape before execution brings the interrogator a spiritual reward equivalent to making the mandated Haj pilgrimage [to Mecca], but if there is no execution decreed, then the reward would be equivalent to making a pilgrimage to [the Shi'ite holy city of] Karbala."

If anyone would like to explain to me how this is not pure and uncut evil coming from the dear Ayatollah, he or she is invited to 'enlighten' me in the comments.