Much worse then useless

The discussion about the role of the church in these troubled times once again came to the fore this week, when protestant daily Nederlands Dagblad (NL) reported a survey, in which 75% of vicars agreed with the statement that a christian ought not vote Wilders or the PVV. From Dutchnews.nl:

A Christian cannot vote for Geert Wilders' anti-immigration party PVV, say 75% of church leaders in a poll of 1,200 ministers and church workers in the Nederlands Dagblad.

The ministers represent a cross-section of all the Netherlands' Protestant churches, representing 2.3 million people, the paper says.

One third of the people polled said there were people who supported Wilders in their communities and 5% said Wilders had a lot of support.

'Wilders and the PVV's views contradict Christianity,’ one minister told the paper.

The poll was sent to 4,000 vicars, of which 1280 took the trouble to answer. This fact alone has raised questions about to what extent the poll is representative (NL). Including the number of non-respondents, the best one can say is that 22.5% of vicars are of the opinion that christians cannot vote PVV. The opinion of 70% of vicars is unknown, because they didn't answer the poll.

Of course this didn't prevent the MSM from gleefully reporting the 'news' that 75% of Dutch protestant vicars think Wilders and the PVV beyond the pale for any real christian. However, the ND article is slightly more nuanced in its reporting, pointing out that most of the resistance against the PVV is to be found on the more liberal side of protestant Netherlands, i.e. on the left. Curiously, evangelical vicars are far more understanding of their flocks sympathies for Wilders. In the ND, one evangelical minister is quoted:

A discussion about islam is very necessary. Mainstream parties are not conscious enough of the intolerant danger of islam rushing in, I feel.

In addition, one protestant vicar, himself a sympathizer with Wilders' PVV, states that Wilders is pointing out issues that are currently taboo.

In Holland you have to start a court case for the right to eat a normal meatball in jail, because we serve halal meat. We pamper newcomers to the extent that they become completely welfare-state dependent. If youth are admonished for their behaviour, you're called a racist by many new citizens. That rules out any dialogue.

In the mean time, over at View From the Right, an interesting discussion is developing. Starting out with accusing the Dutch of being of the same stripe as Bishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, participant Daniel O. points out the one-sidedness of the poll. No such poll has been held with regard to D'66, an objectively and fanatically anti-christian party.

Another commenter, Charles T., notes the 'liberal political philosophy and strategy which the "Christian" church has so stupidly adopted'. That is familiar territory for this blog, where we have pointed out the crass stupidity of the current crop of church leaders again and again and again.

Charles T. closes his comments by noting that 'it is so unfortunate that many of our Christian leaders have become so useless'. To which a follow-on comment responds: Much worse than useless. I couldn't agree more. But what else can one expect in a country where even the crown prince (NL) is educated on matters islamic by an 'academic' specializing in religious studies, who is convinced that 'islam is a religion of peace and muslims are victims for who we must feel empathy'?

Throwing the book

There seems to be manoeuvring afoot to make noted climatologist railway engineer RK Pachauri step down as head of the IPCC. WUWT passes on the news from The Telegraph that Pachauri is to face an independent enquiry. According to the Wall Street Journal the IPCC will take steps to avoid 'oversimplifications' of climate change and its causes.

Even some who agree with the IPCC conclusion that humans are significantly contributing to climate change say the IPCC has morphed from a scientific analyst to a political actor. "It's very much an advocacy organization that's couched in the role of advice," says Roger Pielke, a University of Colorado political scientist. He says many IPCC participants want "to compel action" instead of "just summarizing science."

In the mean time, Pachauri has cancelled high-profile visit to the US, fuelling rumours of his imminent resignation. The big (and possibly fatal) blow to his credibility is gleefully delivered by Dr. North today, in a piece that details how much UK taxpayer money has been lavished on Pachauri and his employer TERI. And thus we await the day that this scumbag finally will stop denying the undeniable and hand in his papers...

Elsewhere, In the US civil and criminal cases are being prepared against Professor Phil Jones, chief climatologists at the UK’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU), University of East Anglia, Professor Michael E. Mann of Penn. State University and former U.S. vice president, Al Gore. Details of the cases can be found here.

In a delicious irony, the laws used in the cases brough forth are part of the RICO Act: the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. These were originally enacted to bust Mafia crimes. The AGW movement equivalent to a mob crime family? Now there's an apt comparison.

And so we are entering the stage where the whole green movement is exposed for what it is: a fraud to extort. It is now getting the book thrown at it. One hopes: Hard and continuously.

Splitting my side

From the Telegraaf (NL) we learn that PvdA state secretary Frans 'lying bastard' Timmermans called upon parties not willing to cooperate with Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom to band together.

The PVV may govern in or support a new cabinet, as Wilders has indicated. To Timmermans this must not become a reality. In his eyes the Netherlands are on a knifes edge, because Wilders wants to marginalize groups if the population.

"It's a historic moment if Wilders succeeds in entering the country's government", accrding to Timmermans. According to him the PVV is more extremen then Pim Fortuyns LPF. The latter thought that immigrants should adapt, whereas Wilders goes for assimilation. That would mean giving up their identity.

Timmermans feels that the CDA and VVD ought to make clear how they feel about cooperation with the PVV. According to him, these two parties are "enormously misty" about this issue. Not that this is about a cordon sanitaire, according to Timmermans. He feels it is not undemocratic to use democratic means to prevent certain schools of thought from gaining influence in government.

The notion that there are actual people with actual opinions about matters political is completely alien to Frans Timmermans. He has already shown this in the way he actively contributed to denying the Dutch a say in the ratification of the Turnip the Lisbon Treaty. Thus it isn't much of a surprise that he can't see beyond the The Hague bubble. Oblivious to the world around him he's calling for the political classes to conspire in ignoring the opinion of at least one-fifth of the Dutch.

In the mean time, the CDA has already signalled (NL) their willingness to leave open all options, making Timmermans 'not a cordon sanitaire' a non-starter. Says CDA fraction leader Pieter van Geel:

We exclude no-one. We don't want a cordon sanitaire, which Mr. Bos seems to be aiming for.

Note also that van Geel seems to be aware that Timmermans is the sock-puppet of our erstwhile minister of Finance.

This is how the PvdA thinks it will save iself from ignominious defeat? Stop making me laugh, I'm hurting!

Reductio ad Hitlerum

Hopefully we are seeing the latter days of this kind of anti-intellectual drivel.

(thanks to Vlad Tepes)

IT IS ON!

The cabinet consisting of an unholy alliance of christian democrats (CDA), socialists (PvdA) and christian socialists (CU) is no more. Overnight the Dutch government fell.

The Dutch government collapsed in the early hours of Saturday morning over Labour's insistence that the Netherlands pull out of Afghanistan this year.

After two days of intensive talks and a bitter parliamentary debate, it had become increasingly clear the gulf between prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende and deputy prime minister Wouter Bos was too great to bridge.

Labour leader Bos stated earlier this week that he wanted a decision on Nato's request to the Netherlands to stay in Afghanistan at Friday's cabinet meeting. And that decision would have to be a no, he said repeatedly.

Balkenende said he wanted to keep all options open and was sticking to the March 1 deadline.

The rather anodyne reporting on Dutchnews.nl does not really convey the political soap opera we've been witnessing over the last few days. In short: NATO has requested the Dutch to stay the course in Uruzgan (Afghanistan) beyond the end of 2010. The mission had already been extended (grudgingly) with the promise this would have been the last extension, and some other NATO member would take over as leading nation in Uruzgan.

The letter sent by NATO containing the request, was drafted in close co-operation with key members of the cabinet, among them financial minister Wouter Bos and minister for Development Co-operation Koenders (both PvdA). However, when the letter was finally received, both PvdA ministers did a rather enigmatic about-face. This left the government (and in particular PM Jan Peter Balkenende and foreign minister Maxime Verhagen) with considerable egg on their face. Not to mention the damage this manoeuvre will do to the international reputation of the Netherlands. Numerous crisis meetings and an emergency session of parliament (where the cabinet was brutally savaged by the opposition) followed.

And thus the cabinet was split between socialists and christians. Cornered into a position where differences had become irreconcilable, the fourth Balkenende cabinet came to a premature end, leaving pristine our PM's record of presiding over governments that do not last to term.

So, what have we lost? Geert Wilders calls this cabinet the worst ever (NL). Remember, this was the cabinet that conspicuously grovelled at the feet of the Islamic world in the run-up to the release of Fitna. The socialists, already in for a savage beating (if the polls are to be believed) have made a coalition with christian democrats impossible for years to come. And Jan-Peter Balkenende, already termed the weakest PM since WW2 back in 2008, will probably not return. All in all not a great loss.

On Dutchnews.nl we find a nice overview of the procedure, now that the Dutch are without a government. The upshot (and arguably most important part) is that elections must be held within 83 days. Which means we are going to the booth some time this summer.

In the latest official poll Wilders' PVV and the CDA are vying for first place (CDA: 27 seats, PVV: 25 seats out of 150). Just blow them, liberal conservatives (VVD) and liberal progressives (D'66, in the Netherlands only half-jokingly referred to as Dhimmies'66) stand at 22 and 20 seats, respectively. As mentioned earlier, PvdA currently stands at half the seats the now have: 15 coming down from 30.

The Dutch right (CDA, PVV, VVD and TON) currently stand at 76 seats, which is a majority (just). But it still is a close run, with the left very much undefeated. Moreover, in the coming campaign, they will likely gain a few seats, even if it were on the basis of soothing but false promises. And if they really succeed in activating the immigrant vote all bets are off.

So, will Geert Wilders be the new prime minster? Making predictions is hard, especially where it concerns the future. But I don't think it likely. Wilders has already signalled his willingness to support a minority cabinet (NL) of CDA and VVD. In the present conditions of the highly polarized Dutch political landscape this makes eminent sense. Undeserved or not, Wilders is at the present time much, much too controversial. He still has to convince a sizeable portion of the population he can be an effective leader.

If Wilders were to become PM, with the mood in the Netherlands being what it is these days, he would not be able to govern effectively, I think. The extreme-left, having convinced themselves (and a goodly portion of the Dutch populace) that Wilders is evil incarnate, would be galvanized into action. He'd be running hither and yon, putting out brushfires. It'd be comparable to Sarah Palin taking the reigns of the US tomorrow. Irrespective of his competence (and I personally do not doubt those) he would find the Netherlands rather ungovernable.

But inevitably, come this summer, Wilders will be in a position to steer the Netherlands away from the post-democratic, cultural marxist abyss. Unless the polls are completely off base, the PVV will be a force to be reckoned with in parliament.

The next months will provide for plenty 'interesting times', possibly in the sense of the ancient Chinese proverb. The game is on!

(Thanks to Geenstijl for the illustration above)

[UPDATE001] Gates of Vienna brings up a good point: What of the trial? GoV correspondent HN:

I expect that this court case now will fade out. The court will no doubt find some kind of legal loophole to just postpone the case indefinitely without coming to a conclusion.

Or an acquittal will now be expedited. One never knows.

[UPDATE002] If you want an impression of the quality of those that have governed the Dutch the last three years, this photo of the PvdA minsters and state-secretaries at their press conference provides the picture to replace a thousand (rather nasty and unfriendly) words.

[UPDATE003] Oh God, NO! The CDA board this afternoon decided that in the coming elections Jan Peter Balkenende will lead the CDA fraction (NL). Anybody remember the definition of insanity? After four tries, why would a fifth time be any different?

Unaccountable and unelected figures amassing money and power

On PJ Media Claudia Rosett comments on the the announcement by Yvo de Boer, that he is resigning his post as executive secretary of the UNFCCC per July 1st of this year.

But before celebrating too much over the departure of de Boer, beware. For the climate commissars of the UN, many of their pals in the big business community, and a lot of national potentates, “climate change” has already become a gravy train of extraordinary dimensions. Al Gore alone has become a tycoon with a Nobel prize. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has made it a leading theme of his leadership at the UN. Climate guru Rajendra Pachauri is saying hell, no, he won’t go. Whatever this scene once had to do with “climate” or “science” or “environment” or “earth,” it is by now largely about unaccountable and in many cases unelected figures amassing money and power. Good-bye and good riddance, one hopes, to Yvo de Boer. But this monster he helped create is not going to die without a long and grueling fight.

Meanwhile, Biased BBC notes the lucrative connections De Boers new job at KPGM will bring.

In the corrupt world of climate change it's all very, very cosy for those who make the running.

Climate skeptic vindicated: He was right after all

Also flagged up by EURef, under the title 'Holland's first climate exile?', Anthony Watts reports on the interview Henk Tennekes gave to De Telegraaf (NL) last Saturday (13 - 2).

Here’s a bit of interesting news from a Dutch newspaper. WUWT readers may recall this story:
Scientist quits: ‘I don’t want to remain a member of an organization that …screws up science that badly.’ Henk Tennekes Resigns from Dutch Academy. Now there is a new twist to the story.

From Lawrence Solomon: De Telegraaf, the Netherlands’ largest daily newspaper, has totally vindicated the country’s most prominent global warming denier in a prominent article entitled “Henk Tennekes – He was right after all.”

Tennekes was the director of the Netherlands Meteorological Institute, KNMI, until the early 1990s, when his skepticism of the climate science coming out of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change led to his forced resignation.

A translation into English of De Telegraaf’s vindication appears here.

I didn't know the story about Tennekes quitting his membership of the KNAW. The interview is well worth a read, even if only to get a feel for the soviet-like group dynamics that beset the warmist camp halfway through the nineties. It is good to see a scientist that is independent and conscientious vindicated in this manner (even if it took a long time to get here).

Gouda pays Moroccan youth not to riot

Vlad has the news of this latest absurdity in EN:

Europe News… GOUDA, 17/02/10 – Gouda local council has given criminal Moroccan teenagers money to stop causing trouble. “We wanted to prevent matters from escalating further,” said the council yesterday.
Some dozens of young Moroccans waylaid and robbed passers-by in December. They were ‘bought off’ by the municipality to keep them off the street around New Year’s Eve. They received a combined 2,250 euros, shoved into an envelope, to organise a party, De Telegraaf reported yesterday.
Gouda has confirmed that it paid the troublemakers. “We wanted to prevent maters from escalating further. The youngsters themselves had presented a budget for the party. They had to say how much money they needed for hiring a disc-jockey, a bite to eat and drinks. For us, it was important that it should be quiet in the district around the turn of the year.”
According to the council, it had to act quickly. “Although the money was handed over in cash, it was well-spent. Everyone was happy afterwards. We also gave five Moroccans a gift voucher for a book shop afterwards as a thank-you,” says a spokeswoman.

Further comment would be superfluous, wouldn't it?

Fragmentation

With the local elections (March 3) fast approaching, a particular phenomenon is casting a dark shadow on unity of Dutch society. In recent days several sites reported sightings of election posters and pamphlets in languages other then Dutch. In some constituencies candidates are campaigning in their mother tongue, exclusively catering to voters sharing their identity. Het Vrije Volk provided a nice overview of examples running the political gamut: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14

That this phenomenon is not limited to candidates of non-Dutch origin was today illustrated by Geenstijl, with the examples of Lodewijk Asscher and Freek Ossel (both Labour PvdA in Amsterdam) campaigning in Turkish.

Although described as 'incidences', the number of examples, and the breadth of political affiliation they share, seems to indicate that all over the Netherlands the established political parties are actively out canvassing for the non-indigenous vote. Moreover, they are going about it in a way that raises the spectre of clientèlism and identity politics. Whatever the outcome, these examples show how tragically fragmented Dutch society has become under the influence of mass immigration and a refusal to integrate of those immigrating here.

And silently I weep for a land that once was.

See also:
Snouck Hurgronje

Another day, another IPCC 'gate'

How much fun is beating a dead horse? World Climate Report has news of the latest IPCC falsehood: 'Ice-gate', or how the IPCC halved the (positive) trend in Antarctic ice cover and declared it not significant. Even when publications on this issue, both at the time of writing of IPCC AR4 and published after AR4 came out, reported the trend very much statistically significant.

So, the peer reviewed literature, both extant at the time of the AR4 as well as published since the release of the AR4, shows that there has been a significant increase in the extent of sea ice around Antarctica since the time of the first satellite observations observed in the late 1970s. And yet the AR4 somehow “assessed” the evidence and determined not only that the increase was only half the rate established in the peer-reviewed literature, but also that it was statistically insignificant as well. And thus, the increase in sea ice in the Antarctic was downplayed in preference to highlighting the observed decline in sea ice in the Arctic.

We have observed it before: AR4 is not science, it is pamphleteering.

The end of pretence

By rights Greece should be thrown out of the EMU for their egregious and fraudulent trampling of the Stability Pact, which will in the end mean you and I will pay higher taxes to finance the Greek financial debauchery. And it is only fitting that some form of sanction is placed in the Greeks until such time as they have put their house in order.

But this?

The European Union has shown its righteous wrath by stripping Greece of its vote at a crucial meeting next month, the worst humiliation ever suffered by an EU member state.

The council of EU finance ministers said Athens must comply with austerity demands by March 16 or lose control over its own tax and spend policies altogether. It if fails to do so, the EU will itself impose cuts under the draconian Article 126.9 of the Lisbon Treaty in what would amount to economic suzerainty.

While the symbolic move to suspend Greece of its voting rights at one meeting makes no practical difference, it marks a constitutional watershed and represents a crushing loss of sovereignty.

What a lovely beast the Lisbon Treaty Turnip is. Whenever the mood strikes, the EUnion no has the power to take away your voice and leave others to decide the fate of your nation. No accountability, no democratic control. Any pretence that the EUnion respects the sovereignty or democracy is now at an end.

Can we leave now? (h/t ATW)

[UPDATE001] Helen Szamuely has more.

Boots on the truth

Mark Twain is famous for many a quote. In issues having to deal with climate changes, one of the more apt is: "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes".

This weekend saw the truth finally finishing with her boots, when Phil Jones, former head of CRU, admitted to the BBC that there has been no statistically-significant global warming.

I also calculated the trend for the period 1995 to 2009. This trend (0.12C per decade) is positive, but not significant at the 95% significance level. The positive trend is quite close to the significance level.

There is much goodness to be had from that Q&A, among others Jones' admission that the Medieval Warm Period was probably real. This would imply that the warming of the nineties is hence not human-induced. (see also WUWT here (original reporting) and here (commentary).

But as someone with a bit of statistical schooling, the quote given above proves to me the decrepit state of climate 'science' (and it infuriates me no end in the process).

Proper statistical hypothesis testing means formulating a null-hypothesis (H0) and an alternative hypothesis (Ha). The H0, for statistically technical reasons, is usually framed as a negative, while the Ha is expressed positively. As an example: If one would like to test the differences in IQ between a sample group of men and one of women, the H0 would be 'There is no difference in IQ between men and women', while the alternative Ha would be 'There is a difference between the IQ of men and women'.

The way hypothesis testing works is showing that H0 cannot hold and therefore Ha, by inference, must be true. In fact, statistical hypothesis testing is only able to reject (or not) the null-hypothesis. In science, a threshold of 95% significance is used, meaning there is a probability of 5% or less that H0 is true, given the data. Or, in slightly more technical terms (but the importance if this is considerable): It means there is a probability of 5% of observing Ha when if fact H0 is true.

In terms of the trend in global temperatures, the H0 must have been 'There is no trend in global temperatures between 1995 and 2009', while the Ha would have been 'There is a positive trend in global temperatures between 1995 and 2009'. The admission by Phil Jones that that he wasn't even able to reject the H0 hypothesis (let alone demonstrating that we humans are responsible) is a HUGE admission.

It doesn't matter a damn if he saw a positive trend, or that it was 'quite close to the significance level'. The simple fact is that the trend he observed was NOT significant, was not conclusive proof that H0 should be rejected. By his own admission he was not able to show that H0 does not hold. Ergo H0 does still hold, ergo there is no trend, positive or otherwise, to global temperatures between 1995 and 2009. Had he been a scrupulous, conscientious  scientist he would have reported the fact and that would have been the end of the matter. But instead he chose to ignore his own calculations and latch on to the UN induced panic for ideological reasons and/or precious grant money.

This admission alone should be reason enough to cast Phil Jones (and all those like him) outside, where there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Phil Jones is a charlatan, as are all those like him.

Also reporting:
EURef
Jim Hoft

Exactly the same people

Carel Brendel, known in the Netherlands for his contributions to Het Vrije Volk (NL) and his book (and accompanying site; NL) 'Het verraad van Links' ('The treason of the left'), penned a good overview on Pajamas Media about who is responsible for the accusations brought against Geert Wilders in this moder-day variant of a heresy trail.

So we have an extreme left political group with violent and anti-Semitic antecedents as a political frontrunner in a trial, threatening to suppress freedom of speech. Violence and anti-Semitism are just two indicators of the “rightist” extremism that the researchers could not detect in Wilders.

Media in the Netherlands focuses on Wilders yet seldom writes about the far left origins of his most active political opponent in this trial. The bashers of the murdered Pim Fortuyn are exactly the same people as the political persecutors of Geert Wilders.

Brendel names the names and takes the numbers of the key players in the travesty that is the Wilders trial. Heartily recommended to anyone not familiar with the Dutch socio-political landscape.

Ready to be punched?

Today is the day when Iran 'celebrates' the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Part of the celebrations, as promised by hard-line ayatollah Khamenei, is an announcement that will "punch the arrogance" of the West:

The Iranian nation, with its unity and God’s grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned.

As we wait with baited breath, Wretchard puts the scheduled in the context of the current geopolitical situation. And it isn't all that reassuring.

In summary, the curtain rises on a scene where 1) Barack Obama has failed to contain Iranian nuclear ambitions; 2) Iran is in a state of turmoil; 3) regional conditions are at a heightened state of tension which even the Europeans are now alive to. But crucially these events are taking place at a time when Washington has paralyzed itself through incompetence so great that even liberals are calling for the dismissal of Barack Obama’s Chicago crew.

One would hope that the big announcement will be the lead up only to another 'raspberry moment' as it did four years ago. But all will be revealed in good time, as it always does.

So now we wait...

[UPDATE001] And here it is, possibly. Via Jihad Watch an Associated Press story: Iran Claims New Success in Uranium Enrichment.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed Thursday that Iran has produced its first batch of uranium enriched to a higher level, saying his country will not be bullied by the West into curtailing its nuclear program a day after the U.S. imposed new sanctions.(...)

Iran said Tuesday it had begun enriching uranium to 20 percent purity to power a research reactor for production of medical isotopes, up from 3.5 percent previously. But the international community has demanded a halt to all enrichment activity because the same process is used to produce weapons-grade material if it is enriched to a level of 90 percent.

Experts say that from 20 percent enrichment, Iran could make a quick leap to weapons-grade uranium. (...)

Addressing the crowd, Ahmadinejad swore ''the Iranian nation will never give in to bullying and illogical remarks'' from the West.

''We have the capability to enrich uranium more than 20 percent or 80 percent but we don't enrich (to this level) because we don't need it,'' he added. ''When we say we do not manufacture the bomb, we mean it, and we do not believe in manufacturing a bomb.'' (...)

The president said Iran will triple the production of its low-enriched uranium in the future.

''God willing, daily production (of low enriched uranium) will be tripled,'' he said.

Every bit as complicit

Today Elsevier revealed (NL) that the Dutch delegation that co-wrote the IPCC report was not exactly balanced. Of the 110 expert reviewers and lead authors in the delegation a grand total of one (1) was of the sceptical variety: Dr. Hans Labohm. The  other 109 were all from the alarmist persuasion.

What's worse: Four members of the delegation were noted (notorious) climate activists: Donald Pols (Milieudefensie),  Steve Sawyer and Sven Teske (Greenpeace) and Arjette Stevens (Natuur en Milieu). The four co-wrote recommendations on climate-related policies. Policies that were adopted by minster Jacqueline Cramer, who herself originates from environmental activist circles.

Other members of the delegation (handsomely compensated by our government for travel and living expenses with tax-payers money), were environmental and climate scientists, who, according to Elsevier, are profiting from the commotion around global warming as described in the controversial IPCC report. Among them the Dutch Royal Meteorological Institute (KNMI) and four consultants who make a living giving 'climate advise'.

At least the Dutch government evidently did nothing to ensure a balanced, scientifically responsible delegation. Instead they sent in a number of environmental activists, who in all likelihood worked tirelessly to colour the IPCC report in the shade they prefer (green, to be perfectly superfluous). If the Dutch situation is exemplary, conclusions must be drawn that national governments are every bit as complicit in the IPCC debacle as are the UN and the scientists involved.

These new revelations have further irritated an already flustered parliament. Liberal conservative MP Helma Neppérus (VVD) has demanded our intrepid PM, Jan Peter Balkenende, to explain (NL) the situation around the IPCC and the Dutch delegation co-writing it. Originally this was supposed to be done by minister Cramer, but Second Chamber does not trust her to give a full account anymore:

I want to hear from the prime minister what is what. Not from minister Jacqueline Cramer, because that would be something like a butcher grading his own meat.

Which seems to be a bit of a habit for minister Cramer. Earlier she announced an 'independent inquiry' into the IPCC shenanigans. And inquiry to be held by the very agency that gave the IPCC the exaggerated numbers on the effects of global warming on the Netherlands.

Breaking: Jihadist bombing of train thwarted?

From Elsevier (NL):

The police have evacuated Den Bosch station, after a suspect shouted 'Allahu Akbar' in an intercity train. The man, dressed in a white dress, was detained.

A spokesperson for the NS [National Railways] says that a man in a long white dress and green jacket shouted he had explosives while travelling on the Roosendaal- Zwolle intercity.

Allegedly he called out to fellow passengers something about the 9/11 terror attacks.

Detained

Mohamed Amezian was on the train and tells RTL News that a disturbed man was shouting 'Allahu Akbar' through the compartments, shouted clearly that he was muslim and that he spoke Arabic. He also allegedly has said he loves all Dutch and hates Osama bin Laden. Later he supposedly said it was all 'a bad joke'.

According to the NS, around nine this morning explosives were found. A spokeman for the police tells Elsevier it is not certain explosives were found.

The police has detained the man and brought him to a police station.

Confusion reigns supreme. The NS say a bomb was found, now all of a sudden the police maintains explosives were not found. Anyway, Den Bosh station is now evacuated (video below is of the evacuation) and the traffic around Den Bosch is completely shut down.

[UPDATE001] An eyewitness interviewed by the NOS (NL):

"The man came onto the train from the platform, shouting 'I love Hollanders, I love the Dutch, fuck Bin Laden, fuck terrorists.'" On the train a panic ensued. "But in no-time there was police who removed the man"

I don't know, doesn't sound like a stable, focussed would-be shaheed to me.

[UPDATE002] Reporting in EN here and here.

[UPDATE003 13:30] No explosives were found (NL) on the train after a thorough check by the police and a double-check with a bomb-sniffer dog from the Dutch armed forces.

[UPDATE004 10 - 2 ] Final update: De Pers (NL) reports that the 43 year old man causing the events of yesterday  is known with the police, not for his jihadist tendencies, but for his psychiatric problems. Yesterday afternoon police searched is house. The man is being held on suspicion of threatening with, making preparations for and attempt to set of an explosive, even though neither the search of the train and station, nor the house search, turned up any explosives.

IPCC's final gasp: Africagate

By now the credibility of the IPCC AR4 report from 2007 is thoroughly and utterly shot. Peil.nl (NL) shows results from a poll about climate awareness, contrasting the results to a similar poll held a little over two months ago (December 10, 2009). In that short period the number of positive responses to the question 'Are you worried about how the climate on Earth develops' dropped rather spectacularly from 63% in December 2009 to 48% this February. Strikingly, the number of negative responses increased by a similar amount (from 34% to 48%) with the 'Don't know' category only gaining a single percent (a pdf with results can be downloaded here). This would seem to indicate that the controversy around Climategate and the IPCC has radically changed the views of many a Dutch.

Thus it isn't surprising that today saw another scandal around the IPCC AR4 erupting. Richard North of EURef once again proves to be a formidable nemesis of the IPCC. Tracking back the chain of references that leads to the IPCC's conclusion (trotted out whenever a UN big-wig deems it opportune) that global warming leads to a situation where in some African countries, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50 percent by 2020. And in so doing he discovers 'Africagate'.

By now the fact that 'mistakes were made' in drawing up the IPCC AR4 report is not news any more. But reading the post on EURef is a useful exercise, in that it gives a good insight into the rotten, one-sided, unscientific way the much-vaunted 'peer-review' process actually worked out. As it turns out, the source of the claim in question is one (1) review by am obscure academic, basing its conclusion on just one out of three policy papers relating to North Africa. And even then it was highly selective (to the point of outright fraud) in relaying the main conclusion.

A couple of days ago we published a post calling the IPCC AR4 report 'a very thick pamphlet, written by activists and advocacy groups'. This latest post by Mr. North proves the truth of that statement definitively.

(picture courtesy of Joanne Nova)

Teach your children well

From De Dagelijkse Standaard (NL) this delightful item: In the upcoming local elections (March 3) a party calling itself Islam Democrats will compete for city council seats in The Hague. Heading the list of candidates (NL) for ID The Hague is one Dilaver Delikaya.

This character of course has his own social network page. On Hyves as it happens. On his page he has placed some pictures of family life in the Delikaya household. Particularly striking is the picture of ‘Muhamed Gangsta’, reproduced on the right. But there are other, equally quaint pictures here and here.

How old are these little ones? Seven, eight maybe? And how did they come up with the idea of striking these particular poses for the camera of Mr. Delikaya? And what is the message that Delikaya is trying to convey with these pictures?

Why should we allow a character like Mr. Delikaya to foul the political scene in The Hague with his presence? And lastly: Why isn't Mrs. Els Lucas pressing charges for 'incitement to hatred and violence'?

Questions... question...

[UPDATE001] Unfortunately, the pictures were already removed by the time I saw the DDS item. Links to the pictures are from a mirror provided by DDS. MSM reporting by the Algemeen Dagblad here (NL).

[UPDATE002] More on this on the NewsReal.

On the Murder of Geert Wilders

Diana West reported a story to the world about a 'spoof' trailer for a film about the murder of Geert Wilders, made by Radio FunX director Willem Stegeman (p). The original story was published by Radio Netherlands, a public broadcaster not adverse to an occasional bout of Wilders-bashing. Gates of Vienna picked up the story, including the PVV's (understandably irritated) reaction to the 'trailer'.

Reader DP111 asks what to make of this:

Is this a deliberate plan to intimidate Wilders or a plan to provoke the Dutch?

In my humble opinion it is neither. Diana pretty much nails it, when she qualifies both the film and the maker as 'grotesque'.

The story didn't receive much attention in the Netherlands. Mainly because we've seen it all a million times before. Left-wing activist with a point to make, resorting to 'satire' to get some attention. The trouble is that leftwing activist, especially those of the holier-then-thou, multicult, high horse variety, have absolutely no sense of humour to speak of. This is probably true for the world, but is especially true in the Netherlands.

Humour in the Netherlands already is severely underdeveloped. Dutch 'situation comedy' usually produce no more then a willing smile. The big TV hits, comedy wise, are all American and British., as are the sketch shows. Dutch 'humour' is often too crude, too vulgar to actually be funny. That is why we couldn't do a decent remake of 'Have I got News for You' or 'QI', even if our life depended on it. Both made it to Dutch TV, both bombed. And both drove viewers back to the originals on the BBC in massive numbers.

To that underdeveloped sense of humour, we must add the interminable urge to be 'edgy', a national compulsive disorder the Dutch contracted during the sixties. This compulsive urge murders any nugget of true humour, by putting it in crude and vulgar terms, just so as to 'shock' the ordinary citizen, who is deemed not sophisticated enough to 'get' the self-styled cultural elite. This has been with us for 40 years now. And rather then shock, it merely invokes a shrug and a yawn in the Dutch.

Which is why the story about the 'spoof' gained little traction in the Netherlands. It is a puerile, 'edgy' bit of media-making by a left-wing , multicult member of the self-appointed cultural elite, who rides in on his high horse, having a point to make. Not realizing he has absolutely no sense of humour (or good taste for that matter), he puts his point forward too crudely and vulgar to be of any effect. He is the equivalent of a four-year old repeating the word 'poop!' over and over, and giggling at himself for doing so. Tiresome, it is. Annoying it is too. But it is not that important.

There is another aspect to this story. FunX, the station that that produced the puerile 'spoof', was set up (and is supported) by public money to attract 'a young urban audience'. This audience is largely of non-Dutch descent. But the station itself (like its head) is of the lily-white native Dutch variety. This mismatch is probably the reason why the station has been languishing, not able to attract enough of an audience to justify its existence. Producing the 'spoof', a more elaborate version of those Wilders-bashing youtube vids by talentless street scum who mistake themselves for 'musicians' because they know how to reproduce a 'rhyme' of questionable quality, may have been a misguided attempt to ingratiate the station with the target audience and hence attract more listeners.

All in all, the 'spoof' is garnering a level of attention that is completely unwarranted. However, the fact that the Mr. Stegeman felt inspired to produce this bit of atrocious 'satire' illustrates the absolutely rotten, cold-hearted and unforgiving atmosphere that permeates Dutch public debate.

Diana West also notices this, pointing to the decidedly unflattering photo Radio Netherlands chose to portray the intended victim in the 'spoof'.

Of course, the grotesquerie of Stegeman and his "spoof" are not the main story (...) Almost as breath-taking is the nasty photo of Wilders with which RNW, supposedly a news organization, illustrates the story.

Which points out the main cause of the rotten state of public debate in the Netherlands. It isn't Geert Wilders, or the PVV. It is those that oppose him. Intellectually unable to find any legitimate, civilized means to oppose him, they resort to violence and threats of violence. And in this they show us exactly who the enemies of civilization really are. It is quite the irony that Wilders stands accused of 'inciting hatred', while having to put up with the likes of Mr. Stegeman. Who will drag Mr. Stegeman and radio FunX before a judge?

It's official

Already flagged up by us in our 'obituary' for the IPCC yesterday, and by EURef before us (credit where it is due!), but as of today it is official: Netherlands adds to UN climate report controversy.

The Netherlands has asked the UN climate change panel to explain an inaccurate claim in a landmark 2007 report that more than half the country was below sea level, the Dutch government said Friday.

According to the Dutch authorities, only 26 percent of the country is below sea level, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will be asked to account for its figures, environment ministry spokesman Trimo Vallaart told AFP.

The incident could cause further embarrassment for the IPCC, which recently admitted a claim in the same report that global warming could melt Himalayan glaciers by 2035 was wrong.

IPCC experts calculated that 55 percent of the Netherlands was below sea level by adding the area below sea level -- 26 percent -- to the area threatened by river flooding -- 29 percent -- Vallaart said.

"They should have been clearer," Vallaart said, adding that the Dutch office for environmental planning, an IPCC partner, had exact figures.

Correcting the error had been "on the agenda several times" but had never actually happened, Vallaart said.

And that wouldn't have anything to do with that fact that the erroneous numbers were so ... convenient, would it?

(h/t to ATW for the EN link)

Wilders trial to resume some time between July and October

Apparently the trial will resume somewhere between July 1st and October 31st, depending on the availability of the three witnesses Wilders was allowed.

According to Snouck, where I got the information from, resumption depends specifically on when Wafa Sultan will be able to come over.

Brussels: A Euro Beirut

If you're wondering 'How bad are things in Europe?', this week provided you with a chilling answer.

Flagged up by De Dagelijkse Standaard (NL) there is the report of the attempted slaughter of a Belgian police officer in one of Brussels notorious no-go areas. The officer in question was hit three times by 7.62mm slugs fired from a Kalashnikov assault weapon.

De Telegraaf  (NL) reports that the Belgian police is increasingly losing terrain to criminal 'youth' and are actively avoiding certain areas in Brussels and Anderlecht.

The police don’t trust themselves to show up in such quarters as Anderlecht, where youth [sic!] shoot with Kalashnikovs at police officers. On Saturday, one officer received a bullet in the leg. In the previous week, as school decided to close and flee the quarter because the students were constantly being robbed and threatened. The situation has gotten so much out of control that the police, justice, and mayor of Anderlecht are coming together on Monday (February 1) for an emergency meeting to discuss harsher approaches and more active follow up. On Wednesday, the government will decide upon more finances and support for the insecure quarter in the capital city. Numerous politicians advocate for a curfew in the quarter. Police unions are threatening to strike because the find the situations to insecure in the quarters.

This situation is also the reason why a technical college, the Institut Supérieur Industriel de Bruxelles, saw itself forced to move away from Anderlecht, a story reported by Esther last week.

Astonishingly, the Brussels mayor, the loathsome Freddy Thielemans (we do remember the 9/11 commemoration in Brussels in 2007, don't we?) dismissed the incidents of last week as “faits divers”, stating (NL):

That Kalashnikovs are fired in broad day-light is a problem everywhere.

(At this point I will take a moment, while you silently ponder the reality-based wisdom and insight of mayor Thielemans)

Today, war correspondent Arnold Karskens retails his experiences in De Pers (NL) under the title 'War zone Brussels'. The picture he paints is a bleak one. Police officers are afraid to intervene in observed criminal activity, since they have no body armour. Not that it would help much, because the kalashnikovs, flooding the streets of Brussels from Chechnya at a rate of 4,000 pieces last year alone (the going rate for a new one is as little as 50 - 200 euros) is able to penetrate such armour with ease. It has gotten so bad that certain quarters have de facto been ceded to the criminals.

In November the police commissariat below city hall was burned to the ground with molotovs. It is still closed. At night the police will only patrol certain streets with two patrol cars at a time. 'Criminals want to establish a turf for their dealing in drugs, stolen cars and these days also: weapons'. And they're succeeding nicely.

Interviewed by Karskens, Vlaams Belang member Frédéric Erens is succinct: 'This is the new Beirut'.

Isn't that just peachy-keen? The capital of the EUnion, that shining beacon of new supra-national 'post-democratic' governance, descending into an anarchy comparable to Beirut at its worst in the 1980's. Tells you all you need to know about the EUnion, doesn't it?

More about this at Politically Incorrect, who I'd like to thank for providing me with the translation of the fragment from De Telegraaf quoted above.

A heresy trial by another name

Pat Condell in classic form on the Wilders trial.

Coup de grace by a party most deserving

In De Telegraaf today an article that may mean the definitive end to the credibility of the Anthropogenic Global Warming hypothesis: What do you mean warming? (NL)

A large, world-wide decline in the number of weather stations since 1990 explains an important part of the measured warming on Earth since that time.

According to American research the number of measuring stations dived from 6,000 to 1,500. Because weather data from rural areas, higher altitude places and sites close to the North pole no longer factor into the world average, is seems the calculated temperature has come out too high.

From around 1990, when thousands of stations were dropped from the calculations, the mean temperature shoots up.

This is the latest in a string of blunders, mishaps and falsehoods that have evidently crept into IPCC AR4, touted as THE most well-researched and vetted scientific publication in human history. Just yesterday it came out that the IPCC AR4 report used exaggerated and actually completely unfounded numbers, when describing the Netherlands as 'being susceptible to both sea-level rise and river flooding because 55% of its territory is below sea level where 60% of its population lives and 65% of its Gross National Product (GNP) is produced'. In actual fact, only 20% of our damp corner lies below sea level, which represents 19% GNP.

The report has a number of Dutch MP's up in the curtains, quite lividly demanding an independent inquiry into the IPCC. Liberal conservative MP Helma Neppérus (VVD): 'This time around a weak letter from minister Cramer will not do', according to Elsevier (NL). In that item, declaring 'Global warming is measuring error', the magazine describes the credibility of the IPCC as being in an 'unstoppable free-fall'.

The charming aspect of this latest controversy, is that the coup de grace to AGW credibility in the Netherlands is delivered by the massive paper on surface station data by Jim d'Aleo and Anthony Watts. The latter is of course well-known for his blog, often referenced on KV, Watts up with that, WUWT for short. That these two gentlemen are responsible for the final death blow to the AGW hypothesis in the Netherlands is nothing short of deserved.

[UPDATE001] It appears that at least the Dutch do not believe any more. A poll by the public broadcast radio show Stand.nl posed the statement 'The IPCC report is still credible'. Only one in five agreed (pictured above). A good 80% have lost faith in the IPCC report, which pretty much spells bad news for our current government and authorities and their 'green' agenda (poll permalink).

[UPDATE002] And there she goes: India to pull out of IPCC.

India has threatened to pull out of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and set up its on climate change body because it "cannot rely" on the group headed by its own Nobel Prize-winning scientist Dr R K Pachauri.

[UPDATE003] Unfortunately, our minister Cramer absolutely refuses to face up to reality. In a speech to climate scientists today (NL), she stated:

With all the controversy we must not forget that the most important conclusions still stand. The climate changes, the earth is warming, that is caused for the most part by human activity, and we need to intervene.

The only nugget of truth in that pig-headed and (deliberately) misleading statement is: 'the climate changes'. Yes it does, but 1) not in the direction you and all the other loathsome neo-marxists said it would and 2) it has always changed and it will in the future. And there is nothing, NOTHING, we ought to do about it. Because we can't.

Wilders trial: Court rejects 15 out of 18 witnesses for the defence

In the second session of the trial against Geert Wilders, the Amsterdam court disallowed 15 of the 18 witnesses that the defence of Wilders wanted to put on the stand, among them Mohammed Bouyeri, murderer of Theo van Gogh. Other muslim-extremists were also disallowed as witnesses for the defence. Even the experts on law, requested by Wilders team were rejected.

The only witnesses allowed by the court are three (out of eight originally requested) experts on islam. However, one of these three is Wafa Sultan, according to Dutch News.That'll make for some spectacular (and for the PC multi-cult crowd quite uncomfortable) viewing.

Challenged by the defence that the court had no jurisdiction over Wilders, the court ruled in favour of itself. While Wilders' attorney argued that Wilders in an MP and hence subject to the High Council only, the court judged otherwise arguing Wilders is prosecuted for statements outside of parliament.

"Evidently this court is not interested in the truth", reacted Wilders, "I can only conclude that the court will not allow me a fair trial".

Source: 'Rechtbank bevoegd in zaak-Wilders' (NL)

[UPDATE001] Reporting in EN here and here.

[UPDATE002] A new international website on the Wilders trial is here: wildersontrial.com

[UPDATE003] The list of rejected witnesses can be found at the bottom of this item (NL). Most notable among them (for those in the counter-jihad): Andrew Bostom, Robert Spencer and Al-Qaradawi. Too bad about mr. Bostom and mr. Spencer. Would have been quite something to see them in a Dutch court telling our authorities what's what.

[UPDATE004] Robert Spencer reacts:

Hans Jansen's work on Islam is superb and groundbreaking, and he will be an excellent witness, as will Admiraal and the exemplary freedom fighter Wafa Sultan. Nonetheless, this decision indicates the court's bias against Wilders, and so does not bode well for him.

[UPDATE005] Sit Henry Morgan wonders on VFR:

given the restrictions on his defence that you describe, he should refuse to participate in the trial--i.e. no defence. Just sit there and watch and listen. This will give the trial the appearance of one of Stalin's or Hitler's show trials. (...)

But liberals conducting show trials that restrict or prohibit the defendant from defending himself? How "reasonable" and "liberal" is that?

[UPDATE006] Diana West:

Trying Geert Wilders, a once-valiant Holland is leading the way, forsaking the freedoms of the West for the objectives of the ummah.

A terrorist organisation after all

A small update to this story.

Today the Supreme Council  ruled that the court case against the Hofstad group must be retried (NL). This cane after the public prosecutor appealed a decision by Court of Appeals in The Hague. Earlier in 2008 the The Hague court of appeal acquitted all members of the Hofstad group of  'membership of a terrorist organisation' .

The Supreme Council ruled that the The Hague court of appeal had applied the legal definition of 'membership of a terrorist organisation' too strictly and hence invalid. The case must now be tried before a different court of appeal, probably in Amsterdam.