Full HD Dutch MSM in Technicolor

... and in 3D as well.

Via De Dagelijkse Standaard (NL): Alex Knepper, of Human Rights Service, was interviewed by a member of the Dutch MSM corps. To be exact (and according to DDS) is was NRC journalist Margriet Oostveen, for a column dated April 10 of this year (subscription link).

Alex Knepper shares his experience with this fine specimen of Dutch journalism here. To give you a taste of the loathsome creature that is Mrs. Oostveen, I'd like to present the following quote:

On the phone, the reporter actually contended that Ayaan Hirsi Ali was essentially a media whore who lied on multiple occasions about her life being threatened. Before the famous incident involving Theo van Gogh, she insisted, Hirsi Ali had tried to provoke radical Muslims into threatening her life so that she could become a media critic of Islam. Hirsi Ali’s life had never been threatened before then, the reporter claimed, but she knew that if she provoked radical Muslims, then she could become famous. Hirsi Ali’s father, according to the reporter, had confirmed this to her.

What can one say about such repulsive nonsense?

What, indeed. The main issue of the article is the discussion about Geert Wilders and the nature of islam. Predictably, when Mrs. Oostveen was confronted with certain ... erhm... uncomfortable facts she proceeded to completely misrepresent Mr. Kneppers statements, leading to this rather succinct, but depressing observation:

Even as my Dutch reporter and her colleagues, those maggots eating away at the corpse of Old Europe, cheerfully reassure everyone that we have no basis by which to judge the cultural values of others, Dutch values are being swept away. Dutch people are being fed the bizarre line that Sharia law is no better or worse than the Dutch constitution, and that the Qur'an is no better or worse than the Nicomachean Ethics. Imperialism? Pedophilia? They’re just fine, as long as they’re committed by "people of color" in the name of traditional religion.

And thus we will lose what is ours.

Read it in full to get a flavour of what is the Dutch mainstream media in full technicolor, HD and in 3D. It isn't pretty, but then again: we already suspected this, didn't we?

Facebook madness

Gawain Towler of England Expects has the latest absurdity coming from the halls of Brussels. Some bint named Nessa Childers wants the EUnion to legislate against possible Facebook addiction.

No, this is not me or Gawain kidding. This is for real.

There has been an explosion in the usage of this online social networking tool across Europe: unfortunately many people have crossed the line from social networking to social dysfunction. This is a real health issue and I am calling upon the Commission to take action.

Visiting your Facebook page frequently actually causes what psychologists refer to as ‘intermittent reinforcement’. Notifications, messages and invitations reward you with an unpredictable high, much like gambling. That anticipation can get dangerously addictive. Many people access their Facebook page once or twice a week; however, for others it has turned into a compulsion — and it is a compulsion to dissociate yourself from your real world and go and live in the Facebook world.

Moderate usage is not a problem at all for most people, however some people do not seem to realise that it is not real life.

So far so 'Hahah'.

But the final two lines of MEP Childers' written question put into sharp, chilling focus what mess we got ourselves into:

With the passing into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the EU now has increased powers to legislate when there is a threat to public health in Europe. Will the Commission submit proposals to Parliament to address this growing threat to the mental health of European citizens?

Telegraph columnist Ed West: That ringing in your ears is the sounds of alarm bells coming from the direction of Brussels.

Just let these words sink in for a moment:  With the passing into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the EU now has increased powers to legislate... Then look up Articles 3, 4 and 6 in the consolidated version of the Turnip. Finally, return to the words of Mrs. Childers: With the passing into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the EU now has increased powers to legislate... anything it wants (h/t Witterings from Witney).

And it was our own establishment, our own politicians and journalists, that sold us out to this madness, this unaccountable monster. So, the reason we are not executing the lot of them is...?

Statistics

This would have been unthinkable even a few years ago. The Dutch scientific journal Tijdschrift voor Criminologie devoted an entire issue to 'Crime, migration and ethnicity'. It makes for some depressing, though not exactly surprising, reading (NL).

GeenStijl puts it all in a nice summary (NL):

Of all youth in the Netherlands, around 14% come into contact with the judicial system. Of Dutch males, 20% runs afoul of the law, in Moroccan males this is 54%. Morroccan youth are also the youngest when they first commit crime and on average are charged 4.1 times.

Turkish males commit mostly violence, while Moroccans commit property and financial crime. Ethnic Dutch are mostly caught vandalizing, for disorderly conduct in public or for traffic offences.

Of Dutch girls 4.5% comes into contact with the justice system, of Moroccan girls this is 16.6%.

Among habitual criminals there are 12.8% autochtone Dutch, while 32.3%(!) of them are Moroccan. Moroccan girls are twice as likely to be 'habitual' criminals as are Dutch girls. And lastly: Criminal 'allochtones' are more violent then criminal 'autochtones'.

So, can we, from this point on, admit there is a problem WITHOUT immediately be labelled a backward, racist troglodyte?

[Instant Update] And before anybody brings up that lame old excuse: No, there is no statistically relevant relation between crime and socio-economic factors in the Netherlands (pdf; NL).

A view from outside

Over at Pajamas, Barry Rubin takes a fair stab at the Dutch political scene after the recent general elections and what the changes to it might mean for Europe at large: Is Europe Awakening to Islamist Threat?

Take the Netherlands as a case study. After elections last month, the parties of the center-right hold 83 seats, while those of the left have 67. Since there are ten parties in parliament, talks to form a coalition government will last for weeks, especially since the two largest have only twenty percent each. In the elections, only three seats changed hands between blocs.
But the big news was the shift within the center-right — the rise of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (PVV) led by the controversial Geert Wilders, which almost tripled its presence from 9 to 24 seats.

Going on to describe how the might of the current Dutch establishment was deployed to marginalize Wilders, despite the growing problems as a result of virtually unchecked immigration from predominantly muslim countries, Mr. Rubin notes that while Wilders' PVV tripled in size, the other big winner were the liberal conservative VVD, a party that has much in common with the PVV. Even parties of the center (right *and* left) seem to be shifting towards the PVV point of view.

This leads Rubin to the conclusion that '55 percent of Dutch voters backed parties that want a real change in key policies', following up with the question: Why is nothing dramatic likely to happen? Remembering the other 45% of the Dutch and our history of striving hard for consensus, Mr. Rubin thinks that some kind of broad coalition will likely emerge.

Whether that is really the case, remains to be seen. Today the informateur (the guy asked to investigate the options for a coalition government) will offer his final report to a 'concerned' Queen, reporting that so far all options are non-starters due to the reluctance of some key partners in the proposed coalitions.

However. Mr. Rubin is quite optimistic. He writes that outsiders would view this situation of deadlock between the political left and right in Holland with such different overall visions of Dutch politics and society as a big problem. In contrast, the Dutch believe they thrive on this kind of paradox, finding some compromise to ease them through.

"If Jerusalem falls into the hands of the Muslims, Athens and Rome will be next"

Geert Wilders made a speech and YNet is reporting. From the YNet item it is not clear where or when Wilders made his speech. But as we've come to expect from the man, it contains a few absolute gold nuggets.

Geert Wilders, who leads the right-wing Party for Freedom (PVV) in Holland, said last week he believes Jordan should be renamed Palestine. The Jordanian government responded by saying Wilders' speech was reminiscent of the Israeli right wing.

"Jordan is Palestine," said Wilders, who heads the third-largest party in Holland. "Changing its name to Palestine will end the conflict in the Middle East and provide the Palestinians with an alternate homeland."


Wilders added that Israel deserved a special status in the Dutch government because it was fighting for Jerusalem in its name.

"If Jerusalem falls into the hands of the Muslims, Athens and Rome will be next. Thus, Jerusalem is the main front protecting the West. It is not a conflict over territory but rather an ideological battle, between the mentality of the liberated West and the ideology of Islamic barbarism," he said.

"There has been an independent Palestinian state since 1946, and it is the kingdom of Jordan." Wilders also called on the Dutch government to refer to Jordan as Palestine and move its embassy to Jerusalem.

Neighboring Arab states are not amused. The Saudi Al-Watan carried Jordan's response to Wilders' speech. The kingdom's embassy in Hague was outraged, and said the Dutch ambassador would soon be summoned to explain.

But Robert Spencer heartily agrees and provides evidence in the form of a statement by LO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein, way back in 1977.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.

How bad? This bad!

Flagged up by De Dagelijkse Standaard: Following reports of increasing anti-semitism in the Netherlands, public broadcaster Joodse Omroep put things to the test by sending out a rabbi and two Jewish youth, wearing yarmulkes, to gauge public response.

Dismayingly, of not entirely unsurprising, certain segments of the Amsterdam population did not react all that positively. Esther has the goods, including the short clip reproduced below. The entire segment can be viewed here (NL). Sic transit Gloria mundi, I guess. But it hurts just the same...

[Instant update] Or how about this one, from Pamela Geller, an Amsterdam taxi cab carrying the message 'Israel = terror country/state'. In Amsterdam, traditionally the most Jewish city of Holland!

Pamela conveniently provides address, URL and email contact to lodge your objections.
(Thanks to reader White Elephant)

One can but dream

On Pajamas James C. Bennett imagines what it would be like if (when?) Germany's Bundeskanzlerin has had enough and decides to quit the EMU: The PIIGS Who Fell to Earth.

She relayed her news.

The aides could hear the scream of pure anger as Merkel held the phone away from her ear. The tirade continued for about half a minute. Then there was complete silence. She put the phone back to her ear.

My dear Nicholas, you can hardly complain. After all, you threatened me with the same thing back in May. You see, when you did that, you made explicit what has been the case for some time now. You have placed us in the Prisoner’s Dilemma. You are familiar with that?

Of course. We French know philosophy. The first prisoner who cooperates, gets the deal. In order to avoid having one prisoner betray the others, they must all have confidence that none will cooperate.

And among the Euroland nations with the ability to have a strong currency, the situation is the same. If any one suspects that another is about to leave, the only thing to do is leave first. When you threatened to leave, we realized that was the position in which we had been put.

Read it all...

[UPDATE001] Then again, maybe it is not all a pipe dream. Via EURef we learn that one of Germany's largest stock market portals, Börsennews.de has re-introduced stock prices in Deutsch Marks.

With the symbolic reinstatement of the Deutsch Mark Börsennews.de is not supporting to the abolition of the Euro, however the desire of many citizens for economic security. One thing is clear, the German Mark represented the economically strong and healthy Germany. The Euro represents a cracked economic system, not only throughout the world, in Europe, but above all in Germany.

We are f..... - part II

From Dutchnews.nl: Coalition negotiator visits queen as right-wing cabinet talks fail.

Talks on forming a right-wing government between the VVD Liberals, anti-Islam PVV and Christian Democrats stranded on Thursday morning, sending negotiator Uri Rosenthal back to queen Beatrix to discuss what to do next.

The talks collapsed after CDA leader Maxime Verhagen refused to join the other two parties until they had agreed how to deal with the economy and issues such as the PVV's demand for ethnic registration and a Muslim headscarf tax.

Verhagen told reporters he had made it quite clear since last Friday that the PVV and VVD first had to agree on key issues. Both those parties made strong gains in last week's general election, while the CDA vote halved.

Progress

' I said that again on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday,' Verhagen said. ' To my regret they do not appear to have made any progress.'

There is also strong opposition within the CDA to joining a coalition with the PVV because of its anti-Islam stance. A number of prominent party members threatened to quit if the CDA joined a government which included Wilders.

Unrealistic

Liberal leader Mark Rutte said Verhagen's position was 'unealistic'.

'It appears that the CDA does not want to take part and does not want to sit at the table with me and Geert Wilders,' he told reporters.

Wilders said he is 'very disappointed' . 'You do business with the three of you. You cannot negotiate with an empty chair,' Wilders said. 'He is ignoring 1.5 million voters who want to change the Netherlands.'

Labour

Although the PVV made the most gains in last week's election, boosting its share of the vote to around 15%, the Labour party PvdA has six more seats in parliament.

Pundits say Rosenthal is now likely to begin looking at forming a 'purple plus' coalition, a combination of the VVD, PvdA and minor parties D66 and GroenLinks.

No PVV participation in a new coalition... And to bring even more cheer, we will get a Purple+ cabinet where almost 2/3 of the votes are of the left and very left. Another reason to intensely hate the christian democrats.

Oh... And did I mention We. Are. F.cked ?

We are f.....

From EU Observer: Belgian judge seeks EU-wide ban on cigarette sales.

The EU court in Luxembourg has lodged two anti-smoking cases which could, in theory, lead to a ban on the sale of tobacco products across the EU.

The two complaints, entitled "Rossius C267/10" and "Collard C268/10," lodged in Luxembourg on 28 May, call for the EU to ban the sale of cigarettes and the collection of excise duties on tobacco products in Belgium.

They also ask the court to examine if the sale of tobacco products goes against the Lisbon Treaty, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the UN's 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Baudouin Hubaux, a Belgian anti-smoking campaigner and a judge at the regional court in Namur, Belgium, who referred the cases to Luxembourg, told Belgian press that the best outcome would be for the court to ban cigarettes across the union or, at the least, to set out the financial liability of tobacco companies for damages to people's health.

Mr Hubaux' statement of reasoning, as submitted to Luxembourg, was published in the Belgian daily, La Derniere Heure, on 3 June.

"Future historians who will explore the 20th century will surely be surprised at the timidity of measures against smoking," it says. "If we fail to reduce consumption, smoking will kill 520 million people worldwide between 1950 and 2050, 10 times more than the Second World War."

The EU tribunal will now consider whether the case is admissible. If it goes ahead, the court will appoint a rapporteur and advocate general and table hearings leading to a judgment some 17 months down the line.

That's never happen!, you say? Think again... The link also contains this gem:

The Lisbon Treaty recently clarified existing case law that the EU court has primacy over member states' legislation.

We. Are. F.cked.

Bound to pass

From Reuters: Muslim states seek UN action on West's "islamophobia"

Muslim states said on Wednesday that what they call "islamophobia" is sweeping the West and its media and demanded that the United Nations take tougher action against it.

Delegates from Islamic countries, including Pakistan and Egypt, told the United Nations Human Rights Council that treatment of Muslims in Western countries amounted to racism and discrimination and must be fought.

"People of Arab origin face new forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance and experience discrimination and marginalisation," an Egyptian delegate said, according to a U.N. summary.

And Pakistan, speaking for the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), said the council's special investigator into religious freedom should look into such racism "especially in Western societies".

Acting for the OIC, Pakistan has tabled a resolution at the council instructing its special investigator on religious freedom "to work closely with mass media organisations to ensure that they create and promote an atmosphere of respect and tolerance for religious and cultural diversity".

The OIC -- and its allies in the 47-nation council including Russia, China and Cuba -- dub criticism of Muslim practices and linking of terrorism waged under the proclaimed banner of Islamism as "islamophobia" that pillories all Muslims.

According to the article the resolution is bound to pass because the OIC and its allies have a majority in the Human Rights Council.

Got that? The United Nations Human Rights Council is dominated by OIC countries (that would be such as Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Lybia and Egypt, where human rights are trodden on with muddy boots in regular intervals) and their allies, including Russia, China and Cuba, three other great examples of the rule of law and utmost dignity for all human life.

And thus we will have the UN substantially (and dangerously) limiting freedoms of dissent in countries where human rights actually mean anything, by countries where they mean something as long as it is politically expedient. Why are we (meaning: the truly democratic West) a member of the UN again?

[Instant Update] Just to remind you of what the OIC actually represents: An interview  with Sam Solomon, by way of Vlad Tepes.

Damning praise

Via Elsevier (NL) we learn that out erst-while PM, Jan Peter Balkenende (CDA, the party that was slashed in half in the last elections) considers the results of the referendum on the EUnion constitution 1.0 (the predecessor of The Turnip) to be the low point in his career.

Or that is what he said as he arrived in Brussels for what will be his last EUnion 'summit', starting tomorrow. According to Elsevier a lot of fellow EUrocrats are loath to see him go. Angela Merkel, Germany's Bundeskanzlerin, said Balkenende did much for 'Europe'.

He is a convinced European. He did a lot for good relations between Germany and Holland. We agreed on a lot of things.

Luxembourg's PM, and fellow 'convinced European' Jean-Claude Juncker goes even further and said that JP Balkenende 'would have made a good president of the European Union'.

In the aftermath of the general elections the MSM and CDA big whigs are wondering why the result was so atrocious for the christian democrats. What on earth could have moved the electorate to desert the once great Dutch political centre of gravity?

As I see it, the praise received by our intrepid erstwhile PM is as good a clue as any. Jan Peter Balkenende was almost single-handedly responsible for sweeping the referendum result under the rug and sell us The Turnip as something completely different from the monstrosity we voted off. And as it turns out, the electorate has a longer memory then most politicians give it credit for.

Merkel and Juncker point out exactly what is the problem, Balkenende is one of 'them', not one of us. And we don't want more of 'them'. We want less of them. Actually, we want none them.

Jan Peter Balkenende has left the political stage in abject defeat and humiliation. But he escaped alive and otherwise unharmed. When one takes history as a yardstick, Balkenende should be counting his blessings and thank God he got out in time.

Climate change consensus: From 2,500 to a few dozen

From the National Post (via Jim Hoft), we get the admission by a leading IPCC R4 author that the much vaunted consensus on climate change didn't include 2,500 scientists, but actually only a handful: The IPCC consensus on climate change was phoney, says IPCC insider

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change misled the press and public into believing that thousands of scientists backed its claims on manmade global warming, according to Mike Hulme, a prominent climate scientist and IPCC insider. The actual number of scientists who backed that claim was “only a few dozen experts,” he states in a paper for Progress in Physical Geography, co-authored with student Martin Mahony.

“Claims such as ‘2,500 of the world’s leading scientists have reached a consensus that human activities are having a significant influence on the climate’ are disingenuous,” the paper states unambiguously, adding that they rendered “the IPCC vulnerable to outside criticism.”

The paper mentioned in the article can be found here (pdf). On page 10-11 of that paper we find the following snippet:

Without a careful explanation about what it means, this drive for consensus can leave the IPCC vulnerable to outside criticism. Claims such as ‘2,500 of the world’s leading scientists have reached a consensus that human activities are having a significant influence on the climate’ are disingenuous. That particular consensus judgement, as are many others in the IPCC reports, is reached by only a few dozen experts in the specific field of detection and attribution studies; other IPCC authors are experts in other fields.

It's a little late, but I am glad to see the truth finally coming out!

Where (or when) have we seen this before?

Message in white paint in the window reads "PVV voters not welcome".

Photograph taken in Amsterdam (NL) today. The shop in question is a skate shop, the proprietor of which maintains his message 'is more of a symbolic message'.

And just who is responsible for the creepy, heartless atmosphere in Holland again?

[UPDATE001] And via GeenStijl (NL): The Centre for Visual Arts Gelderland, in Arnhem,  will refuse the work of PVV-voting artists (NL) and called on its members to break all ties 'business and private' with painters and sculptors supporting the PVV.

The Centre, a government agency selling and lending out works of art by contemporary artists, evidently has declared the art by PVV-voters Entartete Kunst (yes, I can wield a Godwin with the best of 'em!). Its director, a wet blanket by the name of Ingrid Rep thinks the PVV is 'such a threat to society', that a line must be drawn. She's also member of the anti-Geert Wilders hyves set up by a number of high-ranking civil servants with delusions of grandeur (and/or competence), who consider themselves 'conscientious objectors'.

Where Ms. Rep and her ilk come off thinking they has the right to selectively apply the law, I don't know. Discrimination based on political preference is as much illegal as is racial discrimination. Hence, this action would seem grounds for dismissal, which means the self-solving problem is beginning to solve itself.

Dutch Elections: Exit poll shows PVV third largest

From DutchNews.nl: Exit poll puts VVD and Labour both on 31 seats, PVV is third with 22.

The definitive exit poll from the three combined news organisations Nos, RTL and ANP puts the right-wing Liberals VVD and Labour both on 31 seats in the new parliament. This represents a gain of nine seats for the VVD and a loss of two for Labour.

The poll puts Geert Wilders' anti-Islam PVV on 22 seats - up from nine at present, and well above opinion poll forecasts.

Outgoing prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende's CDA is on 21 in the poll, down from 41 at present.

Commentators are quick to point out that the margin of error in the poll can mount up to two seats.

Nevertheless, the poll indicates it will take four parties to form a new coalition government, and makes it doubtful the Netherlands will have a right-wing government. An alliance of the Liberals, CDA and PVV would have 74 seats in parliament.

Purple plus, an alliance of the VVD, Labour, D66 and GroenLinks would have 83 seats.

It is a tremendous relief that a purely left-wing coalition is, given this result, an impossible proposition.

In theory the Purple+ option is a possibility, but unless the VVD-leader Mark Rutte is a complete and utter bald-faced liar (given his profession not completely to be ruled out) the wide chasm in thinking on how best to repair the Dutch economy and the nations budget would rule out any coalition between VVD and PvdA.

And as predicted earlier: From here on Geert Wilders is a political force to be reckoned with. That is some good news to those of us who do not want to get rid of the Netherlands and the Dutch just yet.

[UPDATE001] Other election news: Balkenende resigns as CDA vote halves. As a person our erstwhile PM is an eminently likeable person, but you'd have to be blind to not see this coming two miles away.

[UPDATE002] With 25% of the votes counted the liberal conservatives are largest (32 seats), followed by Labour (31) and the PVV (23). The complete listing: VVD 32, PvdA 31, PVV 23, CDA 21, SP 15, D66 10, GroenLinks 10, ChristenUnie 5, SGP 2, Partij voor de Dieren 1, Trots op Nederland 0. The right combination (VVD, PVV and CDA) now has 76 out of 150 seats. It's narrow, but it is a majority!

On hiatus

Tomorrow afternoon Mrs. KV and I will be making our way to the Emerald Isle for a well deserved (according to us, anyway) vacation. Due to looming elections (and much to the chagrin of Mrs. KV), we will stay shorter then originally planned. We'll be back on June 9. And maybe I will have some cheerful news to bring.

Until then you are cordially invited to visit the links given on the right, to stay abreast of what I think is important news. See youse in a bit.