taxi - mayhem - taxi

There was something rather peculiar about the trouble with the Brussels area taxi-drivers last week. For those of you that missed the action, here's a short version of the facts :

The police does a spot check of the taxi-drivers at the airport. This is a logical thing to do, in order to pick up people at the airport you need a special license. Not many of those licenses are available. One of the unlicensed (for the airport) drivers tries to evade the check and drives off. A policeman tries to stop the taxi and gets lifted on the hood. The taxi continues on for another two kilometers at which point the policeman fires two shots, one of which grazes the driver. Pandemonium follows. In no time taxi-drivers from the Brussels area gather to the airport and block all the entryroads. And the main motorway around Brussels. For hours. Riots with the police are barely avoided, especially when word (a lie) gets around that the offending driver is dead.

No, I don't think the Brussels taxi drivers are right. On the contrary. The offending driver now faces murder charges and that is correct. And before saying stuff like he was shot like a dog, you should at least know the facts and also know that only the maddest of dogs are shot, most mad dogs are gassed.

What I did notice however was this. The television showed the rioting Brussels area taxi drivers. All of them (not a single exception) were coloured. All of them (not a single exception) were men. Many with a beard that Osama would have been proud of. Next the television showed the airport (licensed) taxi drivers. All of them (not a single exception) were white (caucasian). And several women there. All neatly shaved. The women too. The distinction between these two groups of people - doing the same job - could not have been bigger if you had planned it. And yet they do exactly the same job, not ten kilometers apart.

Strange.

adoption

Only a couple more Morrocan children need to be adopted directly by Belgian parents and Morroco will be on the official Belgian list of countries that couples searching through official channels for a child to adopt will be brought in contact with.

This all sounds very humane, does it not ? The parents get screened thoroughly before they are allowed to adopt. All in the best interest of the child.

Morroco has however imposed an unbreakable rule. The Belgian parents have to be muslim. And Morroco is not the only country which has such rules. The congregation of mother Theresa, that still has a stranglehold on adoption from India, imposes that the parents both have to be catholics (note that the main religion in India is Hinduism, followed by Islam) as well as being maried in church. The list of countries imposing rules is long.

Can somebody please explain to me how this is in the best interest of the child ? In Belgium state and religion are divided. Moreover, secularism is ingrained in every aspect of society.

What I do understand is that Belgium (the country where the child is going to live its life, yes ?) imposes rules. Against child trade for example. But accept rules that will marginalise the child ?

No, that I do not understand ...

closed garden

I went to Pairi Daiza (which apparantly means 'closed garden') yesterday. Its a zoo in Belgium which used to be rather focussed on birds (and went under the name of Paradisio).

The zoo, located at the site of an ancient abbey, pulls in a big crowd and has been steadily adding new ... attractions. There's a field near an old tower where demonstrations with birds of prey take place, there's a lemur island, there's giraffes and elephants are a recent addition. The grounds themselves are rapidly being extended, making it an interesting place to go back to now and then.

A recent addition (still being build but already mostly open) is the Hindu temple complex. This will no doubt become the home of the elephants, some monkeys and water buffalos are already there. Its very impressive. Very detailled. In fact its not clear whether its a real temple or not.

I say this because the following sign was on display : "The Hindu religion forbids women having their period to enter the temple complex. Covering clothes are mandatory in the temple complex.". This message was neatly displayed in three languages.

Excuse me ?

If it (the temple) is a copy, that (sign) is a very interesting detail. Hilarious in fact. It shows exactly how backward the Hindu religion is. How discriminating for women. Just like any other religion (I do not discriminate) !

If it (the temple) is real it (the sign) is an insult. This is a zoo. In Belgium. Women pay no less entryfee. They are not informed that part of the complex may not be accessible for them at certain times of the month.

As for clothing restrictions ... are you kidding me ? Again, it is a zoo. In Belgium. The monkeys in the temple complex were showing their bare bottoms and since it was 20+ celcius (which is 'hot' for Belgium) their was a lot of other 'flesh' in view too. Some of it was definitely 'too much' ;-) ..., but that's my personal opinion, not something that I'd impose upon other people.

Preoccupied

I've been a bit preoccupied these last months. A new member of planet Earths human population - my son - takes up a lot of time. As a lot of Nord-African countries are finding out these days, a lot can happen in a short timespan (let alone in several months).

Not so in Belgium. We now officially hold the world record for government formation, each day proving that we do not actually need one (a government that is, so far we have been unable to do without daylight). This my fellow Earthlings, is what is called a technocracy. Regardless of who is at the top (and mostly regardless of what these people say or - think they - decide), the wheels of the administration keep turning and so do the wheels of the country. The less corrupt this administration is and the more intelligent autonomous people it contains, the longer this situation can be kept going. And we seem to be doing well.

The only thing the Belgian population is concerned about is the fact that in the mean time, the politicians are still paid. Well paid. Was this money going to go to the technocracy instead (to keep it running smoothly and efficiently), nobody would complain one bit.

call for ... revolution

Do you hear the people sing
Singing the song of angry men
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes

(from Les Miserables)

There are two ways to look at life (and by extension, to ways to live).

One. You have 'faith' that you'll get a second chance, either through an afterlife, or through reincarnation, or through ... whatever. Religions of every form prey (not pray) upon this 'faith'. This way of life inocculates - on a macro level - political systems against change (revolution). It inocculates - on a personal, micro level - people against discontentment with their current situation. There is still beter to come, isn't there ?

Two. You know you only got one shot (that rapper did get that right for sure) at life. You were not there in the years before you were born and you are not going to be there in the years after you die. Time is an enormous black curtain and there's only a very tine slit in it, your time in the limelight. This is a sobering idea, but it is not meaningless. It tells you to seize the day (carpe diem) and live life at the fullest.

Look at it from another way. I have a cat. When I lived on my appartment the animal had to stay inside. She got used to that. I had her neutered. Not nice of me, but the animal had no say in the decision and got used to it. Recently I moved to a house with a garden. By slow degrees I allowed the cat to go outside. And then one day I let her out without a leash. At first she was very unsure of herself, but the very same night there was a big noise as she fought and overcame another cat twice her size for the dominion of the garden. She did not have to do that. There's absolutely no point in it for her (being neutered). But she did. Without a second thought she seized the day (well, night in her case). I'm happy for her ! She still comes inside to be groomed, she loves that as well, but if she didn't it would be my loss, not hers !

Having said all that ...I now call out for a revolution against the Belgian political class. Against all of them. Against the whole corrupt system. I don't care a rats ass if you speak Dutch, French or German, I'm willing to talk Esperanto or Zulu if necessary. I'm just very fed up with the whole political show which is about to go through another useless loop. Paid for by us, I might add. So, who stands with me ?

negative becomes positive

Language is powerful. It carries information. Decisions are taken on that information. And therefore it is - although you can play with it - not a toy. Even when I listen and watch obvious entertainment, say the Tour de France, I expect the reporters to use language correctly.

Yesterday I noted : "The last two years there have not been a lot of doping-related articles in the press. This is due to the fact that there have not been any negative doping-tests in the Tour de France."

This might be what everybody is secretly thinking when you see the likes of Contador and Schleck ride up a mountain, but surely the reporter means : "... This is due to the fact that there have not been any positive doping-tests in the Tour de France". Right ?

A test that comes up clean is negative. If you are testing for pregnancy and you are not (pregnant), the test is negative. If you are (pregnant), the test is positive. There is no different rule for doping. No doping in the testresults is a negative test, doping in the testresults is a positive test.

I expect somebody speaking for our national broadcasting company - which still has education as its task - to know that.

sissy gladiators

Repeat some imaginary transgression long enough, have it repeated by those in authority, have it repeated by the media and you create ... guilt.

No, I'm for once not talking about religion ... although the parallel is of course very clear. No I'm talking about what happened in the Tour de France yesterday. The yellow jersey (Andy Schleck) had a mechanical problem and his biggest opponent (Alberto Contador) took the chance and ... the yellow jersey. And he's probably going to keep it.

I do not see the problem. Nor did Alberto at first yesterday. He did not sabotage Andy's bike or in any other way cause it to fail. Andy was obviously pissed, the media jumped on that and then Andy said : "Alberto should have waited ... this is not fair ...".

Excuse me ? If it wasn't for a disgusting display of 'solidarity' earlier on in the Tour, Andy would have been out of the race for the yellow jersey a long time ago (he was 'fair' enough to at least acknowledge that).

The Tour de France is a modern gladiator-fight. I do not know about you, but I want to see struggle, emotion and battles. I want to see the balance of victory swing not once, not twice but every day (if possible). What I do not want to see is a Cars-like ending (anyone else notice the similarity ?) that only Pixar and Disney can come up with and only - very - small childeren like. Life is not like that.

This morning the nauseating result of media-, team- and 'authority' pressure came in over the radio. Alberto 'apologizes' for what he did ...

My sympathy goes to Marc Renshaw. What he did was not correct, but at least he understands the nature of the game.

alternatives

In Belgium a group of old men admits in writing that for decades they covered up the sexual abuse of childeren (and who knows what else). In the country of Dutroux one then expects an outcry, a call for justice, a call to hang these very men by their (proverbial ?) cojones from a (proverbial ?) cross. Nothing of the sort happens.

In Thailand the government 'cleans up' the protest in the center of Bangkok in a way that looked eerily like the 'cleaning up' of the protest on a square (Tiananmen) in Peking, 20 years ago (and that was condemned the world round). Nobody seemed to have noticed the similarity. It must be said that the Thai government played things very clever, labelling the protestors as 'terrorists'.

In Korea the North seems (?) to have torpedoed a vessel of South. The South is going to take the issue to the UN. The North claims to be ready to go to war if further sanctions are put upon it. Analysts consider this an empty threat given that the economical position of the North does not allow for 'a long war'. Does nobody realise that if North-Korea's leaders take a "let us be all we can be"-stand, the "Third Rock from the Sun" is not going to be around for 'a long war' ? It'll be over in minutes.

In Europe the governments now find out what the average online-game-owner already knows before even starting up the game. But let me spell it out for them : "If your players agree on bringing down your economy, it goes down, no matter what you do or say ...". The 'hex' of Germany on 'shorters' is - and the top Belgian investor in the London City agrees with me - a very understandable gesture ... but a futile one. There is NO real difference between a game-economy and a real economy. In fact, a game-economy is better, for if every attempt at control fails you can shut the game down.

We need alternatives.

Which brings me to the upcoming elections in Belgium, my only personal chance to choose an alternative. Well, I'm going to choose as alternative as I can, I'm voting PVDA+. They are idealists, but at least they also put their effort (in everyday life) where their mouth is.

The rest I have to leave up to chaos theory.

anarchy sounds better

Two traditional bases of power are having a hard time in Belgium at the moment. Not a day passes without yet another catholic priest (or bishop or whatever ... no level is spared) being exposed as a child abuser. On the other hand the whole of the political 'class' has shown once again that good government is about the last thing on their minds. That will not keep them from making a lot of empty promises in the campaign towards the coming elections though.

Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Some good can come out of this though. This might be a good moment to clean out the last remaining grip that religion has on our society. Let us turn completely secular. No more 'approved' religions, no more state money to its dignitaries. None. And that includes your religion, my muslim readers. If you are having a good laugh at the expense of the catholic priests at the moment, I have this to say to you : "read up on the - confirmed by muslim historicians - history of Aisha and your so-called 'profet' before you start throwing proverbial stones".

The political class is going to be a bit tougher to remove. If you sift through the political nonsense on the radio and television these days you'll find that our political system (called 'democracy') is actually an unassailable, self-sustaining parasite on the back of our society, beneficial only to those belonging to it. Very much like a religion in fact. However, as was shown in 1940 at Eben-Emael (and by the catholic church this very day), unassailable forts do not exist.

small mind

Kipso, Kinoo, Zopicloon, Trio di Pasta, Les Eleveurs, Chupito, Mikado, Mario, Eldo, Rib&Rap, Peking Garden, Snooker Twenty One, Zenn-Grill, Villa Fantasia ...

Names of restaurants. In Halle, Belgium, province of Vlaams-Brabant ... where I live. Which is a Dutch speaking region (for those readers that do not know Belgium). The above list contains all the names that are either meaningless or not-Dutch.

There are restaurants in Halle with Dutch names. Of course. But definitely not the majority. And the above list contains the best restaurants available. Les Eleveurs and Peking Garden for example have an entry in the Michelin Guide.

My point about this is ... why o why is it so important that a new restaurant should have a Dutch name. Is it because it competes in the 'Mijn Restaurant' (My Restaurant) competition on tv ? Who cares ? Apparantly a lot of politicians. In an open letter the major, Dirk Pieters, implored the owners of Les Deux to change the name.

Yes, I insist on being addressed in Dutch. In some shops in Halle the staff do think that French is the language in this region and if they persist in that I do not visit that shop again. But how small-minded does one have to become to fall over the name of a restaurant ? Think about that, mister Dirk Pieters, next time you drink an expensive French wine with your expensive foie-gras dinner in Les Eleveurs (paid for with the taxpayers money).