For those that don’t speak French: the title of this post is based on the national motto of France (and Haiti) and means: “Liberty, equality, fraternity (brotherhood)”. The origins lie in the French Revolution (1789–1799) and I always found it a very nice motto. Men and women are all equal – regardless of age, race or country of origin. The reason I bring this up is that I was amazed to find out that in the USA there is no law that says you have to pay women an equal amount if they perform the same work as their male […]
Welcome to “Wildersland”
Today we are one step away from the worst government in Holland since 1940. A government kept hostage by a right-wing nut case who’s abject anti-Islam political agenda will divide our country, drive our citizens to the boiling point and make our country a prime target for lunatics. So what is going on then? On Saturday February 20th this year, our government fell, after arguments over the Dutch continuation of a military mission in Afghanistan in 2010. The four parties that formed the government up to that time, consisted of the CDA (Christian Democratic Appeal), VVD (People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy), […]
Obama tells it like it is
News sometimes trickles down kind of slow here in Holland, but this was a bit too good let it pass even though it happened a week ago. What is it that I would like to share here? Well, on Friday Jan. 29th Obama visited a House Republican retreat in Baltimore to answer questions from republicans in, what The Huffington Post calls “The Lions Den”. At the end of the session there was a Q&A session that wasn’t supposed to be broadcast, but the White House pressured the Republican party to bring the cameras in. And Obama got a sterling opportunity to […]
Above the Law
When people are talking about dictators, they usually live in countries far away like Africa or South-America. I’m talking about the likes of Hugo Chavez (Venezuela) and Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe). What a lot of people do not realize is, that right here and now, we have a dictator in Europe as well. A dictator that got elected democratically, just like Hugo Chavez and Robert Mugabe once were elected. But a dictator nevertheless. I’m talking about president Silvio Berlusconi (73yrs) of Italy. Don’t get me wrong: I believe strongly in he fact that most countries (not all) get the government they […]
Healthcare in the US? Overrated.
While I was in the US in August visiting my girlfriend, the one theme dominating US news, was president Obama’s healthcare reform plan. As an outsider looking into what goes on in America, I find it strange that people seem to object to something that will help out literally millions of fellow Americans. It seems that everyone says they want to help someone, but not if it costs them any money. Well, folks: there is no such thing as a free lunch. I guess I’m to liberal – or should I say socialistic – to think that I am doing […]
Two infinite things: the universe and man’s stupidity
The saying goes: “There are two infinite things: the universe and man’s stupidity.” Well, nothing proves better that this saying is absolutely right, than todays news. Even in a week with a plane crash and more news about the financial crisis developing, there is one Dutch politician that is able to dominate the Dutch news: Geert Wilders of the PVV. Why? According to the latest polls, made public today, Wilders right-wing political party would become the biggest political party in the Netherlands if elections would be be held today. Wilders reacted extatic to the news and even sees himself becoming […]