The truth is out there!

Today all parties have reached an agreement. Well or close to an agreement. Finally! Even Milquet, as the media annoyingly keeps repeating, has given her permission. Praise the lord! Or not?

Bart De Wever of NVA, Flemish nationalist and cartel partner of Yves Leterme's party CD&V has finally come out of the closet. Yes, he is the only one who has to gain from the ongoing formation round. He's making Belgium look as bad as it can get. Now when we finally came close to some kind of solution, the secessionist had to make his mark and destroy all positive efforts. Bart De Wever said no! Nee!

But will this decision be the best for him and his party? Not only has the disguise come off and did the world see through his charade, but this also puts a terrible strain on the cartel. Can Yves Leterme hold on to his "child" (as he refers to the cartel)? But perhaps he has to realise that his child is the spawn of Satan. And as we all know, it would be the best for everyone if we put "Damien" to sleep.

Hopefully the media will report from a neutral point of view on this matter. (Today's newspapers seemed hopeful on that matter so far.) So the people will finally see what I 've been saying for ages now... And I'm not alone in this matter. Jean-Luc Dehaene, former prime minister and CD&V party member came up with this in July already: QUID NVA! I'm pretty sure, we would have had a government in 10 days back then!

The saga of the Belgian federal formation continues...

global news

I found this online. Apparently this appeared in an Australian newspaper a couple of weeks ago. Couldn't help myself, this is hilarious! Enjoy reading it!

Belgian schism is no laughing matter
Aaron Timms September 24, 2007

With its two halves unable to agree on the formation of a new government, Belgium stands on the verge of disintegration. So should Belgium continue to exist? The answer is yes. Here's why. The first reason is linguistic. If Belgium does break up, two new nationalities will be born: Flemish and Walloon. Belgian chocolates will become "Flemish chocolates", and Belgian beer cafes will give way to "Walloon beer cafes". Belgium owes it to the world to prevent us from having to use either of these unspeakably silly adjectives on anything like a semi-regular basis. There is a reason no business has ever succeeded with the word "Walloon" in its title, and it is the word "Walloon", the Oompa-Loompa of national adjectives. To inflict a word like that on the world would be intolerably cruel. The second reason is historical. Belgium, as many of you will know, was established in 1830 for two reasons: to host the main international conflicts of the 20th century; and to provide a viable, long-term basis for Belgian jokes. After World War I, Polish jokes briefly threatened to overtake Belgian jokes in popularity, but at Yalta, where Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met in 1945 to negotiate the division of postwar international comedy, it was decided that Belgian jokes would go to the West, while Polish jokes were left to the Soviet Union. If Belgium were to cease to exist, this would create a potentially fatal vacuum at the heart of Western comedy. "Did you hear the one about the Walloon ..?" just doesn't have the right ring. The final reason is sexual-culinary. America was built on a noble ideal: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." Belgium was founded on a far punchier plea: "Give me your bureaucrats." But when people complain that Brussels is "stuffed with bureaucrats", what they really mean is that everyone who lives there gets to knock off at 5pm every day and spend the rest of the night gorging on wheat beer, mussels and chips. That doesn't sound like anything to be ashamed of to me. Belgium long ago abandoned all hope of being a presence on the world stage and gave itself over to the pleasures of alcohol, chocolate, sex and seafood. To this day, it remains a nation untouched by nutrition. These are ideas worth fighting for. In its almost total lack of ambition, in its unrelenting sense of existential dread, in its drunkenness and in its gluttony, Belgium is the most inspiring of nations. If the Belgians have tired of being Belgian, it is up to us to take their place. If Belgium will not be Belgium, it is up to Australia to be Belgium.

Leterminateur

Something to keep you busy in these hard times of political frustration:

http://www.gva.be/leterminateur/

Enjoy!

Thriller, thriller night!

Alot is happening as we speak in our little country by the sea. The ongoing formation has officially been declared a record. Never has it taken this long to form a government in Belgium. Never has the influence of the media been bigger, never had the cards been dealt so unfavourable after elections, never has the power of Flemish nationalists been bigger, never has an electoral candidate been so incapable of decision making,... Things are actually going from bad to worse.

Tomorrow a commission of the parliament might vote for the one-sided division of the electoral district of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. In short: this district is the only district in Belgium where people can vote for both Francophone as Dutch speaking candidates. Sounds as common sense in a country as ours, but Flemish nationalists wish to divide this district and to make it impossible to vote for someone that doesn't speak your own language. In some of the Flemish cities the population has as much as 80% Francophone people. In return parties as PS and CDH and especially FDF want to expand the Brussels' community with one or two cities. Polls have stated that most people of the surrounding cities of BXL are in favour of this matter. But of course the Flemish nationalists don't want to surrender nor give up land.

Tonight the last feeble matter and solution was offered by Mr. Leterme (CD&V), prime minister-to-be. Both Flemish nationalists of NVA (the cartel partners of CD&V) as FDF and CDH turned down the offer. If your partner shifts the political spectrum of your government to one side and then decides to refuse to come half way, you are knee deep in trouble. That's what has happened. Of course radical solutions breed radical reactions and all Francophone parties refuse to take a step as well.

But that's not all that happened this week. Socialist minister (of the current government) Frank Vandenbroucke has finally said what many people were thinking out loud. Bart De Wever (NVA) is not only a threat to our country and our peace, he is a threat to his own movement and beliefs. He is a fool blinded by power. He has a complete lack of ability to compromise, rationalise, see things in perspective or relativize. As he has proved after the conviction of Hans Van Themsche and the apoligy of the Antwerp mayor to the Jews for their position during the second world war.

If it comes to a vote the orange-blue government will have failed even before they were officially formed. The crisis will be complete. Let's see what happens tomorrow.

The same old

I've been really busy lately with my job, playing FIFA 2006, following the news and catching up on some reading. I'm currently wrestling through 600 pages on the birth of the Flemish nationalist movement. Very interesting and quite revealing. I promise I will follow up on this in the future. So only a quick rant ...

So what's new then? Or perhaps, what's old news?

Day one-hundred-and-who's-counting of being without a federal government in one of the richest countries in the world. Let's all nag, bitch and whine about it, please! Although I seem to have noticed that besides all the angry letters in the newspapers people don't really care anymore. And in fact they shouldn't, cause I don't know if you've noticed, but the world hasn't stopped turning. Life as we know it isn't that different of any other day in any other month of any other year... No matter what in the end everything will turn out fine. Cause that's how lucky we are. Our political system might fall apart, the waterlevel might rise dangerously, we can build walls, plant flags, and we can sell the little amount of freedom we still have left. But at the end of the day, we're all still rich and spoiled. And that's all that seems to matter...

The great leader 800.000 people voted for in June is looking more and more as a puppet on a string. And Bart De Wever is still pulling all the strings.
1* All the hard work Herman Van Rompuy (and mind you, I'm not a fan of him either) has put in to bring back all the different sides to the table has been for nothing. Or close to nothing. Bart De Wever managed to get into conflict with the man who cleaned up his mess. Herman Van Rompuy didn't like his attitude very much and decided to leave the 'peace talks'. So we're back to square one. And again, who gets the blame? Milquet! For not wanting to put up with Bart De Wever's bullshit.
2* Yves Leterme only speaks of 4 parties around the table nowadays. These parties being: MR, SP, Open-VLD and CD&V/NVA ? Since when did these last two officially join? Is Jo Van Deurzen, CD&V president, completely redundant now? Or was he already from the start?

But the talks continue and more and more about the next government is known. The more I hear, the less I like to hear. It seems we're directly going into a radical right wing direction. Eight years of semi-progressive leadership has gone down the drain. Thank you narrow minded, hate bearing, conservative asswipes!

And besides all of that hypocrisy is already reigning supreme. CD&V, formerly in the opposition, along with the media spit out the former socialist minister of budget, Freya Van Den Bossche. Mainly for making one-time measures to get the budget right at the end of the year. But one of the leading ideas in the currenct budget talks is to diminish the part in shares of all governmental companies. As there are only three -or so- left. The next government is going to give away their majority of shares in the communication and transport sector. A one-time measure that's going to have a direct inpact on the market position and the jobs of thousands of people. Well done, Mr Leterme!

Divide and conquer

Check out this blog called "divide Bart De Wever now" a rather funny satire on the current Belgian political situation. Download all the stickers/flyers/banners/... and spread them around on the internet, your friends,...

Click here for the link: http://splitsbartdewevernu.blogspot.com/

I do sincerely apologise for the constant swearing and annoying comments all the Flemish nationalists left on this site. It seems some "hard working honest people" don't tolerate criticism that well...

It's not too late!

It's never too late to show the world you have an opinion. Let your voice be heared!

http://www.reddesolidariteit.be/
http://www.sauvonslasolidarite.be/

Already 61478 people showed they care, now you can...

Evolution

Today was the first demonstration against "the Islamisation of Europe". Strategically held today on 9/11. The reason why is obviously clear. The initiative came out of the right wing corner (duh) and was openly and heavily supported by "Vlaams Belang" and it's main man, Philip De Winter. Demonstrators ran amock in down town Brussels, waving their Flemish lions and basically got their ass arrested. "Democracy anno 2007" stated Mr. De Winter as he had just physically attacked a police offer and got carried away in arms. Words seldomly have less meaning.

In today's political crisis, the hypocrisy of some politicians strike me more than anything else. One of the main reasons Islam gets criticised in the Western world is probably their different views on women's rights and human rights in general. Both in their private life as in their political life. Although it's obvious Mr. De Winter has other interests in these kind of demonstrations, but other politicians of more democratic parties have spoken against these issues again. And now easily discriminate themselves.... How? Read on and find out...

The (self proclaimed) ethical Western civilization looks down on anything that even remotely looks like abuse of those who are weak. We abolished the abuse of women ages ago. We strive for women's rights day in, day out. Nazism, racism, fascism, anti-semitism,... are all considered evil in it's purest form. Discrimination of the disabled and the ill is disgusting in most people's opinion. We have gay activists, animal rights and we sign petitions for the preservation of the rainforests. We fought for all this for over 2000 years. But there is still one last form of discrimination, one last form of segregation. Still one form of hatred reigns supreme. Rich against poor. Economical weakness is considered a vice, it's dirty, it's weak, it's wrong, it's against everything our money driven world stands for! We teach our children to look down on the poor. We judge people on the way they look, the car they drive, the clothes they wear, the house they live in, or the economical status of the country or region they were born in.

The Flemish race (as it has generally been described in the press and out of the mouth of certain politicians) are considered to be hard workers. They earned their wealth. Every single last cent of it. The Walloons on the otherhand are considered lazy. They don't work, they never worked and they are parasites. They are costing the Flemish people a big piece of the pie. Or so it's generally believed. This is pure racism, it's a new form of discrimination. It just doesn't have a proper name yet. It's nationalism, it's a bunch of lies.

People don't pick an economical situation. Everyone would pick the same, if it would be that easy. Poverty happens. Just like shit happens. The Flemish population easily accuses the Walloon population of taking advantage of them and abusing them in the past. Even if this was so, when did this end? When the Walloons invested money into Flanders, which provided their current wealth? When the Walloons welcomed thousands of unemployed Flemish people in their region and employed them? Ever wondered why almost half of the Walloons have Dutch last names? Because their ancestors are hard working Flemish people! We are fighting our own people! One side was just so unfortunate to have seen the world change. Their economy collapsed because they never progressed. They brought progression to their brotherly people, to their nation, because they felt as one. One Belgian people! And then the rich spoiled brats turned their back on them. There is a saying in Dutch for that: stank voor dank!

What will happen to Flanders when Belgium finally bursts. Will it be as prosperous as they think it would be? I doubt it. The media and the politicians only focus on the positive side. We won't have to support the less fortunate Walloon economy anymore. But that's about it.
Even Karel De Gucht, hardline right wing liberal, thinks this is all over-exaggerated. We live in one of the richest parts of the world, and all we can do is bitch!

What will happen to Brussels? What will happen to our green lung? Ever thought of Kyoto? That might cost us! Ever thought of the trains? The Belgian post? The roads? The police? The airport? SN Brussel Airlines? That might cost us! What about the Atomium? Manneke Pis? What about all the rich Flemish people living in their big villas in the green environment of Wallonia? Yeah, that's right... What about the Flemish people in Brussels? Oh wait, Brussels is Flemish. But only 95% speaks French. Seems like a status quo there....
What about Wallonia? What about the people there? We raise money for any small crisis the media focuses on but we hate, discriminate and want to get rid of our own countrymen? That's just sad!

Oh and wait... Wallonia? There is no such thing anyway! They don't feel that way. There are two sides in this matter: a Belgian side and a Flemish side. Well I refuse to pick the side of a rich, spoiled, nagging and flag waving bunch of hypocrites. Consider me Belgian!

the lion of Judah

Ever wondered where the Flemish Lion came from? I've been wondering for quite a while now. And during a game of trivial last night one of my friends came up with a very interesting remark. He suggested that the Flemish Lion was actually a Arabic symbol brought back to Europe during the Crusades by Godfroid Of Bouillon.

He wasn't that far from the truth at all. It took some time on google to find something interesting but I actually managed to find quite a lot of info on this matter. I lucked out and found a very interesting blog in Dutch about this matter. You can find it here: http://actuabelgica.blogspot.com/2007/07/de-egyptische-leeuw.html If you speak Dutch, please do cause it's quite elaborate.

I'll try to keep things short and simple. Al lot of European countries and regions actually use the same lion or a remarkable resemblance of this lion. Some examples are: The Netherlands, Belgium, Flanders, Brabant, Spain, Finland, Norway, Scotland, Estonia, Montenegro, Wales, Bulgary, Czech Republic, Calderdale, Luxembourg, ... and last but not least the football club Olympique Lyonnais.

But that doesn't answer the origin of the symbol. But it does make something clear. We all have a common background. It did come from the crusades! Even the official explanation of the Flemish Parliament takes it back to the time of the Middle Ages with a very brief referral to Count Philippe Of The Elsace.
The extreme-right wing nationalists of "Vlaams Belang" explain the use of a lion as symbol by saying it comes "from the Dragon, often used in European symbolism, still being used by the region of Wales". And further denies any other historical explanation. As we are used to...

Sadly enough there are no sources to be found to confirm this theory that links lions to dragons. Not regarding the escutcheon of Wales nor the use of dragons in heraldry.

Although the exact heritage is unclear the lion as a symbol was used by quite a few tribes and people across the Middle-East and is still being used in some cases:

*The Lion Of Judah: a symbol for the Kingdom Of David. An old Jewish symbol.

The Lion Of Judah is still being used by the Rastafari. As the Rastafari religion and the Jewish religion are very similar. Ethiopia used the lion on their old flag!

*The Arabian Lion: it was used by a lot of Arabian nobility and rich families or Sultans. Symbols can be found in any major Arabic city throughout the Middle-East.

*The Egyptian Lion: Lions were already used in the old Egyptian times of pharaos and sphinxes.

The first Europeans to use the lion were the English (Richard I aka Richard Lionheart in 1157) and the French (Geoffrey IV D'Anjou in 1151). The use of Lions in the heraldry stems from the first Crusades. The very first crusade was held to restore the Kingdom Of David in Jerusalem. As armours made knights unrecognizable, often Lions were painted on them. Usually on shields, escutcheons! Further more the lion always represented a royal symbol. The lion is the king of the animals. A lot of Kings and nobel families considered it a great honour to have the lion as their symbol. That's why it is so widely spread throughout Europe. You can check a few examples of lions used in heraldry here: http://www.fleurdelis.com/lions.htm

Next time you wave your "Flemish Lion" please remember where it came from!

Formation and misinformation

The formation round of 'formateur' Leterme is gradually turning into one big joke. The media has openly picked one side and openly turned onto the other side. Yes, once again it's Flemish media against Walloon politicians... The old story of 'yes' and 'no', 'oui' and 'non', 'ja' and 'nee'.

The Flemish media and hence the Flemish population seem to have a new bogeyman. The chosen woman for this round of slanderous journalism is named Joëlle Milquet. Milquet is the leading lady of the francophone CDH, Christian Democrats but self described as Centrist Humanist Democrats.

Milquet is a strong character, someone who is not easy to deal with. I'll give you that. But above all things she is firm, honest and loyal to her audience. I won't say that easily but she is still sticking to what she said before the elections. Milquet would rather not contribute to the government if Flemish nationalists would be part of it. But without her, there would be no government at all. So she decided to take on this responsibility. Milquet is a mother besides a politician and she gives priority to her family. All above are qualities you won't find in the leading man of the Flemish Christian Democrats at all. The man lies, cries and embarrasses his way through the formation rounds.

The hot topic still is about and usually deals with the reformation of our country. All Belgians seem to have disappeared in the media. Belgium must burst and Flanders has to become independent. Even though not even the worst of Belgian politicians makes such ridiculous demands. The matter is possibly much more complex. It 's all about power. Division of electoral districts and federal authority. The Flemish parties are on demand. And hence the francophone parties want something in return. But as the Flemish are ignorant, dumb and stubborn they 're not willing to give in. To me it seems simple, I'm hearing "nee" and not "non" at all. Milquet and her partners are in the position to make demands. Leterme and De Wever already made theirs. Quid pro quo! Even in politics!

Desperate times call for desperate measures and help is coming from an unexpected corner. Vincent Kompany! A 21 year old Belgian (with Congolese roots) defender of Hamburg SV. The man openly called himself Belgian on TV and asked to reconsider unity of both populations. Not only in the national football team but in every day life. He considers himself to be Belgian and a citizen of this world. He does not see the importance of borders and limitations and has no idea why this is so important in our country. And he strongly added that anyone who had problems with his opinions just ran out of luck cause he's sticking with them! Not that I think his words will have any impact at all but it's always nice to know I'm not alone in this.

But halas, we're still without a government. The talks continue and even the King himself is throwing his weight on the balance. Things reminded me of the (in)famous political formation in Holland in 1977. Joop Den Uijl (pvda) talked and negotiated during 208 (!) days with one party (cda) before a coalition was formed... with another party (vvd)! Even in different times and different countries parties fight to agree and agree to disagree. The media has turned the 2007 Belgian elections into one big joke. And the only person who 's contributing to this all is Yves Leterme himself. Your newly elected leader.

5 reasons Bart De Wever isn't that smart at all

Bart De Wever is the president, political leader and face of the Flemish nationalist party NVA. He is currently seated in the House. If the next government ever gets formed, he might become a minister. Generally he's considered the new political genius and intellectual pur sang.

These are just five reasons I came up with to prove that not all things are the way they seem to be!

1* If he 's so smart why is he so politically pre-occupied about everything?
Really, the man is praised throughout the media and the population for his sheer brilliance and wisdom. But the amount of tact this guy lacks is beyond imagination. Everything he says comes from the same right wing corner of his mind. Of all the people I know there's not one person who is less able to put things in perspective! In my eyes the one thing any smart man should have. But Bart De Wever is a living computer programmed to destroy! *sways arms* "Must kill Belgium!"

2* The NVA? Are you kidding me?
Why not call your party the NSDAP?! I'm sure not many people actually have a clue about history. (Explains why they would vote for a nationalist.) But chosing a name for your organisation with such a history is just dumb. The NVA is the North Vietnamese Army! I'm sure you do remember the Vietnam war? Or at least heared of it? Probably besides the two world wars the most significant and consequential fact of modern times. Oh and btw, the NVA were the bad guys...

3* Selling his fate to another party has sealed the fate of his party!
The NVA used to be a small party hardly getting 5% of the vote in only half of the nation. But they joined a cartel of Christian Democrats a few years ago who were desperately seeking a new identity. This might have saved the NVA and will actually get them in to the next government. But was this really so smart? I doubt it! I'm sure CD&V would have won the elections anyway. The NVA never put their mark on the elections. In fact, a lot of people I know who voted for CD&V actually regret that they also supported the NVA. If things don't continue to go well (as things usually do in governmental parties), the NVA might just lose their position. Besides that, they also gave in on a lot of issues. And let's all remember what's the worst thing one party can overcome; have their ideas taken by another party. And that's exactly what's happening nowadays...

4* The J M De Decker affaire should have made it all clear.
Jean Marie De Decker, Belgium's most debatable politician, was about to join the NVA in November 2006. The deal was sealed and the two forces were bound. But CD&V, the Christian cartelpartner of NVA had objections! The party headquarters voted about the matter behind closed doors. Bart De Wever lost his partner and had to say goodbye to J M De Decker. Something De Decker held De Wever personally responsible for! There's still a cold war going on between the two politicians with occasional feuds in the media.

5* Getting involved into a slanderous campaign!
Elio Di Rupo, the man all of Flanders hated a couple of months ago, has disapeared of the political stage. He's probably on a well earned holliday. In the media he was often ridiculed for his strong positions and points of view. The NVA made things worse, they actually made their entire campaign around this person. They had big warning signs with bow ties on them, constantly hammering on the French "non". Bow ties are the trade mark of this socialist minister and the French "non" is referring to his opposition towards separist views. If you can't beat someone fair and square, why not destroy their image? Why not insult them? Why not ridicule them? Why not make a funny campaign to hide the fact you have nothing to say? Why not make the whole world of politics look even more ridiculous? Why not spread a little hate?

Leterme strikes again!

Everyone has heared of it by now: Yves Leterme, our new leader-to-be, has made a HUGE mistake on national TV. Perhaps a bit of prior information is required to fully comprehend the impact of his actions. More than a year before the last elections, Mr Leterme claimed that the Francophone part of the population where "intellectually incapable" of learning how to speak Dutch. After the elections he celebrated in the middle of Flemish Flags (check my old post). But finally he has made a mistake even the Flemish population is somewhat ashamed of...

When asked to sing the national anthem (the Brabançonne) in French he sang the French national anthem (the Marseillaise) instead. On our national day! Ofcourse this would be enough to sink in total despair, Mr Leterme actually made it worse by making phone calls with his cellphone in church during Te Deum. I'm not a Christian, I don't really care much for the oldest institution. But as the leading man of the Christian Democrats I'm sure he should set some kind of example. Besides that he again refused to sing along with the national anthem, neither in Dutch nor French, not even when the lyrics were provided...

When asked why our national day is celebrated on the 21st of July, he provided the wrong answer, saying it commemorated the "proclamation of the constitution" when really it marks the inauguration of Leopold I as Belgium's first king on 21 July 1831.

On Sunday Leterme ignored the matter and did not deliver any comments. Yesterday he then finally apologised to the people on television.

"But if you then sing the Marseillaise, that is wrong and a mistake. If I have upset people by doing that, I wish to apologise to them”

The tone he set was threatening and arrogant. He refused to repeat it all in French.

All this proves a serious lack of respect. Respect for tradition, culture and history. A serious lack for all the people who he so proudly claims to represent. And that's where I'm hurt. As a Belgian!

I wonder if Leterme is familiar with Baseball terminology: three strikes and you're out!!!

Le tour de ... WHAT?!?

So the annual "Tour De France" is there again. Well, we're almost half way and we still don't know who won it LAST year! That's right! I won't acknowledge this edition to be real, as cycling has lost it's last grain of dignity. Decades and books as big as the bible full of stories filled with drugs, violence, dope, amphetamines and betrayal. Sad little men who claim to be athletes, who claim to be clean,... One by one they are coming clean (pun intended) with theirselves and confess. I wonder if there's actually one cyclists around who doesn't shoot up before the competition. I doubt there is...

Last year's winner is still unknown. Floyd Landis won after a spectacular escape and took the yellow jersey. But later on he was busted. Oscar Pereiro who came in second should have been named the official winner. But the situation is unclear. Even the official website of the Tour De France remains utterly silent over the 2006 Tour.

People don't care. They like it anyway. Cycling is folk tradition in these parts of Europe. Besides football it's the biggest national passion. Le Tour is THE annual event for people, bars, television and sport fans. The media hasn't exaggerated the problems with dope during the past years, in fact they've made it seem like it's a minor problem. People seem to have the idea, because they are all doing it, it's all ok. They seem to have forgotten that it takes great achievements to overcome great barriers and that the heart of a true athlete could never beat knowing it was medically enhanced.

Athletes on dope are losers. In every sense of the word. I don't think it's a coincidence that so many athletes seem to lose control. Not only in their professional lives but also in their private life. There are stories of cyclists hooked on dope, starting to deal dope, cyclists on cocaine, cyclists commiting suicide and cyclists in jail, in psychiatric hospitals or who knows what... Many athletes suffer from a heart disease after they quit. Actually the medical conditions are too many too mention. It's been more than 40 years since Tom Simpson died on the Mont Ventoux. It's only been three and a half years since Marco Pantani died of an overdose. It's only been a couple of weeks since Frank Vandenbroucke tried committing suicide.

One can only hope that this year for all of these athletes the finish line of the Tour De France is in Paris on the Champs Élysées and not in far more darker places and circomstances.

Just a couple of random thoughts

So my week sitting around at home has ended again. I tried to refill my battery as much as possible but already two days at work has set me thinking. Considering I did not manage to get -my long hoped for- promotion due to incredible stupid circomstances, I should definitely rethink my career strategy. As I still like the diverse aspects of my job and the company I work for I'm not thinking of quitting at all. But perhaps I can make some changes...

Besides that, everyone around me seems to be buying houses or appartements or at least moving in to them. But I'm still living at home! And so often I've said to myself and my surroundings that I would move out this summer. We're in the second week of July and I still haven't taken any steps towards self housing. Perhaps it's my lazy side, or perhaps it's just my old fear of changes that 's popping up again. Another thing to lay awake about at night.

On a more random note: hitch hiking! No one ever does that anymore! I used to be a huge supporter of it. Many times have strangers given me a ride. It's cheap, it's fun, it's exciting, it's scary, it's one big adventure! What's not to like!?! But strangely not many people seem to care for it. Perhaps a symptom of a wealthy society with good public transportation and a population drowning in luxury? Today I picked up my first hitch hikers of the summer. How could I leave three young girlscouts standing next to the road? Exactly! Things didn't turn out amazingly exciting but it's always nice to have a few rays of sunshine light up your day. Hopefully these girls felt the same way...

Old love never dies!

Old love never dies. Or so they say... But I guess they're right. I've been running into, contacting, meeting, ... ex-girlfriends (or old loves) a lot lately. And it's not that I have that many! I do have to admit that in most cases it's been quite a good experience. Patched some old wounds or buried some old hatches, or in some cases it was just good to see or hear from each other again. Nothing more, nothing less. Perhaps that's just another part of the old "growing up" process.

Another old love of mine is music. Hardcore/punkrock and perhaps a touch of metal to be specific. I used to go to every show, all around. I still play in a band (well, I do the vocals) but going to shows or gigs is something I've been missing out on a lot the last couple of months. I just didn't feel like it anymore. On the other hand my taste in music has never been this broad as it is now. But yesterday I changed all that. You know, it was one of those reunion things and perhaps even more an anniversary thing. A couple of bands hadn't played for a while and another one isn't going to anymore. (I won't bore you with the details.) So of course I had to check it out!
I don't know what it was but for some reason I kinda felt out of place. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it all very much. But perhaps I felt old although there were plenty of people that were older. Perhaps I didn't fit in anymore. I'm not trying to live a lie, living outside of the real world and doing my own thing. I'm living in the middle of the real world and I'm still doing it my own way. At least I'm honest about it all. I enjoy music, I love music, perhaps music is even still my everything! But I 'm not going to shows to show my face, to tell the world I'm still around. If I feel like going, I will, and else I'll stay at home. Perhaps some of my old friends don't get that. But at least I wouldn't turn my back on someone that makes a change in their life. And at least I'm not claiming to be someone I'm not. I'm sick of the entire "holier than thou" and "better than you" mentality. Even last night, Scott Vogel (the singer of Terror - the dumbest and smartest person in hardcore combined all in one - and perhaps - a living legend) claimed that everyone in the venue was his friend and his family. Praise the lord, everyone thinks the same! But yet again people can't wait five minutes to split someone else's head. I wouldn't call that family feuds. Bunch of hypocrites!

Perhaps this might sound dumb and totally unexpecting coming from me, but I'd rather hang out in a club or a bar where everyone thinks they're better but all in all you get treated nicely. Cause besides the music everything else is pretty much the same. The clothes, the style, the shoes, the hair, the friends and all the other things might have different colours or shapes, but they 're all as important in both worlds.

days off

On Thursday I had a day off. So as things usually go, I just bummed around all day long and didn't do anything useful. Around 14h I got bored of myself and decided to fill in my tax return for next year. My God, what a major disappointment! Especially in comparison with the huge succes of this year's return. I actually owe the government a couple of hundred euros. Damn!!!

Luckily I had some cooler plans for the rest of the day. Me and some buddies were having a poker night. Something we hadn't done in ages. Texas Hold'Em was the game and a sketchy bachelors appartement in Antwerp our playground. And again the night delivered some more financial consequences as I lost miserably.

With this in mind I really have to find something to keep myself entertained in a couple of weeks time, cause I have a full week off ahead of me. I was hoping I could've gone on a holliday, but all my friends have work or other obligations. Trust me, sitting at home getting bored during the few days off you get a year, really sucks! So this is an open invitation to anyone around: if you have some time to kill during the first week of July, please let me know so we can hang out!!!

Just a short post today, cause my computer is acting up and I need to leave some room, cause I feel a big angry blog coming up in the next couple of days! Take care!

Olympics, here we come!

The -21 European Championship of football in the Netherlands are taking a turn I wasn't expecting. The last couple of years "Belgium" and "good news" weren't two words that combined very well when talking about football. But things change, and sometimes even for the better! We actually managed to qualify for the semi finals, where we probably will team up against Serbia. Besides that we qualified for the Olympics in China next year! For the very first time since 1928. If that isn't good news, I don't know what is...

Of course, I couldn't miss this event. So me and some friends teamed up to head over to Heerenveen in the Netherlands, way up north in Friesland. It's been a couple of years since I last went there so I was really looking forward to this road trip. Not only is Friesland a really nice region if you like peace and quiet and a lot of nature, but Heerenveen is a nice and charming town as well.
We wandered about in town and came across a "skutsje sielen" event. The people in Friesland are mad about two things: ice skating and "skutsje sielen", which is basically sailing old ships.
Besides that we made peace with the local population and shared many beers, regretfully the beers were Dutch.

As the stadium was turning orange we sang and laughed and were pleased to see a lot of Belgian flags everywhere. The atmosphere was great and I'm still euphoric about the result. All we needed was a draw and the end result of 2 goals each and an exciting game was more than satisfying. More than 25.000 people agreed with me and I'm sure all of the Netherlands and Belgium are looking forward to the semi finals and perhaps we can meet again in the finals...

The only thing that bothered me was the fact that all the Dutch supporters sang their national anthem at heart and most of the Belgians have no clue how the lyrics go. Therefor (in all official languages) our national anthem:

(all rise!)

O Belgique, ô mère chérie,
A toi nos cœurs, à toi nos bras,
A toi notre sang, ô Patrie !
Nous le jurons tous, tu vivras !
Tu vivras toujours grande et belle
Et ton invincible unité
Aura pour devise immortelle :
le Roi, la Loi, la Liberté !
le Roi, la Loi, la Liberté !

O dierbaar België, O heilig land der Vad'ren,
Onze ziel en ons hart zijn u gewijd.
Aanvaard ons kracht en bloed van ons ad'ren,
Wees ons doel in arbeid en in strijd.
Bloei, o land, in eendracht niet te breken;
Wees immer uzelf en ongeknecht,
Het woord getrouw, dat g' onbevreesd moogt spreken,
Voor Vorst, voor Vrijheid en voor Recht!
Voor Vorst, voor Vrijheid en voor Recht!

O liebes Land, o Belgiens Erde,
Dir unser Herz, Dir unsere Hand,
Dir unser Blut, dem Heimatherde,
wir schworen's Dir, o Vaterland!
So blühe froh in voller Schöne,
zu der die Freiheit Dich erzog,
und fortan singen Deine Söhne:
Gesetz und König und die Freiheit hoch!

Not my flag!

The Christian Democrats won the federal elections on Sunday in my native country Belgium. The Flemish Christian Democrats called CD&V. Together with the nationalistic party NVA.
Their leading man and probably our next prime minister is called Yves Leterme. He currently is the minister-president of Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. Belgium is torn apart by ethnic and linguistic problems. In short: the rich northern Flemish speaking part wants to get rid of the poor southern French speaking part of the country. It's as simple as that.

Yves Leterme is shown here on his party headquarters on the day of the elections. Waving in the background are Flemish flags. Separatistic Flemish flags used by "flamingants", nationalists. You can recognize them by the black tongue of the lion. The official flag has a yellow-black lay out with a red tongue, as yellow - black and red are the colours of the Belgian flag.

Not only was this pure provocation it 's also a sign of disrespect. Not only towards our country but a direct attack to anyone who actually has a positive view on our country's future. It disgusts me that this "media-druling", "lusting for power", egocentric individual wants to grab control and is actually convincing people to believe in him and his ideas.

This country only has a short history; it was founded in 1830. We never had it easy, being a small country stuck in the middle of Germany, France, Holland and overseas the UK. But we always stood our ground. In WWII the Germans ruled our nation and bought the sympathy of the Flemish people by calling them a "brotherly people". If we would take their side we would benefit of the war. And many of us did... Especially in the part between the North Sea and the river "Schelde ", the part of the country originally called "Flanders".
After the war these people were treated as war criminals and were often captured, abused and stigmatised. This was probably the first and still most important reason of the Flemish nationalistic movement. They wanted amnesty for the collaborators.
As things usually do, it all got out of hand. Movements were started, parties were founded and hate and intolerance were born. The most well known result of this movement is the neo-fascist and nationalistic party Vlaams Blok (currently known as: Vlaams Belang). They currently have about 20% of the votes in Flanders. A couple of years ago, they reached peaks up till 25% and in some cities 30% and more.
CD&V (formerly known as CVP) was always the safe vote as this party stood somewhere in the middle of the political spectrum. But nowadays they seem to have taken a swift turn towards the right. Not only are they teaming up with another nationalistic party (NVA), but also are they taking over their views! They 've always been a popular party so people continue to vote for them, not always knowing what they vote for...

I stand firmly in this matter. Belgium is not to be split. The history of Belgium, Flanders and Wallonia is too complex and tied in all matters. I long for an increasing influence and unity of all the European nations. I think a real future lies in the European Union. I don't think splitting up and separating populations will bring any benefit for us. As the Benelux was the first step towards a united Europe, we especially should be proud of what we reached. The only reasons are financially inspired and pure selfish. The only reason people are buying this, is because it's force fed by the media, the companies and anyone with money!

The Flemish flag is not my flag! I won't ever think of it that way. The flags you see here waving above are disgusting misinterpretations. Any Belgian should be outraged about this. They were misleading and bring forth nothing but hatred and an ongrowing conflict. We are not growing apart because of cultural differences, there are cultural differences because we are growing apart!

I still believe: Eendracht Maakt Macht! L'Union Fait La Force!