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...