Belgium censors internet to protect pedophile privacy

Quote: “We now take note of the fact that the first observed case of Belgian Internet censorship is not an attempt to stop child pornography on the net, but a bizarre attempt to guarantee the legislative privacy of convicted pedophiles in Belgium.”

According to an article published today in Belgian Daily “Tijd” (‘Time’) [in English, by Google], the Belgian federal government has quietly introduced technical measures that redirect Belgian surfers to this updated STOP page when entering URLs that contain content the Belgian government considers to be illegal [fccu.be is the Belgian Federal Computer Crime Unit, a part of the federal Police]. Apparently major ISPs have voluntary agreed to accept this form of yet unclear censorship. The news came as a total shock and I’m still busy checking which sites have been affected. Update: “Big Belgian Firewall activated“ -translation by Google: Belgium is apparently blocking a Dutch site that does not respect “the privacy of convicted paedophiles”… I’m not kidding: Belgium does not actively block sites that cater to child molesters, but now does block one single site that lists those sex offenders. [Leading newspaper report]

Check out what is being blocked: http://www.stopkinderporno.eu (“stop child porn”): blocked (use a non-Belgian proxy from within Belgium). Welcome to Belgium: the charming country protecting the “privacy of child molesters by censoring the sites that list them”. Coming soon to a pc near you: mind-blowing tales covering the  pathetic Belgian state attempts to censor a billion “illegal” pages. Or how a tiny, virtually bancrupt country showed the planet how to censor the entire WWW in order to uphold its own obscure ideas on what should not be available on the net.  [Background:  "Towards full Belgian Internet censorship"]

Antwerp city to sponsor Gay Pride 2009, alongside extreme sex clubs

I’m quite upset reading that my “beloved” city of Antwerp is once again an official sponsor of the Antwerp Gay Pride 2009, a predominantly commercial event where gay emancipation has long been replaced by cashing-in on the influx of gay tourists. But what I, and a majority of responsible gay Antwerp citizens cannot fathom is the need to stand alongside extreme-sex fetish events such as A hard Night, featuring some clubs that have a bad track record or are just notorious for the unsafe sex practices of their visitors.

Dear city of Antwerp, do you actually realize that you are sharing a bed with sleazy clubs such as The Kinky’s, a private, gay, extreme fetish club? [Update: Antwerp pride removed the link after discovering  this post...] Many of us are utterly shocked, especially since this way Antwerp City indirectly appears to endorse extreme sex clubs catering to a livestyle that is bound to spread STDs and potentially even HIV.  The fact that safe-sex advocate organization “Sensoa” is also one of the sponsors makes this Antwerp Gay Pride 2009 event utterly unreal.

[Tragic note: in 1999 a Belgian court judge was fired after engaging in SM with his own wife. He even lost his civil rights. Ten years later the city of Antwerp is endorsing an open air SM and fetish fair near the prestigious city marina next June. Weird, isn't it?]

We, the majority of responsible gay Antwerp citizens urge everyone to contact the city of Antwerp to object to their sponsorship.

US State Department criticizes Belgium for human rights abuses

According to an article in the Belgian EUobserver, the US State Dept found it necessary to state in its 2008 US government report on worldwide human rights (issued Feb 25, 2009) that “the Belgian government “generally respected the human rights of its citizens,” (oh, really? I hadn’t noticed) but found several human rights ‘problems’, such as overcrowded prisons, lengthy pre-trial detention, poor detention conditions prior to expulsion and “ethnic discrimination in the job market.“

Local Belgian sources acknowledged Belgium experienced, like most EU countries, ongoing social issues, but ever so kindly suggested that the US State Dept would consider buying full-sized mirrors and a free trip down memory lane to take a long, careful look at the abysmal human rights track record of the USA.  “We don’t kill our prisoners”, “nor do we deny our gay citizens basic human rights” one Belgian source noted with rising indignation. Do you personally feel the US has regained its “moral authority” to start pointing fingers at the world regarding “human rights abuses” in other countries?

Censorship in Belgium: pulling the plug on my blog posts

No, rest assured, I won’t be closing down this blog. However, during the past few days I’ve been repeatedly intimidated by local government personnel, just for posting verifiable facts in a couple of high-profile older blog posts dating back to a long forgotten era. I feel like the Dixie Chicks when they were told “shut up and sing”.

Unlike the US, Belgium doesn’t have such a far reaching constitutional 1st amendment, offering citizens elaborate freedom of expression, protected from government interference. We enjoy “real free speech, until someone finds a way to shut us up”. Remember the Belgian barmaid fired in New York after blogging unfavorably about the Belgian minister of defense?

Belgian defense minister De Crem (Catholic-Conservative) having a beer or two

So with profound regret I’m pulling the plug on several of the best investigative posts in Dutch I’ve ever written. Obviously, I will continue to post, be it much more sanitized, trying to make sure that I don’t end up producing generic pieces of thin air about my cat.  Have you ever been forced or felt compelled to take down (or simply “not write”) a post, due to pressure from an external source?

The day Santa Claus short-circuited Antwerp

It’s a well-known fact politicians just love Santa. Much like themselves, Santa is overflowing with promises he can’t deliver, with a jolly “ho-ho-ho” attitude that conspicuously sounds like the verbal diarrhea most politicians are famous for. So we weren’t exactly surprised that when Santa came to Antwerp last Friday, our local dignitaries fell over each other for a chance to accompany his glittering golden coach, drawn by two snow white horses. The gold was, in line with all expectations, fake. But I digress.

Let me rewind to the moment Santa arrived at Antwerp Central station, a sumptuous 1900 style railway cathedral. I’m not sure how Santa reached your happy town (in a Hummer?), but given we’re European we do prefer the more classic touch.  Suitable transportation meant a golden ride along the golden shopping mile, making convenient stops to push strategically positioned buttons, a generous act that lit up the exclusive upscale Antwerp shopping center, much like the legalized prostitution mega-complex near my home. As long there are flashing lights, people have a natural tendency to get into a suitable mindset. Stop me from digressing any further here.

Anyway, by the time Santa finally arrived at the Christmas village in front of Antwerp cathedral (a weird mix of seasonal XXX “marzipan penises”, “fresh juicy sheep bones for your dog” and 100 “eat until you drop” stands) my hands were virtually frozen, but trust me, I kept on following the camera crews from the mainstream media like a bloodhound, taking pictures until my finger went into stand-by mode.

Obviously, I did not miss the grand finale when Philip Heylen, alderman for Tourism of Antwerp (surrounded by more cops than a presidential candidate) finally allowed Santa to make his Christmas market speech, glorifying the benefits of a multi-cultural town. When my elderly neighbor suddenly loudly shouted she had been “mugged yet again in his multicultural shit city”, police gently escorted her away. Hey, if you start doubting the magic promised by the Antwerp PR dept, you will be assimilated , like in  “When the truth starts to hurt, it’s time to remove it”. Although that may sound like a GW Bush statement, I did make it up myself. Really. Before I forget: when Santa pushed the “lights on” button, half the Antwerp Christmas market short-circuited, including the traditional 1900 era merry-go-round. An omen, for sure.

The evening ended with more seasonal glamor, with Philip Heylen opening the “Christmas funfair”, a most bizarre 2008 concept involving a giant Ferris wheel on the riverbanks, along with the banned booze-stands and a number of totally unseasonal fun rides (care to be “shaken upside down” at high speed in the freezing cold? Antwerp city believes you’ll love it).

The evening came to a spectacular close when Antwerp mayor Patrick Janssens (ex marketing company CEO) opened the city hall ice skating rink, with countless party members visitors waving glittering firework sticks. I for one preferred not to burn my fingers and had a free cup of  instant soup, followed by a  60° proof liquor donated by the Norwegian embassy, those nice folks who provide the yearly tree in front of Antwerp cathedral [more seasonal opening night photos to follow asap].

When Santa almost crashed trying to skate a few meters/yards in that drag queen suite of his, I knew it was really time to go home.

I can only assume your Santa experience has been slightly more traditional, but do let me know if it wasn’t.

Belgium outraged over Royal ‘pay rise’

“Did you see the news?” my elderly neighbor said with rising indignation, “THEY got a 6% pay rise, while my pension fund has crashed to the floor”.

Belgium’s much criticized royal family are in for a rough ride these days, after a 6% “inflation compensation” increased their 2009 annual state-issued stipend to a staggering 13,853,000 EURO. “Trivial pocket money to pay for their every wimp”, given they inherited a huge family fortune, live rent-free in the palaces provided by the Belgian state, with Belgian king Albert (only a token figure without much power) spending much of his time cruising the warmer waters of the Mediterranean, far away from Belgium.

Much like many EU countries, the tiny but heavily indebted kingdom of Belgium is going through the worst economic crisis since its independence in 1830. With a significant part of the country desperately struggling to stay afloat, the royal “pay rise” provoked serious controversy.

Belgian King Albert II traditionally delivers a yearly public TV address to the nation, placing strong emphasis on universal human values: honesty, integrity, accountability (etc, etc) while evoking a spirit of “sharing”, being less egocentric in our ever more materialistic world. If he ever meant one single word, he should have said “no thanks, I don’t need this extra cash, give it to a worthy cause”. But he didn’t, making him a “money grabbing Catholic Saxen-Coburg“, like a local journalist bluntly put it.  Rich Royalty with nothing but a token function: should we stop “feeding them” with tax Euros? [The Belgian Royal couple - Image credit: Tijd.be]

Honeymoon in Turkey: the fun, the sun, the genocide

No, hold, this is no intentional political post on the “Armenian genocide“!  I recently returned from a fabulous  honeymoon-replacing vacation in Bodrum, Turkey and I’m in the process of posting a small part of my +1,000 vacation pictures. I just love Turkey, admiring the way the country succeeded in separating religion/state, making it a liberal, though predominantly Muslim country.  When I watched topless women at my Bodrum hotel pool, it was overtly clear that founding father Ataturk succeeded in separating religion and state.

Unfortunately, the Turkish government still felt that it was “appropriate” and “necessary” to post (yet again, in 2008..) a huge rebuttal regarding the killing of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I, in the very distasteful form of a huge billboard right along the upscale Bodrum marina, in front of the entrance to the stunningly beautiful Bodrum castle. Hey, I was on vacation, thoroughly enjoying a walk around Bodrum Marina, home of the rich and famous, watching huge cruise-liners boarding, along with a stroll past the 5,000 head open-air Halicarnassus sea-side disco – and then I bumped into this..  You can imagine how this huge, Turkish government issued, quay-side “no genocide” right-in-your-face billboard-with-sculls totally baffled me.   How would you feel?

McCain: Palin is not qualified as vice-president

Watch McCain (link to full text), say exactly what the whole world knows by now: Palin is not qualified to be a US Vice President. Quote (dated October 21, 2007):

“I have had a strong and a long relationship on national security, I’ve been involved in every national crisis that this nation has faced since Beirut, I understand the issues, I understand and appreciate the enormity of the challenge we face from radical Islamic extremism.”  “I am prepared. I am prepared. I need no on-the-job training. I wasn’t a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn’t a governor for a short period of time.”

I rest my case.  If there is a god, may he be there to save America from the walking disaster called McCain(72)-Palin. I’m no US citizen, but I’m gay: if this cute couple were to win the 2008 elections, I’d emigrate to Canada. Time to reclaim your country, America.

Wikipedia quote: (“Questions have been raised by some in the media regarding Palin’s views on the separation of church and state, given her support for the inclusion of creationism into public education and an address to graduating ministry students at her former church where she urged them to pray “that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God”,[181] and in the same remarks, her assertion that “God’s will” was responsible for the Alaskan national gas pipeline project. Bloggers have characterized her remarks as having “painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair” or reported that she told the students “that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a ‘task that is from God“)

After electing a lying, war-mongering, virtually certified nutcase twice, there must be something profoundly wrong with a significant part of the US electorate, wouldn’t you think so?

Sarah Palin: the shocking truth: letter from a close friend

You read this before, but imagine how shocked Belgium reacted when the www.washingtonindependent.com posted a verified reader letter/comment (underlining by blog author) from Anne Kilkenny, a Wasilla, Alaska, woman who has known the honorable governor personally since 1992.

Quote from http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3671/the-reform-candidate#comment-1994895:

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because she is a “babe”.

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months.

She is “pro-life”. She recently gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym. She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just “puts things out there” and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans.Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters. She’s smart.

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later–to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once. These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state. In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today’s surplus, borrow for needs.

She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of “old boys“. Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal–loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated” her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska’s top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn’t fire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the “old boys’ club” when she dramatically quit, exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects–which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance–but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as “anti-pork”.

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative. Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.

They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah’s mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as “AGIA” that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state initiative that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President. There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she. However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.”

[These kinds of "bios" make me sick to my stomach. In Belgium, you get this kind of tribute when you've been killed in a tragic accident]

FOX will never cover this. So Go America, Go: vote for GOP vice-president “Sarah Barracuda”: a woman with “unbridled private ambition and predatory ruthlessness”. Just like John McCain, but even worse. Hey, if sinking America is your goal, this woman sure fits the bill.
Check out the www.huffingtonpost.com for more elaborate, in-dept GOP NRC news and coverage [Images: courtesy 236.com]

Obama, you almost made us cry, but then again…

While Obama delivered a mind-blowing acceptance speech last night in Denver that resounded across Belgium and the whole of Europe, US polls still give McCain an equal slice of the cake. And that, my American friends, is beyond our understanding. I’m living in Antwerp, Belgium, where gays can marry and adopt, where euthanasia, abortion and prostitution are legal,  where every citizen has been enjoying high quality free healthcare for over 60 years, where college education is available for everyone, in a country that never invaded any other country and is actively downsizing its army. On average, we enjoy 4 to 6 weeks of annual paid vacation, while we belong to the world’s 15 richest nations.

The past week a Dutch channel interviewed registered Republican American voters and tried to convey their motivation. We just don’t get it: religious reasons, opportunism,  stale conservatism, plain stupidity and ignorance: really, it’s beyond our comprehension. John McCain would be blown away within five seconds in Belgium. Btw: US right-wing FOX-tv news coverage comments were plain disgusting, as usual.

As much as I hate to write this, there’s a cultural devide between the US and Belgium/Europe that at times is quite hard to bridge, a chasm deeper than most Americans are aware of.  Oh well America, let’s just hope (not pray, Belgians are on average not religious nor very patriotic) common sense will prevail. But I have my doubts, given US voters elected a nutcase like G.W. Bush into office, twice