I have a good friend, Said, who was born in Algeria.  During the violent civil war that plagued the country beginning in 1991, my friend fled the country for Europe.  He ended up in Brussels, Belgium, which he has made his home for the past 16 years.  Said was a young man when he left Algeria; now, in his late thirties, he desires what we all want for ourselves: a family, a steady job, a secure place to live, and so on.  He called me today and told me that he is atop a large crane in Brussels with two friends, threatening to kill himself and standing off with police -- because after sixteen years of non-stop appeals, he has been denied legal permanent residency in Belgium once again.

Here is an interesting article on the effect of excessive immigration in Europe, and an interesting quote from that article:

THE COMING OF EURABIA
(International Analyst Network, 02DEC08)

In 1974, former Algerian President Houari Boumedienne warned Europe in a speech at the U.N.: "One day, millions of men will leave the Southern Hemisphere to go to the Northern Hemisphere. And they will not go there as friends. They will go there to conquer it. And they will conquer it with their sons. The wombs of our women will give us victory."

Anchor babies?...  In Europe?  Continued on the next page...

Or possibly the Michael Jackson song, 'Black and White.' A look at the distraction of the American people by issues of faith, starring Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. Juxtaposed with the news from Germany and Belgium that the cult of Scientology is about to be run out of town in one country, and indicted for fraud in another, it appears that we're still too distracted by the magic words, "Freedom of Religion" to bother differentiating between an elaborate con game and a faith.

Andree de Jongh has died at age 91 in Belgium.  She was a hero of the Resistance in World War II.  More below.

Riverside County reported a 4.5 magnitude earthquake the other day. Following the news this week that Belgium is considering charges against the Scientology organization for fraud, intimidation, and other activities that make it so popular worldwide, I suspect it was not really a seismic event.

No, it was simply wee David Miscavige, stomping his tiny feet at Scientology's armed compound north of Hemet, California, venting his impotent fury at the possibility he might finally be held accountable for the fraud, criminality and abuses the diminutive cult leader has indulged in with impunity since L. Ron Hubbard died.

The nation of Belgium is facing one of its greatest crises in its 170+ year history. Without a real Government since June and bitterly torn in twain between French-speaking Wallonia and Dutch-speaking Flanders, the demise of the nation of Belgium is now being openly debated throughout the country.

Born in 1830 in a largely Catholic-led revolt against Dutch rule within the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, Belgium was legally solidified in the 1839 Treaty of London. Interestingly it was the German violation of the Treaty of London through their invasion of neutral Belgium which was the legal trigger that led the British  to declare war on Germany in 1914 resulting in part in WWI.

The country of Belgium is having problems forming a new government, the King of Belgium will be calling ministers of state to try to work things out between the deadlocked parties.    At the core of the dispute are the growing differences between the French and Flemish parties in Belgium.  Ethnic and cultural differences are now aligning with economic ones.  Belgium is already a curiosity; between the European Union and the devolution of power to regional governments the powers of the government at the country level seem to be fading away.  The possibility of Belgium splitting into multiple countries is on the horizon.  If Belgium is considering it, why not the United States?

I was just reading a Diary on the Reclist by Maccabee called Read, Then Weep, and I wrote this comment in his Diary...

And upon second thought, I was sufficiently depressed by my comment to forgo my daily Diary and just post this comment as my thought for the day...

The comment, in its entirety, below the fold...

(flip)

President Bush just made this recess appointment, after withdrawing it earlier.

Bush Withdraws Belgium Ambassador Nominee

President Bush on Wednesday withdrew the ambassadorial nomination of businessman Sam Fox after Democrats denounced Fox for giving money to a controversial conservative group that undermined Sen. John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.

Kerry, D-Mass., had criticized Fox because of a $50,000 contribution that Fox made in 2004 to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

This is just wrong, and I knew something like this would happen during Congress' vacation.

Another day, another atrocity:

President Bush named Republican fundraiser Sam Fox as U.S. ambassador to Belgium on Wednesday, using a maneuver that allowed him to bypass Congress where Democrats had derailed Fox's nomination.

And the hits just keep on coming:

Well, well Mr Swiftboat Sam. You should have thought about the chances of a newly elected Democratic Congress having to confirm you before whipping out your wallet for the smearmongering SwiftBoat Liars in exchange for a nice fat ambassadorial cronie appointment. Serves you right.

The AP just posted something regarding White House plans to withdraw the nomination of businessman Sam Fox (to be Ambassador to Belgium), who drew fire for his contributions to the Swift-boaters.

Great news for anyone who thinks we should keep slime-balls like this out of our government.  Looks like the Democrats were able to head this one off.

For anyone who thinks there's no difference between the Democrats & the Rethugs, I think this is a clear example of how big a difference the November elections have already made in our society.

Bob Geiger has been on the case.  Remember Sam Fox?  Major Swift Boat donor.  He gave them $50,000 after it had been shown they were lying about John Kerry's record.

Well, he's up for a Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote this Wednesday on whether or not to bring his nomination to a full Senate vote.

Remember him?

Sam Fox, of St. Louis, was nominated by George W. Bush in January to be the new U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. It's not unusual in either party for a guy who pumps a lot of money into political campaigns to be rewarded with such a post -- and Fox is certainly a big-time Sugar Daddy for the GOP -- but this guy took that standard up a few notches by donating $50,000 to the Swift Boat Liars, who used fabrications and smears to help derail John Kerry's (D-MA) 2004 presidential campaign.

Now he's up for a vote, and it's not clear how everyone will vote as of yet.  Time to call our Senators and ask them to stop this guy from getting the nod.  Contact info after the fold.

According to a report in the UK's Sunday Telegraph on March 17th, the International Criminal Court's Chief Prosecutor "would be willing to launch an inquiry and could envisage a scenario in which the Prime Minister and American President George W Bush could one day face charges at The Hague."

A question for skeptics: do you still think Global Warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people?  Do you still think the messenger as well as his message is flawed after his critically-acclaimed documentary won two Academy Awards a couple of weeks ago?

In a 'sign-of-the-times' news story I stumbled upon courtesy of Google

Last week, a big row broke out in the federal government of Belgium. The reason?  Al Gore and his campaign on climate change.  But it was not about measures to limit CO2 emissions that the government ministers were quarreling.  No, they were fighting about this picture which appeared in the Belgian press.

Some ministers were angry that Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt (right) and Vice Prime Minister Didier Reynders (left) were on the picture, but they not.  Why hadn't they been invited? They also wanted to be on the picture with Al Gore!

Read on...

Originally posted at TexasKaos.com WITH Pictures

The Sam Fox - or as I call him Sam Faux - nomination has nothing to do with John Kerry, though I am happy he got a chance to confront the S.O.B.

This this is about Values. An Ambassador is the face of America - do we want a liar to represent us?

We have one as President already!

Please follow on the flip. And let you friends know. Thanks.

I hope that all of you have had a chance to check out Senator Kerry's performance at yesterday's nomination hearing for ambassador to Belgium (click on the "nominations" link to download Real file -- fastfoward to 1:51:48). Special thanks to beachmom for her excellent diary on the subject.

For those who are just tuning into this, the nominee was a large contributor to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and Kerry was grilling him on his involvement.

This was really quite a remarkable exchange between Kerry and "Foxy," and it really illustrates the remarkable conservative mind. I wanted to examine the the dialog itself, but I couldn't find a transcript. So I quickly typed one out. What I have here is more of a summary, but I'm comfortable that no important information was left out and that the statements of everyone are accurately characterized.

Okay, this is an instant classic.  I'll call it obscene cronyism.  President Bush is well known for appointing his feckless friends to posts they're not qualified for, most famously "Brownie", head of FEMA Michael Brown, whose accomplishments were in the Arabian Horse industry before completely botching the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  I didn't think he could top that for its absurdity, but this time he has really outdone himself.  President Bush has just nominated Sam Fox as Ambassador to Belgium.  In addition to being a good Republican "friend" of the president, he is a Swift Boat Veterans for Truth financier.

More below the fold.