Free Republic

The speech was sponsored by the Hudson Institute on September 25. Dear friends,Thank you very much for inviting me. Great to be at the Four Seasons. I come from a country that has one season only: a rainy season that starts January 1st and ends December 31st. When we have three sunny days in a row, the government declares a national emergency. So Four Seasons, that’s new to me.It’s great to be in New York. When I see the skyscrapers and office buildings, I think of what Ayn Rand said: “The sky over New York and the will of man...

THE HAGUE, 12/09/08 - Popular support for US presidential candidate Barack Obama is higher in the Netherlands than anywhere else in Europe, according to the Transatlantic Trends 2008 survey published yesterday. At the same time relatively many Dutch also view his opponent, John McCain, favourably. Sixty-nine percent of Europeans view Obama favourably, compared with 26 percent who view McCain favourably. The highest favourability ratings for Obama were found in the Netherlands (85%), France (85%) and Germany (83%). The highest favourability ratings for McCain were found in Portugal (35%), the Netherlands (33%), Spain (33%), and the United Kingdom (33%). Transatlantic Trends...

Smoking ban leads to new religion Wednesday 16 July 2008Café owners in the Netherlands are joining religious movement known as the One and Universal Smokers Church of God, the Telegraaf reports on Wednesday.‘We stand firmly behind the church’s teachings and that is smoking,’ Cor Busch, owner of the former Lindeboom café in Alkmaar told the paper. ‘Smokers are being discriminated against… but a beer and a cigarette belong together.’ Smoking has been banned in Dutch bars since July 1. Several dozen bars have joined the movement which claims the Dutch constitution and European rules give it legitimacy under the...

HOLLAND - The mayor of this small community 15 miles south of Temple said Tuesday the commission of which she is president is ready to take by the horns the Texas Department of Transportation and its controversial proposal, the Trans-Texas Corridor. Armed with an 80-page manual, “How to Fight the TTC,” and backed by two non-profits who say they protect private property rights, Holland mayor Mae Smith said rural Bell County is ready for a fight. “Bell County sits here like a stepchild and they’re cramming this corridor down our throats,” Ms. Smith said, regarding the commission’s relationship with TxDOT....

Gay people in Holland have been shocked by a public attack on a gay man in Amsterdam. Model Mike Du Pree was taking part in a fashion show to promote tolerance towards gay people when a gang of ten Muslim youths dragged him from the catwalk and beat him. A right wing Dutch MP has called for the youths to be deported. Mr Du Pree's nose was broken in the attack, which was motivated by homophobia. The fashion event was held on a public holiday marking the birth of Holland's late Queen Julianna. Newspaper Gay Krant reports that a bystander...

Dutch scientists claim they have completed the first sequencing of an individual woman's DNA. The researchers at Leiden University Medical Center say they have sequenced the entire genome of one their female researchers, though no other scientists have yet verified their data. The first sequencing of a composite human genome was announced in 2001. Four individual male genomes have so far been sequenced. Scientists have also mapped the DNA of about a dozen mammals, including chimpanzees, dogs, cats, cows and a platypus. The full complement of an organism's DNA is called its genome. In animals and people, it is made...

U.S. Wary Of Small Boat Terrorism As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist America's 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways. According to an April 23 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press, "The use of a small boat as a weapon is likely to remain al Qaeda's weapon of choice in the maritime environment, given its ease in arming and deploying, low cost, and record of success." While the United States...

Dutch cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot was arrested when his house was raided by ten police men. He spent a night in a police cell and was then released. It is unclear if Nekschot is to be prosecuted. The raid apparently happened because of complaints by fundamentalist imam van de Ven, a Dutch Islam convert who once said that he'd like to see critics of Islam like Geert Wilders to be dead. Nekschot is a controversial cartoonist who criticizes multi cultural society and religions. Although his work is not exactly an example of fine taste sometimes his arrest raised protests. The raid...

[...] The first political change came from the left. They embraced gays, knowing full well that most gays aren’t married, don’t have kids, and have consequently more income to spend and tend to do that. Hence, the strange idea that all gays are by definition left-wing oriented. Nothing could be further from the truth. Gays want to be themselves. Nothing more, nothing less. [...] Then we got a new pressure group. The ones with beards and long, very long and extremely sensitive toes. These folks quickly replaced the gays as interest group on the left. First of all, because gays...

Thanks to the intervention of the Dutch government, a second anti-Islam movie will not see the light, at least for now. "I can confirm that Mr Ehsan Jami has decided not to broadcast his controversial film," Ayhan Tunja, a member of the Muslim Coordinating Council of the Netherlands, told IslamOnline.net Tuesday, April 1, over the phone. "He has announced his decision on Dutch television," he added. Jami, a former Muslim of Iranian origin, told the Netwrek TV show he has decided not to release his cartoon film, The Life of Muhammad, as expected on April 20. The film would have...

Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders has posted a film which is critical of Islam's holy book, the Koran, on the internet. The short film, which he says describes Islam as "the enemy of freedom", was posted on a video-sharing website. He has called Islam's holy book a "fascist" text that incites violence. Liveleak link (warning: may contain content that can offend, probably not suited for young people)

Though some may believe the I-69 Trans Texas Corridor will not be constructed, due to overwhelming opposition and various remarks by TxDOT representatives, a newly formed local group called “Grimes County Get Organized” asked Commissioners on Monday to consider forming a Commission group based on Local Government Code 391; to ensure the currently proposed construction plan through the county is officially stopped. The idea to form the commission came from a recent informational meeting about how to stop the corridor held in Lufkin, Texas and hosted by Holland Mayor Mae Smith. According to the informational handouts, the East Central Texas...

  Dutch anti-Islamic film's Internet site suspended Mar 23 10:20 AM US/Eastern     An American network provider Sunday said it had suspended a website that Dutch MP Geert Wilders had reserved to post his anti-Islamic film, which has sparked wide condemnation and fears of a backlash. "Network Solutions has received a number of complaints regarding this site that are under investigation," the provider said a message posted on the Internet. Although his website is offline, Wilders on Sunday insisted he still wants to put the movie "on the internet quickly" but did not specify how. He also told the...

LUFKIN — Mae Smith, the 64-year-old mayor of the teeny Central Texas town of Holland, seized the civic center lectern like a dragon-slayer ascending the throne. In a fiery red pantsuit and a voice that echoed without the help of a malfunctioning microphone, she and her cohorts revealed to a crowd of about 50 souls clad in denim and plaid a little-known weapon against the foe of all in the room: Gov. Rick Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor. The weapon, Smith said, doesn't involve marching on the Texas Capitol, like more than 1,000 did last year, some on tractors and horses. It...

A prayer leader in Tehran last week urged all Islamic countries to sever their ties with Denmark and with all “those who desecrate Prophet Muhammad.” According to a report in the Tehran Times, Ayatollah Khatami of the Assembly of Experts believes that the Danish cartoons depicting the religious figure are insulting and part of a plot to stop the spread of Islam in the world. “In Denmark, where the cartoons were published, the Quran became the best seller book, therefore they should know such actions will not serve their purpose,” Ayatollah Khatami told worshippers. Last month, newspapers in Denmark reprinted...

BRUSSELS — Dutch anti-Koran film "Fitna" seems unlikely to air on domestic TV, with broadcasters lining up to say they will not take it. None are ready to accept demands by Geert Wilders, the politician behind the 15-minute film, that it should air complete and unedited. The latest rejections were reported Thursday in Dutch daily De Volkskrant. The Netwerk and Nova news programs, on pubcaster Nederland 2, have both been talking to Wilders but now say his demands are "bizarre" and unacceptable. Commercial broadcasters SBS and RTL are also reported to have rejected the film. If no broadcaster picks up...

Dutch Islam film 'nearly ready' Far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders has said that this week he will finish a film about Islam which has already triggered Muslim outrage. Mr Wilders said he was determined to release the film despite government warnings that this would damage Dutch political and economic interests. Mr Wilders says the film is about the Koran, without giving details. In the past, he has called for the Koran to be banned and likened it to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.

Geert Wilders, popular MP whose film on Islam fuelled debate on race in Holland, wants an end to mosque building & Muslim immigration. .. adores Thatcher... 'Islam is not a religion, it's an ideology,' - Wilders, a lanky Roman Catholic, 'the ideology of a retarded culture.' ..a crash course in Koranic study. Likening the Islamic text to Hitler's Mein Kampf, wants 'fascist Koran' outlawed.. all immigration from Muslim countries halted, Muslim immigrants paid to leave & all Muslim 'criminals' stripped of Dutch citizenship and deported 'back where they came from'.. 'I have a problem with Islamic tradition, culture, ideology. ...Swiss...

MPs unhappy at Morocco's emigrant plan Friday 15 February 2008 Government and opposition MPs are unhappy with plans by Morocco to strengthen ties with its citizens living abroad, reports ANP news agency on Friday. Khadija Arib, an MP with the government coalition Labour party, calls the move undesirable and old-fashioned. ‘This [Moroccan] minister doesn’t understand the situation of Moroccans abroad. The new generation has a different relationship with Morocco than its parents. They go there on visits, on holiday or for business but they have chosen the Netherlands or somewhere else to live,’ Arib told ANP. The Rabat government said...

Dutch Catholics have re-branded the Lent fast as the "Christian Ramadan" in an attempt to appeal to young people who are more likely to know about Islam than Christianity. The Catholic charity Vastenaktie, which collects for the Third World across the Netherlands during the Lent period, is concerned that the Christian festival has become less important for the Dutch over the last generation. "The image of the Catholic Lent must be polished. The fact that we use a Muslim term is related to the fact that Ramadan is a better-known concept among young people than Lent," said Vastenaktie Director, Martin...

The Dutch Muslim Council has attacked far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders' politics as "racist and fascist". The council, which includes 200 organisations, appealed for calm ahead of the planned release by the MP of a controversial film. Mr Wilders says his film will show the Koran as an inspiration for murder.

Holland 'governed by fear of Islam' By Joan Clements in The Hague Last Updated: 2:28am GMT 24/01/2008 A politician has warned that a "fear of Islam" is governing Holland after he delayed the release of a short film attacking the Koran. Geert Wilders, 44, the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, who compares the Muslim holy book to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, sparked government panic after saying the anti-Islam film would be released tomorrow. As Dutch police prepared for a weekend of riots and Mr Wilders was told by the authorities that he would have to leave country, he launched...

A new report warns against a lack of dialogue and a widening gap between Islam and the West. Danes are among the most critical of Islam, according to a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Some 79 percent of Danes responded in a poll that they considered more interaction with the Muslim world as a threat. The worry was shared by a large majority in other European countries such as Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain, where up to 67 percent of the population feared more Western interaction with Muslim communities. The message of the report was clear: there...

Déjà vu in Holland: A Dutch politician plans to release a film that rips the Koran for promoting violence and intolerance. Politicians and Muslim leaders alike are afraid of a repeat of 2004, when filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered on the streets of Amsterdam. AFP A protester holds a picture of far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders on a mock cigarette packet during a demonstration on Saturday in Amsterdam. A Dutch politician's plan to release a film that charges the Koran with promoting violence and intolerance has sparked controversy in the Netherlands. Government officials are distancing themselves from the project...

Muslim Councillor Tells Rotterdammer: 'Shut Up, Minority' ROTTERDAM, 17/01/08 - Labour (PvdA) politician Bouchra Ismaili has reviled a citizen of Rotterdam in an e-mail. The man was told that as a member of the white minority in his district, he should not complain about the Islamic organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir. Ismaili, who has Moroccan nationality, is a council member for PvdA in the Rotterdam district council of Charlois. "You are the immigrants here!!!", she wrote to the white man who drew her attention by e-mail to statements by the controversial Muslim organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir. Ismali also wrote in her e-mail reply...

The origins of ice-skating have been traced by scientists to the frozen lakes of Finland about 5,000 years ago, when people used skates made from animal bone. Researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University have calculated that skating on the primitive blades would have reduced the energy cost of travelling by 10 per cent, suggesting that it emerged as a practical method of transport and not as recreation. Southern Finland has been identified as the most likely home of skating through an analysis of the shape and distribution of lakes in central and northern Europe, which shows that the early Finns would...

The Dutch military mission in Afghanistan will be extended by two years, Netherlands Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has announced. Dutch troops had been scheduled to leave Afghanistan in summer 2008. The decision to extend the mission follows a call by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden for European nations to stop helping US forces in Afghanistan. Bin Laden said that he - and not the Afghans - was the "only one responsible" for the 9/11 attacks. Dutch troops are stationed primarily in the southern Uruzgan province of Afghanistan. Since the Netherlands joined the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) last...

ROME, November 1, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI has accepted the resignation of Bishop Petrus Maria Martinus "Tiny" Muskens of the diocese of Breda in the Netherlands. He is  succeeded by Mgr. Johannes Harmannes Jozefus van den Hende, until now coadjutor in the see. Not yet 72, Bishop Muskens is over three years from the usual retirement age of 75, but has surrendered the pastoral governance of the diocese in conformance with can. 401 § 2 of the Code of Canon Law. The canon states, "A diocesan Bishop who, because of illness or some other grave reason, has become...

Suicide bomber fails to set off the bombs in his car. (You may not understand the text but the pictures tell it all)

Amsterdam - Dutch police arrested three people in Amsterdam's Osdorp neighbourhood on Sunday evening on suspicion of attempted arson. They had a jerrycan full of petrol and one of the three also had fireworks with him. Police detained them as they had no reasonable explanation for the petrol or the fireworks. Tensions have been high in several Amsterdam neighbourhoods after a mentally disturbed Moroccan man stabbed two police officers and was subsequently shot dead. Gangs of youths, mainly from immigrant backgrounds, smashed windows and torched cars for several evenings in a row after the fatal shooting.

AMSTERDAM BURNS... Interesting to note this report that Amsterdam has suffered a sixth night of unrest after police officers shot a "Moroccan man" dead. The 22-year old was killed after entering a police station where he stabbed two police officers. Eleven cars have been set on fire this week in the Slotervaart district of Amsterdam, which is mainly populated by "immigrants" i.e Muslims. It goes without saying that this deranged "Moroccan" was himself an immigrant, and of course a Muslim. It appears that Amsterdam's large Muslim community are providing the authorities with a reminder of the muscle they can exercise....

It has been an unusually violent week for Amsterdam's western Slotervaart district. Cars were torched and youths clashed with police on several consecutive nights after a 22-year-old ethnic Moroccan was shot dead at a police station. He was killed by a policewoman he had just stabbed a number of times. The riots that followed reminded Amsterdam's Chief Commissioner Bernard Welten of a major nightmare for Western European cities: violence on a Parisian scale. Every major town in the Netherlands has its share of so-called problem youths, the type of violent adolescents who gang up to terrorise the neighbourhood. Many of...

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — The Dutch government will ban the sale of hallucinogenic mushrooms, a spokesman for the Justice Ministry said Friday, rolling back one element of the country's permissive drug policy after a series of well-publicized negative incidents.< >— A British tourist, 22, ran amok in a hotel, breaking his window and slicing his hand badly. — An Icelandic tourist, 19, thought he was being chased and jumped from a balcony, breaking both his legs. — A Danish tourist, 29, drove his car wildly through a campground, narrowly missing people sleeping in their tents.< >

The experimentation is already underway. In place of the priest are men and women selected by the faithful. And all together pronounce the words of consecration, which are varied as desired. In the view of the Dutch Dominicans, this is what Vatican Council II wanted ROMA, October 3, 2007 – In restoring full citizenship to the ancient rite of the Mass, with the motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum," Benedict XVI said that he wanted in part to react to the excess of "creativity" that in the new rite "frequently led to deformations of the liturgy which were hard to bear." In...

Holland is the kind of country I have no hope for, barring a miracle. Here another nail in the coffin, via The Tablet The Dominican Order in the Netherlands has issued a radical recommendation that lay ministers chosen by their congregations should be allowed to celebrate the Eucharist if no ordained priests are available. In a booklet posted to all 1,300 parishes in the country, it says that the Church should drop its priest-centred model of the Mass in favour of one built around a community sharing bread and wine in prayer. "Whether they are women or men, homo-...

Breda - The Dutch Roman Catholic bishop Tiny Muskens is urging the faithful of all religions to call God Allah in order to foster mutual understanding. The bishop of the city of Breda says God does not mind what he is called and points out that Allah is the Arabic word for God. The bishop, who is retiring in a few weeks, added he did not expect his ideas to find immediate acceptance. He expects it could take 100 or 200 years. Bishop Muskens has previously defied the Vatican by calling for the acceptance of married priests and the use...

Funny commercial from an insurance company in Apeldoorn (The Netherlands), featuring Bill Clinton. E5vPDJY1xPE

A huge Lego toy has mysteriously appeared on Zandvoort beach in Holland. Nobody knows where it comes from. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6934921.stm

Dutch-Swedish chemicals group Akzo Nobel said Monday it had made a new takeover offer for British rival Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), valuing the company at 8.0 billion pounds (111 billion kronor, $16.3 billion). "Akzo Nobel was able to make this increased proposal after further discussions with both ICI and (German company) Henkel," Akzo Nobel said in a press release. Related Articles Akzo Nobel to develop bird flu vaccine 18th October 2005 Article Options Send to a friend Printable version Submit to Digg.com Akzo Nobel is working with Henkel on an offer for ICI and plans to sell on ICI's adhesives...

Utrecht - One of the seven Dutch soldiers injured in a suicide car bombing in the Afghan province of Uruzgan on Tuesday has died in the Central Military Hospital in the city of Utrecht. The 24-year-old lieutenant is the fourth Dutch soldier to die in fighting in Uruzgan. Three others have also been transferred to Utrecht, while three soldiers are being treated in Afghanistan. The Dutch troops were injured in Tuesday's suicide bomb attack in the province of Uruzgan, in which 17 Afghan civilians were killed.

AMSTERDAM – Dozens of boys and girls have been systematically abused, intimidated and molested by a group of older boys in the Utrecht neighbourhood of Overvecht for almost a year, the Telegraaf reports. Municipal council member Bouchra Dibi (Labour PvdA) investigated the incidents taking place at the playground near the Neckardreef in Overvecht. Children aged 8, 9 and 10 were dragged into the bushes and coerced into performing sexual acts on boys a few years older. Most of the children involved are of Moroccan background, the newspaper reports. The municipal council member told the Telegraaf that the problems are not...

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS (BosNewsLife)-- The Netherlands' most famous soldier of the Salvation Army died Monday, June 25, just as the non-military evangelical organization tried to overcome another, financial, crisis by breaking off ties with Internet and computer giant Microsoft. 'Major Bosshardt' passed away "peacefully" in her home in Amsterdam at the age of 94, the Salvation Army said. Alida Margaretha Bosshardt became a Christian at age 18 during an open air meeting of the Salvation Army and soon became involved in social projects. During World War Two, when the Salvation Army was banned, she continued her work underground, saving the lives...

THE HAGUE (AP) - Taliban fighters executed Afghan civilians, including women, who refused to join them during a recent fierce battle against NATO and Afghan government forces in the south, the Dutch military chief said Friday. Citing ''solid reports'' from Afghan police, Gen. Dick Berlijn said Dutch and Afghan forces, supported by Dutch and U.S. air strikes, fended off an attempt by about 500 Taliban fighters to overrun the southern town of Chora last weekend. During the attack, Taliban fighters tried to force local civilians to fight alongside them, ''and killed citizens who refused - they were hauled out of...

Large teams of newly trained suicide bombers are being sent to the United States and Europe, according to evidence contained on a new videotape obtained by the Blotter on ABCNews.com. Teams assigned to carry out attacks in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Germany were introduced at an al Qaeda/Taliban training camp graduation ceremony held June 9. A Pakistani journalist was invited to attend and take pictures as some 300 recruits, including boys as young as 12, were supposedly sent off on their suicide missions. "These Americans, Canadians, British and Germans come here to Afghanistan from faraway places," Dadullah...

THE HAGUE -- If Amsterdam city council bars construction of the Westermoskee mosque, a great demonstration of Turks from throughout Europe will be held. The possibility of this degenerating into violence cannot be ruled out, the Turkish organisation Milli Gorus warns. The controversial Westermoskee in Amsterdam will be built come what may, said Fatih Dag of the Turkish mosque organisation in Trouw newspaper. If the government blocks its building, Milli Gorus will call on Turks throughout the whole of Europe to demonstrate. Dag hopes this would be a peaceful procession, but fears it could get out of hand. "Our people...

I received an e-mail today from Mrs. Irma Haex of Holland. She and her teenage son, Wesley, have adopted the graves of four Americans buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten.Irma writes... We do this out of respect for the men who paid the ultimate price for our freedom, it is 62 years ago that the war ended, but most of the Dutch people won’t forget. I thought people here might enjoy knowing that there people like Irma and Wesley Haex, tending the graves of our fallen overseas. _______________________________ Irma Haex at the grave of Sergeant Robert E. Grame,...

THE HAGUE – Freedom Party PVV faction leader Geert Wilders is arguing that all Islamic schools in the Netherlands should be shut down immediately. He says this measure is necessary in order to "protect children against the spread of Islamic doctrine." Wilders writes this in a column that appeared today on the website Nieuwnieuws.nl. "Islam is rapidly pushing our Western civilisation close to the edge of the abyss. We have too much Islam in the Netherlands. Islam is more a violent political ideology than a religion," the MP writes. He admits that he has taken a strong position in the...

SCHAGEN, Netherlands (AP) -- The massive central door in the side of Noah's Ark was thrown open Saturday -- you could say it was the first time in 4,000 years -- drawing a crowd of curious pilgrims and townsfolk to behold the wonder. Of course, it's only a replica of the biblical Ark, built by Dutch creationist Johan Huibers as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible. Reckoning by the old biblical measurements, Johan's fully functional ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That's two-thirds the length of a football...

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, April 24, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Dutch abortion boat has been granted government permission to perform abortions in international waters on women up to 7 weeks pregnant, despite a massive national and international outcry, the Times online reported earlier today. The boat has caused an uproar at home in the Netherlands and abroad. Condemned by governments and pro-life organizations as a propaganda tool for pro-abortion activists, the abortion boat has come under intense criticism for offering to perform abortions on women from countries where the procedure is illegal. Operated by Women on Waves, the abortion boat...

Once dead, now alive Bishops of the world, take note of this article from the ever-excellent Kreuz.net A Church in a Dutch Diocese was going to be suppressed but then traditionalists set themselves to work. The Fraternity of St Peter[s] has been caring for the Church of St Agnes in Amsterdam since December 2006. The Fraternity came at the express with of the Parish Council. The priest of St Agnes, Fr. F. Braam is going into retirement in 2008. The Diocese could not find a successor. The Church was going to be closed. It was for this reason that the...