Change? We'll see

How not to mention on this day the historical victory of Barack Obama, president-elect of the United States of America. I would have voted for him, had I been an American citizen — which luckily I'm not. It's not up to me to comment on US politics but I think Obama can bring some changes in his country's international image, starting with global warming. As of January he'll be the most important political figure in the world, being the president of a beautiful country inhabited by morons. For the results I refer you to Wikipedia and their very nice entry. Let's watch his speech he gave in Chicago:



The most important victory is that we've got rid of McCain's combover!

John Cleese on the US presidential election

Michael Palin isn't the funniest Palin in the world, according to John Cleese:

National Day

Just like last year (and actually like in 2004, 2005 and 2006) I went to Brussels with my brother to take part to the Belgian National Day celebrations. This time we took the car to get there, but it was quite difficult to find a proper parking lot, because it was forbidden to park in a lot of streets for "security reasons", I suppose. My brother and I walked to the Cathedral, where a so-called te deum mass was taking place; the majority of important politicians, magistrates, judges, ambassadors and some members of the royal family were attending the ceremony. On the following picture, you can see the Prime Minister's car (A.2) and Mr Reynders's car (A.3). (Incidentally, A.1 belongs to the president of the Chamber of Representatives, i.e. Herman Van Rompuy.)


In front of the Cathedral lots of pro-Belgium, pro-monarchy people were waiting for the King to appear, shouting "Vive le Roi !". Curiously I didn't hear the same slogan in Dutch. However, "België best" (instead of the nationalistic "België barst") was embroided on a flag. There were more people than last year, as I can recall.


The King, the Queen and their sister-in-law Queen Fabiola got out of the Cathedral and got in their luxury cars. (I found that quite unfortunate, since King Albert II complained about poverty in his semi-annual speech the very day before. He was saying that we (i.e. not him) had to make an effort to help people who are in need. My first reaction was to say that he could spend his own money on that, because His Majesty's fortune is one of the biggest in Europe.) The cars were preceded by a hundred of splendid horses.

After that I walked with my brother to the Place Jourdan where the famous "Friterie Antoine" is located. We bought chips (2,20 € for a pack) and we ate them in the park just next to the European Parliament and the Institute of Natural Sciences. Then we walked in the streets of Ixelles/Elsene before we slowly got to the heart of the city, finally reaching the Court Hall where the police had installed all sorts of stands promoting their administration. Here's a photograph taken from the Court Hall, showing you that a bad spell of weather was coming.

We continued our walk through Brussels, passing in front of the well-known Manneken Pis (wearing the same awful clothes as last year), then we strolled on the Grand Place.



After that, we wanted to get to the Belgian Parliament, in order to visit it for the fourth time, but there were so many people on the Rue de la Loi / Wetstraat due to the military parade that it was impossible to get to the Parliament, let alone all those umbrellas! (By the way, it was the first time in five years that it was raining.)



So we gave up, swearing that we would get back next year, unless Belgium doesn't exist anymore.



Note: you can also read my account on last year's excursion in Brussels; there are some interesting parallels. Some things changed, like the price of a pack of chips: 2,20 € instead of 2,10 €, while potatoes are cheaper than last year!

I was especially surprised by the accurateness of a prediction I had made: "Nous sommes passés devant le Ministère (non, SPF) de la Défense, où André Flahaut, à l’entrée, un verre de champagne à la main, accueillait pour la dernière fois ses généraux et autres chefs d’état-major." Indeed, we know that Mr Flahaut (Parti Socialiste) has been replaced by Mr De Crem (Christen-Democratisch & Vlaams) and that the latter's politics are far from being as liberal as that of his predecessor. As a result, there was no party for army officials in front of the Ministery! Generals and other that scum "working" in headquarters must regret Mr Flahaut and his soft politics that made of the Belgian army an amusement park.

Alles kan beter (2)

Did you know that the human body is controlled by a kind of small room where engineers determine what the body does and says? In the following video, Alles kan beter (with Mark Uytterhoeven, Guy Mortier and Tom van Dyck) guides us through the meandres of former Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene… Beware: it's absolutely hilarious.

"Aaakes! Degoutant, onz' nagels zijn ze zwart als [?]"

"Dju!"
"Wat is er?"
"Geblokkeerd, he! We zijn geblokkeerd! De rechteren arm, he."
"Harder trekken…"

"Hij zit te lachen?"
"Ja, 't is een nieuwe functie."
"Zet dat toch af!"
"Sorry, mannen, voilà voilà!"

Sorry for not being quite able to transcribe tussentaal correctly…

And once again for those of you currently studying taalvariatie and some things about Dutch and Flemish dialects, they could be interested in watching this other video featuring Jean-Luc Dehaene:



I won't transcribe anything: I'm definitely not able to do so.

Don't say "Romanes eunt domus", but "Romani ite domum"

Let me show you a couple of funny scenes from The Life of Brian:



The stoning:

"He said it again!"

"Are there any women here today?"

"No one is to stone anyone until I blow this whistle. Do you understand? Even if — and I want this to be absolutely clear — even if they do say Jehovah."

It's important to know your Latin grammar:

Shame on Him! Quinquidecies: John McCain

Yeah, that's right, I noticed the obvious: John McCain, leading Republican canditate to the presidence of the United States, has a combover! Look at these pictures:



If he were elected — which I hope not — he would be the combover president. But that would make a perfect motive for mocking him. (I don't know if there were presidents with a combover in the past; I have to check it out.) It's curious that, unlike Ehud Olmert (remember), no-one from his communication experts team told him to cut that combover…

On his website, I noticed an article that briefly mentions his combover:

Boston Herald: Rock-Solid McCain Hitting His Granite State Stride

By Peter Gelzinis, The Boston Herald
January 8, 2008

John McCain may be old, but unlike Willard Mitt Romney, he's real. He's human.

In these final hours leading up to the New Hampshire primary, we've been reminded that humanity - and the sense of character that comes with it - will always transcend age.

At 71, with all his scars and age spots, McCain still looks a helluva [i.e. one hell of a, SL] lot more vibrant than the perfect political mannequin who, for a cup of coffee, was our governor.

McCain's got a snow white comb-over and arms shortened by torture. In khakis and a cardigan, he looks more like a retired police captain than a Ralph Lauren model. Yet the old man who's been given up for dead several times in his life, as well as this campaign, is poised to walk away with a victory that was supposed to belong to the dreamboat from just over the border. How could this happen?

I thought that the combover was already a kind of self-imposed torture, though…

Anyway, it's not here in Belgium that we're gonna see politicians arguing they're better than others just because s/he took part in a war… (I know it seems silly from our European point of view, but since in the USA there has always been some war going on…) Long live Belgium!

PS. Please have a look on the Uncyclopedia entry on John McCain.

Shame on Him! Terdecies: John Bolton

Last week I promised I would feature another VIP with a combover…

Let's ask this simple question:

Who's got one of the most ridiculous combovers in the world?

AYE!

The winner is indeed John Bolton. Let's read the beginning of his resumé on Wikipedia:

John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948), is an American diplomat in several Republican administrations, who served as the Permanent US Representative to the UN from August 2005 until December 2006, on a recess appointment. He resigned in December 2006, when his recess appointment would have ended.^[1][2]

Bolton is involved with a broad assortment of conservative think tanks and policy institutes, including the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), Project for the New American Century (PNAC), Institute of East-West Dynamics, National Rifle Association, US Commission on International Religious Freedom, and the Council for National Policy (CNP).

Bolton was formerly involved with Committee for Peace and Security in the Gulf (CPSG), Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Federalist Society, National Policy Forum, National Advisory Board, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, New Atlantic Initiative, Project on Transitional Democracies, and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Two conclusions can be drawn:

1. He earns a lot of money;
2. It is said that he is a conservative. That must be the reason of sticking to such an old-fashioned hairstyle…

Let's see some other pieces of evidence:



I admit it is dense, so it's not as ugly as most"light" combovers that pretend to hide a bald(ing) skull. This one must be quite heavy – or kind of. It could be confused with a toupée, but we can see that his hair is stiched to his skull. It reminds me of Serge Kubla, who I was telling you about several months ago.

Shame on Him! Nocties: Hervé Novelli

Hervé Novelli is a French politician, currently State Secretary of the Minister of Economy and Finance, among others. This guy was originally linked to right extremism, but seems to have redeemed. (If that is possible…) Anyway, I saw his picture in the newspaper and I couldn't help but blaming him for his awful hairstyle. Yet another combover. Shame on him, thus.

Shame on Him! Septies: Gabriel Ringlet

Gabriel Ringlet is another piece from my collection of famous combover. Once again, we can assume that this man is intelligent, as a well-known theologian and professor of canonic right at Louvain-la-Neuve University. But two facts prove this to be wrong:
— he's a catholic priest
— he's got a toupee-like combover.

I haven't seen him for a while on telly. Maybe because there aren't that many religious issues to discuss for the moment. Politicians are fighting about "splitsing" and "regionalisering". When that jerk of pope JP II eventually passed away (to be succeeded by another jerk, but even more evil), he predicted that some obscure Italian, non-bishop priester would be chosen…

Shame on Him! Quinquies: Michel Doomst

Have you ever heard of the little village (or, as they say in Flanders: gemeente) of Gooik, in the Province of Flemish Brabant? I admit I hadn't till I saw its mayor on television. But I'm sure you're wondering why the heck I'm talking about some obscure bloke from the Flemish rural catholic countryside: "What the hell is funny about a casual mayor?". I'm going to explain myself, of course, as I always does. (If not, drop a comment for my lack of cohesion.)

If I come to talk about people in this blog, that's either because I like them, either because I don't like them, either because they make me laugh (precisely because I like them or not).

(Do you still copy? See what I mean? If not, so be it.)

Well, what was I saying anyway? Oh yes, that mayor (or burgemeester) from Gooik. Well, guess what?
…
…
…
This is just a blank to give you time to have a think about it. I'm sure you can guess from the title: I've already written several articles that go in the same direction, making fun of a certain category of people. … No, it's not about rednecks, French "Jackys", Walloon barakîs and other Flemish Johnny's en Marina's.
…
…
…
And now? Did you have enough time to think about it? Or do you need one more minute, or one more clue? … No, it would be too easy. But anyway, I'm gonna put an end to this long wait now, because I'm sure you've already looked at the picture below, haven't you yet? See, I told you!

Yeah, as you can see, this guy is part of the large community of man who are too scared of showing bald flesh on their skulls… His name is Michel Doomst. He's thus the mayor of Gooik, as I said above. He's also a member of Parliament. His party is the CD&V, the leading party in Flanders. The first time I saw him, it was of course on TV. The first thing that came across my mind was yelling: "COMBOVER!" Indeed, as you can see several threads of hair were combed towards his fronthead, giving him that ridiculous appearance. If I were living in this remote village of Gooik, I surely wouldn't vote for this man. If you drop an "o" in his name and add an "e" at the end of it, you have the word "domste", which means "silliest". Quod erat demonstrandum. (Or if you just drop "st", you're left alone with someone called "Doom". A Doom that's not even a judge… What a pity. [Explanation for ignorants (if any): I'm cleverly referring, as an Easter Egg, to the brillant "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" with Christopher Lloyd playing a certain Judge Doom.])

I know this is a shallow reason not to vote for him, but people voted for instance for the "beauty" (read: legs) of Freya Vandenbossche, who was in charge of Treasury. Later, she stated in a newspaper that she was hopeless in maths and that she didn't understand anything to economics… That's a true story. We're governed by a bunch of incapable people – who have to rely on capable advisors. (Most of them work for the ministry of Education of the Communauté française. The so-called programmes they came up with are too silly to be taken seriously.)

By the way, and before I go, this Michel Doomst appeared on TV because he was (and still is) an eager advocate of the so-called splitsing van de kieskring Brussel-Halle-Vilvoorde. If you don't know what this awkward thing is, don't try to find out what it is: it's a symbollical division of a voting district around Brussels that is demanded by Flemish politicians. It appears that this division would cost several Flemish seats in the Parliament, but they don't seem to have noticed that… Anyway, that's an issue that they absolutely want to discuss as soon as the government is set. And for the record, the elections weren't taking place last sunday, but… nearly 90 days ago, on 10 July!!! … "At snail's pace", as they say.

PS. If you look at different pictures of Michel Doomst, you'll see that his combover's size changes from time to time. (And this reminds me of one of my former professors…)

Shame on Him! Ter: Valéry Giscard d'Estaing

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing is a former French president. We can thus assume that he's a wise and intelligent man. But he wasn't looking like an intelligent man when he was wearing this ugly combover in the 1960s and 1970s. I've always known him bald, but I found pictures on which he appears just like you can see him on the left. Now, he's almost completely bald (of course he is: he's 81!).

Shame on Him! Bis repetita: Laurent Fabius

Laurent Fabius is a famous socialist politician. He's quite intelligent, as we can assume from a former Prime Minister, but also according to his whole career. But he's got a combover, that's why he looks like a pillock after all.

What A Mistake, Mr Leterme!

Christophe Deborsu works as a journalist for the RTBF (Radio-Télévision de Belgique Francophone, i.e. the Belgian, French-speaking broadcasting corporation), whose Flemish equivalent is the VRT (Vlaamse Radio en Televisie). Usually, he does reports for the news, but a few years ago, he was also doing reports in a UFO-like program (Projet X) with topics about silly things that happen in Belgium. Sometimes, we was tickling politicians, finding upsetting things about their project, etc. That is the reason why he was nicknamed by some: "le fouille-merde".

I told you in yeasterday's post that I went to Brussels to attend the celebrations of National Day, and I also stated that hardly anyone can actually say why the date of 21 July was chosen as National Day, nor sing the national anthem, the Brabançonne. Ok, but what does it have to do with Christophe Deborsu? Well, I saw him yesterday: while I was waiting outside the cathedral with my brother, I saw him walking towards the official cars, running after someone. On that moment, I said to myself: "Tiens, Deborsu vient faire son fouille-merde ?". It's authentic.

That very same evening, I discovered that Frédéric Deborsu had managed to make Yves Leterme stumble on something rather symbolic… (Yves Leterme will become Belgium's next Prime Minister. There's no doubt about it.)

Watch this video: Frédéric Deborsu's whole report (originally about the lack of knowledge of politicians about the Belgian History), then the Flemish viewpoint on this case, with help of the interview of Christophe Deborsu.



The burgemeester of Ypers actually didn't know that 21 July stands for the oath-taking of Léopold I in 1831, then he sang the two first lines of the Marseillaise, the French national anthem!!! A republican hymn in front of a cathedral in which a mass was about to be given in honour of a monarchy!! Surrealism in its pure form.

There's what happened: he made a mistake. He didn't know the anthem, as the huge majority of Belgian do.

(Remember: in a previous post, I told you I was the only one in the class who could actually sing the lyrics of the Brabançonne. After some research, I realized that there are so many different versions of the anthem that it's impossible for me to determine which is the good one. I learned at school a version that doesn't seem to be the same as the one as that in Le Soir of 22 July…)

So, Mr Leterme didn't know the lyrics at all — even though I'm sure he knows the lyrics of the Vlaamse Leeuw, the anthem of Flemish nationalists — and song the first patriotic song he had in mind. The problem is that the Walloons thought of it as a provocation… It was merely a mistake, but the Walloons have a prejudice about this man. They (I'm Walloon, but I don't share their — public — opinion) think he's trying to give more powers to the Region of Flanders (and I personnaly think it would be a good idea) up to the point of splitting the country in two (and I personnally think this is not his goal at all: Flanders would lose a lot if it becomes independent).

Later on, in Dutch, Mr Leterme appologized for having offended people, even if it wasn't his intention. He said he'd made a mistake. Then, when asked to re-say it in French, he said it was out of the question. On VTM (private Flemish television), he was (implicitly) more aggressive towards the RTBF, saying that people who would want to discredit him would pay the price of it…

Already threatening the media? Usually, we can see such things in a dictatorship, I thought. Fearsome… Then I thought that the next four years were going to be great fun (I'm just being ironic) with this man as Prime Minister…

And I can say: "I was there when it happened"!!!

21 July 2007: National Day

21 July: this is our version of the American Independence Day, but in less patriotic. In fact, I shouldn't compare it to an independance day, in the sense that the date of 21 July was chosen as national day for Belgium because it was on 21 July 1831 that H.M. King Léopold I took an oath in front of the first Belgian Parliament in order to become our first king. It seems that many people don't know this (you'll get to see why in the media later on), even if this is something that should be considered as common knowledge…

Since 2004, my parents, my brother and I have been going to Brussels on 21 July, just to take part in the celebrations. In 2004, we visited the National Parliament (and some silly ass from RTL interviewed me, asking me why I was waiting in front of the grids of the Parliament; I replied ironically that I had come to see dinosaurs… — which caused many of my friends, who foolishly take everything at face value, to believe I was a fool). We came back in 2005 and in 2006 with my familly, re-visiting the Parliament House once more. Last year, we came round 2 pm, just in time to have Herman De Croo having a little speech about "his" hemicycle.

This year, my parents didn't feel like going to Brussels, and that's why I took the train with my brother. Below, you'll find my report of the day. I wrote it in French: I just wanted to use one of Belgium's three national languages. And I admit I write faster in French. Note also that "nous" means me and my brother.

Train IC à destination d’Ostende. Malheureusement, dans notre wagon, il y avait — outre un homme silencieux dans le fond — une famille constituée de deux barakîs fumeurs (dont un portait une minable veste en jeans avec Johnny dans le dos) et de deux monstres (un garçon de six ans qui n’arrêtait pas de faire chialer sa sœur d’un an ou deux…). C’était à vouloir se jeter du train en marche. En plus, ils disaient des conneries à “Mon onc’ Julien” (qui était monté à Liège et qui a travaillé cinq ans à Leuven), par exemple qu’ils allaient à La Panne en descendant à Ostende et prenant le tram pendant — estimaient-ils — une (ha ha !) heure… Et autres conneries.

Nous nous en sommes enfin débarrassés en descendant du train à Bruxelles-Central. Nous sommes remontés à la surface, débouchant à un coin qui donnait vers cette rue qui mène presque directement à la cathédrale Sts-Michel-et-Gudule. Dans cette rue, plein de voitures officielles étaient garées, parfois avec des motos de MP.

Ensuite, nous nous sommes rapprochés de la cathédrale. Les gens commençaient à s’attrouper sur le parvis, dans l’espoir de voir la famille royale un peu plus tard quand ils sortiraient du te deum. En attendant, nous sommes descendus. Marché sur le Boulevard Pachéco, où étaient stationnés environ une centaine (si pas plus) de véhicules diplomatiques. Remontés par derrière la cathédrale, puis nous nous sommes décidés à attendre à un endroit où nous verrions passer les officiels.

Les cloches se sont mises à sonner pendant une dizaine de minutes, et les officiels (haute magistratures, haut-gradés, ministres, gros pontes, etc.) sont sortis de la cathédrale petit à petit. Finalement, encadrés par l’escorte royale montée (avec même des cavaliers néerlandais — on aura tout vu, nous qui les avions bouttés hors de nos frontières pour obtenir l'indépendance !), les voitures officielles sont passées, avec le Roi et la Reine Paola, puis Fabiola (et sa tête penchée).

Ensuite, il y a eu un peu plus d’agitation, avec les gens qui commençaient à bouger parce qu’ils avaient vu le Roi, donc avaient eu ce qu’ils voulaient et partaient. D’autre part, les officiels s’agglutinaient pendant que les voitures que nous avions vues plus tôt défilaient devant “la porte de derrière” de la cathédrale (dirons-nous du côté droit du transept). À quelques mètres de nous, nous avons vu Kris Peters (le nouveau Ministre-président flamand) qui semblait avoir “perdu sa quinzaine”, sa voiture n’arrivant pas. Je suggérai à mon frère d’aller le saluer, mais Mr Peters était collé à son GSM. Finalement il a disparu.

Nous avons décidé de nous en aller pour aller chercher à manger. Nous sommes passés devant le groupe d’officiels encore présents qui montaient tour à tour dans de grosses voitures ; en voyant certains hauts magistrats, je me disais : “Belle brochette de francs-maçons…”.

Nous sommes remontés vers la Rue Royale, avant de remonter la Rue de la Loi. Devant le Parlement, dont les portes étaient ouvertes depuis un quart d’heure environ, une longue file s’étirait. On reviendrait quand il y aurait moins de monde. Nous avons continué, puis pris une rue perpendiculaire pour retomber sur la Rue Béliard et la descendre en direction de la Place Jourdan.

Sur celle-ci se tenait un marché aux puces. Beaucoup de gens s’agglutinaient et scrutaient ce que les gens avaient à vendre à même le sol. Tout ce qui nous intéressait, c’était de manger. La friterie Antoine allait passer un test de rattrapage : la dernière fois, les frites n’étaient pas assez cuites et le cervelas l’avait été avec la peau et les attaches métalliques — sans aucun doute l’œuvre d’un mauvais vendeur.

Quelques personnes dans la file devant nous (il était 11h30), mais on a été servis en moins de 3 minutes. Exceptionnellement pour ce week-end du 21 juillet, les portions étaient servies dans des raviers. Ce sera bien la première fois pour nous… Nous avons quand même pris deux portions à 2,10 €. Nous les avons mangées en marchant vers le Parc Léopold, au pied du Muséum des Sciences Naturelles et du Parlement européen. Bu un Coca.

Ensuite, nous avons contourné le Parlement, allant faire un pèlerinage devant l’iguanodon en façade du musée, avant de passer dans ce corridor venteux sous le Parlement pour déboucher devant la Gare du Luxembourg, puis marcher vers la Petite Ceinture. Nous sommes passés devant le Ministère (non, SPF) de la Défense (où André Flahaut, à l’entrée, un verre de champagne à la main, accueillait pour la dernière fois ses généraux et autres chefs d’état-major) et devant le Lambermont.

Passés à nouveau devant le Parlement, dont la file n’était pas moins longue malgré l’heure. Nous avons traversé le Parc de Bruxelles, où à nouveau on organisait des activités sportives pour les jeunes. Nous avons décidé, pour encore un peu patienter, de marcher vers le Cinquantenaire pour voir si les véhicules militaires se mettaient déjà en place.

On a donc descendu puis remonté toute la Rue de la Loi, passant même sur le rond-point Schuman avant de traverser le parc, et au-delà des arches, nous espérions nous reposer à Autoworld, mais le préposé nous avait dit que, ce musée étant privé (? depuis quand ?!?), on ne pouvait pas le visiter gratuitement… Zut. Alors nous sommes allés nous asseoir dehors.

Quand nous nous sommes remis en marche, nous sommes passés devant l’Ecole Royale Militaire, où les étudiants officiers commençaient à sortir en formation. Apparemment, ils allaient devoir marcher jusqu’à la Rue de la Loi, donc sur près de 2,5 km, au pas militaire. Youpie. Nous avons choisi de revenir vers le Parlement, mais en empruntant des ruelles de Saint-Josse. Arrêt dans un parc où les pigeons s’attroupaient autour de nous car nous lancions des cailloux — ils pensaient qu’on jetait du pain ou autre chose… Idiots.

Nous nous sommes arrêtés dans la Rue des Deux Églises devant le bâtiment quelque peu rénové du CDH. Nous avons poursuivi notre route pour reprendre la Rue de la Loi, sur laquelle les gens commençaient à s’entasser derrière les barrières Nadar. Devant le Parlement, c’était toujours la file. Nous avons marché sur le Boulevard de l’Empereur jusqu’à arriver devant le siège du PS. Ensuite, descendus vers Manneken Pis, vêtu aujourd’hui, mais même pas aux couleurs nationales… Grand-place. Beaucoup de monde.

Nous sommes allés nous asseoir quelques minutes sur la place de l’Albertine. Nous avons constaté qu’un nombre anormalement élevé de gens se promenaient avec des mini bouteilles de Coca. On en a conclu qu’il devait s’agir d’une distribution, alors on a remonté le courant comme des saumons pour finir devant la sortie principale de la Gare Centrale, où la “Coca Cola Emergency Refreshment Team” œuvrait, distribuant ces boissons sorties directement de gros bacs remplis de milliers de ces bouteilles et de mètres cubes de glace. Il devait bien y avoir une vingtaine de pareilles glacières entassées là, prêtes à être directement liquidées…

(Nous nous sommes dit plus tard que si on avait eu avec nous un frigo box, on aurait emporté une cinquantaine de bouteilles, avant d'aller les vendre Rue de la Loi à 1 € pièce : profit maximal !)

Nous sommes remontés vers la Rue Royale. On voulait repasser devant le Parlement, mais il était impossible de traverser à cet endroit. Donc nous avons décidé de faire le tour du bloc du Parlement et autres ministères. Dans la rue menant à l’ancien parlement flamand. Marché vers le Parlement. Comme on s’y attendait, en raison de l’imminence du début du défilé, et surtout du passage du Roi sur sa Jeep (ou quelque chose d’autre, parce que je le vois mal se tenir debout avec ses béquilles…), la file du Parlement avait disparu.

Il n’y avait donc presque personne dans le Parlement. Déposé le sac à dos. Rempli quasiment tout le questionnaire avant de gravir l’escalier vert de la Chambre. Nous avons arpenté ses couloirs pour la troisième fois en quatre ans, donc. On connaît à peu près tout, mais c’est toujours amusant de faire un pèlerinage. Robin s’imaginait déjà bossant à cet endroit-là. Fini de remplir le questionnaire. (Je recevrai un pin’s — encore un — du Parlement.)

Dans l’hémicycle, quasiment personne, et pas question cette fois de s’asseoir sur les bancs. Les écrans diffusaient le tirage au sort des membres des commissions. Passés dans les autres salles et salons, avant de pénétrer dans les intérieurs plus baroques du Sénat. Quelques portraits d’anciens Premiers ministres et hommes d’Etat, dont plusieurs avaient un combover.

(D’ailleurs, j’ai appris il y a un jour ou deux que Léopold I portait une moumoute — quoique j’aurais plutôt songé à un combover, mais si un historien l’affirme…).

La visite éclair terminée, j’ai rendu le questionnaire et reçu mon pin’s. (La prochaine fois, j’afficherai mes trois pin’s à ma casquette !) Nous sommes sortis, alors que les quelques bataillons de militaires à pied se mettaient en marche. Quelques cons les applaudissaient. Nous avons décidé de marcher le long de la Rue de la Loi pour remonter le cortège de véhicules militaires, et ainsi voir tout assez rapidement. Deux camions arboraient un panneau "CONVOI EXEPIONNEL" [quelle faute d'orthographe ! c'est l'Armée Belge, et on n'est pas foutu d'écrire correctement "exCeptionnel"?!?] : normal, car ils ne sortent qu'une fois par an, ces andouilles ! Nous avons rejoint ensuite la Rue Béliard avant de la remonter, tandis que les véhicules militaires nous croisaient à nouveau.

Plus haut, nous avons été obligés de nous faufiler à la foule dense massée le long des barrières pour voir les engins (alors que nous, on les avait bien vus en marchant, à l’aise, tandis que certains s’agrippaient à des barrières). C’était infernal de marcher dans ces conditions, avec des poussettes dans les pieds, des files indisciplinées, etc. Finalement, on a pu se dégager et descendre vers la Cour des Comptes, à l’heure où le défilé était officiellement terminé.

À la Gare Centrale, notre train de retour était annoncé à 18h01, ce qui nous laissait un gros quart d’heure pour aller s’asseoir à l’Albertine. (Entre-temps, les réserves de Coca avaient fondu comme neige au soleil… Plus aucune trace de leur passage).

Ensuite, nous sommes allés attendre sur le quai n°3 de la Gare Centrale. Nous pensions nous placer en tête de train, de sorte à prendre place dans un wagon peu rempli. Le fait est qu’à cause de notre relative méconnaissance de ladite gare, nous nous étions trompés de sens et nous retrouvions donc en queue de trains, où la majorité des gens étaient massés. Donc nous sommes montés et avons dû traverser plusieurs voitures avant de pouvoir nous asseoir.

Le voyage fut franchement tranquille, même s’il y avait environ 25 fois plus de gens qu’au voyage aller… Pas de sale môme qui braille toutes les dix secondes pour m’empêcher de faire mes mots fléchés… Ouf ! Nous sommes arrivés à Verviers aux alentours de 19h15, je crois. Papa nous a récupérés. Retour. On a tous mangé une pizza congelée du Delhaize.

[Slightly edited on 21 July 2008.]

"A New Power Is Rising" (Saruman, LOTR II: The Two Towers)

Today,Elio Di Rupo has announced who was going to be Wallonia's "Ministre-président" during the following two years. The "numero uno" of the Parti Socialiste decided to appoint Rudy Demotte, who was minister of Public Health from 2003 to 2007. He seems to be the most reasonable choice to me. Why?

Wallonia's financial/social/political health is bad. Terribly bad. The PS suffered a defeat in the federal elections in June, due (more noticeably) to the city of Charleroi and the so-called "affaires". Corruption of politicians from that city disgusted people. That's why they voted for the MR, a party whose ideas are quite different from that of the PS. These disappointed voters chose to vote for Reynders and his friends (Michel, Laruelle, Jeholet — people I totally despise) because they seemed to be the only alternative — as if they didn't know anything about Didier Reynders very bad work during eight years as head of Finance (a hole of 883 billions €, for instance).

Maybe it is good that the PS is going to be in the opposition. Politics is all about getting power and losing it, not simply trying to hold it anyhow. (Read this blog's title.)

Di Rupo was in charge of too many functions: bourgmestre of Mons, leader of the PS, Ministre-président of Wallonia were his main functions, apart from sitting in numerous councils. He finally decided to quit from the "presidentship" of Wallonia to focus on his task of leader of the PS, in order to "rebuilt" it and cleaning it up from all the "parvenus". He was reelected to do that a week ago. That's the reason why he appointed Rudy Demotte to succeed him.

I was writing that he's a good choice for several reasons.
— First, because the other names — Jean-Claude Marcourt and Michel Daerden — just didn't fit to the function, respectively because Marcourt is not known in Flanders, and because Daerden is known everywhere for his drunk words (even if he does great job in his ministries).
— Second, Rudy Demotte is known in Flanders, for he was Minister of Public Health from 2003 to 2007, as I wrote above.
— Third, he can speak Dutch more than properly, his mother being Flemish… At last we have a ministre-président who can express his thoughts in correct Dutch!
— Fourth, what he did as head of Public Health is fantastic, because he managed to reform the system and to make it less expensive for the Federal State. I don't see why he'd do bad work as head of Wallonia.

I hope you see my point. The PS has to be reformed, and Wallonia too — even if the "liberals" (I should write "neo-liberals", bu they wouldn't be happy) of the MR will have to lead Wallonia as of 2009… To be continued.

The Little Blue Man

It was difficult, but I found a picture of Didier Reynders when he hears about Joëlle Milquet…



Ok, this little blue goblin (curious, isn't it?) was drawn by Paolo Parente, a Magic—The Gathering artist, as an illustration for a creature token. (If you don't understand what I'm talking about, good for you.)

A Glimpse On Belgian Politics

Today, I went to vote for thee general elections. Not only because I had to (voting is compulsory in Belgium), but because I think it is necessary that one can directly express his/her choice as to those who are going to rule the country. (Or not, if you vote for the losers…) I'm not going to talk about politics here, but I just wanted to show you this video, coming from a show broadcast last Friday, at the end of which the presidents of the four main democratic parties in Wallonia had to present another president with something. Here's what it looks like:



What an debate. I very much appreciated Elio Di Rupo's comment on Didier Reynders's comment:

Joëlle Milquet:
Un petit kit de super magicien, puisque je pense que Didier Reynders, en termes d'illusionnisme, a beaucoup de talent : il est parvenu à nous dire que 883 millions — excusez-moi, je le dis quand même — ce n'était pas grand-chose ; il est parvenu à essayer de dire qu'on était scotché au PS alors que ça fait 8 ans qu'il l'est, et il est presque parvenu à faire croire qu'il était dans l'opposition en sortant de son propre gouvernement, et donc je trouve qu'il y a tout le mode d'emploi, et j'espère qu'il en fera bon usage en attendant les élections…

Didier Reynders:
Toutes les couleurs y sont, et comme on ne devrait pas être agressif ce soir — monsieur le demandait — je vais effectivement l'utiliser ; quand j'en aurai bien compris les règles et le fonctionnement, je l'offrirai au nouveau Collège de Charleroi.

Johanne Montay:
À vous M. Di Rupo, votre cadeau.

Elio Di Rupo:
Ben écoutez, voilà, j'ai appris il y a quelques heures que je devais offrir un cadeau, et donc — et vous l'avez vu, son dernier mot a encore été désobligeant — et donc j'ai voulu remettre à M. Reynders quelques produits qui rendent extrêmement calme, pour rester zen, zen et garder son sang froid, donc je le remets bien volontiers…

Didier Reynders:
Oh mais c'est avec plaisir… [Comment: Mon cul !]

Elio Di Rupo:
… deux trois produits homéopathiques, quelques tisanes et tout ça ; et pour mes collègues…

(…)

Jean-Michel Javaux:
— On s'en fout de mon cadeau, ou quoi ?