Clean Monday News Items

Although I'm preparing a major piece with astonishing revelations on the favorite subject, today Ash Monday (in Greek Clean Monday, Kathara Devtera) some noteworthy news items. First, what happened to Geert Wilders, the Freedom Party's M.P. in the Dutch Parliament? Well, never a dull moment, as they say.

For starters he's doubting if he should go on a Parliamentary 'fact-finding mission' to Pakistan and Afghanistan shortly. He's already on 24/7 police protection and he just hurled a major insult at the Prophet, hypothetically advocating deportation accompanied by tar and feathers treatment. Since this is punishable by death in Pakistan it is perhaps to be recommended to either stay at home or consider a trip to the sea-side instead.

Before he does so, it is to be decided if he should perhaps retract the whole blasphemous thing, including his words regarding the Koran, of which he said that half should be trashed before it becomes a respectable book. The Saudi government is 'unofficially' demanding a retraction and an apology to the ummah. I wouldn't go to Pakistan, if I were Geert. Doing so would be wreckless.

Equal rights for all ... except for Dutch municipal registry officials, if the Amsterdam 'gay community' gets their way. Not content with getting the preposterous concept of same sex marriage generally accepted, the Amsterdam Pink Action Group (or whatever the name of this little pressure society is) is insisting that present freedom of conscience of marriage officials - having the right to refuse marrying gay couples should they wish so - should be abolished. Mind you, they're still able to marry, only the proceedings will be done by an official who has no scruples in that regard. The 'gay community' however is as persistent as ever and is of the opinion, if there are officials with uncalled for discriminatory pangs of the conscience, they should go find themselves another job.

Expatica is reporting that "in the first nine months of last year almost 100,000 people left the Netherlands to settle elsewhere, 12,000 more than the same period in 2005... About half of the emigrants were Dutch natives ... if the trend continues, more than 130,000 people will have left the country by the end of this year.

Lebanon's Daily Star is reporting that British Anti-Terror Law also protects tyrants and dictators. Seems to me lawmakers are increasingly less able to do so. Loopholes and unintended effects abound!

The same paper also assures us that spring is in the air: The Taliban have deployed 10,000 fighters for a spring offensive of "bloody attacks" against foreign troops in Afghanistan, a rebel commander said on Friday.

Ending with some good news for the day! There are signs the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe is starting to show cracks as last! But it isn't a painless process ... Inflation has hit 1600 percent and "discontent is very high up to mid-level officers. They do not earn enough to buy basic groceries. They are suffering the hardships all of us suffer now, yet they are the ones Mugabe depends upon to be ruthless in putting down any opposition. It adds up to trouble for Mugabe."