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Tuesday, July 10, 2007 |
ABC: "ABC News has been told the White House is in 'panic mode' over the recent defections of Republican senators on the president's stay-the-course policy in Iraq."
Firedoglake: "Shorter Byron York: Conservates are finished with George Bush, not because he trampled the Constitution, expanded executive power at the expense of individuals and the Bill of Rights, lied to the country, waged unnecessary wars, caused thousands of US soldiers' deaths (foreigners don't count), destroyed America's prestige and influence, allowed his VP to run amok, etc., but because he didn't veto enough spending bills and is suspected of liking Mexicans."
"...conservatives hate Bush because he's a wienie who wouldn't stop the Libby prosecution from the start, ... because their guys should never be prosecuted, especially for patriotic stuff such as helping purge the CIA of truth tellers and starting wars."
11:05:19 AM 
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NRC: The number of people imprisoned in the Netherlands has quadrupled since 1985. The increase is mainly due to minorities ('aliens') and young people.
One of the reasons for this increase is in my opinion the rise of the neocon spirit of greed, which pervades our whole society. The uneducated will follow the example of the establishment. Company managers are allowing themselves wage increases of over 30%. Many young people don't want to study, they go for the easy money.
But there is also something else, which the left has always denied. And it's the fact that a great majority of foreigners, and I don't mean the English or Spanish but the Surinamers, Moroccans, Turkish and others from poorer countries, don't have any intention of integrating or accepting the laws of this country.
The motto heard from Surinamers here is 'come, grab and get away'. And they are very proud of their own nation. Whenever there is a kid graduating from school there's a Surinam flag flying high. My neighbour's children had chalked on their pavement 'Surinam is tops'. But why then are they in Holland? They left their poor country to earn money, not to adapt to circumstances in Holland. They have no intention of building up their own nation either.
The Dutch have never been nationalistic like for instance Americans or Swedes are. No flag-showing in our streets. And we are usually very critical of our own governments and institutions. Maybe this is seen by foreigners as a weakness.
Anyway, lots of our immigrant communities have a problem with violence and aggression. And it's not that they are being discriminated against. Well, now and then they will be; no society escapes that completely. But there is more discrimination by the foreign population than by the Dutch. Just listen to Surinamers talk about Antillians.
I have never ever seen skinheads in town or elsewhere. But I have experienced several instances of blatant violence by Surinamers here in Amsterdam.
We can't continue to deny that. The foreign communities must realize that something should be done to curtail aggression and fraud.
It isn't so much that crime has increased since 1985 (it has, but that again is also fiercely denied officially). But much too much was tolerated in the previous years and not registered and complained about. And tolerance has not done anything to reduce crime. The result is that violence and intolerance from foreigners is increasing.
The Hague, we have a problem. If we don't want to discriminate, we should stop treating our immigrants as irresponsible children or backward dopes (even children must be told now and then 'don't do this or that'). And this includes pinpointing issues of violence and fraud, shaming and mending. Equality means just that, equality.
10:48:53 AM
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