For the first time in almost a year the approval rating of president Obama is positive. More people approve of him than disapprove. See the overall trend of several polls in the U.S. by Pollster.com. Taken from August 15th, 2009, till now.

But a better picture of the trend is given without the biased Rasmussen polls, an exclusion which is becoming increasingly justified. Then Obama’s approval is positive for the first time in roughly eight months. [read on] (more…)

Drasties nodigt VK-bloggers uit op drasties te komen bloggen. Iedereen is in principe welkom; een aantal bloggers zal persoonlijk worden uitgenodigd.
Wat drasties te bieden heeft, is een levendige gemeenschap van mensen uit binnen- en buitenland (25%) die 24 uur per dag met elkaar communiceert. Mooi meegenomen is dat een flink aantal in meer of mindere mate de Nederlandse taal beheerst.
Er zijn nu tot 3.000 bezoekers per dag en drasties groeit ieder jaar.
Wij zijn zeker niet rechts maar hebben als blog geen (politieke) voorkeur… behalve voor alles wat ons laat lachen, spannend is en kan verbazen.

Hoe het zal gaan?
Uw plaatst zelf uw stuk op de voorpagina van drasties of levert uw ruwe kopij in en wij doen het voor u. Als wij het doen, redigeren wij minimaal typfouten e.d.
Doet u het zelf dan krijgt u toegang tot uw blog op drasties. De rest van het stuk valt te zien via ‘lees verder hier’ en staat geheel op uw blog.
Indien gewenst zorgen wij voor minimale moderatie. Een spamfilter houdt de dagelijkse commercie tegen. Reageren wordt zo gemakkelijk mogelijk gemaakt.
U kunt ook uw oude stukken op het blog in drasties plaatsen. Onze IT-partner zegt dat het mogelijk is.
Tenslotte komt op de voorpagina van drasties ieder blog vermeld te staan, zodat geen enkele bezoeker langdurig naar zijn favoriete blog hoeft te zoeken.

Drasties gaat er heel anders uitzien. Dit zijn de voorlopige plannen.
Boven ieder artikel komt een duidelijke kop waarin de schrijver plus het logo of de avatar van het blog is verwerkt.
De tekst verhuist naar links.
Rechts - eerst b.v. een kolom voor advertenties, koppie koppie, spreuk, enz.
Dan een kolom met directe verwijzing naar de bloggers, de laatste reacties (heel belangrijk op drasties), de rubrieken, de laatste berichten enz.

Overbodige informatie (archief, algemene chatroom o.a.) verdwijnt.

Komen er goede voorstellen van de bloggers dan worden die uitgevoerd want alles gaat in overleg.
De veranderingen worden binnen een maand uitgevoerd, dus ruim voor 1 maart.

Niet Geert Wilders, niet Mark Rutte, niet Sven Kramer maar de Nederlander Engelsman is gekozen tot AGF-man van het jaar tijdens een bijeenkomst in het Zalmhuis in Rotterdam.
Ook drasties feliciteert bij dezen de heer Volkert Engelsman die niet alleen terecht maar zeker ook verdiend de onderscheiding heeft gekregen voor zijn tomeloze promotie van AGF wereldwijd.
AGF, u weet het allen, staat voor aardappels, groente en fruit.

Honourable title AGF-man (Potatoe, Vegetable and Fruit Industry man) of the year

FreshPlaza - More than 130 AGF-members yesterday met in Zalmhuis in Rotterdam to wish each other a prosperous new year.
Volkert Engelsman went home a happy man. He received the honourable title AGF-man (Fruit and Vegetable Industry man) of the year. Eosta, (specialist in organic fruit and vegetables), was the overall winner of the 2011 AGF [The Dutch abbreviation for: Potatoes, Vegetables & Fruit] Innovation Award in the Corporate Strategy category.
[read on] (more…)

Het VK-blog stopt er mee en dat vind ik - JdeW - jammer. Ik keek er graag rond en vroeg zo af en toe of ik iets op dit blog mocht herposten. Bijna altijd mocht dat.
Het enige betreurenswaardige aan het blog was dat steeds meer mensen en meningen werden geweerd. Of omdat ze anders dachten of omdat ze scherper waren dan gebruikelijk. Uiteindelijk ging het VK-blog steeds meer op een besloten club lijken waar voor eigen parochie werd gepreekt.
Zo was er een VK-blogger van wie ik, met zijn toestemming, een stuk op drasties herpostte. Daarop kwam veel kritiek van bezoekers van drasties. Na flink wat geharrewar bleek die kritiek geheel juist. De blogger had dus wat geleerd.
Positief zou je zeggen.
Echter toen toen ik hem maanden later vroeg of hij de daaropvolgende discussie onder zijn stuk nog had gevolgd, verzuchtte hij:
“Nee, waar is het allemaal goed voor.” !?!?
Een aantal van de bloggers gaat vast een eigen blog oprichten maar als er bloggers zijn die daar geen zin in (of tijd voor) hebben dan kunnen ze wellicht verder bloggen op drasties.
Een aantal schrijvers is van harte welkom.
Ze moeten wel tegen een stootje kunnen.
Zie hier de eerste reacties van de VK-bloggers op de mededeling van de Volkskrant.

New York radio station WOR announced yesterday that it will dropp Glenn Beck’s - ‘Obama has a deep seated hatred for white people’ - nationally syndicated radio show later this month. Not that it will get a lot bette., Hate radio host Mike Gallagher will take over. WOR program director Lakefield says the reason is the drop in Becks ratings: “the show wasn’t getting what we wanted”:
[read on] (more…)

If the Dutch government carries out its intention of closing down all coffee shops located within 350 meters of a school, six out of ten of these cannabis selling establishments will have to go. That according to a survey by newspaper NRC Handelsblad, a newspaper well known in the Netherlands for it’s relentless investigative journalism.
The newspaper used a walking distance of 350 metres as the basis for its calculations. However, if the cabinet were to use a straight line as the basis for its calculations, the number of coffee shops facing closure would even be higher. In Amsterdam alone 187 of the current 223 coffee shops would have to close.

It really doesn’t matter what you feed the Fox public, Americans just keep on watching that propaganda network.

Fox Business was overjoyed yesterday by the news that Wall Street had done so well in 2010 and kept going on 2011′s first day of trading. Host Neil Cavuto explains why things are so good in the stockmarket. “As we start off a new year, it’s time to recognize a familiar historic fact,” Cavuto boasted with glee. “When you cut taxes, good things happen.”
So let’s look at the picture that was shown in the background on Fox Business.
The U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate among any of the four countries listed (even though the effective tax rate is much lower), yet the U.S. stock performance increased 11 percent in 2010. In fact the two countries with the lowest corporate tax rate did worse than the two countries with the highest rate.

”A new Harris poll found that 57 percent of Republicans believe President Obama is a Muslim — 57 percent; 45 percent believe he was not born in the United States; 38 percent feel he’s, quote, ‘doing many of the things that Hitler did.’
And 24 percent believe he may be the Antichrist.
Oh, like Oprah would date the Antichrist.” (Jimmy Kimmel)

In a 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll conducted Nov. 29-Dec. 2 released on Monday sixty-one percent of Americans said that increasing taxes to the wealthy should be the first step toward balancing the budget.
Raising taxes on the rich beats out cuts to defense spending, Medicare and Social Security as U.S. adults’ top preference on how to close the deficit.
By contrast, 20 percent of respondents preferred cuts to defense spending as the first option, while 4 percent said that cutting Medicare would be the best way to start cutting the deficit. Three percent said they preferred cutting Social Security.

Drasties automobiel recensent, Mario de Kort uit Goirle, wijst ons geestdriftig op de nieuwe Fisker Karma. Voor alle duidelijkheid, het betreft hier een auto. De volledige drasties redactie had er nog nooit van gehoord.
Jullie wel?
Volgens onze auto-expert is dit voertuig hot hot hot! ”Let op, deze auto gaat - terecht - wereldwijd heel veel aandacht krijgen”, aldus Mario. We zullen zien.
Mario kreeg als eerste in Nederland de prijzen te zien van deze spectaculaire groene auto. Verderop de prijslijst. De goedkoopste Fisker Karma EcoStandard gaat 85.500,- kosten.
Het is een auto die de eerste 80 km geheel op electricteit kan rijden, waarvan een deel vanwege het zonnepaneel in het dak helemaal gratis.
Hoeveel meter zou dat zijn?
Voor de rest van het 480 km bereik wordt benzine omgezet in electricteit.
Zie hier de mededeling die onze autoreporter kreeg: ‘2011 wordt een mooi jaar’.

Geachte relatie,
De prijzen van de Fisker Karma zijn zojuist bekend geworden! Wij informeren u hierbij als eerste; vanmiddag gaat er ook een bericht naar de media.
(more…)

Het is weer tijd voor wortels. Hutspot, groentesoep, noem maar op. Wist u dat wortels van oorsprong uit Afghanistan komen en dat ze toen niet oranje waren? Tot de zeventiende eeuw hadden wortels slanke gele en paarse… ja wortels dus. Tenminste dat beweert Veggie girl, Esther Oertel uit Lakeport, Californie.
Wie ze oranje heeft gemaakt? Wie denkt u.
Verderop het recept van ‘honey-mint carrots’ - whatever that may be.

Carrots were first cultivated in Afghanistan in the 10th century

Lake County News - Surprisingly, carrots were not originally orange. Until the 17th century, carrots grown in Europe all had slender yellow or purple roots. The carrot’s orange color came about through the efforts of breeders in the Netherlands during the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain, when orange represented Dutch patriotism.
Today’s carrots may be found in a veritable rainbow of varying shades of red, yellow, purple, white, and, of course, the more common orange. A rare variety of pink-red carrot is grown in Northern India.
[read on] (more…)

Have you ever debated a fundamental Christian or anyone who strongly believes in Allah, Nirwana, clearvoyants, spiritual healing, the Mayan calendar, ghost’s, ufo’s, astrology…?
Or are you planning to debate someone who strongly believes in something not accepted by regular science or common sense, than print out this diagram and hand it over to the person to be signed before you start arguing!
[read on] (more…)

zielig - gelkhinge

Dutch football players are hot. They are doing very well for their employers worldwide like Tottenham, Bayern and Inter. All players who have been discarded by Real Madrid the summer prior.
Why, asks Leander Schaerlaeckens, in his blog on ESPN, why are they doing so well. He thinks is arrogance. Mind you, he is Dutch himself.

Tottenham attacking midfielder Rafael van der Vaart has had a huge hand in Spurs’ success, with eight goals in 13 league games so far this season.
Last year, winger Arjen Robben scored 20 goals for Bayern Munich across the Bundesliga and Champions League. At the same time, playmaker Wesley Sneijder was the crucial cog in Inter Milan’s victory march to the Treble, winning the Champions League, the Italian league and the Italian Cup.
What did these three players have in common besides being Dutch?
[read on] (more…)

In the last five years the richest one percent of American households has become more rich compared to the average American. To be exact: 225 times richer.
That means that the richest Americans have one million dollars for every 4.500 dollars an average American has in his bankaccount.
In 2004 they were 190 times richer.
To summarize: the very wealthy are doing just fine in the Great Recession.

The richest 1% of U.S. households had a net worth 225 times greater than that of the average American household in 2009, according to analysis conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank. That’s up from the previous record of 190 times greater, which was set in 2004.
The widening gap came even as wealthy households’ average net worth tumbled 27% — to about $14 million — between 2007 to 2009. That’s the first time that they suffered a decline since the three-year period of 1992 to 1995.
Meanwhile, the average family’s net worth plunged 41% — to just $62,200 — from 2007 to 2009, according to EPI’s calculations.”

Rasmussen Reports conducted a survey to find out how Americans are welcoming the New Year 2011.

69% will be home at midnight
66% will say a prayer
60% will be awake at midnight
47% will kiss someone at midnight
42% will have a drink
39% are Very Likely to watch the ball drop on television at midnight
28% will be sleeping when 2011 arrives
21% will attend a New Year’s Eve party
18% will go out to dinner with family or friends
7% will be at a friend’s house
5% will be at a restaurant or bar

Ik ga voor tv een trui breien.
Ik ga meer m’n best doen bij ‘t vrijen.
Ik ga een stuk minder klieren.
Nu nog een tv en een meisje versieren

Bijna 70 procent van de Nederlanders denkt dat het kabinet Rutte volgend jaar overeind zal blijven, dat blijkt uit onderzoek van Maurice de Hond in opdracht van Hart van Nederland. Verder denkt bijna 60 procent van de ondervraagden dat Beatrix dit jaar zal aftreden.
Hieronder weer andere cijfers, maar duidelijk is dat het vertrouwen in het kabinet Rutte stijgt.

Trust in the new Dutch government is growing

Trust in the Dutch government is growing, with approval ratings rising from 46 percent in the third quarter to 52 percent in the fourth, according to figures released by the Institute for Social Research. [read on] (more…)

Het wordt steeds duurder om Nederlander te worden en dat is redelijk want de voordelen zijn groot, meent minister Piet Hein Donner.
Piet Hein lichtte het desgevraagd voor de drasties bezoekers nog nader toe: “Noem me één land waar je de hele winter gratis en voor niets sneeuw thuisbezorgd krijgt en waar je in de zomer, let wel ook gratis, iedere dag een paar uur in de file mag staan.”

Cost of becoming Dutch going up

The cost of becoming Dutch is set to go up from €567 to €789 from January 1, the home affairs ministry said. The naturalisation of children aged under 18 will go up from €85 to €116 and the residency permit for asylum seekers will increase in price from €50 to €202. Home affairs minister Piet Hein Donner said in a memo to MPs it is reasonable to put up the cost of becoming Dutch because of the advantages it brings with it.
[read on] (more…)

pants on the ground, nr 4 most watched video

Here is the list of what Americans consider the ten best viral videos of 2010. Well, what Mary Elizabeth Williams of Salon considers the best viseo’s of 2010. Number 10, 8, 5, 3 and 2 have been seen on drasties.
Not this one though, number one viral video in 2010.
It’s about the ugly homophobic bullying in the United States and the outbreak of teen suicides. It did put the spotlight on the abuse and harassment too many gay and lesbian kids live with daily.
Columnist and author Dan Savage started the “It Gets Better” project. Savage launched it with his own testimony, and that of his husband, Terry, about overcoming their own difficult teen years to get to the place of being “ecstatic to be alive.” Is was followed by a deluge of responses from regular folks and celebrities, from Perez to the president. The result has been a moving testament to the best side of the Net’s nature, and the power of community to stand up for love and tolerance in the face of hate. And bullies? As a clever satire warns — it will not get better for you.
[video>>] (more…)

The murder rate in the Netherlands has gone down again in 2010. The number of killings for this year stands currently 170. In 2009 a total of 178 people got killed in the Netherlands. So the downward trend of the last few years is still there but might be coming to an end.
Comparing the murder rate in the Netherlands with the U.S.A., we see the same downward trend in America as in Holland. Just on a much higher level. More people get killed in every big city in the U.S. than in the whole of the Netherlands.
Still, the long-term trend is striking in the nation’s three largest cities —New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Homicides in New York have dropped 79% during the past two decades — from 2,245 in 1990 to 471 in 2009, the last full year measured. Chicago is down 46% during that period, from 850 to 458. Los Angeles is down 68%, from 983 to 312.
[read on] (more…)

There has been a long time study of changes in eating patterns in America.
Here the remarkable results that founder and director of the NPD Group’s annual Eating Patterns in America, Harry Balzer, found:

“In the long run,” he says, “the top three foods we ordered in 1978, when I first started — were (in order) carbonated soft drinks, french fries and hamburgers.
“And yesterday, the top three foods we ordered at restaurants were carbonated soft drinks, hamburgers and french fries. … We’ve changed so much!” he joked.

In general, do you hope that Barack Obama’s policies will succeed or do you hope that his policies will fail?
That question was asked by Opinion Research Corporation for CNN to 1000 American adults. And, you know what? Repoublicans do.
According to the poll, 61% of Republicans are rooting for Obama’s policies to fail. Not even conservatives (51%) or tea partiers (57%) are rooting as strongly for his failure. In contrast, 89% of Democrats and 59% of independents hope President Obama’s policies succeed.So 61 percent of Republicans don’t want President Obama to succeed in improving the economy, keeping America secure, combatting discrimination, and reducing inequality.

In general, do you hope that Barack Obama’s policies will succeed or do you hope that his policies will fail?

Among all American adults: (MoE: 3.0%)
Succeed: 61%
Fail: 27%
Among Democrats: (MoE: 6.5%)
Succeed: 89%
Fail: 5%
Among independents (MoE: 4.5%)
Succeed: 59%
Fail: 27%
Among Republicans: (MoE: 6.0%)
Succeed: 27%
Fail: 61%

Oil is back above $90 a barrel. Copper and cotton have hit record highs. Wheat and corn prices are way up. Over all, world commodity prices have risen by a quarter in the past six months.
So what’s the meaning of this surge?
Is it speculation run amok? Is it the result of excessive money creation, a harbinger of runaway inflation just around the corner? No and no.
What the commodity markets are telling us is that we’re living in a finite world, in which the rapid growth of emerging economies is placing pressure on limited supplies of raw materials, pushing up their prices. And America is, for the most part, just a bystander in this story. (Paul Krugman, New York Times)

Who are the two most admired people in America you ask?
Well, both are in the dirty business of politics: Barack Obama and George W. Bush. In fact Bush scores higher than Nelson Mandela.

President Barack Obama is substantially ahead of other former presidents, and others who fill out the top 10 list. He became Americans’ Most Admired Man in 2008, after his election as the nation’s 44^th president, and has held the title ever since.
Democrats nationwide chose him with 46%, followed by 7% who pick Bill Clinton and 5% Nelson Mandela. Obama also leads among independents, with 17%, but ranks second among Republicans behind George W. Bush.
[read on] (more…)