Reageren op ikjes. Hier kunt u reageren op het ‘ikje’ dat vandaag is gepubliceerd op de Achterpagina van het NRC Handelsblad. Op de NRC-site kan niet meer worden gereageerd op het stukje dat door de lezers zelf wordt ingezonden.
Het alternatief op drasties. Is uw ikje niet geplaatst door het NRC dan kunt u het publiceren op drasties in de categorie Trots Op Ikje. Opsturen via ‘contact us’.

firehose rodeo

ralph and edna

Ralph and Edna were both patients in a mental hospital. One day while they were walking past the hospital swimming pool, Ralph suddenly jumped into the deep end. Edna promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the bottom and pulled him out.
When the director heard of Edna’s heroic act she recommended her to be discharged from the hospital, as she now considered her to be mentally stable. When she went to tell Edna the news she said, ‘Edna, I have good news and bad news. The good news is you’re being discharged, since you were able to rationally respond to a crisis by jumping in and saving the life of the person you love. The bad news is, Ralph hung himself in the bathroom with his bathrobe belt right after you saved him. I am so sorry, but he’s dead.’
Edna replied, ‘He didn’t hang himself, I put him there to dry. How soon can I go home?’

bild.de - bayern münchen - manchester united

gorilla

In het zogenaamd egalitaire Amerika, waar iedereen kan worden wat hij wil, is er een veel grotere correlatie tussen het inkomen van de ouders en de opleiding van de kinderen dan in Europa. Oftewel kinderen van rijke ouders worden in de VS goed opgeleid en komen later goed terecht, kinderen van arme ouders worden slecht opgeleid en komen slecht terecht. Sterker nog in deze grafiek is de VS (Reagan: ‘that shining city on the hill’) het land met de minste mobiliteit tussen sociaal-economische klassen. In onderstaand stuk in The Economist schrijft een correspondent over de keuze om zijn kinderen naar een Amerikaanse school (waar je goed onderwijs kunt kopen) of een Nederlandse school (cito-toets) te sturen.
“I’m pretty sure the system that does more to maximise the opportunities and capabilities of the most of its kids isn’t the American one.”

Comparing schools and class in Europe and America

In considering whether to raise my kids in America or the Netherlands, I’ve had to weigh the relative advantages and disadvantages of the two educational systems. Probably the hardest thing for me to get used to about the Dutch educational system is the much-feared Citotoets, a standardized test given at the end of eighth grade that plays a large role in determining what type of high school the student will attend. The test is scored between 500 and 550, a bizarre scheme supposedly chosen to lessen the anxiety-inducing impression that it constitutes an intelligence test. If the authorities wanted to lessen the anxiety, they might have done better not to give preteens (or barely-teens) a test that could determine the rest of their academic and professional careers.
read on>> (more…)

Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander John Sheehan:
“I am sorry that my recent public recollection of those discussions of 15 years ago inaccurately reflected your thinking on some specific social issues in the military. To be clear, the failure on the ground in Srebrenica was in no way the fault of the individual soldiers.”

Washington Post - A retired U.S. general has apologized for comments this month linking the defeat of Dutch troops by Serb forces at Srebrenica in July 1995 to the presence of openly gay soldiers in the Dutch military. read on>> (more…)

by frederick deligne - nice-matin, france

There is direct correlation between level of homophobia and likelihood of being gay:

A psychiatrist known as Dr. Shock for his notorious attempts to “cure” gay military recruits through electroshock therapy has been charged with sexually assaulting a male patient. Dr. Aubrey Levin, who was arrested in Calgary, Alberta, after he was secretly filmed sexually abusing a male patient, had previously been accused of gross human rights abuses for his treatment of gay soldiers and conscientious objectors in apartheid-era South Africa.

Dr. Aubrey Levin, a leading psychiatrist and lecturer at the University Of Calgary who hid accusations of human rights abuses in apartheid-era South Africa, has been accused of sexually assaulting as many as 30 male patients.
read on>> (more…)

dale robertson’s opinion

You may have noticed, but the latest teabagger schtick is to deny anything untoward happens at their protests.
Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann:”Democrats said that they were called the ‘N word,’ which of course would be wrong and inappropriate. But no one has any record of it. No witness saw it, it’s not on camera, it’s not on audio,” she said. “They said that they were spat upon. No one saw it.”
It’s a tactic they’re all repeating. Like Dale Robertson: “These people could be anybody. I wouldn’t put it past the Democrats to plant somebody there,” Mr. Robertson said. “They’re trying to label the tea party, but I’ve never seen any racial slurs.”
read on>> (more…)

het weer nu

Reageren op ikjes. Hier kunt u reageren op het ‘ikje’ dat vandaag is gepubliceerd op de Achterpagina van het NRC Handelsblad. Op de NRC-site kan niet meer worden gereageerd op het stukje dat door de lezers zelf wordt ingezonden.
Het alternatief op drasties. Is uw ikje niet geplaatst door het NRC dan kunt u het publiceren op drasties in de categorie Trots Op Ikje. Opsturen via ‘contact us’.

Dhr. DeLuxe las in het Joods Journaal van herfst 2001(!) een vraaggesprek met wijlen één zijner helden Martin van Amerongen.
Awraham Meijers (geen mop!) vraagt hem het volgende:

Meijers: “Zo even bekroop mij de driestheid om me jou in spijkerbroek en T-shirt voor te stellen. Het lukte niet, het beeld bleef zoals ik je ken: altijd als heer gekleed met een jaloersmakende zomer- dan wel winterhoed. Hoe was dat toen je de knapenkiel nog om de schouders liet glijden?”
Van Amerongen: […] “Reeds in de wieg droeg ik driedelig grijs.”

We can learn some things from the Europeans.
As I flew into the Netherlands a week ago, I made special note of the coast line. Besides the excitement of knowing “that’s Europe down there,” it intrigued me how vulnerable the Dutch countryside is to flooding, since much of it lies below sea level. Even from the plane, it was obvious to me that the cultivated fields were lower than the North Sea. Those fields face immediate annihilation, except for the sturdy dunes that protect them.
I’ve always wondered if the flooding in New Orleans, following Hurricane Katrina, would have occurred if the Army Corps of Engineers and local authorities had consulted more with Dutch experts.
Too often, Americans think we know everything. Or, put another way, “What do the Europeans know?” read on>> (more…)

by jianping fan - guangzhou, china

by aislin - the montreal gazette

Poor pope:
The leader of the nation’s second-largest diocese in the United States urged his congregation to pray for the pope, saying he was suffering some of the same unjust accusations once faced by Jesus.
The argumentation in defense of the Church, including those coming from the pope himself. is quite surprising considering the fact that it is basically a story that everyone must be able to understand. Really, bad stuff happened and people covered it up and enabled the perps to do more bad stuff. Not that complicated, really, and
“other people did bad stuff too” or
“you fail to understand the nuances of catholic doctrine and hierarchy”
won’t change that.

Glenn Greenwald laat weer eens zien dat een aanzienlijk deel van de (vooral Republikeinse) volksvertegenwoordigers in de Verenigde Staten, twee handen op een buik met het bedrijfsleven zijn. Amerika gaat steeds meer van kapitalisme naar corporatisme. Dat is vooral bekend van Argentinië onder Peron, Portugal onder Salazar en Italië onder Mussolini. Het is een systeem waarbij de staat samenspant met het bedrijfsleven om (ten koste van de burger) een corrupte elite aan de macht te houden. Het is het schaamteloze systeem dat Rijk Amerika de laatste acht jaar in staat stelde rijker te worden, terwijl 16 procent van hun Amerikaanse mede-burgers zonder werk zit. Greenwald: “At this point, it’s more accurate to view the U.S. Government and these huge industry interests as one gigantic, amalgamated, inseparable entity — with a public division and a private one.”

Mike McConnell, the WashPost & the dangers of sleazy corporatism

In a political culture drowning in hidden conflicts of interests, exploitation of political office for profit, and a rapidly eroding wall separating the public and private spheres, Michael McConnell stands out as the perfect embodiment of all those afflictions. Few people have blurred the line between public office and private profit more egregiously and shamelessly than he. McConnell’s behavior is the classic never-ending “revolving door” syndrome: public officials serve private interests while in office and are then lavishly rewarded by those same interests once they leave. He went from being head of the National Security Agency under Bush 41 and Clinton directly to Booz Allen, one of the nation’s largest private intelligence contractors, then became Bush’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI), then went back to Booz Allen, where he is now Executive Vice President. read on>> (more…)

RNC spent $1946.25 at lesbian sex-themed nightclub Voyeur West Hollywood.
Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele evidently does not share the right’s disdain for Hollywood, a commitment to conservative spending practices, or discomfort with sexuality outside of traditional marriage. The Daily Caller reports that “FEC [Federal Election Commission] filings suggest Steele travels in style”:

A February RNC trip to California, for example, included a $9,099 stop at the Beverly Hills Hotel, $6,596 dropped at the nearby Four Seasons, and $1,946.25 spent at Voyeur West Hollywood, a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex.

“There are topless ‘dancers’ acting out S&M scenes throughout the night on one of the side stages,” a rave review of Voyeur on Yelp.com describes. “There’s a half-naked girl hanging from a net across the ceiling and at one point I walked to the bathroom and pretty much just stopped dead in my tracks to watch two girls simulating oral sex in a glass case.” Although Steele’s high-flying ways have angered GOP donors, RNC communications director Doug Heye explains, “It takes money to make money.” (HT Oliver Willis)

het weer nu

Reageren op ikjes. Hier kunt u reageren op het ‘ikje’ dat vandaag is gepubliceerd op de Achterpagina van het NRC Handelsblad. Op de NRC-site kan niet meer worden gereageerd op het stukje dat door de lezers zelf wordt ingezonden.
Het alternatief op drasties. Is uw ikje niet geplaatst door het NRC dan kunt u het publiceren op drasties in de categorie Trots Op Ikje. Opsturen via ‘contact us’.

in which european country do people still drive on the left