The NYT’s description of this Flemish independence party amuses me:
“We are two different nations, an artificial state created as a buffer between big powers, and we have nothing in common except a king, chocolate and beer,” said Filip Dewinter, the leader of Vlaams Belang, or Flemish Bloc, the extreme-right, xenophobic Flemish party, in an interview. “It’s ‘bye-bye, Belgium’ time.”
I mean, why not describe Vlaams Belang as “the extreme-right, xenophobic, no-good, very-bad, sinister black-hat-wearing party” while you’re at it? And if Vlaams Belang is “extreme-right” simply for supporting Flemish independence, doesn’t that make the American revolutionaries “extreme-right” as well?
I quite like the picture of the candle-laden cake celebrating 100 days without a government. Reagan should have gone that route back when Congress shut him down. It’s a powerful testimony that central government and rule by elected politicians is totally unnecessary.