Why secretary Brinkhorst should resign

Secretary Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst has apparently said that MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali should not have made the film Submission (which by the way can be downloaded here through Torrent). According to Brinkhorst, who is responsible for economic affairs, filming Submission was akin to 'lighting a cigarette in a munitions dump'.

By his own admission, Brinkhorst should resign immediately. And this is why:

What we have here is a member of government who:
a) Admits this country is on the brink of exploding, something the government should take responsibility for, because that's why we put them in charge to lead the country.
b) Tries to solve the problem not by making the situation less explosive, but by denying people a basic right. Be it freedom of expression or lighting a cigarette, the metaphor remains valid.

Such a person should not be allowed to hold a government position in any democratic country as he's obviously not up to the job. If Mr. Brinkhorst doesn't draw his own conclusions, I sincerely hope voters will draw theirs by removing his D66 party from the Second Chamber (our Lower House) in the next elections.

Enough for now. I am going to try to wash the taste of contempt out of my mouth.

(Turns out all I've got left is soda, but you can FedEx your whiskey bottles to...)

22:29

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I long for old-fashioned rigidity

If even atheists start embracing a supreme being, surely nothing can be presumed certain anymore.

Come to think of it, am I really writing this?

20:19

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Last film of Theo van Gogh premieres

And thanks to the fine people at Kempen PR, I wasn't there to report on it. Anyway, the BBC has an article about the movie here. The film itself can be downloaded here, although you need to be fairly fluent in Dutch. There are no English subtitles, I'm afraid. Plus, you'll need to buy a license to be able to view it, which will only be possible from Wednesday onwards.

13:18

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