Satan must have been out of brains

Either that, or Mohammed Bouyeri is not really evil. Mr. Bouyeri today took the opportunity to deliver his personal testimony to the court in the case of the government against the Hofstad Group. Mr. Bouyeri is already serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, and thus cannot receive an additional sentence under Dutch law. So it was quite pleasing to see how Mr. Bouyeri indirectly helped the prosecution to make its case that the Hofstad Group intended to pursue their religious beliefs through violence, namely, by praising Osama Bin Laden:

"Comparing me to Osama bin Laden does the man a great wrong and extends me too much honour I don't deserve," Bouyeri said.

"But it fills me with me with honour, pride and joy that you see me as the standard-bearer of Islam in Europe," he told the prosecution.

Apart from that, Mr. Bouyeri mainly spouted nonsense and quoted books on Freud and Kuhn that he had failed to understand. This led Mr. Afshin Ellian, a law professor who is originally from Iran but who has become known as a fierce critic of radical Islam, to comment that 'if Mr. Bouyeri had been able to get his hands on a copy of Playboy, he would have quoted that magazine as well.'

Indeed. Cameras were not allowed inside the court room, nor were radio reporters. Fortunately, a journalist from Nieuwe Revu, a magazine, managed to smuggle a recorder inside (gotta love court security. If a suicide bomber blows up a government building in the next few months, color me unsurprised). The recording lasts 43 minutes and can be downloaded here or here.

You don't need to be fluent in Dutch to be able to determine that Mr. Bouyeri talks a little bit too much for someone who claims to have a clear goal in liife. Perhaps the effects of his brain washing by the Syrian are beginning to wear off. In which case he will wake up one morning in a prison cell, in the realisation that he butchered a man and will have to spend the rest of his waking hours in solitude. Hours that will become a purgatory of penance, rather than a self-glorifying martyr experience.

It would be more merciful to wish, for his sake, that he remains a radical until the day he dies.

23:53

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Einde aan overgewicht

Wie wil afvallen, moet maar gewoon meer bewegen en minder eten, was vroeger de geijkte reactie bij overgewicht. Maar in de praktijk is afvallen een stuk minder eenvoudig. En nu een groeiend deel van de bevolking aan overgewicht lijdt, grijpen artsen steeds vaker naar pillen om de uitdijende buiken en billen weer te doen inkrimpen. Het goede nieuws: die pillen worden steeds beter.

(Artikel in september 2005 gepubliceerd in het Algemeen Dagblad. (C) Arjan Dasselaar.)

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18:42

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