These Boots Are Gonna Walk All Over You

The signing of the Lisbon agreement yesterday will end the public’s ability to vote on continuing with the movement toward an EU Constitution. It has been obvious for many years that the leaders of the EU don’t want to have the public vote on the direction the EU is taking.
The liberal members of the EU worry about having a revised referendum voted down by any country. So they don't want any further public unhappy opinions to be displayed by a negative vote. If this passes (they still have to ratify it) you can forget voting.

Belgium is failing because there are no real Belgians, just as there are no real Europeans.

Belgium has now gone for 144 days without a government and you know what?… everything seems normal.
Eurocrats are booking their tables at Comme Chez Soi, Moroccan boys are breakdancing in the metro stations, civil servants (there are lots of these) are lingering over their Speculoos biscuits and coffee with gloopy vitamin-enhanced milk substitute.

Historically, Belgiums government has had to buy people's loyalty though massive public works schemes. Every state institution was dragged into the racket: the trade unions, the nationalised enterprises, the social security networks.
Belgium, in short, became a microcosm of what the EU is becoming: a mechanism for the arbitrary reallocation of money. READ THE TIMES

That's some serious downloading

The appeal court in Liege imposed damages of more than EUR 400,000 on a Belgian man convicted of piracy. The man illegally copied films, games, software and music from the internet. This is the largest fine for piracy ever imposed in Belgium.
More than 7,500 illegal copies were confiscated from the man. He was convicted last week but the news was just announced today by IFPI Belgium, an organisation that represents the music industry and which sued the defendant in this case.
The case came to light in 2000 after an anonymous tip off about large sales of illegal music, films, games and software in Verviers. In first instance the defendant was ordered to pay just EUR 1 in provisional damages to the parties that had brought suit. Those parties appealed the first ruling.