ginovandewalle.com

Next Saturday, the 2009 Tour de France takes its start in Monaco. Having been a cycle fan all my life, there is no doubt that I will be following this year’s event pretty closely. As has been in the past for the last decades, a lot of words have already been written, a lot of press coverage has been spent even before the first stage takes off. But seldom has it been like this year.

First of all, because the boss himself, seven times winner Lance Armstrong has returned to professional cycling again. Despite him being the outsider, I am personally convinced that he returns to France in order to make a serious attempt to win the event for the 8th time. Armstrong is part of the strongest team in professional cycling as far as the big events are concerned (Giro, Tour & Vuelta), but the Astana team was banned for participating last year for the stupid reason that in 2007, a couple of their riders had been guilty on doping. The French ASO (Amoury Sports Organisation), the organisor of the Tour de France, didn’t even listen to the arguments of Belgian Johan Bruyneel, the new boss of the Astana team. He had changed the whole team, put in place one of the most complete anti-doping controlling systems, new management, new directors, he had changed everything but the sponsor’s name.

ASO, considering themselves as being more catholic than the Pope, decided to ban Astana last year. So watch out for their revenge this year! I honestly believe (and hope) that the Astana team will win this year’s event. I’d even say more: I hope they will get the whole podium with winner (Armstrong or Contador), second (Contador or Armstrong) and third: (Leipheimer or Klöden). We’ll only know for sure about this Sunday July 26th. But it would be another first: never in the rich history of the Tour de France did one team win the whole podium. I only hope nobody of the riders will have serious accidents.

However, the “pre-Tour de France winner of 2009″ is undoubtedly the Belgian Quick-Step team. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Tom Boonen who was caught on cocaine during an out of competition test. You can read my story here. Just like he was caught last year. Last year, ASO banned him from participating of the 2008 Tour de France. Knowing the French a little bit, there was going to be no doubt at all that they were going to take the same decision: banning Tom Boonen from this year’s Tour as well.

Guess what: they took the same decision. A decision that is now being contested by the Belgian Quick-Step team. The day before yesterday, a French court (with French judges, being pretty “chauvinistic”, declared themselves not to be able to come to a verdict. Now the Belgians are going to proceed before the French Olympic Committee in order to get a permission for Tom Boonen to take the start in Monaco next Saturday. Pretty short notice. A couple of the “judges” over there are lawyers working for ASO! I don’t think the  new Belgian champion will participate in this year’s Tour. I can be wrong, but call it a “gut-feeling”.

However, there can be absolutely NO DOUBT at all that the Quick-Step team has gained a lot of advantages and publicity out of Boonen’s mistake.

First of all, they were furious, which is completely normal. But: the whole European sports press was covering this story, giving Quick-Step a lot of publicity.

Secondly: the team suspended Tom Boonen for a couple of weeks of participating in other races. Word goes around that he had to pay a € 250.000 fine to the team. I also have a “gut-feeling” that Tom Boonen will be “convicted” to stay in the Quick-Step team for the rest of his career. Just like ASO, the Belgian Quick-Step manager Patrick Lefevre pretends to be more catholic than the Pope as well. He is a good leader, and has a big impact on his riders’ lives. But… he knows nothing about doping. Although he’s not from Barcelona (Fawlty Towers’ Manuel). And he doesn’t want to know anything about it… And, he can’t afford to lose his champion to another team. So he will have “convinced” Tom Boonen that he’s got no other chance than stay with his team. At a much lower monthly salary than before. Still being overly paid, but then again, he’s a sports star as well! So Quick-Step is spending less money to their star!

And thirdly: the whole European sports press is curious whether or not Tom Boonen will take the start next Saturday. Giving Quick-Step a whole lot of additional press coverage again.

But then again, as soon as this Tour takes the start, ALL riders and ALL their teams will have become no news anymore. As the whole world will be focussing on Lance Armstrong only!

Share on Facebook

So the man in the white dress is on a trip again. This time, he’s touring the Middle East. After his last trip to Africa earlier this year, where he was spreading aids all over the place, I had sincerely expected the Pope to be a little bit more cautious with his behaviour this time. For example… he didn’t find it necessary to take off his shoes while visiting one of the biggest mosques in the Muslim world. Is this due to a lack of respect for Islam? I won’t call myself a big “connaisseur” of the Bible, but I believe that “having respect for the other” is somewhere written in it.

And I am sure that “Thy shall not lie” is also mentioned somewhere in the Bible. So why did the spokesman of the Vatican, Frederico Lombardi, a couple of days ago declare that Pope Benedict XVI “has never, never been a member of the Hitlerjugend”? Although the Pope himself has confirmed his membership of the Hitlerjugend (even in a book) on various occasions in the past. Having been confronted with the real truth, Lombardi had to withdraw his first lie, but stated that the young Joseph Ratzinger had been forced to join the nazi organization. Of course, we already knew that.

I am not complaining about the fact that the Pope has been a member of the Hitlerjugend. It all happened in another era. And if my information is correct, as a result of a special “Hitlerjugend-law” dating somewhere in 1939, every German teenager from seventeen onwards was obliged to join them. And in 1941 membership was obliged for every boy from the age of ten onwards. The Pope was born in 1927, on April 16th. His birthday is the only thing I have in common with him. So he was still a very young man during World War II.

But… change should come to Rome rapidly. The old guys who run the place are making one mistake after the other. In January, Richard Williamson, a bishop who denies the Holocaust, was welcomed back to the church. They promote aids in Africa. They lie to the public. They don’t like gay people.

How many mistakes more are they going to make? I honestly believe the Pope should change his board of advisors rapidly.

And the next message just reached me as well. I would consider this as praying, but it’s only one other difference in point of view that I have with the old guys who run the Vatican.

Share on Facebook

In life, one doesn’t have a lot of friends. Maybe a lot of acquaintances, but not a whole bunch of friends. I’ve had a whole lot of “friends” in my past that, for one or the other reason when things went a bit backwards in my personal life, all of a sudden stopped being a friend. I honestly believe that these kind of people who stop being a friend, have never been a friend in the first place. It’s as simple as that.

Fortunately, there are still some exceptions. One of my close friends is Bruno. He’s a Belgian just like me, and we met somewhere in the early days of 1993. So we’ve known each other for more than sixteen years right now. I remember that, when I was having a heart-attack three years ago, he was living in South Africa at that time. As soon as he found out that I had some serious health challenges, he jumped on a plane, and flew all the way from Johannesburg to Lisbon and the Algarve to come and visit me! I will never forget what that meant to me at that time.

Bruno has moved back to Spain a couple of years ago, and is now living some 800 kilometres away from me. Every now and then, we visit each other and during long walks through the Spanish nature, we brainstorm together on how we could change the world. I come to think of it, it’ll be one year this weekend since my last visit to him, so one of these upcoming weeks, I’ll jump in my car and go and visit him again.

Since 1993, Bruno has been studying everything about dogs. I have had a couple of wonderful dogs when I was still living in Belgium, and during those days, he helped me understand my dogs. I don’t know anybody else who knows that much about dogs but Bruno. Since he returned from South Africa, he has an “e-mail training course”, and through the internet, he helps hundreds of dog owners around the world on many topics about how to have a better relationship with their dog.

A couple of days ago, Bruno sent me an e-mail, and I like to share the content with you. Here it goes:

Hi Gino,

Today I want to talk to you about the most powerful dog in the world.

It is not a Mastin de Leon, a Rottweiler, a Newfoundlander, a Dogo Napolitano or a Saint Bernard. Most of them are mere gentle giants.

Let me unveil to you the secret about the most powerful dog in the world.

Because of our thirst for gossip we are addicted to stories about famous people. The media are more than willing to feed us with a never ending stream of so-called news about the rich and famous.

Our gossip society is very interested in all the details of the private lives of famous people. The more trivial, sordid, debased, sensational or shocking these details are the more we love it.

American presidents are famous people.

We see them every day on the evening news when they are performing a ritual. A few examples of these ritualized shows are: walking to a car/plane/helicopter; stepping out of a car/plane/helicopter, speaking during a press conference, shaking hands, waving at crowds and showing of their dogs.

Do you remember Lyndon Johnson and what he did to the Vietnamese people?

Do you think he did not want to be re-elected because of the war in Vietnam? I will tell you the shocking truth. One day he was shown on the telly lifting up his small dog by its ears. Americans were so scandalized by the cruelty of their president that he immediately stepped down.

Since then American presidents do not pick up their dogs anymore by their ears.

At least not in public.

I do remember the Clintons just like I do remember the Flintstones. Sometimes I liked the Clintons better than the Flintstones, especially when Bill Clinton was saying things like: I did not have sex with that woman.

But Bill and Hilary also had a dog. As far as I remember it was a chocolate coloured Labrador. Many times I saw Bill walking over the lawn of the White House. When he was not having sex with that woman he was certainly being pulled along by his dog.

I loved it.

It was magnificent.

Here we had someone called the most powerful man in the world and his dog pulled him along.

This must be one of the best kept secrets in world history.

I am now going to announce it publicly for the first time.
The most powerful man in the world was pulled along by a Labrador weighing 32 kg. The man thought he was in charge. But he was wrong.
We know that if a dog pulls a person along, the person is obviously the follower and the dog is clearly the leader.

Bill never knew the truth about his position.
His dog did.

Now you know it also.

Bill was not in charge.

His dog was.

The other day I read an article in the Spanish paper El Pais {The Country} about the dog of the Obama family.

I haven’t seen brother Barack walking his dog but chances are that his Cao de Agua Portuguès {Portuguese water dog} will become the most powerful dog in the world.

Drop me a line if you see a picture of that dog pulling along his president.
What could this mean for us and the future of our planet?

It means there is still hope for humanity when this dog takes charge.

We know that dogs are not as intelligent as human beings.

They never go to war, never lie, cheat, pretend, blame, moan, criticize, judge or condemn.

Yes there is hope for humanity.

Kindest regards from Brunothedoglistener

Well-educated dogs are obedient dogs.
Obedient dogs are happy dogs.
Happy dogs have happy owners.

www.brunodogs.com

Share on Facebook

I’m back in town. Or shall I say, back in this sunny country. Since my last post on March 7th, which I wrote in a hotel room by the way, I was travelling around. Too many planes, too many trains, too many hotel rooms, too much time without the internet. Or should I say, thank God I didn’t have internet? Sometimes, being without internet, and without a truckload of e-mails, can be welcome as well. The other side of the medal obviously is that, upon the return, there is this truckload of e-mails to respond to… Anyway, I got my first customer in Brasil! Yes!!! The money arrived today on the bank account, and tomorrow the safes will be on their way to South America! Hopefully the first customer of many to come…

Being back home, with all the comfort of the internet, I keep an eye on the world news as well.

In Belgium, a good friend of mine who was the chief of the Ghent police force has been suspended from his job because he made a mistake. One of the most capable police officers I’ve ever met is at risk of losing his job due to a human mistake.

In Austria, a human monster is facing trial for raping his daughter who was prisoned by him in a cellar for more than 24 years. She gave birth to seven of his children of which six survived. Three of them were kept in the same cellar as well.

Last week in Germany, Tim Kretschmer, a young kid murdered thirteen other teenagers and two more people before taking his own life. He said he just loved doing this.

What a world we’re living in. Louis Armstrong must be turning around in his coffin. The wonderful world he once believed in has definitely made some changes.

And yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Cameroon, Africa. He had better stayed in his beautiful palace in Rome, Italy. I really wonder if he realised having landed in Africa. Upon arrival, he declared the following, and I quote: “The aids problem can’t be solved with money, however necessary that is. It can’t be solved by giving out condoms. On the contrary, condoms do make the problem even worse”.

Hello? Is this guy living in the year 2009? Only because he’s not allowed to have sex himself, he thinks he should lie to the world in this way? I am not a very catholic guy (although I was baptised on April 19th, 1960 - I was only three days old, but my mother once told me that I was making a whole lot of noise while the priest was throwing some water over my little head, so I guess I must have been revolting already!), but I believe it’s written somewhere in the Bible that one cannot lie…

For telling a lie like this, he should be suspended. For life! If his boss, the bearded guy who’s sitting on top of a cloud somewhere in heaven, or his son who was crucified in the Middle East some 2000 years ago, would really know the world we’re living in today, they both would immediately send the Pope to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, The Netherlands, in order to have him trialled for crimes against humanity!

As a reaction to this, Spain has taken the decision to send one million condoms to Africa. I love Spain. I’m thinking of going to the local pharmacy tomorrow myself, in order to buy their stock of condoms as well. I might send them to Africa. Or should I send them to the Vatican in Rome, with a request to forward them to the black continent?

Or maybe I should run for Pope? According to the rules, every male person, who once got baptised, can be elected. At least, that’s what I read a couple of years ago, when the current guy was elected. I promise, I would change a lot!

And change is needed urgently. Especially within this church!

Share on Facebook

I don’t like banks. Nor do I like politicians. One of the reasons I don’t like them, is that they treat us, the little working men as stupid creatures. They have always done this, and  apparently, they still continue doing this. How else can one explain the way bankers are treating themselves in paying out some bonusses? Today, the British Minister of Finances, Mr. Alistair Darling, is explaining in the Sunday Telegraph that his department is going to start an investigation around the way the banks are being managed, including as well the bonuses which are being paid in the bank sector. Finally! Not only in the United Kingdom, but around the world, very big banks have asked their governments to help them out with tax payers money. This was done in the United States, Belgium, the Netherlands, Iceland, United Kingdom, etc… all over the world.

In today’s edition of the Sunday Telegraph, Mr. Darling makes quite some good remarks:

I know people feel angry about excessive bank bonuses. And directors have a duty to ensure that their banks behave responsibly. People who work hard should be rewarded for their effort. But it would be wrong to reward people whose excessive risk-taking brought the banks down, causing misery to millions of their customers. Success should be rewarded. Failure should not.

People rightly ask questions about bank failures. But questions should have been asked earlier, especially in banks’ boardrooms, when banks seemed to be so successful. Why were some directors so taken aback when the banks for which they were responsible came to grief?

In today’s interconnected financial system, we need to see far more responsibility from banks in every country. By supporting our economy and removing uncertainty from our banking system, we are helping other countries too. So just as last autumn’s recapitalisation and fiscal stimulus were followed around the world, we want to see other countries taking action to support bank lending.

These are very nice words, and as a matter of fact, the whole article Mr. Darling wrote consists of very nice words. You can read them all over here.

But… the bankers don’t seem to live in today’s reality. The Royal Bank of Scotland, one of the major players in the world, was rescued only months ago with a total amount of £ 20 billion (20.000.000.000,- Pound Sterling) of tax payers money. They are now proposing to pay out their staff a total amount of £ 1 billion in bonuses.

I consider it a fraud if bankers pay themselves huge real money bonuses from fake profits. One of the questions that has not been answered yet (and I honestly doubt it wether it’s going to be answered) is why Governments all around the world are using taxpayers’ money to support these kind of fraudsters?

But then again, banks, amongst other big companies are just continuing to make a joke out of the normal taxpayers:

• Wells Fargo, a huge American company was given 25 billion US dollars from the American Government, and is now planning to organise a couple of luxury trips for their collaborators to luxury resorts in Las Vegas. They call them “bonus incentives”.
• ABC made a program how the Bank of America, after having received 45 billion US $ from the American Government, was sponsoring a 5 day fair just outside the Superbowl stadium in Tampa last week.
• Morgan Stanley received 10 billion US $, and organised a three day convention in The Breakers on Palm Beach. I just made a search on the internet, and the cheapest room I could book for this month was at a price of $ 630,00 - 1 night! Morgan Stanley was also planning to send his collaborators on incentive trips to Monte Carlo and the Bahamas, but as the press found out, these plans have now been cancelled.
• The New York Post revealed earlier this month that Sandy Weill, the ex-CEO of Citygroup, used a company private jet to spend the Christmas period together with his family in a luxery resort in San José del Cabo, Mexico. This holiday costed 12.000 US $. Per night! Yes, you read it well: per night! He didn’t care that his company had sacked 50.000 collaborators worldwide, and had been given 50 billion US $ from the Government in order to survive!

I hope you will understand now why I don’t like banks and politicians. Oh, and by the way, the Correo da Manhã, the popular Portuguese newspaper is revealing today that the total amount in commissions being paid out in the Freeport scandal has now risen to 8 million euros.

The story just continues…

Share on Facebook

I read somewhere that about one billion people were watching the Superbowl on television last Sunday. I was not one of them. Because I hardly ever watch television, because I am pretty sure this was not broadcasted on the Portuguese television, and because I couldn’t care less. I also read somewhere that the end of the game was pretty nerve breaking. Apparantly, the Pittsburg Steelers won the game against the Arizona Cardinals with a breathtaking touch down in the last minute of the game: 27-23. But over here in Europe, not a lot of people lost their sleep over this.

NBC, the company broadcasting the event this year, said they reached a total turnover of 261 million US $ in publicity. Thirty seconds of airtime for the nice little sum of three million US $. Fox, who broadcasted the event last year (I was in Canada then, why didn’t I watch it at that time?) got a turnover of 250 million US $. So despite the international financial crisis, they reached a new record!

So almost every American watched this game. Among them, the American President Barack Obama and his opponent in the elections Senator Mc Cain, who, being from Arizona saw his team lose. Another defeat for Senator Mc Cain.

In Tucson, a city somewhere in the southern part of Arizona, a lot of American households must have been panicking. During the last three minutes of the game, people didn’t get any football on their screens. All of a sudden, a porn movie was broadcasted, and instead of seeing touch-downs from American football players, the American television spectators were watching some American porn star Even Stone who was swinging his junk around like a maniac. Click here to read all about it. And all this while an innocent PETA ad promoting healthy food instead of junk food was rejected!

And talking about publicity ads, for those who love them, I found a website that has the best fifty Superbowl commercials that have been broadcasted. In case you want to see them, just click here!

As a bonus, you can also see the half-time show with the Boss. As a free gift!

Share on Facebook

Ok, it’s a little bit old news, but it was a historical event. I myself have bought a couple of newspapers on the 21st of January, the day after Barack Obama was sworn in as 44th President of the United States. I was just thinking they might become some nice souvenirs for the future. Not for my kids, because as far as I know of, I don’t have any. Maybe for somebody else’s kids. Until I found this website which published more than nine hundred and fifty front pages of newspapers from all over the world about Obama’s inauguration. Just click here to see them. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Share on Facebook

I just found a website with some truely amazing pictures about the historic event that took place last Tuesday in Washington D.C. when Barack Obama was sworn in to become the 44th President of the United States.

Just click here and I hope you will enjoy the pictures as much as I did.

Share on Facebook

So this morning the world woke up with a new American leader. Hope he’s got, change will come, however difficult this will be. His popularity is enormous, I can only hope his popularity will stay. Meaning… he will be able to lead this world out of the crisis it’s gotten into. He became a presidential President, from the very first second he took the oath. During the past eight years, I’ve only travelled three times across the pond, as I wasn’t a big fan of the Bush administration. I must admit that I am already looking forward to jump on a plane and cross the Atlantic again, to see this new America with my own eyes…

I was in a plane somewhere between Brussels and Faro, yesterday, when Barack Obama was sworn in. Strange, I was taking a nap, and woke up at exactly 05.59pm Brussels time, one minute before he became the 44th President of the United States. I didn’t see these events live, but by posting them here, it’ll be easy to relive these historic moments…

Part I

Part II

Part III

Share on Facebook

So a historical day has finally arrived. Within a couple of hours America, together with the rest of the world will be welcoming Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. For the very first time in history, there will be a president who’s not white. Only this fact is a real landmark in the rich history of the States, a country where only forty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King was killed because of the colour of his skin. Barack Obama is very, very popular. I somewhere read that 7 out of 10 Americans really want him. For the very first time in several decades, this president is the personalisation of the real American dream. Just like Abraham Lincoln, he made it to the very top from a very common background. Just like Abraham Lincoln, who had to unify a country that was divided after the civil war, this president became the president of all Americans because of his promise of hope and change.

And from today onwards, he will have to start working on the hope and change. Hope won’t be a problem, as the rest of the world is supporting him. But his job won’t be easy. His country is at war, and is almost bankrupt. As is the rest of the world, his country is undergoing a huge financial crisis, to be compared with the crisis of the thirties. But another Roosevelt’s ”New Deal” won’t be sufficient enough to get to the necessary change.

America is not alone in this world anymore. Obama will have to seek accordance with Europe, the Middle East, Russia, but also with new economic powers like China, Brasil, India… And the whole world will be watching his reactions on the crisis in the Middle East.

Only yesterday, I went through Alex Haley’s bestseller: Roots. The United States have really come a long way, from Kunta Kinte to Barack Obama.

Unfortunately, however much I would have loved to be sitting in front of my television to watch the events in Washington later today, I will be thirty thousand feet high, flying back to Portugal when Obama will be sworn in.

Let’s hope there won’t be a lunatic among the huge crowd who thinks his historical day has arrived as well.

Share on Facebook