Germany May Double Number Of Soldiers In Africa To 14

January 19, 2014 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, High Art, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Africa, Berlin, Bundeswehr, Central Africa Republic, Eavesdropping, Edward Snowden, EU, France, German, Germans, Germany, Humor, Mali, Merkel, Satire Leave a comment

OMG! Is Germany now headed for WAR ITSELF?!? Where is Guido Westerwelle when you need him? “The deployment of German combat troops is not an option. And I have to mention just one more point. We Germans are highly involved in Afghanistan, where the French are hardly involved at all.”

According to a report in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” on Saturday the German government is planning to help reinforce the ongoing military operation in Mali through a larger and more robust French-German contingent. The newspaper also reported that government would support a possible EU military operation in the Central Africa Republic (CAR) with transport aircraft and aerial refueling.

“Europe cannot leave France on its own down there.”

PS: In a related story (not), Barack Obama Tells Germans In TV Interview That It’s OK For Them To Stop Worrying About US Spying Now So Everything Is OK Again.

Sunny, Windy, Costly And Dirty

January 17, 2014 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Hideology, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Coal, Consumers, Electricity, Energy, Energy Turnaround, Fukushima, German, Germans, Germany, Interventionism, Nuclear power, Planned Economy, Renewable energy, Subsidies Leave a comment

What’s not to like here?

“Super minister?” I’d say this is more like a job for Superpenner.

The difference between the market price for electricity and the higher fixed price for renewables is passed on to consumers, whose bills have been rising for years. An average household now pays an extra €260 ($355) a year to subsidise renewables: the total cost of renewable subsidies in 2013 was €16 billion. Costs are also going up for companies, making them less competitive than rivals from America, where energy prices are falling thanks to the fracking boom…

Cost is not the only problem with the Energiewende. It has in effect turned the entire German energy industry into a quasi-planned economy with perverse outcomes. At certain times on some days, sun and wind power may provide almost all German electricity. But the sun does not always shine, especially in winter, and the wind is unpredictable. And “batteries”—storage technologies that, for example, convert power to gas and back again to electricity—on a scale sufficient to supply a city are years away. Nuclear-power plants are being phased out (this week’s court decision that the closure of a plant in Hesse was illegal will raise costs even more, as it may entitle the operator to more compensation). So conventional power plants have to stay online in order to assure continuous supply.

Good Privacy Protection Is Good Weapon Protection

January 16, 2014 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: Bureaucracy, Crime, Data Privacy, Data Security, German, Germans, Germany, Gun control, Guns, Legislation, Privacy, Registration, State Control, Weapons 1 Comment

When Germans register private weapons, they do it thoroughly. But by always keeping thorough privacy protection policies in mind, too, of course.

There are 550 various Waffenbehörden (weapons agencies) in the country and they must all now register their registered weapons at the Nationale Waffenregister (national firearmes registry) to boot. Sound well-registered? It should. It is.

Unfortunately, for those who advocate strict weapon registration policies here (99.9 percent of the population?), things aren’t going to plan.

First of all, those who advocate strict weapon registration (“the public”) want to KNOW who has the weapons, how many these owners have, etc. but the firearms registry legislation does not provide for this so they are Scheiße outta luck (law enforcement officials have access, of course).

The second problem is that the numbers now indicate (as they always have elsewhere) that registered weapons still kill people. Along with all of those other “bad” illegal unregistered weapons out there, too, I mean.

Wer wie viele Waffen hat, geht die Öffentlichkeit nichts an – “Bitte betrachten Sie unsere Ablehnung nicht als unhöfliches Vorgehen. Wir sehen leider keine Möglichkeiten, Ihrem aus öffentlichen Interesse erwachsendem Anliegen geeignet zu entsprechen.”

No Spy Deal Now No No Spy Deal

January 14, 2014 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Higher Education, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Eavesdropping, Edward Snowden, Espionage, German, Germans, Germany, Humor, Naivete, No Spy, NSA, Satire, Terror, Terrorists Leave a comment

As Washington said it would announce reforms to its National Security Agency (NSA) later in the week, German media were already focused on a likely disappointing outcome for Berlin in talks on a “no spy” arrangement.

Oh, I dunno. Other than Washington not promising to stop listening in on politicians’ calls or say when they are listening in on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone (or whoever else) or not allowing the Germans access to an alleged listening post on top of US embassy in Berlin, I’d say those “no spy” arrangement talks are moving along pretty well.

Doch der Fehler liegt woanders: in einer naiven Erwartungshaltung. Dass die Drahtzieher des 11. September aus Hamburg kamen, ist den Amerikanern immer noch präsent. Dass es zahlreiche Deutsche gibt, die sich nach Syrien aufgemacht haben, um dort an der Seite von Islamisten zu kämpfen, ebenfalls.

German Soldiers Just Can’t Take It Anymore

January 13, 2014 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Heconomy, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hustle (Hoax), Hypochondria Tags: Armies, Bundeswehr, Early Retirement, German, Germans, Germany, Humor, Military, Satire, Soldiers 2 Comments

That’s why 6000 of them (half the German army?) have now put in for early retirement.

No war is hell, too.

Flexibles System der Kinderbetreuung, mehr Tagesmütter für Randzeiten, Teilzeitmöglichkeiten mit einer Drei-oder Viertagewoche in der Familienphase, ein Lebensarbeitszeitkonto für Überstunden. Auch will sie sich das System der nahezu automatischen Versetzungen alle zwei bis drei Jahre „genau ansehen“ und Schluss mit dauernden Ortswechseln machen.

PS: And thank goodness this just came in. Here are the top 10 places for Frührentner (early-retirees) and other retiree types to, well, retire around at (International Living Annual Global Retirement Index 2014).

One Million Dollars!

January 12, 2014 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, High Art, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Congress, Corruption, Equality, Fairness, German, Germans, Germany, Humor, Inflation, Lobbies, Millionaires, Politicians, Satire Leave a comment

Unlike in Germany, where at least fifty percent of all German politicians stem from working-class families, where none are susceptible to bribery or lobbying influence and most can just barely make ends meet on the meager remuneration they receive (or so I must assume, to judge by the outrage here), word is out that more than half of Amerika’s lawmakers are now “worth at least $1 million” (although I personally have always held them all to be priceless).

This is a scandal or something. This has never ever been the case before because American politicians, gosh darn it, up until now anyways, never ever used to enter politics just to obtain money and/or power. In the past, I mean. Something bad has now apparently happened. Or something. That is why we must look to Germany for the answer, as usual.

Everything here in Germany works better, you see. This is because Germany is a so-called “classless” society. But with class. Just go and ask the folks here who run the country. They’ll tell you.

In Deutschland ist die “Millionärswahl” eine TV-Show, in den USA Realität.

This Time Google Really Has Gone Too Far

January 10, 2014 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hi-tech, High Art, Higher Education, History, Humor, Hurt Feelings Tags: Adolf-Hitler-Platz, Berlin, German, Germans, Germany, Google, Google Maps, Hitler, Humor, Language, Satire Leave a comment

Google Maps has, I mean.

Sure, Theodor-Heuss-Platz may not exactly roll right off the lips for some of us here but to rename the thing Adolf-Hitler-Platz simply does not solve the problem.

Der Berliner Theodor-Heuss-Platz ist beim Google Kartendienst Maps zeitweise auch als Adolf-Hitler-Platz bezeichnet worden. So hieß der Platz im Bezirk Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in der Nazizeit von 1933 bis 1945.

Let’s Move Along Now, Nothing To See Here, Meine Damen Und Herren…

January 9, 2014 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Afghanistan, Blind Ambition, Books, Character, Duty, German, Germans, Germany, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Obama, Robert Gates Leave a comment

Former US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has just published a book about “duty” or something, whatever that is.

The former defense secretary says Obama believed his own troop surge – the move of 30,000 troops into Afghanistan – would fail.

Hillary Clinton announced her opposition to Bush’s Iraq troop ‘surge’ just before entering the presidential race.

He also attacked VP Joe Biden, saying he “has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue.”

Ein Präsident, der seiner eigenen Afghanistan-Strategie nicht traut und sie mit wahltaktischen Erwägungen verwässert; ein Vizepräsident, der Obamas Verhältnis zu den Spitzenmilitärs “vergiftet” habe; ein Kongress, dessen Mitglieder zumeist “inkompetent” seien und “sich selbst (und ihre Wiederwahl) vor das Land” setzen.

Over A Dozen Hamburg Occupy Occupants Now Without Occupation

January 7, 2014 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Banking, Class Struggle, Demonstrations, German, Germans, Germany, Hamburg, Humor, Occupy, Protest, Satire Leave a comment

Germany’s oldest “Occupy” camp, thought to have been established sometime during the late Römerzeit (Roman Age), was cleared yesterday by brutal financial shark-like city cleaning employees in a hush-hush operation that had been announced several weeks before.

Many of the occupants were caught unawares in their sleep yesterday afternoon when the profit-greedy imperialist lackeys stormed the camp with brooms, trash bins and protective breathing devices, forcing the dirty dozen of unemployed occupiers into unemployment somewhere else.

Now that the “Occupy” movement has been crushed for good in Germany, many here miss its romantic lack of class struggle and crude fear-mongering antics already and have most likely begun occupying themselves with inventing other forms of worldwide occupation-like phenomena that will also lead to absolutely nothing whatsoever at all one day but will at least feel kind of sort of like they maybe could have, as long as they don’t get too uncomfortable or begin to resemble anything that demands any real commitment or anything, that is.

“Wir wurden von diesem Räumkommando überrascht”, sagte ein Demonstrant der noch etwa ein Dutzend Mitglieder umfassenden “Occupy”-Gruppe. Eigentlich sollte das Lager jedoch schon bis zum 31. Dezember abgebaut werden.

PS: USA Forcing Iraq To Defend Itself Again

That Sure Looks Like A UFO To Me

January 6, 2014 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, High Art, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hustle (Hoax) Tags: Extraterrestrials, German, Germans, Germany, Humor, Satire, UFO Sightings, UFOs, Zeppelins 1 Comment

A 4-meter-long UFO landed near a place called Zwickau yesterday and nobody there seemed to notice and/or much care.

I guess this kind of thing happens down here all the time (what else are you going to do in Zwickau?). Unfortunately for the rest of humanity, the object in question turned out to be a remote-controlled mini-me-Zeppelin and no trace of the alien intelligence responsible for its construction has yet been found.

Später stellte sich heraus: Bei dem Ufo handelt es sich um einen ferngesteuerten Zeppelin, der „Ufo-Konstrukteur“ ist ein Hobby-Modellflieger aus dem Ort.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Category Archives: Hurt Feelings