Bad comparison
Or should I say, eeevil? In the wake of loud criticism to Arizona’s SB 1070 immigration law, the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles has denounced comparisons of the 48th state to Nazi Germany.
Nazi Germany was actually much worse, they say.
Glad we got that one straightened up quick. Nevada could have been next. Although, come to think of it…
“When people are asked to show their papers, it brings back memories of Nazi Germany,” she said.
The joys of fatherhood…
The same procedure as every year.
Standards schmandards
For all the talk about the profligacy of the Southern European nations, Germany itself falls short of euro area standards, calling for budget deficits of less than 3% and government debt below 60% of gross domestic product. The latest figures from Germany are 3.3% and 73%, according to Eurostat.
“If Germany weren’t in the euro area today, it wouldn’t be able to get in, because it violates both the debt and the deficit criteria,” Buiter said.
This really is alarming
Word is out that every fourth baby born in Germany is born of foreign parents. You know what that means, don’t you?
Three quarters of the babies born here have German parents! Holy Scheiße, this has got to stop.
Von den rund 683.000 Neugeborenen des Jahres 2008 hatten rund 159.000 oder 23 Prozent zumindest eine Mutter oder einen Vater ohne deutschen Pass.
Zentral Park it ain’t
Although it’s about the same size. Tempelhof was a pretty cool airport though.
But the bulldozers aren’t finished with Tempelhof just yet. Starting in 2013, the new park will undergo a four-year, 60-million-euro ($48 million) facelift to become the home of the 2017 International Garden Exhibition. By then, it should look a lot more like its storied New York counterpart.
“Change has come to Germany!”
Or maybe it hasn’t. Let’s see.
If Angie Merkel’s CDU loses today’s big regional election in big North North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) big time, it would mean an end to her coalition’s majority in the upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat.
This would threaten long-promised tax cuts and health system reforms. And you know how it is; a long-promised promise is a long-promised promise.
And that would be the “change has come to Germany” part, see? It wouldn’t really change much of anything, in other words.
With the economic crisis dominating the campaign, Mrs Merkel tried to delay a decision on the hugely unpopular rescue package for Greece until after the poll, but failed. Meanwhile, local councils are sinking into debt. Kindergarten fees have gone up, libraries and swimming-pools are closing.
Collien F.
And speaking of history…
Happy Tag der Befreiung (Liberation Day), Berlin! Tomorrow, I mean.
“For many others it took a long time for the certainty to come through: It was a day of liberation for all.”
Fine Young Bureaucrats
The new “Topography of Terror” documentation center opened in town today.
Who exactly were the men who planned and administered the Nazi crimes?
The index cards cover an entire wall, several hundred of them in pink, beige or green, containing names, dates of birth and handwritten notes. They are the details of some of the 7,000 former employees of the Reichssicherheitshauptamt, the amalgamation of the feared SS paramilitary group and Gestapo secret police force — the men who worked at the very epicenter of the Nazi terror regime.
Observing Hermann 