We’re Not Doing Anything Wrong

March 24, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Hi-tech, Hypocrisy Tags: Arms Sales, Berlin, Exports, German, Germans, Germany, Profit, Saying No, Weapons, Weapons Exports 3 Comments

The following was taken from the aricle “Wir tun doch nix…” in this week’s Die Zeit.

Germany is neither this consistently pacifist country (described beforehand in the article) nor this worldly-wise state dealing in power politics, rather a bad mix of both: A country that strictly refuses to participate in military interventions but makes every effort to export its weapons instead, gladly to dictatoships in crises regions; a country that is very guarded when it comes to criticism concerning human rights issues in China and Russia, a country that has even begun to wonder if democracy itself is always the best answer; and all of this while acting as if it were the world champion of morality at the same time.

No, nobody would want to live in a country like that. Not even the Germans themselves.

Profitieren statt intervenieren. In einem solchen Land möchte man tatsächlich nicht leben.

Germans Suddenly Poor

March 22, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, High Art, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Central Banks, Economics, EU, Euro Crisis, German, Germans, Germany, Humor, Income, Property, Satire, Wealth Leave a comment

The Bundesbank (Germany’s central bank) has just published a study showing that the average German household is a full three times less wealthy than its crisis-hit Spanish or Italian counterparts.

Whereas the median Spanish household has net wealth of €178,000, the equivalent in Germany is €51,000.

“These German households are downright poor,” a spokesman for the Bundesbank said after presenting the study. “Relatively speaking, I mean. In fact they are so poor that they have to eat cereal with a fork just to save milk.”

“Poor? These households are so poor they only have two TV channels: On and off.”

“We’re talking poor here, folks. These households are so poor that the ducks throw bread at them.”

Germany’s relatively low level of home ownership is one of the principal reasons suggested for the wealth disparity.

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Jews

March 21, 2013 By Hermann Observer in High Art, Higher Education, History, Humor Tags: Berlin, Exhibitions, German, Germans, Germany, Humor, Jewish Museum Berlin, Jews, Satire Leave a comment

But were afraid to ask.

A Rabbi is asked why Jews always answer a question with another question. “Why not?” he replies.

“Für mich gilt jeder als Jude, der meschugge genug ist, sich selbst einen zu nennen.”

Der Spiegel Ten Years After: Iraq Invasion Commemorated By Unleashing Obsessive-Compulsive Headline Offensive

March 20, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hate, Helplessness, History, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hypochondria, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Der Spiegel, German, Germans, Germany, Humor, Hype, Iraq, Journalism, Propaganda, Saddam Hussein, Satire 4 Comments

Bam, bam, bam! The Spiegel just had to knock off three of these puppies in a row, that’s how excited they must have been about the tenth anniversary of the US-lead invasion of Iraq.

I didn’t actually read these, of course. Why should I? I already knew what was in them.

10 Lessons from America’s ‘Dumb War’

This article reminds us once again how invading Iraq and getting rid of Saddam Hussein was a really dumb thing to do and how smart and farsighted and enlightened Germans were for having said no before anyone ever even had the chance to ask them.

Iraq War Seen as ‘Strategic Failure by Many’

This explains why the invasion made everything so awful “down there” and how it has turned that entire region of the world into the terrible, dreadful and hopeless place it is today.

Baghdad Then and Now

This is all about how much nicer it was living in Iraq before that dumb old strategic failure of an invasion took place.

Where bombs once fell, residents now buy groceries. Where militias patrolled, campaign posters now hang. Yet peace is still a long way off.

Ja zum Klimawandel!

March 19, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, High Art, Humor, Hypochondria, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Climate Change, Earth Hour, Electricity, German, Germans, Germany, Hamburg, Power Grids Leave a comment

Ja zum Klimawandel? Yes to climate change? I guess I just don’t get this Earth Hour thing. I thought everybody was supposed to be against climate change.

But that’s going to be Hamburg’s motto this Sunday when the Hamburgers turn off their lights for an hour for, uh, the Earth or something. Man oh man. Berlin could never take part in an event like this. Berliners would worry too much that the power wouldn’t switch back on again once the hour was up.

And I really don’t see what all this organizational fuss is all about, either. With the German power grid in the condition it is in these days, there are bound to be all kinds of Earth hours right around the corner here before too long.

Unter dem Motto “Ja zum Klimawandel!” nehmen auch wieder das Hamburger Rathaus und die fünf Hauptkirchen teil, um ein Signal zu setzen, wie wichtig der Klimaschutz ist und dass den Beteiligten die Erde nicht egal ist.

Warning Strikes Led To Big Train Delays In Berlin This Morning

March 18, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Die Bahn, Germans, Germany, Humor, Satire, Strikes, Trains, Unions Leave a comment

But fortunately, nobody here in Berlin seems to have noticed.

The trains here are always delayed, get it?

Bei den Warnstreiks der Bahn-Mitarbeiter sind die Berliner relativ glimpflich davon gekommen. Dafür legte ein Zwischenfall den kompletten Schienenverkehr zwischen den Bahnhöfen Zoologischer Garten und Friedrichstraße lahm.

He’s Been Looking For Freedom

March 17, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Health, Helplessness, High Art, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hypochondria, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Anarchism, Berlin, Berlin Wall, Confusion, David Hasselhoff, Demonstrations, East Side Gallery, German, Germans, Germany, Humor, Madness, Politics, Protest, Satire 2 Comments

Or a little media coverage, at least. Damn. Another demo party freak show happening thingy I somehow managed to miss.

Hasselhoff said on Sunday that a real estate developer’s plans to move part of the wall was “like tearing down an Indian burial ground” because of the great historical importance it had.

Where’s The Money?

March 17, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypochondria, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Climate Change, CO2, Cost, Economics, German, Germans, Germany, Government spending, Green Technology, Humor, Ideology, Politics, Renewable energy, Satire, The Green Shirts Leave a comment

Germany’s Federal Minister for the Environment, Peter Altmaier, will now be shutting down 14 German climate protection programs due to cost conerns, not that anyone here who can do any arithmetic will take much notice or much less care.

Funding for something called Elektromobilität (electromobility) will be cut first, soon to be followed by funding cuts for Stromspeichern (energy storage technology) with the other cuts soon to follow. Billions of a vital natural resource are missing, it seems (they call them “euros” here), this because European CO2 emmission rights certificate trading just ain’t bringing in the cash it’s supposed to do.

Do I detect pattern here? Why is it that the so-called real world is always getting in the way of those way cool dream world plans that so many folks out there want to make come true so really, really, really bad? Who is behind this, anyway? It just has to be a conspiracy (again).

Demnach sollten die Projekte ursprünglich aus dem Energie- und Klimafonds der Bundesregierung finanziert werden. Dort klaffe jedoch eine Milliardenlücke, weil der europäische CO2-Zertifikatehandel nicht genug Geld in die Kasse spüle.

Speaking Of Green Disasters…

March 14, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helections, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Energy Turnaround, German, Germans, Germany, Green energy, Ideology, Nuclear energy, Politics, Renewable energy Leave a comment

“Germany’s Green Energy Disaster: A Cautionary Tale For World Leaders”

“The costs of our energy reform and restructuring of energy provision could amount to around one trillion euros by the end of the 2030s.”

The Green Shirts vs. The Environment

March 13, 2013 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helections, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Berlin, Clean Energy, Ecology, Energy Turnaround, Environment, German, Germans, Germany, Nature, Nuclear energy, Politics, Renewable energy, Solar energy, The Greens, Wind Energy Leave a comment

Guess who’s going to win?

One would assume that ecology and the Energiewende, Germany’s plans to phase out nuclear energy and increase its reliance on renewable sources, were natural allies. But in reality, the two goals have been coming into greater and greater conflict…

Since the party’s founding in 1980, it has championed a nuclear phaseout and fought for clean energy. But now that this phaseout is underway, the Greens are realizing a large part of their dream — the utopian idea of a society operating on “good” power — is vanishing into thin air. Green energy, they have found, comes at an enormous cost. And the environment will also pay a price if things keep going as they have been.

“We should overcome the temptation to sacrifice environmental protection for the sake of fighting climate change. Preserving a stable natural environment is just as important.”

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

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