Tag Archives: Politics

Wayne’s World

September 19, 2011 By in Helections, High Art, History Tags: , , , , , , , , , 7 Comments

Kennst Du Wayne? Wayne es interessiert?

Is anybody here really supposed to care that the Pirate Party, “a party in tune with the Berlin vibe” (and a cheap if not even flakier immitation of the Swedish original) attracted enough votes to win its first ever seats in the Berlin state parliament yesterday?

Nothing aginst Internet freedom activist freaks or anything, I just don’t want to have to deal with them in the non-virtual world like this.

Of course the real news is that the FDP (a real live party from Planet Earth) got tossed out. Hey, Scheiße happens.

And here you thought California was the land of nuts, flakes and fruits.

“Wir werden als erstes auf die Laternen klettern und unsere Plakate wieder runterholen.”

Courage? In German Politics?

June 3, 2011 By in Habitudes, Helplessness, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment

In US politics, rhetoric is an art form, leading to vigorous debate and vibrant political life. Not so in Germany, where fear and faintheartedness have resulted in a lack of vision and a shortage of personality.

Political peer pressure has spawned a military-like obedience. When did those at the top begin perceiving the individuality of those rising behind them as a threat? In Berlin, vagueness is seen as the perfect position, hedging as a tactical necessity and clear positions as hazardous.

A similarly noxious development is taking place in the world of journalism. Americans use the phrase “24/7” — a state of constant breathlessness — in reference to the modern news cycle. The online media (not exclusively, but more so than others) contribute to a tabloidization of political journalism by using the sort of pointed emphasis designed to generate more page views from readers… And its effects are as likely to promote hysteria as in Germany. 

Minority Report

July 14, 2010 By in Habitudes, Helections, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , 4 Comments

Toleration?

Here’s how you form coalition governments if you’re the SPD in North Rhine-Westphalia (they’ve done this before): First of all, don’t win the election. Then, form a minority government with the Greens which is “tolerated” by the Left Party.


 
And here’s how the toleration part works: The Left Party quietly qets a whole lot more of what it wants than what it deserves by discretely making agreements with the coaltion partners behind the scenes while boldly threatening to stop its toleration and thus them (the coalition partners) dead in their tracks. Then, in one or two or however many years it takes, the voters get grossed out about the policies they didn’t really support or vote for in the first place, hold the coaltion partners accountable for the mess, vote them out, and the Left Party comes strolling out of the mess and into the opposition smelling like a rose. You know, as in “We weren’t in the government!”

Run with it, Hannelore.

Ministerpräsidentin mit Makel

Go for the Gauck

June 8, 2010 By in History Tags: , , , , , , 4 Comments

Grassroots political activism in action – again.

Not particularly interested in Christian Wulff, the presidential candidate the current ruling coalation is pushing through, German internet activists are activating the Internet for Mr. No Chance in Hell Joachim Gauck instead.

More power to ya, folks, but he’s just too impartial and unconnected and doesn’t have a chance, like I said. But hey, do the right thing. You never know. Like the German saying goes: You don’t have a chance, so use it.

“Gauck has a rich life story shaped by the Cold War. At the age of 11, his father was arrested by communist authorities and sent to the Gulag in Siberia. After the Berlin Wall fell, Gauck ran the state-run archives on the Stasi, earning recognition for exposing the crimes of the dreaded East German secret police.”

“Change has come to Germany!”

May 9, 2010 By in Heconomy Tags: , , , , , , , 2 Comments

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.

European Vacation

April 18, 2010 By in Helplessness Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Finally, after a somewhat strenuous Californian vacation (because it was way too short), Iceland’s volcanic ash cloud has forced German Chancellor Angela Merkel to finally take a little more time off her busy schedule than she might usually want to do and reflect and relax a little while vacationing right here in good old Old Europe, perhaps finally making it back to Berlin maybe one day in the process, where everybody has kind of sort of been expecting her irgendwie (somehow).

The first stop of her current European tour began on Friday when her plane was diverted to Portugal. After a night in Lisbon, she flew over to Rome just before the air traffic got canned there too. Then she headed north from Rome to Bolzano in northeast Italy in an armored limousine and is currently, I believe, busing it over the Alps back to Berlin and could be arriving here at any moment or at least anytime within the next week or two (is Rainbow Tours still in business?).

What’s a forty or fifty hour flight back home with planes, trains and automobiles (and buses) as long as you can combine it with some handshakes and photos and a little sight-seeing here and there? And get paid for it, I mean.

“She has, after all, been spared a day of campaigning in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which holds a crucial election next month which her center-right coalition stands to lose.”