politik - 18.12.2003 - 17.3.2005

Incomprehension and Criticism Following Wolfowitz Nomination

Incomprehension and criticism after Wolfowitz nomination - somehow fitting. One of the biggest US war agitators is nominated as a candidate for the World Bank presidency and who says to support the "candidacy constructively"? The industrial chancellor. But his rejection of the Iraq war was of course not a bit of political calculation, no, he did it out of full conviction. Which is why he then also sees Wolfowitz favorably as World Bank president - because there he can cause even more and even more efficiently damage, without the US having to send troops again - and you don't get your fingers dirty with book money either ...

Election Debacle in Kiel

Election debacle in Kiel. Great, with this we can then erase Schleswig-Holstein from the map of reason. No matter how the squabbling turns out, if your own people don't even stand behind their leader in the first decisive election, such a government cannot function. It's nice how you can rely on the fact that in times of need, your comrades will stab you in the back.

I feel particularly sorry for the SSW: they had to listen to a lot of nonsense and endure many insults for wanting to support the model - and now they get a kick in the back of the knee. And it should be clear that the SSW will be among the losers if a grand coalition comes about.

Clement doesn't understand democracy

There is no other way to interpret the lies about the position of the Ministry of Economic Affairs on the patent directive. There is a clear and unanimous resolution of the Bundestag. But the Ministry of Economic Affairs shits on the opinion of the parliament as well as the experts.

By the way, the given example of "time and space-saving data storage" is exactly what indicates the problems: there have always been problems with patents on compression algorithms that de facto sealed formats for use in open source programs - which is a considerable obstacle to the interoperability that is being discussed everywhere. Microsoft would only have to store the XML formats in a proprietary binary XML format and could thus prevent, by patent, open source software in Europe from reading the documents.

Other - older - examples of exactly this problem are GIF storage and the LZW algorithm. Both have caused massive problems with interoperability and exactly that is what we will also face in Europe with the current directive.

The claim of the Ministry of Economic Affairs that there is nothing to fear is therefore nothing more than a stupid and transparent lie. Ultimately, the federal government is playing into the hands of the industry giants here, and at the expense of the middle class and open source software.

More on this, as usual, at the FFII.

Agreements on data retention cause outrage

Owl Content

heise online - Absprachen über Vorratsdatenspeicherung lösen Empörung aus

According to a result paper of the backroom talks with Deutsche Telekom, which is available to heise online, investigators and intelligence agencies are pushing for a storage period of 180 days for IP addresses and login data, the connection data in a landline call and in the mobile communications sector, in addition, the location identifier and "if necessary card number (IMSI) or identifier of the terminal device (IMEI)". Deutsche Telekom is said to have agreed to archive the corresponding personal data for this period. Currently, the company stores data for 90 days. Contrary to the requirements of the security authorities, Schily and Zypries are considering storing data for one year.

Great. The demands of the intelligence agencies are already absurd to the extreme - especially in mobile communications, this results in continuous tracking of all mobile subscribers - and Otto Orwell and the combined incompetence of the Ministry of Justice are even demanding more. Great democracy, I feel so safe with so much surveillance.

Zypries will expand DNA tests

Owl Content

Zypries will DNA-Tests ausweiten

Moreover, Zypries wants to restrict the so-called judicial reserve: In the case of anonymous crime scene traces and with the consent of a suspect to the test, a judicial order would no longer be required.

Not only can a repeat burglar end up in the genetic database according to the draft - at least if the police think he might also do more than just burglaries (and to secure the data we simply suspect everyone) - but the last hurdle, namely the judicial decision, is also simply bypassed.

Otto Orwell is working on 1984 and the combined incompetence of the Ministry of Justice on the police state. I did learn that the Ministry of the Interior is responsible for the police and the Ministry of Justice for the courts, and that the separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary should also be reflected in these ministries, but that was probably just a rumor ...

In any case, both are working hand in hand to dismantle the liberal component of our democracy - more efficiently than any Union government. And the opposition is laughing at the stupidity of the government - they are doing all the things that a Union government would not have dared to do, as they would have had to fear re-election ...

Schmidt threatens health insurers over high contribution rates - of course, the health insurers and the profiteers in the executive suite who quickly approved a salary increase for themselves will certainly be very impressed by the threat. Apart from the fact that even I would burst into hysterical laughter if the Proletarians in Berlin came at me with morality ...

Poverty is female

In the young world: Poverty is female. On the occasion of International Women's Day, a reminder that the equality of women in society is by no means fulfilled or even completed - on the contrary, the current social cutbacks in Germany particularly affect women. Surely, politicians will now find a whole bunch of great reasons why we are just imagining all this.

By the way, for the next election, one could also take a look at what the corresponding parties have to say about the topic of women's equality ...

In Rechte auf dem Weg in die Mitte the political scientist Chloé Lachauer discusses in an interview the reasons for right-wing extremism and what to make of the wild accusations of politicians.

Outrage over statement by JuLi chairman - well, Westerwelle was also once a JuLi Hansel and he also had some dumb remarks - so this guy seems to be the future leader of the FDP in 10 years ...

Who believes that small politics works better than big politics, read about Hotel Falckenstein regarding Nr. 1737 and a Veto.

Software patents: EU Commission officially rejects directive restart and our government remains inactive. It would be so simple: the state governments whose parliaments have issued the recommendation that the directive must not pass in this form, would only have to do what their damn duty is: to follow the wish of their national parliament. Instead, everyone plays the yes-man and hides or lies to themselves a perfect world, while EU democracy is trampled on. And all this for the benefit of multinational corporations and at the expense of the European middle class ...

The Union and its Alleged Morality

Merkel: Fischer knows what to do - and when will she learn what she has to do? Namely, just keep her mouth shut? This inflated moral posturing of the Union is simply ridiculous. When has a Union minister ever resigned due to their own misconduct? I mean without the public prosecutor already at the door. None come to mind spontaneously. At most, those who were ousted due to internal Union leadership squabbles - which doesn't really count. This absurd hopping around as if the Union suddenly had a monopoly on morality is simply absurd.

It is particularly absurd when you look at the hounding by Koch in the S.-H. election. That is simply disgusting. With such inflammatory speeches and such a ridiculous understanding of democracy, voters are driven into the arms of the right - after all, they are hardly distinguishable from a Union under people like Koch and his like-minded colleagues ...

One does not gain moral authority by simply claiming it. One might gain it if one refrains from transferring 20 million in black money abroad under the guise of donations from Jewish war victims and then, as compensation, merely ousts a few older politicians who were only in the way of one's own career ...

Municipalities are ripping off the federal government with Hartz IV

And Biedenkopf supports Clement against the municipalities - what do you want to bet that this will quickly be swept under the carpet in the discussion again? Biedenkopf will simply be brought back into line and then it's back to bashing the government. Because apart from verbal attacks, they can't do anything else.

Only one question remains: what about the people? Everyone complains about the politicians and the abuse of the municipalities and the money - but who cares about the people who are now stuck between a rock and a hard place through no fault of their own?

Neither the government nor the opposition make any statements about the people (except for Biedenkopf in a parenthesis). That's all these people are worth to them - a parenthesis and that's it. They are no longer able to work - just a line item in the cost accounting that the municipalities want to offload and the federal government doesn't want.

They are people, you penny-pinchers!

Söder? The very bottom of the political barrel.

Red-Green outraged over Söder statements - and rightly so. Söder repeatedly stands out because his statements have little to do with reality (e.g., when claiming that the SPD is to blame for the emerging Nazis), but in this case, he has added an extra layer of stupidity. If left to his own devices, he would probably demand the death penalty...

Every legal system unfortunately either has holes like a sieve or degenerates into a police state (those who think differently: keyword Gödel, just inform yourself). The attempt to mediate between these two extremes is the task of the legislative power of the state - which lies with the Bundestag. The Union does not have to make constructive proposals for change known through foaming-at-the-mouth hatemongers in the press, but should bring them forward there. Söder's remarks are pure populism and are definitely not intended to solve any existing problem or even define it more closely.

It is horrifying when a child is killed, and every child killed is one child too many - this is undisputed and not up for discussion. However, one cannot instrumentalize the death of a child to push through one's ideas - because reducing child abuse and sexual offenses against children to this one case ignores the much larger number of cases in which the perpetrators had absolutely not been previously convicted or noticed in any way. Where the perpetrators are not some known offenders, but someone from the child's immediate family environment.

Söder's outburst is not only far beyond the mark and absolutely devoid of understanding, it is also a dangerous simplification of the problem.

Ole von Beust for a Northern State

Ole von Beust apparently wants to create a Northern state from S.-H., HH and McPomm - I doubt that's a good idea.

However, the three federal states together would have an even greater overrepresentation of rural regions compared to urban regions in terms of population numbers. And thus, the prospect that this Northern state would firmly be in the hands of the Union - despite a few larger red cities and despite Hamburg. Presumably, that's the simple main motivation for them to calculate something.

However, whether the people of Hamburg would give up their independence and not simply vote out this eccentric at the next election is another matter.

Banner for February 23, 2005

Since I am suspected of salon anti-Americanism, I am of course participating and throwing a heartfelt: You're Not Welcome, Mr. Bush!

at the president. And yes, this refers to Bush and his administration - not to Americans in general. So please put me in the drawer of anti-religion fanatics and anti-war agitators and anti-world policemen when you quote me next (and then you can also leave out the salon before that) ...

The Schill Party in Hamburg dissolves - and goodbye. Make sure the door doesn't hit you in the ass on the way out. No need to come back.

750 votes ...

... about whether Red/Green with the cooperation of the SSW can govern S.-H. for another 4 years. Ouch. You can't really call that a comfortable majority. And somehow, this doesn't make politics in S.-H. any easier to manage ...

The Elections in S.-H.

I can't claim that I'm bursting with joy. So far, Hesse has been the epitome of stupid election results for me. But as usual, reality has outdone itself. I can't claim that this causes me any kind of anticipation for the elections in May here ... What is really disgusting about elections: the blabbering of all the social failure politicians afterwards. So much nonsense in one place should be banned. If a Stoiber blathers on that show politics cannot replace real politics - the man who consists only of show and hollow phrases - then the whole thing takes on quite bizarre traits. One could feel like being in a staging of a play of the Theater of the Absurd:

In it, our everyday world is present in terrifyingly distorted forms. The uncanny, as Sigmund Freud, often arises from the overemphasis of psychological reality in relation to material reality. In the theater of the absurd, the characters only perceive the outside world through the prism of their fears, obsessions, and delusions.

Yep, fits. Can I get my ticket refunded and get my money back?

The Hypocrite of the Evening?

Höhn unter Beschuss - cute how Rüttgers suddenly discovered his alleged heart for women in forced situations. I have not heard that he has ever advocated for women and their rights during the regular forced deportations that also take place in NRW. Simply hypocrisy and political calculation. So much for the topic of cynicism ...

Fischer becomes NRW election campaign issue - Rüttgers must really be at the end of his rope if he has to resort to a federal issue instead of regional topics for his campaign. But well-conducted campaigning has never really been his strength anyway. Not that it would be particularly difficult to find regional issues - after all, the Red-Green government in NRW provides plenty of ammunition for that. Only it seems the Union is just too dumb to exploit it - probably because they themselves have no idea how NRW's problems could be solved. But opening their mouths and screaming to be voted in, that they can do ...

Tough times for Kofi Annan - through smear campaigns and denials from conservative NGOs in the United States. But others are also throwing mud around industriously.

Employers want new study financing

Employers want new study financing - actually, I generally assume that those who want to change something either directly manage that something, or at least are prepared to finance it soon. In other words: if employers want to change study financing, they should first pay for study financing, child allowance, etc. themselves. Because as it stands, this is just hollow rhetoric - employers have nothing to do with the things mentioned and are just shouting populist demands into the room again.

It's really fascinating how they want to regulate payments they themselves don't make and then want to use a credit institution they don't finance. If Hundt had said that employers want to establish and fund a social fund to support study financing, then that would have been an innovative proposal. As it is, it's just blah-blah.

Our employer associations really have gone to the dogs.

Who is to blame for the brown man?

Who is Responsible for the Brown Man?

If not now, when does the Union want to win back these little sheep that have strayed beyond the right edge of reason and humanity into Nazi filth? Put more objectively: what makes the bourgeois opposition currently so repellent to those disappointed by the government that they would rather follow runaway criminals and those stuck in the past? That is the great political question of our time, far more important than the question of whether parties like the NPD or DVU should be banned or not.

Rat der EU ignoriert Forderung des Parlaments - well, that was almost to be expected. Why bother with democracy, it only slows things down anyway ...

Kanther faces penalties - as much as I would welcome it, I won't believe it until the verdict is on the table. And the next courts have ruled. Because somehow the rip-off artists always manage to wriggle out of it anyway ...

Bundestag's Legal Committee votes against software patents

Legal Affairs Committee of the Bundestag votes against software patents - will someone in government finally wake up? Or will the Bundestag's position - like the EU Parliament's position before it - be trampled underfoot?

First appearance as CDU general - and failed

Debut as CDU General: Kauder shocks Red-Green with Nazi comparison. At least one stops wondering why the JU invites Hohmann as a keynote speaker - the tree simply doesn't fall far from the apple here. The Union has been playing with the right-wing fringe time and again since Kohl.

Protests against the situation in Saxony only exist because a few seats didn't go to their own ultra-rightists there. So no real difference of opinion, but pure turf warfare...

FDP's Presentation on Education Policy

FDP: "In Germany, the wrong people are having children" - I was also sitting there pretty flabbergasted at the garbage that Bahr spouted. I just hadn't quite figured out how to verbally attack it. Ralf took that off my hands. Go read it.

Young Union invites former CDU politician Hohmann

Young Union invites ex-CDU politician Hohmann - and thereby makes itself (yet again) a laughingstock of the nation. How stupid can you actually be to stage such an action as criticism of the party leader? Sure, the Young Union hasn't overtaken the federal party on the far right for the first time - but then the CDU must surely be asked the question of how it actually intends to actively combat strengthening right-wing extremism if it recruits its people from such political newcomers ...

VW payments: Federal parliamentarian resigns

Why are politicians basically so stupid to believe their lies won't come out? Or why do they try every time with things like side income, some Miles-and-More deals or whatever else is cooking in terms of petty corruption to get out of it with really banal lies?

Clement expects 20 percent fewer unemployed

Wouldn't it be more sensible if he didn't promise things he can't keep anyway? His forecasts have always been off the mark so far. He could just keep quiet for once ...

No Software Patents

Web-Demo against software patents by ffii. Get involved!

Here's the original article.

Green light for EU Council software patent directive

And democracy is being trampled on. The European economy too. The only ones profiting from this are the large multinational corporations that are already trying to eliminate their competitors today in areas where it's possible - mainly the United States of Dementia - with idiotic patents. And of course the many patent shakedown companies that try to push through the most absurd things as patents just to make quick money without any performance of their own.

One has to ask oneself who the members of the EU Council (and the national governments supporting them) are actually being paid by. The whole thing simply stinks of corruption.

At heise online news there's the original article.

Errico Malatesta - Background on one of the most well-known Italian anarchists