Why switching to summertime is nonsense

Today the yearly clock switching to summertime took place: What a nonsense !
Clocks were switched one hour ahead (+ 1 hour) as usual. Some people say: "Great", so we have one hour more of day light in the evenings: Instead of 9 PM (e.g.) sun set is at 10 PM: "Hello, anybody at home ?!?" I don't wonna sit in a restaurant in the evening, having a romantic dinner and candles are useless since the sky is still blue. Who wants to have a blue sky after 9 PM ?? I want a night sky, I want the stars, I want candles, I want to feel the recreation of the night.

My opinion: Switching to summertime is a rediculous idea: Why do I have to stay up one hour more before it's getting dark (and thereby making it even harder to fall asleep by the way - at least if you don't have a jalousie).

And just by the way.....: Even without summer time (+ 1 hour) the sky remains bright enough in the summer evenings... "Hellooooo !!! ".

And one even more rediculous fact: In the mornings, the sun rises one hour later. Well, that does not make any sense to me: I am not allowed to sleep one additional hour: At least, I think my boss would object.

Please ladies and gentlemen, boys and and girls, anybody who agrees, please leave a comment. I really appreciate your opinion. Let's stop this crazy nonesense. Thanks !!!

So - glaubt die Presse - kann man die Finanzkrise lösen

Top-Manager fordern drastische Maßnahmen gegen die Krise Das Urteil ist vernichtend: Die Bundesregierung tut nicht genug gegen die Rezession - das ist die einhellige Meinung der Top-Manager von acht großen deutschen Konzernen. Laut einer SPIEGEL-Umfrage verlangen sie ein stärkeres Eingreifen gegen die Finanzkrise und eine bessere Kreditversorgung von Seiten der Banken. (...) Zitat aus: Spiegel Online von 6.12.2008, Autor: sam

Ein paaar Fragen dazu:

• Glaubt der Autor wirklich, dass ein paar Milliarden mehr an staatlichen Subventions-Milliarden eine Weltwirtschaftskrise - und sei es nur eine in Deutschland - lösen kann ?
• Glaubt wirklich irgendjemand - die (Spiegel-)Presse eingeschlossen - man muß dazu einfach nur aktionistisch ein paar Milliarden Euro unter die Leute bringen ??
• Wie kommt der Autor auf die Artikelüberschrift ? Aus den Interviewfetzen des Artikels komme ich zumindest nicht auf diese reißerische Überschrift: "...drastische Maßnahmen".
• Was ist überhaupt eine drastische Maßnahme ? A: Eine drastische Maßnahme ist ein Faß ohne Boden und viel heiße Luft - sonst nichts.-
  

Meine Meinung zur Fragestellung des Artikels:

• Eine Suggestivfrage zu stellen (wie man es bei diesem Artikel offenbar gemacht hatte) erscheint mir ziemlich unprofessionell und wenig erhellend für jedwede Problemlösung.
• Wenn man in Zeiten schlechter Wirtschaftlage jemanden fragt: "Glauben Sie, dass der Staat mehr tuen sollte, als er z.Zt. tut ?" (also eine Suggestivfrage stellt), was glaubt der geneigte Leser werden 90% der Interviewten (inclusive irgendwelcher Manager) antworten ? - Wohl kaum: "Nein - bleiben Sie mir weg mit staatlichem Geld... ich will es lieber selber schaffen. Ich bin nicht nur ein Schönwetter-Manager !"

So löst man Probleme in der staatlichen Finanzbranche

HSH Nordbank will 50 Milliarden Euro Risiko-Positionen auslagern Die HSH Nordbank will nach Informationen des SPIEGEL ihre Bilanz bereinigen, indem sie Risiko-Optionen im Umfang von 50 Milliarden Euro in eine externe Gesellschaft schiebt. NRW-Ministerpräsident Rüttgers feilt derweil an einem separaten Rettungspaket für die Landesbanken. Hamburg - Das Ziel ist klar: Durch das Auslagern der Risiko-Optionen in eine externe Gesellschaft wird die Bilanz bereinigt - und die Kapitalquote soll auf mindestens acht Prozent angehoben werden. Offen ist nach Informationen des SPIEGEL noch, wie viel frisches Geld die Eigentümer zusätzlich liefern müssen und wie die Haftungsverhältnisse für die neue Gesellschaft aussehen werden. Mit der Maßnahme kommt die HSH Nordbank den Forderungen des Sonderfonds Finanzmarktstabilisierung (Soffin) nach. Der Soffin hat bereits Liquiditätsgarantien von 30 Milliarden Euro zugesagt. Im Gegenzug muss die HSH Nordbank bis Ende Februar ein Sanierungskonzept vorlegen. (...) Zitat aus: Spiegel Online vom 6.12.2008 - Autor: sam -

Ein paar Fragen dazu:

• Ist es eigentlich juristisch erlaubt, Verluste in eine andere Firma einzubringen, wenn diese mit grosser Wahrscheinlichkeit pleite gehen wird ?
• Handelt es sich nicht um eine verschleppte Insolvenz, wenn man eine Firma ausgründet mit dem alleinigen Ziel, alle Riskopositionen einer anderen Firma zu übernehmen ?
• Ist es eigentlich erlaubt eine Firma zu gründen, die zum Zwecke der Verlustoptimierung gegründet wird ?
• Ist das nur bei staatlichen Firmen erlaubt, oder dürfen Firmen in der freien Wirtschaft das auch ?Oder ist das in der freien Wirtschaft so üblich und staatliche Firmen machen das nur nach ?
  

President elections in Iran

Source: Yahoo News, Germany

Samstag 25. Juni 2005, 22:15 Uhr

Brüssel reagiert zurückhaltend auf Wahl in Iran

Brüssel (dpa) - Die EU-Kommission hat sehr zurückhaltend auf den Ausgang der Präsidentenwahl in Iran reagiert. Man erwarte, dass der neue Präsident Mahmud Ahmadinedschad die Forderungen des Volkes nach demokratischen Reformen beachte, erklärte eine Sprecherin in Brüssel. Das gelte auf für die Unterstützung der Menschenrechte und die Einhaltung des Rechtstaatlichkeit. Die Beschwerden über angebliche Unregelmäßigkeiten bei der Wahl seien ein ernsthaftes Problem, das schnell geklärt werden müsse, so die Sprecherin.

Translation into English:

Saturday 25 June 2005, 22:15
Brussels reacts reservedly to elections in Iran
Brussels (dpa) - The European Union commission has very reservedly reacted to the result of the president's elections in Iran. One expects that the new president Mahmud Ahmadinedschad considers the demands of the people for democratic reforms, explained a spokeswoman in Brussels. That includes the support for human rights and the adherence to legal rights. The complaints over alleged irregularities with the election were a serious problem, which had to be clarified fast, so the spokeswoman.

*********************************************************************************
Some remarks:

--> The new president of Iran was said to be elected by about 62.2% of the voters. His competitor was said to have collected about 35.3% of the votes.

--> A spokeswoman of the European Commission (i.e. of the European government) pointed out that:
* ...the Iranian people expected democratic reforms.
* ...that legal rights in Iran had to be respected by the Iranian government.
* ...that there were rumours about anomalies with the elections.

Some thoughts about this:
-> People usually vote for the politicians who promise to them the improvement of their living conditions.
-> The winner of the Iranian president's election is obviously not the wished candidate of the western governments.

-> Where did a majour group of the people of Iran articulate that they wanted democratic reforms ?
-> Is it possible to articulate your opinion in Iran when you are an opponent of the government ?

-> Why did the people of Iran vote for somebody who is said to be an extremist ?
-> Do the people of Iran wish to have an extremistic president ?

-> Do the people of Iran regard the elected president of Iran to be an extremist ?
-> Did the current religious leader of Iran (Ayatollah Chamenei) manipulate the elections so that not the favoured candidate (of western governments) Rafdjanjani was elected but his competitor, the former mayor of the capital Teheran ?

-> Do the sources of income of Iran (mainly its oil production) serve the Iranian people ?
-> Would an expropriation serve the Iranian people in regard to education and prosperity ?

-> Does the European Commission criticize the Iranian president elections justifiably ?
-> Is the criticism, pointed out by the spokeswoman, meant truthfully ?

-> Is the criticism of the spokeswoman done with the wish in mind to truthfully support the Iranian people ?
-> Would a democratic reform help the Iranian people increase their private wealth ?

-> Should the western countries interfere into Iraninan domestic politics ?
-> Should the western governments carry democratic reforms to Iran by violence ?

-> Should the Iran have a democratic government like in Western Europe ?
-> Do the economic powers in Iran bring the same amount of wealth to the country as they do in Western European countries ?

* How much money do companies in Europe transfer to the respective tax authorities in Western European countries ?
* How much money do companies in Iran transfer to their tax authorities ?

-> Would an expropriation of companies in Iran help the people of Iran in economic regards ?

Theses:
1: The people of Iran deserve the president whom they elected.
2: Democracy should not be carried to another country by force because this contradicts basic democratic values.
3: If democratic reforms are not carried to extremisticly reigned countries many of that countries population have to suffer.
4: The tax income of Iran relative to the income of the comanies in Iran is lower than the tax quota in western countries. If so, this might be regarded as an exploition of the resouces of Iran.

Casted my ballot today

I casted my ballot for the State Elections in North-Rhine Westfalia today. Maybe you read my election information during the week of April 10th to April 14th.

Went right to the Main Election office close to the town hall and casted my ballot there. Didn't want to wait for the election day since I don't know if I'll be in town on that Sunday.

You are actually allowed to vote when your name appears in the electoral register. If you move to another town you have to notify the registration office of the respective town. Thereby you're automatically added to the electoral register, if you're owner of the German citizenship.

Most eligible voters will certainly cast their respective ballot on the election day on Sunday, 22nd May, 2005.

Election Campaign - FDP

The Free Democratic Party (FDP) is one of the two smaller parties in the State of North-Rhine Westfalia (NRW), where I live. (The other small party is The Greens (Grüne)).

The FDP is in the opposition role in North-Rhine Westfalia (NRW) at the moment, together with the other big German party, the CDU.

Party leader of the FDP in the state of North-Rhine Westfalia is Mr. Andreas Pinkwart, a not very known politician, even to State residents.

Leader of the party in the State parliament is Mr. Ingo Wolf. He shares the same fate, i.e. not to be very known to State citizens outside of his party.

The upcoming State election for the North-Rhine Westfalian parliament will take place on Sunday, 22nd May, 2005.

In the 2000 elections, the FDP gained 721,558 votes. That's 9.8 % of all votes.

The writing on the election poster says:
Support (the education of) our children,
don't spend money on hard coal subvention.

Well, I should come to talk about the hard coal situation later.

Election campaign - CDU

On Sunday, 22nd May, 2005, there will be the State election for the North-Rhine Westfalian parliament.

The Christian Democratic Party (CDU) is one of the two big parties in the State of North-Rhine Westfalia (NRW) and currently in the opposition role.

Leader of the party in the State parliament and Party Leader in the State of North-Rhine Westfalia is Mr. Jürgen Rüttgers. He is not really popular so far but has a background from his time in the Federal Government when Chancellor Kohl and the CDU formed the Federal Government (until 1998).

In the 2000 elections, the CDU in the State of North-Rhine Westfalia gained 2,712,176 votes. That's 37,0 % of all votes.

The writing on the election poster says:
5 Million cancellations of (school) lessons.
"Enough is enough !"

Well, I wouldn't bet a dime that they'll do better.

Election Campaign - SPD

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) is one of the two big parties in the State of North-Rhine Westfalia, where I live. (The other one is called CDU).

The SPD is on power in the State of North-Rhine Westfalia since 39 years. The Ministerpräsident (Premier of a State) is head of the different secretaries and member of the party on power.

Currently this position is filled by Peer Steinbrück (left on photo).

The upcoming State election for the North-Rhine Westfalian parliament will take place on Sunday, 22nd May, 2005. The election date was announced one year before by the State government.

In 2000, the SPD gained 3,143,179 votes. That's 42.8 % of all votes.

The writing on the election poster says:
I don't promise workplaces,
but I fight for them every day.

Well, I'm sure every unemployed will be happy to hear this.

State elections

Currently there are four parties in the State Parliament of North-Rhine Westfalia. Two of these parties, the SPD (102 seats) and the Grüne (17 seats) form a coalition and therefore build the State government. Together they have a majority of 119 seats (out of 231 seats).

The two opposition parties are the CDU (88 seats) and the FDP (24 seats).

The 16 Federal States in Germany all have their respective election laws. It is the right of the particular State government to choose the date of the State election within a margin. The election turnus varies from 4 to 5 years depending on the State.

A 5%-hurdle is applied within all of the 16 State Elections and also with elections for the Federal Parliament.

In the following days I'd like to give you a little survey over each of the four parties represented in the State Parliament of North-Rhine Westfalia.

Genocide in Sudan

Do you remember the genocide in Ruanda and former Zaire, now called Democratic Republic of Kongo in 1994 ? Are you aware of the ongoing killing in that region ?

It is affirmed that at least 1 million people were killed during that genocide. The world decided to do better in the Sudan conflict. Does it?

Population of Sudan (before the killing): About 35 million.
The Sudanese government still (2005) sends so-called Janjaweed (Dschandschawid)-Militia to fight the civilian population in the West Sudanese region of Darfur. Altogether the Sudanese government seems to support a few dozens of Militia groups in Sudan.

Interposed question: Why does a government support or use Militia ? Because Militia are no official Armed Forces. In regard to Public Relation that comes in handy.

It is unclear (to me) how many Militia troops are supressing and killing and displacing the civilian population of Western Sudan.

Sources on TV used to talk about 1 million displaced persons and about 10,000 having been killed already but that numbers just sound like helpless estimations to me that can not be affirmed by any reliable source so far. Sources also estimate that 300,000 people or more are about to die due to direct killing or due to indirect starving from hunger (provoked by the expulsion).

Interposed question: How many people have to be killed before a genocide is affirmed ?

I think you could call it genocide (if numbers were affirmed) but genocide is a dangerous word as the UN would have to intervene militaryly.

That brings us to the question: What was there at first, the chicken or the egg ?Meaning:Does the Sudanese government kill 'rebel' people in Western Sudan or do the Rebel Groups exist because the Government (Militia and official Air Force) is fighting civilian people in Western Sudan ?

Well, basically one would say that governmental executives normally don't tend to kill its civilian population if they in fact want to kill some rebels. But that's what actually seems to happen in Western Sudan as all international help organizations tell. And in common terms one would call that genocide.

Interposed question: Is the UN really willing to intervene thistime ?

Actually nobody seems to be interested in looking too closely into numbers.

After all... which advantages for the western world could Sudan bring ? It's that much underdeveloped that it's just not attractive for any kind of intervention. (That's meant to be cynical !!)

But I'd like to add: If you kill a human being directly or if you let him starve from hunger by displacing him from his soil makes no difference: It's both murder !

And at least in our western culture it is a crime to let children starve from hunger if you know about it, isn't it?

There seem to be some resistence of some black African rebel groups but they seem to be highly inefficient in protecting the Western Sudanese civilian population. Besides any Militia or official troops in unstable African countries (proof me wrong !) tend to serve just certain factions or local warlords. So it obviously makes no sense supporting any faction by delivering weapons.

People who really want to end a war, build up their country and help the civilian population to gain education and prosperity do not exist or are being killed.

So, shouldnt't anyone do something more forcefully about it ? And can it be done without marching into Sudan ? Can the displaced people be protected from being displaced ? Can food be brought to the starving people of Western Sudan in time ?

From a geographical point of view one might say:

1. It's the job of the African Union (AU) because Sudan belongs to Africa.
2. It's the job of the European Union (EU) because they are located next closest.
3. It's the job of the United States (USA) because they are a super power.
4. It's the job of some other powers.

I) Africa is unfortunately unable to help itself:

II) Europe simply lacks the self confidence and especially joined European Armed Forces.
III) The NATO (USA and Europe), which could be seen as a kind of European Armed Forces, was not constructed to intervene in Africa.
IV) The US normally arguments that Europe doesn't need European Armed Forces as there is the NATO.

Convincing isn't it ? Do you get the logic ?

V) The USA is simply not able nor interested in intervening militarily due to other military comitments (such as Afghanistan, Iraq... Iran, Syria etc.).

A simple final question: How long can one make it without water and food ? When will we get rid of all those annoying sounds of suffering ?

Population of Sudan (after killing or displacement): Not less than 34.2 million. (Since population of Western Sudan is just about 833,000. Lucky us... we'll miss the million...)

Damage to people in Northern Dafur province (680,000) and Southern Dafur province (760,000) is not taken into account though.

George Dubya in Germany

George Dubya [2], 43rd President of the US, arrived in (South Western) Germany today. Obviously, there was not enough snowfall to prevent him from doing so.

Dubya's just visiting Mainz, a neat city of about 182,000 inhabitants belonging to Rhineland-Palatinate, one of the 16 states of Germany.

His father visited Mainz, too, when he was the 41st President of the US.

The German capital Berlin is located some 350 miles eastwards and has about 3.5 million inhabitants.

I guess German chancellor Gerhard Schröder ('chancellor' = comparable to 'president' in the US) will ingest this idea and touch down in Des Moines, Iowa, or maybe in Grand Rapids, Michigan, or Boise City, Idaho on his next visit to the US.

Hell... everybody knows Washington (DC) from TV - visiting Des Moines, Grand Rapids or Boise City makes more sense anyway, right?!

Dubya arrives in Europe

I'm so excited !! Dubya (George W. Bush) arrived in Europe today. Hip hip hurray !! Hold me back !!

Where in Europe did he plunge in ? In Belgium, which is one of the smaller member states of the European Union (EU). Phew... good luck, he missed Germany just a few centimetres on the map. Belgium is located at the North Sea (adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean), just opposite to Great Britain (United Kingdom).

Dubya visits Brussels, the capital of Belgium. Brussels also happens to house numerous important European institutions, such as the European Comission. Parliamentary committee meetings and any additional plenary sessions are also held in Brussels. Hope the bureaucracy there can keep Dubya occupied for a while. (Don't get me wrong: I'm happy that we have those institutions there.)

Belgium has about 10 Mio. inhabitants. In comparison: Germany 82 Mio., France 60 Mio., ( Great Britain 60 Mio. ), Italy 57 Mio., Spain 40 Mio., Poland 38 Mio., (...) - European Union (EU) altogether about 454 Mio. as of today.

In contrast: United States 292 Mio., Canada 31 Mio., Mexico 105 Mio.: US/Mex/Can altogether about 428 Mio. inhabitants.

Allright, so what's Dubya gonna do in Europe? It's said that he isn't angry on Germany and France (Old Europe) anymore and that he forgives us for having been naughty.

Oh dang... I'm so relieved !! Thank you, oh thank you Great Dubya, you're my hero, may I kiss your feet ??

The future of Europe

I felt like thinking 15 years into future this evening.

In the year 2020:

1. Great Britain politically has left Europe: Due to its historical role it feels closer to the US and the majority of its inhabitants have just voted to become the 51st state of the United States. The other European countries still resent Britain to have thrown back European unification efforts for years due to the British NO to the European Constitution referendum.
   
2. Political ties between Europe (with the exception of Great Britain) and the US have loosened more and more over the past 15 years. The NATO still exists but has lost a lot of its former relevance.
3. The UN have not yet recovered from its credibility loss in regard to genocides (like in Sudan in the beginning of the 21st century) and other genocides which were not declared as such. Actual genocides were not declared as such since none of the industrialized countries was willing to spend a reasonable sum of money nor soldiers to prevent these genocides. The UN (like the NATO) is paralized. Military actions against genocides are currently only conducted if power supplies in the US are threatened.
   
4. A European defence Ministery exists but there never was a sufficient majority of votes of the European member states voting in favor of military actions in the European neighbourhood. Millions of humans in African countries had to die for this reason. The European political and military heavyweights argue that it's been a failure of the UN.
5. Asia, Europe and Eastern Europe have made progress in regard to scientific, economic and employment aspects. The US has still to recover from its financial burdens arisen from its Armed Forces and its defence efforts against terrorism in the past years. While the US concentrated on the modernization of its military the other industrialized countries spend comparatively more money into research areas.
6. Some settlers, scientists and private investors from all over the world build up a permant station on the moon. US space pioneer Burt Rutan and his company Scaled Composites laid the basis for this. NASA, ESA and NASDA were unable to fulfill the job effectively since they were governmental institutions gulping billions of dollars without using them efficiently. Space development was thrown back for years due to this ineffectiveness as fact-finding committees unveiled.
   

Mean talking about Ronald

Ok... it's mean what I'm gonna say. You see... that's a bad habit of mine !!

I mentioned my friend Ronald the other day. Well, Ronald has a funny surname. And his surname is his real surname but it's so common (like Miller) that I can tell it here. No problem. Besides, Ronald is a funny guy himself... he always makes fun of himself so he won't mind.

His last name is Dumbfield. Yep... it's true! Now, what I always wondered but didn't dare to ask him: What's 'field' to do with 'dumb'?? Or have you ever seen a 'dumb field'? That doesn't make sense at all - and I've thought that for all the years that I know Ronny now.

But then it hit me lately: Ronny mentioned one day that some of his male European ancestors who at times became soldiers had actually little luck as such. As the story goes they usually didn't manage to see the end of the respective war in good health. They are even said to have not been of great use for their respective warlords. So... maybe as a kind of self-punishement or result of their embarassement, maybe because their former warlord forced them to, they adopted 'Dumbfield' as their family name.

Having the martial background of his ancestors in mind the riddle about my friends' surname is certainly easy to unveil: I'm pretty sure now that his ancestors were not very successful or lucky in the field of war. So... to be 'dumb in the field' explains itself: It's simply someone who is a little dumb in the handicraft of war.

Second clue for my assumption: the word 'field' from his name means actually 'feld' in German. So, a guy who was said to be 'in the field' was actually taking part in some kind of war. Funny, isn't it? Why didn't they just say: He's taking part in a war. Instead they hid his true profession by saying: He's 'in the field'.

Must ask Ronny next time we meet if my assumptions are right !