Red Reed

Cheaply called “the Red Elvis”, American singer/actor Dean Reed pursued his beliefs in Marxism by moving to East Germany in 1973. Say what you will about him, he was sincere, but I could never quite understand how he managed to square away his passion for individualistic themes in his music, gazing a sympathetic eye to the lone, hard working cowboy, with the concept of collectivism, and thus on acute social dependency.

Personally, I think any fealty offered to Marxist-Leninism is misguided, requiring one to accept too many lies as a part of its’ stated virtues. Then again, I remember it first hand.



Here he is in an appearance in the DDR with a vieux copain, Phil Everly, who made what was in 1979, a historic visit. It was a sort of casually and quietly organized form of Ping Pong diplomacy, later to be tried by Bruce Springsteen in 1988.



While his voice was tender, and his craft good, in truth Reed was more of a curiosity to the world outside of the Warsaw Pact/Comecon/Soviet sphere than anything else. Within it, he grew to be a little like the Pepsi they sold in the eastern bloc: it was similarly packaged to the stuff they wanted, but slightly different in a way – only permitted to offer just so much, and no more.

Mach Mit, and All That [erp]

September 1944: From the German magazine “Simplissimus”, we find the same argument employed by the French ‘radicals’ today. That American and British, nay ”Anglo-Saxon” hostility is poisoning their bucolic, egalitarian idyll.



We Recycle!

Man as Mere Cannon Fodder

So, if war isn’t the answer, what was the question exactly?

“Even with Europe in decay, still a war should have roused the healthy elements; a war should have awakened a lot of hidden powers, and surely so much energy would have been present among 250 million people that at least a respectable battle would have occurred, in which both parties could have reaped some honor, as much honor as courage and bravery can gain on the battlefield.”

- Marx & Engels, “The Boring War”, 1854

Film: Allemagne année zéro

Directed by Roberto Rossellini in 1948, it's offers a sense of life after war and disaster.



The playlist for the entire film can be found here.

A desperate thirteen-year-old boy scrambles for survival in the nightmarishly dilapidated remains of 1945 Berlin, trying to support his sick father by thieving and scavenging in the streets. When he encounters a kindly former schoolteacher, the old man reveals himself to be a devious Nazi sympathizer capable of exacting a terrible influence on his erstwhile charge.

This Just in From the “Things one is Obliged to Say in Public Department”

In other words: keep nodding at all costs.

Some countries like Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany and Norway believe that “these weapons have no military purpose.” However, given their proximity to Iran and Russia, Turkey and the Baltic countries are staunchly opposed to any withdrawal.

Staunch opposition presumably because... they have no purpose ?

Don't Cross the Mullet

Beard-cutting attacks throw spotlight on Ohio Amish

It also has put the spotlight on the strange punishment some say is doled out for crossing Mullet.

Now if they'll only have a few Children to Corrupt this way Mentally...

Passivity and sheepishness... It even extends to finding new and horrible ways to neglect their childrens' well being in "innovative and modern" ways:

German sex experts (and there’s a whole bunch of those, let me tell you) think that parents’ porn fears are exaggerated and that online pornography is actually a wonderful and thoroughly wholesome way to change the way young people learn about sex.

Here's an idea: stop experimenting with on your children, and they won't turn into serial killers.

Where's Waldo ? ! ?

No discussion of the nature of Socialism is complete without a rubber chicken.

Seeking out the Velvet-Gloved Fist of the State

Hair attacks force Amish to seek outside help

The leader of a breakaway Amish group, Mullet said an attack on fellow Amish in which a man's beard was cut off was a religious issue stemming from long-standing resentment.

Let's play Guess that Foul Recipe

To wit:

•2 lb. fat trimmings from pork
•1 apple (optional)
•1 onion (optional)
•Salt (optional)

Have you given up yet?

Mars Needs Women

Pretentious Crap, circa 1988

"Halb-Stadt" (Berlin West)

Where exactly DOES Art-Haus rubbish go when it dies?

Gosh, those Zany Kids are at it Again!

The ususal German dial-a-mob thing isn't working this time.

Literally a dozen or two protesters took part in the “Occupy Frankfurt” campaign a week or two ago and some reports indicate that a few of them even stayed there to continue protesting overnight. And that was just the start of it, folks. There were surely even dozens more occupying Frankfurt during protests now being held against the ECB this weekend although I’m having trouble finding news reports covering them because most Frankfurters leave Frankfurt over the weekend, it seems, as nobody here really seems to care.

The List is UNCH

Once 426, and nay down to 420 Berlin merchants are taking up a nasty bit of American cultural imperialism: offering free WiFi.

You've Gotta Look Busy

If I could rename all those “International” Geneva-based institutions anything, I would call them the “Fake-Crisis Emergency Management Center”

A Nation of Sitzpinklers

Canada becomes Sweden.

Even more surprising, though, was the sign above the toilet, showing a stick man tinkling into a toilet with a line through it. Yes, Edible Canada has banned men from peeing standing up.

It’s a true advancement for social justice

Denglish 101

This guy has has the patois nailed.

ME: “Honey, would you like to watch 127 Hours with me?

THE WIFE: “HELL yeah. Is it a movie or a dokumentation?”

A failure to De-Orbit

A two-and-a-half ton German-made satellite is estimated to re-enter the earth's atmosphere soon.

Back in 1999 scientists lost contact with the two-and-a-half ton satellite. It is predicted to re-enter earth's atmosphere at the end of this month.

The German Aerospace Centre said 30 'individual pieces weighing a total of 1.6 tons may reach the surface of the earth.'
ROSAT’s heat-resistant mirror in particular may not burn up upon re-entry and falling debris may include razor-sharp shards.

Unlike the UARS, this one's coming in uncontrollably. Major Tom's retro thrusters have failed. It's raining shreds. Or so forth, and so on.

Last month the German space agency estimated that ROSAT has a 1-in-2000 chance of hitting someone - higher than the 1-in-3,200 odds NASA gave for UARS, the last satellite to fall.

It must have run out of Fahrvergnügen or something.

So What Else is New ?

Europeans are revolting.

Both Merkel and Sarkozy face political pressures that are becoming increasingly enmeshed with Europe's search for a solution to the euro-zone debt crisis. Facing a revolt to further bailouts among members of her center-right coalition, Merkel insists that banks should first seek capital from shareholders, then from their national governments. Only as a last resort should governments tap the EFSF to immunize their banks against financial contagion. France appeared to diverge from the German position earlier this week by emphasizing that euro-zone members should be able to tap the EFSF if banks can't raise capital from investors rather than requiring governments to first provide aid on a national level before using the European bailout fund. French banks are among the most exposed to troubled sovereign debt. And compared to European peers France's big banks are not as well capitalized, the International Monetary Fund warned in July.

Which primarily means that they should 'first seek capital from depositors' as opposed to taxpayers.

It will be the same damned thing when they finally recognize the scale of this stupidity: governments pressured banks to buy their bonds, which are no good, and now they are being pressured to use their depositors and investors (AKA: the public, including retirees' savings) to cover them.

Achtung, Baby!

They’re coming for your vapid Hello Kitty memorabilia!

Atmospherics from the Near Distant Ago

Management is not responsible for the aesthetics or content, time is.

Violent Unbeardings Terrorizing the Good Burghers of Ohio

Oh my:

In Holmes County, a group of Amish men allegedly burst into a home and cut the hair off men and women inside and cut the beards off the men.

And they were acting on orders of a rather unfortunately named chap.

Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla said there was an incident in Trumbull County about three weeks ago in which a group of Amish men and women from Bergholz went to a home in that county and cut the hair off men and women inside. Abdalla said hair from the victims was brought back to Jefferson County to prove to Sam Mullet, the bishop of the Bergholz group, that Mullet's orders concerning the hair cutting was followed.

The Accidental Mullet

Esquire: My Magnificent New Hair

He explained that no one should just grow out his hair. You'll grow a mullet, or an Afro, or something you probably weren't looking to grow...

Ugh.

A Love that Dare not Speak its' Name

Meira Pentermann on the
Stasi’s legacy in film:

We are blessed to have many poignant movies about the Nazis and the atrocities committed in concentration camps. As the years tick by and those who lived through those unimaginable experiences slip between the pages of history, I thank God that history has been preserved in books and film.

In contrast, I find the lack of movies about East Germany (or any country behind the Iron Curtain for that matter) rather telling. It is not for absence of living witnesses or data. It is merely a lack of will to even touch the subject. When the president of the United States snubs the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, maybe it is best to just not go there. Encouraging Americans to think about the mind-boggling amount of resources required to maintain the socialist utopia might cause them to question the entire concept of socialism.

Because it’s too close to the hearts of those in Hollywood.

Good Gravy, What am I waiting around for?

The Swansboro Mullet Festival is a tradition in Onslow County. Last year, 25000 to 30000 people came to celebrate the mullet. "It's not the hair cut, no, it's about the gathering of the town of Swansboro," resident Damein Martinez said.

"We're talking about the fish mullet that swim in the sea and that we actually, unfortunately, fry here for folks to enjoy as well," Swansboro Festival Committee Director Judy Hailey said.

Dag.

To Hell with Equities

Buy a cow.

Mr Grant, 45, is due to go on retirement in 15 years. To diversify and increase his actual assets and income, he calculates he shall need, in addition, 4 668 € / year or 389 € / month .

In both cases 1 and 2 . We have chosen the growth option (no yearly cash income).

First alternative : Mr Grant, at the very start, buys 20 heads, then 4 heads per year during 15 years or ; he buys 30 heads a the start, then 3 heads yearly during 15 years

Second alternative : At the very start he buys 60 heads to be kept up to the time he is 60.

If the calculation is made on following figures :

- cost per head 1 167 €
- average yearly yield (in number of heifers) 4,20 %,

At 60 Mr Grant will be the owner of about 95 heads, this means about 4 heifers a year (about 4 668 € ).

You get the picture...