Conversations about democracy tend to revolve overwhelmingly about politics and government. These topics are rightly at the centre of democratic dialogue as they are the overarching institutions of our society. But if we are to have a thoroughly democratic society, we cannot limit ourselves to democratic government. We need to
Continue readingTag: Germany
LeDaro: Getting something off her chest
Lucky Putin. Russian President Vladimir Putin gets an eye-opening experience as he is confronted by a topless demonstrator with a message written on her back during a tour of the Hanover Fair in Hanover, Germany, on April 8. He was accompanied by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.NBC. I think Putin is
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Obama’s NSA is the East German Stasi of our time
German leader flat out states that Obama’s government is little better than the East German Stasi. “In an angry exchange with Barack Obama, Angela Merkel has compared the snooping practices of the US with those of the Stasi, the ubiquitous and all-powerful secret police of the communist dictatorship in East
Continue readingGermany’s Grand Coalition—a lesson for Canada?
Germany now has a government that represents a solid majority of the German people. With three-quarters of Social Democrat party members voting to join a coalition with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, the chancellor and her cabinet will now be sworn in. In September’s national election, the Christian Democrats got 41.5
Continue readingParchment in the Fire: Merkel’s Victory, Everyone’s Loss: The Burden Of German Mercantilism On Europe
Merkel’s Victory, Everyone’s Loss: The Burden Of German Mercantilism On Europe. John Weeks The electoral victory of Angela Merkel brings bad news to the rest of Europe. Without doubt it means the continuation of the national economic policies that have all the other euro zone countries suffering from recession. While
Continue readingThings Are Good: German Coal and Gas Power Plants Closing Due to Cheap Renewable Energy
Germany has been so effective in tranisitioning from unsustianble (econmically and environemntally) energy sources to renewable ones that it is uncompetitive to burn fossil fuels for power! “Due to the continuing boom in solar energy, many power stations throughout the sector and across Europe are no longer profitable to operate,”
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: How Germany Made a Killing on the Euro-Crisis
Europe’s fiscal crisis has hammered much of the E.U. from Ireland to Britain, Spain, Portugal, France and Greece. Germany, however, has made out like a bandit. The collapse of every nation around it made German debt much, much more attractive to investors looking for security. So much more attractive that
Continue readingPostArctica: Christo – Big Air Package
Big Air Package, an indoor installation for the Gasometer Oberhausen, Germany, was conceived in 2010 and is on view from March 16 to December 30, 2013. 90 meters high, with a diameter of 50 meters and a volume of 177,000 cubic meters, the work of art is the largest ever inflated
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: PRISM: Prepared for Exposure
More details are out on PRISM, Tempora, and other illegal spying schemes by the NSA and friendly intelligence agencies, apparently even in Germany. The NSA even has a special department for such cooperation, the Foreign Affairs Directorate, he says. He also exposes a noteworthy detail about how government decision-makers are
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Ask General Kang: Can I Be More Charismatic?
Absolutely, it is easy for you to be more charismatic, though you will never be as appealing as I am. According to Professor Richard Wiseman (I’m not sure what he’s a professor of, but he’s British and his last name … Continue reading →
Continue readingThings Are Good: Algae-Powered Building Opens This Week
Algae can be used for all sorts of wonderful things from cleaning up oil to producing energy. Architects in Hamburg have built a building that uses algae to power the complex and it opens this week. The building is meant to be a demonstration of cutting-edge sustainable architecture. “Using bio-chemical
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Steven Chu’s “Time to Fix the Wiring” at four years
Former US Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s recent resignation — his farewell letter is here — is no doubt celebrated in the fuel cell quarters as passionately (or more so) than it is mourned in the rest of cleantech. Early in his term, Chu infamously argued (infamously, at least, to fuel
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Our Renewable Future part 1: clearing “myth”conceptions
With Obama talking the talk on climate action in his State of the Union address yesterday, now seems a good time to start compiling a planned set of blog entries about renewable energy. Many many others have done so online already (as evidenced by the fact I’m linking to them!)
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – John Studzinski describes how a sense of social responsibility and a country-wide commitment to making jobs available have placed Germany in a better economic position than its European neighbours: Let me highlight some of the features unique to the Mittelstand model that
Continue readingWalking Turcot Yards: The Trashcam Project
Here is a remarkable photography project using garbage dumpsters as pinhole cameras. The city of Hamburg has allowed it’s trash collectors to drill small holes into these portable bins that are loaded with large sheets of light sensitive paper. And the results are often quite stunning! From their Flickr page
Continue readingCanadian ProgressiveCanadian Progressive: The Nobel Peace Prize is slipping into irrelevance
by Brian Lee Crowley | Troy Media | Macdonald Laurier Institute My mother could have told you why giving the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union would produce such a predictable and deserved outpouring of derision. An aspiring writer, she took a creative writing course. One of the assignments
Continue readingWhat would Martin Luther say?
I was surprised to discover recently that governments in Europe collect taxes for churches and other religions. In Germany, for example, taxpayers pay between 8 and 9 per cent of their income tax to the religious community to which they belong. Religions may choose to collect the tax themselves, in
Continue readingwRanter.com: Slicing through ignorant anti-circumcision rhetoric
Share this: Every once in a while, the subject of circumcising male newborns and boys rears its ugly head – no pun intended – and the discussion rarely takes long to veer into ethnocentrism, if not outright intolerance. With the best of intentions, and without realizing it, many people who
Continue readingThings Are Good: Germany’s Sustainable Energy Grid Keeps Improving
In May, Germany was able to supply 50% of their national energy consumption using renewable power sources. That was remarkable in itself given the size of Germany in both industrial and population size. Now, it’s been announced that for the first half 2012 Germany produced 67.9 billion kilowatt hours of
Continue readingNo more pecker snipping in Germany
With a ruling that circumcising boys constitutes grievous bodily harm, a German court has effectively outlawed the practice in that country. The case was brought against a doctor in Cologne who circumcised a four-year-old Muslim boy on his parents’ wishes. When, a few days after the operation, the boy was
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