Pax vobiscum, "God's bankers"

A German Catholic bank had to apologize after it was revealed it invested money in a firm that makes contraceptives, as well as in defense and tobacco companies.
Full article here.

Well, at least those old enough to vaguely remember the name Roberto Calvi won't be surprised.

A tragedy, Mr Erdoğan is so utterly stupid

Turkey's prime minister has described ethnic violence in China's Xinjiang region as "a kind of genocide".
"There is no other way of commenting on this event," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
He spoke after a night-time curfew was reimposed in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi, where Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese clashed last Sunday.
The death toll from the violence there has now risen from 156 to 184, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reports. More than 1,000 people were injured.
Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, shares linguistic and religious links with the Uighurs in China's western-most region.
Full BBC-article here.

This is most interesting. What happened to Armenians in the Ottoman era, thus before the Turkish Republic was founded, Erdoğan Effendi - sic! ha ha ha - would call "a tragedy", and his Magnificent Stupidity would feel insulted by those who would call a genocide a genocide.

What a ... oh, well - to be continued ...

Meanwhile you might like to read some post which are corroborating this post's title.
Cave Cihan, Mr Erdoğan!

Considerably exaggerated

Does article 301 apply to Erdoğan?

Mozart's homage to Erdogan

No humanitarian crisis?

Just in case someone has / had difficulties to understand the previous post(s).

Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, was established by United Nations General Assembly resolution 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949 to carry out direct relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees. The Agency began operations on 1 May 1950. In the absence of a solution to the Palestine refugee problem, the General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA's mandate, most recently extending it until 30 June 2011. [emphazise: mine]

Did Mrs. Livni say there's no humanitarian crisis?

Merry Christmas!

Bitter for Mr. Vitter

As everybody knows 219 years ago a few French stormed the Bastille because they were sick to death of their king and wanted to get what they deserved. 15 years later they got an emperor.
For sure a grand reason for a national holiday.

I could go on and on praising the French and their (sic) revolution*, but ... sorry ... right now I wonder what has happened to the famous David Vitter, who almost exactly one year ago claimed 'he had asked for and received forgiveness from God and his wife - undoubtedly the greatest story for the past 2020 or even 10.000 years, which the BBC gave away though, by mentioning it in a subordinate clause.

Well, googling 'Vitters, prostitute ring, trial', and voilà ha ha ha ... so ho ho ho rry ... hardly ca ha ha han't write.

Help yourself.

Back? And? Isn't this a most touching photo? And wouldn't you say: Yes, this is undoubtedly an intelligently designed couple?

What I cannot entirely understand: As Mr. Vitters has already received forgiveness by Mr. and Mrs. God - and who would doubt his words? -, why would there be an earthly trial? Isn't God any longer boss in his own country?



*French Revolution: another term for replacing a king by an emperor

Death still a master from Germany

Before starting blogging last June, and thinking of the last post to end this 'adventure' the previous entry was in my mind.

And yes! It should have been my last post.

Look at the title above. What's the news? The 'still'. The 'still' - ha ha ha ...

Oh well, while I am trying to find an article from 1988, where one could read which German firms had sold some essentials Saddam Hussein needed to launch the Halabja poison gas attack you may read this and form an opinion, yourself.

Back?
And?
Did you appreciate the terms 'Defense Exporter' and 'military goods'?

Ah, language. Talleyrand is (often) said to have coined the phrase 'Speech / Language was given man to hide / disguise his thoughts'.

Indeed? Let's have a look if there's anybody else who said / wrote this before Monsieur Talleyrand 'coined' this phrase.
Ah, Molière. And Voltaire. So, ...
Oh, Dante, too.
So, Dante was the first.
Uh, what's that? Dionysius ... Cato ... Plutarch ...

This reminds me of that Patrick Kavanagh once being praised as a 'lousy poet' is said to have countered: 'Aren't we all since Homer?'

Which again is a solace for any lousy blogger putting too many thoughts (and too many links) into one posting and thus (deliberately) trying to provoke his readers to make use of their grey matter.

Back to the beginning.

It was Paul Celan who, in his Death Fugue, coined the phrase 'death is a master from Germany'.

And since, German politicans are trying to make the world believe Germans are trustworthy peace brokers.

Still ... [trying to keep contenance] ...

the peace of the night.

O tempora, o mores!

Today German lawmakers agreed to allow broader embryonic stem cell use. But they signaled their ambivalence by refusing to completely do away with restrictions.

Germany's science minister, Annette Schavan, said reforming the law was key to fostering research in Germany.

“This is a good day for both protecting life and also for research in Germany,“ Schavan, of the Christian Democratic Union, said after the vote Friday. *

Hear hear!

And may I add it is a good day for Mrs. Schavan et al.: Here questions like this one will not be asked.

There was, however, a German philosopher whose name is being pronounced like one of the words you could read in the devil's title: Kant.
And I am quite sure Kant would agree: What a bunch of hypocrites, per se!

Having followed the discussion about stem cell research from its beginning in the past milennium, I am not surprised, though.

To give you at least a glimpse, of what made me come to call hypocrites hypocrites, I commend reading this article.




* Full article here.