They had a vote this weekend in the region.....over in Eltville. The vote discussion? Well....the windmill electrical power folks want to put up several windmills over the Taunus Ridge that overlooks the Rhine River. On the Pfalz side of the river.....there's already various windmills.....but on the Hessen side....none.
What the news media will say is that 13,300 people were eligible to vote in this election. The final tally in this vote were 3390 people against any windmills in the area, and 2921 people in favor of windmills. Statistically, roughly forty-percent of the voters showed up, and barely fifty-one percent of those who voted.....carried the election. Numbers-wise.....it's not a clear majority and so most folks think the discussion will continue on.
What's the whole thing about? The windmill folks have come to realize that river regions and hills overlooking the river....are the best place to put a windmill operation, if you want a successful profit margin. On the Pfalz side of the river.....no one ever said much. On the Hessen side.....everyone got all hyper when you suggested a windmill operation might be put up. It was a harsh situation over landscape and the 'view'.
Oddly, if you counted up the first ten-thousand windmills built in Germany.....I doubt if any public debate or public vote was ever done. The local city council would have read the proposal, and had a simple vote. Over the past five years, you get the impression that this anti-windmill enthusiasm came out of nowhere. These are the same people who voted for the anti-nuclear power program, and the same folks who voted for coal-power being a bad thing. They will openly say they are pro-windmill.....but they need to be in locations where no one can really observe them.....and if they generate half the power of one on a river hillside....well....that's acceptable.
Yeah, for an American.....it's a difficult reality to grasp.
Monday, June 1, 2015
Sunday, May 31, 2015
France and the Les Republicains
The new name? Les Republicains. Yeah.....a catchy title.
Nicolas Sarkozy gave a five-star speech to note the change and lead the political party in the upcoming political election period. I sat and watched the speech last night. My French.....other than the words for 'toilet', 'thanks' and 'do you speak English'.....my vocabulary is virtually zero. But what I viewed was a passionate speech and emotion fitting the occasion. The German news folks say more than seventy percent of the old UMP Party members agreed on the new name.
There are three major political fronts at work in France, and another twenty odd minor operations which could influence local elections. The Les Republicains? Well....lately, they've been running third and some French say they aren't leaning far enough to the right (yeah, that's an odd thing for a French guy to say.....even I'll admit that).
Does rebranding a political party work? Rarely. But in this case.....they had to do something of a drastic nature to attract national attention. Right now.....for the Sunday morning political chat shows in France....this is the ONLY topic of discussion.
As for Germans freaking out over the use of "Republicains"? Well.....yeah....the Germans tend to associate the word with George Bush. So, they might be a bit hyper. Oddly, France developed the political ideology two centuries ago. If you asked a German for the full title of Germany.....it's the Federal Republic of Germany (something that only twenty percent of Germans would realize if you tested them on the streets of the country).
Bottom line? Elections always enjoy a twist or two, and rebranding might be such a twist.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
New Immigration Program in Germany
Without a lot of fanfare.....there's a new refugee program going on in Germany. The name? "Welcome to Germany". Yeah.....the name is lacking but let me explain the rest of this.
What some folks sat down and figured out after a while is that when a refugee family arrives in Germany, and settle in for months and months of temp housing with no hope in stabilizing their life.....people get negative and frustrated. So, a revitalized view came up.....quicker access to German language training....vocational training being provided.....better living standards for the temp housing....etc.
So, there's some private organizations doing a handshake deal with government agencies and trying to get volunteers into the system to help speed up integration and make it actually occur (rather the fake integration efforts of the past decade).
Over the past two years, I've sat and watched German news media efforts to cover the stories (they've quietly quit the stories over the past year because of public negativity of immigrants and refugees). The general perception is that Germany has the five-star deal for immigrants....if they can get here. That's not the perception of Italy or Greece. So Germany is like a magnet for people to make their way here.
The German placement compounds have been a haphazard effort. In some ways, it's a roof over your head and heat, with food and some government organization. No one really wanted to put serious money into it or think long-term. There's a split on attitude between the federal strategy and the state/local strategy.....with money/funding as a major issue.
I noted last week in Wiesbaden.....near the Kur Park....a volunteer organization doing a cake/coffee deal.....to get donations, which funnel back into a education tutor/mentor deal with retirees working with refugee kids. Ten years ago.....such a thing was non-existent.
Where this all leads onto? The national government won't talk much about it.....but population rates for Germany are declining. At some point within three to five years, unless something happens.....Germany will slip from eighty million in population to around seventy-eight million. It's a milestone in some ways, and a warning sign. The smart folks already project a population of around sixty-six million by 2050 (35 years away), unless things change.
Trying to convince Germans this is a positive thing? The public isn't really buying into it. If the immigrants and refugees became more integrated into society.....things would be different. So, maybe this "Welcome to Germany" strategy might help to solve the various issues that exist.
What some folks sat down and figured out after a while is that when a refugee family arrives in Germany, and settle in for months and months of temp housing with no hope in stabilizing their life.....people get negative and frustrated. So, a revitalized view came up.....quicker access to German language training....vocational training being provided.....better living standards for the temp housing....etc.
So, there's some private organizations doing a handshake deal with government agencies and trying to get volunteers into the system to help speed up integration and make it actually occur (rather the fake integration efforts of the past decade).
Over the past two years, I've sat and watched German news media efforts to cover the stories (they've quietly quit the stories over the past year because of public negativity of immigrants and refugees). The general perception is that Germany has the five-star deal for immigrants....if they can get here. That's not the perception of Italy or Greece. So Germany is like a magnet for people to make their way here.
The German placement compounds have been a haphazard effort. In some ways, it's a roof over your head and heat, with food and some government organization. No one really wanted to put serious money into it or think long-term. There's a split on attitude between the federal strategy and the state/local strategy.....with money/funding as a major issue.
I noted last week in Wiesbaden.....near the Kur Park....a volunteer organization doing a cake/coffee deal.....to get donations, which funnel back into a education tutor/mentor deal with retirees working with refugee kids. Ten years ago.....such a thing was non-existent.
Where this all leads onto? The national government won't talk much about it.....but population rates for Germany are declining. At some point within three to five years, unless something happens.....Germany will slip from eighty million in population to around seventy-eight million. It's a milestone in some ways, and a warning sign. The smart folks already project a population of around sixty-six million by 2050 (35 years away), unless things change.
Trying to convince Germans this is a positive thing? The public isn't really buying into it. If the immigrants and refugees became more integrated into society.....things would be different. So, maybe this "Welcome to Germany" strategy might help to solve the various issues that exist.
Friday, May 29, 2015
Stock-Holder Meeting
I spent the morning at stock-holder meeting.....over at the Frankfurt Jahrhunderhalle (a four-star arena). The company? FRAPORT, the Frankfurt Airport company.
FRAPORT is one of those companies which has generally made a yearly profit every single year for at least a decade. They've continually expanded and bought more airports.....have almost 20,000 employees.....and have an equity of $2.7 billion. They own percentages of ten additional airports around the world and generally show a profit at all of these. They pay a decent dividend....roughly three-percent a year, and rarely decease on stock prices.
The meeting? Well.....it went Ok. I admit.....the food (as you entered, and later at lunch).....was two-star at best. Lunch was two weiners, some potato salad that was almost soupy, and a brotchen. As you walked in.....they had small sandwich and apples to eat.
What you tend to notice while standing there in the lobby....well over ninety-percent of the crowd (three thousand was my guess on attendees) was over the age of 55. Maybe they buy up the stock for the free lunch.
As for complaints? Well....about two hours into the episode, they opened up the floor and allowed comments from stock-holders. One of the political players in Frankfurt (a Green Party guy) was fairly negative over Terminal Three (the next big construction project).
There was a significant fight put around the region to prevent Terminal Three. It's to say who is right. The airport folks have numbers to say business is booming and they have only a small window to build and prepare for the decade ahead. The anti-airport crowd said the numbers were not reliable and the construction wasn't necessary. Oddly.....the property was already part of the airport's control and just sitting there. It wasn't like the airport was asking them to give free property to make this happen.
I looked at the argument and ask why anyone would want to limit the airport at any junction.....every penny of profit relates to some tax revenue that feeds into the city and regional spending plan. Why limit them? Corruption somewhere in the mix? Maybe, but political parties are getting money from various players, so it's hard to say the opposition is purely ethical in nature.
FRAPORT is one of those companies which has generally made a yearly profit every single year for at least a decade. They've continually expanded and bought more airports.....have almost 20,000 employees.....and have an equity of $2.7 billion. They own percentages of ten additional airports around the world and generally show a profit at all of these. They pay a decent dividend....roughly three-percent a year, and rarely decease on stock prices.
The meeting? Well.....it went Ok. I admit.....the food (as you entered, and later at lunch).....was two-star at best. Lunch was two weiners, some potato salad that was almost soupy, and a brotchen. As you walked in.....they had small sandwich and apples to eat.
What you tend to notice while standing there in the lobby....well over ninety-percent of the crowd (three thousand was my guess on attendees) was over the age of 55. Maybe they buy up the stock for the free lunch.
As for complaints? Well....about two hours into the episode, they opened up the floor and allowed comments from stock-holders. One of the political players in Frankfurt (a Green Party guy) was fairly negative over Terminal Three (the next big construction project).
There was a significant fight put around the region to prevent Terminal Three. It's to say who is right. The airport folks have numbers to say business is booming and they have only a small window to build and prepare for the decade ahead. The anti-airport crowd said the numbers were not reliable and the construction wasn't necessary. Oddly.....the property was already part of the airport's control and just sitting there. It wasn't like the airport was asking them to give free property to make this happen.
I looked at the argument and ask why anyone would want to limit the airport at any junction.....every penny of profit relates to some tax revenue that feeds into the city and regional spending plan. Why limit them? Corruption somewhere in the mix? Maybe, but political parties are getting money from various players, so it's hard to say the opposition is purely ethical in nature.
Thursday, May 28, 2015
End of the Drone Court Episode
A court case wrapped up in Germany yesterday with a quiet ending.
Months ago....a couple of Yemeni guys used German resources (lawyers, foundation help, etc) to bring a case up.....accusing the US military operating in Germany.....of using Germany to launch drones into Yemen and kill Yemeni folks. The center of their court argument was 'flight-data' which was relayed onto the control people and thus violated German law (note, it's Yemeni folks who said it violated German law, not actual Germans).
So the court up in Koln heard the argument and yesterday said that there was no case.
This court decision was based on a German effort to inform the US government that the air base in question.....had to behave in accordance with German and EU laws. The response from the US was "yes, we agree". Beyond that point, the Germans don't have any device nor any intention of directing the use of troops on German property.
There are exceptions to the episode. If an American Army unit wants to cut down trees on a post.....they have to ask the local forest manager for permission. If flooding control or measures need to be implemented on a air base.....the local German government will be involved. If some radical folks try to storm the gate of some base.....German cops will be involved and arrest the folks with various charges.
The discussion here is simply 'flight-data'. The Yemeni guys had a lousy one-star marginal argument over this episode. They got some encouragement from various political groups in Germany to launch a legal court episode against the US military in Germany. The court looked over this argument and probably realized the 'encouragement' side to the court episode.....and stopped the mess before it got crazy.
The end? No. I would speculate that either ARD (Channel One) or ZDF (Channel Two) will try to create some five-minute news piece out of this, and speculate on how the court got the thing wrong. Some political thugs from German intellectual side will chat up on the evil drones, and a one-star marginal story will peak out at the two-star level.
Months ago....a couple of Yemeni guys used German resources (lawyers, foundation help, etc) to bring a case up.....accusing the US military operating in Germany.....of using Germany to launch drones into Yemen and kill Yemeni folks. The center of their court argument was 'flight-data' which was relayed onto the control people and thus violated German law (note, it's Yemeni folks who said it violated German law, not actual Germans).
So the court up in Koln heard the argument and yesterday said that there was no case.
This court decision was based on a German effort to inform the US government that the air base in question.....had to behave in accordance with German and EU laws. The response from the US was "yes, we agree". Beyond that point, the Germans don't have any device nor any intention of directing the use of troops on German property.
There are exceptions to the episode. If an American Army unit wants to cut down trees on a post.....they have to ask the local forest manager for permission. If flooding control or measures need to be implemented on a air base.....the local German government will be involved. If some radical folks try to storm the gate of some base.....German cops will be involved and arrest the folks with various charges.
The discussion here is simply 'flight-data'. The Yemeni guys had a lousy one-star marginal argument over this episode. They got some encouragement from various political groups in Germany to launch a legal court episode against the US military in Germany. The court looked over this argument and probably realized the 'encouragement' side to the court episode.....and stopped the mess before it got crazy.
The end? No. I would speculate that either ARD (Channel One) or ZDF (Channel Two) will try to create some five-minute news piece out of this, and speculate on how the court got the thing wrong. Some political thugs from German intellectual side will chat up on the evil drones, and a one-star marginal story will peak out at the two-star level.
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
The Concentration Camp Story
Educational requirements in Germany.....differ from state to state (there are sixteen German states, if you didn't know). So, you could have a certain requirement in the Saarland, but it's non-existent in Hessen or the Pfalz.
So, there's been this debate going on in Bavaria with the CSU folks (the right-leaning crowd) who would like for all Bavarian students to go over to a former concentration camp once in their school lives. But all these years.....it's been a local school thing....if they mandated or offered a trip. No one gives statistical averages on this, and I doubt if more than a quarter of all Bavarian students attend such a trip.
The discussion currently met an obstacle. Opposition political folks say that various immigrant groups don't need to attend such a concentration camp visit. Among the groups named? Yeah.....the Islamic folks.
The claim here is that new immigrants must take over the protection of German history and know their obligation in preventing such things from happening. I have to admit.....it's a good discussion and argument.
I've been to one single concentration camp in my life.....Dachau (outside of Munich). I spent three hours walking around and have to admit that it has some affect on you. I wouldn't suggest sending 12-year-old kids there......but maybe fifteen or sixteen year-old kids would be agreeable.
Mandating it for all Bavarian students? Either it's for all or for none. Once you pretend that only 'real' Germans (not immigrants) need to attend.....the kids wise-up real quick and figure out the gimmick. The political folks are creating a 'real' German versus a 'fake' German situation once they offer a waiver. If I were a regular white German kid.....I'd get wise.....note that I'm a 'fake' Islamic guy and ask for my waiver to get out of the trip. All it takes is one guy doing dumb stuff like this to make the whole thing look like a bogus deal.
The argument by the African kids or the Islamic guys? Basically.....you picked Germany to come and immigrate into. It's your tough luck. If you think this is bogus to attend.....wise-up.....go and find some country with no anchor tied to history and get in line to immigrate there.
For the political thugs playing out this discussion? Either it's stupid for all kids, or it's smart for all kids. Don't invent some fake or bogus waiver that gets manipulated by people.
So, there's been this debate going on in Bavaria with the CSU folks (the right-leaning crowd) who would like for all Bavarian students to go over to a former concentration camp once in their school lives. But all these years.....it's been a local school thing....if they mandated or offered a trip. No one gives statistical averages on this, and I doubt if more than a quarter of all Bavarian students attend such a trip.
The discussion currently met an obstacle. Opposition political folks say that various immigrant groups don't need to attend such a concentration camp visit. Among the groups named? Yeah.....the Islamic folks.
The claim here is that new immigrants must take over the protection of German history and know their obligation in preventing such things from happening. I have to admit.....it's a good discussion and argument.
I've been to one single concentration camp in my life.....Dachau (outside of Munich). I spent three hours walking around and have to admit that it has some affect on you. I wouldn't suggest sending 12-year-old kids there......but maybe fifteen or sixteen year-old kids would be agreeable.
Mandating it for all Bavarian students? Either it's for all or for none. Once you pretend that only 'real' Germans (not immigrants) need to attend.....the kids wise-up real quick and figure out the gimmick. The political folks are creating a 'real' German versus a 'fake' German situation once they offer a waiver. If I were a regular white German kid.....I'd get wise.....note that I'm a 'fake' Islamic guy and ask for my waiver to get out of the trip. All it takes is one guy doing dumb stuff like this to make the whole thing look like a bogus deal.
The argument by the African kids or the Islamic guys? Basically.....you picked Germany to come and immigrate into. It's your tough luck. If you think this is bogus to attend.....wise-up.....go and find some country with no anchor tied to history and get in line to immigrate there.
For the political thugs playing out this discussion? Either it's stupid for all kids, or it's smart for all kids. Don't invent some fake or bogus waiver that gets manipulated by people.
The Paper Coffee Cup Tax?
There's a discussion underway in Berlin.....just within the city itself.....over putting up a special tax on coffee of 10 to 20 Euro cents. The deal? They say there's too many coffee cups that get dropped on the ground and left as scattered trash. Naturally, a tax would fix this problem (yeah, it's an illogical thought....but this is Germany).
The claim is that they'd hire people or enhance their cleaning process to handle the extra cups (which they are apparently already handle). It's not clear how this would fix anything except generate tens of millions throughout the city.
It would only affect those who got coffee in paper cups....so if you stopped at some pub or coffee shop and had a regular cup of coffee there.....things would be 'fine'. I'm guessing if you walked in with your own thermos or personal cup.....they'd fill it....charge you....and the tax would be avoided.
A bogus deal? Well.....yeah.
Around the city I live (Wiesbaden).....I'd take a guess that 80,000 cups of coffee get bought daily. So at 20-cents each, it'd be 1,600 Euro collected each day for the city....if they implemented the same scheme. If you asked me about paper cups laying around.....I might spot forty cups laying around.....mostly in city parks or near the train station. Most folks dump their cups into the paper garbage. A big deal? No. But I guess that a coffee tax would make me feel better. All of this would lead folks to carrying their own coffee cup around and drinking coffee in a somewhat unsanitary way....if you ask me.
The claim is that they'd hire people or enhance their cleaning process to handle the extra cups (which they are apparently already handle). It's not clear how this would fix anything except generate tens of millions throughout the city.
It would only affect those who got coffee in paper cups....so if you stopped at some pub or coffee shop and had a regular cup of coffee there.....things would be 'fine'. I'm guessing if you walked in with your own thermos or personal cup.....they'd fill it....charge you....and the tax would be avoided.
A bogus deal? Well.....yeah.
Around the city I live (Wiesbaden).....I'd take a guess that 80,000 cups of coffee get bought daily. So at 20-cents each, it'd be 1,600 Euro collected each day for the city....if they implemented the same scheme. If you asked me about paper cups laying around.....I might spot forty cups laying around.....mostly in city parks or near the train station. Most folks dump their cups into the paper garbage. A big deal? No. But I guess that a coffee tax would make me feel better. All of this would lead folks to carrying their own coffee cup around and drinking coffee in a somewhat unsanitary way....if you ask me.
German Army Issue
The German Bundestag (the parliament) woke up yesterday and got disturbed over the German army and money spent.
You see.....between 2004 and 2014 (an entire decade)....there was roughly 125-million Euro spent on renovating infrastructure on various German army bases.....which shut down. That got them all pepped up and angry at the present leadership (not the leadership of a decade ago, oddly enough).
Then they woke up again and realized that they will spend roughly 375-million Euro from now to 2022 on more German bases which are on another closure list.
It's an odd discussion. The SPD and Greens (probably the Linke Party as well) were all hyped up two decades ago since the Wall came down.....to downsize the German military. Less military.....less cost.
So around a decade ago....the downsizing game went into effect. Certain bases were identified for closure shortly, and some several years in the future. They've gone back to the list and added more bases, with more time-lines.
The thing is....you need these bases while in operational use....to be somewhat safe and useful. Crafting an positive operational and budget plan for a base on a closure list....is next to impossible. You have boilers that need replacement at certain times.....roofs that need complete renovation....and waterlines fixed when they break. So simply putting a base on a list for closure in five years doesn't mean you spend zero on infrastructure situations for the five-year period.
When the Americans got ready to turn Rhein-Main Air Base over to the Germans.....there was a curious episode under way. They'd already signed a construction contract to build the new clinic on the base. So as the last eighteen months unfolded with the Americans there.....German crews were busy working on this clinic...which would never be used. Canceling the contract? You'd pay a fee, which was as much as the contract itself. So a couple of months after most Americans had left.....it was supposedly handed over....but that stopped when serious electrical issues were noted in the building and the contractor had to be taken to court.....to force him to fix the issues. Needless to say....it took around eighteen months of court action to get over to a final point where the building was flipped to the Germans. The building today (roughly 15 years later)? Gone. It was dismantled as part of the Flughafen's master plan of usage for the property. Roughly 50-million for the construction project in the early 1990s, and gone today.
That's the problem with these closure lists and the guys trying to stay ahead of the game. Someone suggests to fix a problem.....you plan out a project and get funding.....you sign the contracts and wait on the start.....someone comes up with a closure list....and you wake up to a significant problem of waste but you couldn't have known how things would play out.
So now? A bunch of political thugs sit around and whine about this. Course, one might ask them about the Berlin apartment episode in the 1990s where millions were wasted building special apartments for the incoming Bundestag members.....discovering that these were all without balconies and no one wanted to live in an apartment without a balcony.
You see.....between 2004 and 2014 (an entire decade)....there was roughly 125-million Euro spent on renovating infrastructure on various German army bases.....which shut down. That got them all pepped up and angry at the present leadership (not the leadership of a decade ago, oddly enough).
Then they woke up again and realized that they will spend roughly 375-million Euro from now to 2022 on more German bases which are on another closure list.
It's an odd discussion. The SPD and Greens (probably the Linke Party as well) were all hyped up two decades ago since the Wall came down.....to downsize the German military. Less military.....less cost.
So around a decade ago....the downsizing game went into effect. Certain bases were identified for closure shortly, and some several years in the future. They've gone back to the list and added more bases, with more time-lines.
The thing is....you need these bases while in operational use....to be somewhat safe and useful. Crafting an positive operational and budget plan for a base on a closure list....is next to impossible. You have boilers that need replacement at certain times.....roofs that need complete renovation....and waterlines fixed when they break. So simply putting a base on a list for closure in five years doesn't mean you spend zero on infrastructure situations for the five-year period.
When the Americans got ready to turn Rhein-Main Air Base over to the Germans.....there was a curious episode under way. They'd already signed a construction contract to build the new clinic on the base. So as the last eighteen months unfolded with the Americans there.....German crews were busy working on this clinic...which would never be used. Canceling the contract? You'd pay a fee, which was as much as the contract itself. So a couple of months after most Americans had left.....it was supposedly handed over....but that stopped when serious electrical issues were noted in the building and the contractor had to be taken to court.....to force him to fix the issues. Needless to say....it took around eighteen months of court action to get over to a final point where the building was flipped to the Germans. The building today (roughly 15 years later)? Gone. It was dismantled as part of the Flughafen's master plan of usage for the property. Roughly 50-million for the construction project in the early 1990s, and gone today.
That's the problem with these closure lists and the guys trying to stay ahead of the game. Someone suggests to fix a problem.....you plan out a project and get funding.....you sign the contracts and wait on the start.....someone comes up with a closure list....and you wake up to a significant problem of waste but you couldn't have known how things would play out.
So now? A bunch of political thugs sit around and whine about this. Course, one might ask them about the Berlin apartment episode in the 1990s where millions were wasted building special apartments for the incoming Bundestag members.....discovering that these were all without balconies and no one wanted to live in an apartment without a balcony.
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