Comments for News from a socialist's paradise...

News from a socialist's paradise...

2005-01-31T03:32:07Z

Won't work as a hooker? We'll cut yer unemployment bennies then.

Well, there's an interesting take on welfare reform.

Comment from cw4billt on 2005-02-01

2005-02-01T17:33:45Z

Got a brolly in Rothenburg. Also got a great meal in the smallest restaurant I've ever seen--two tables, both bigger than the kitchen.

Comment from Cricket on 2005-02-01

2005-02-01T17:15:00Z

Did you go to the Kriminal Museum in Rothenburg ob der Tauber? That is ONE fascinating place, complete with a functional Iron Maiden and chastity belts. There was one floor dedicated to life in the 1500s and I spent hours and hours there. So much better than reading some boring book on the rise of Western Civ. I have not one drop of Krautish blood (well, Danish, but that's a stretch, as any good Dane will tell you) but being there and seeing all the artifacts and reading about them, what they were used for, gave such a huge insight into the late Middle Ages that you felt you were there at that point in time. You had a connection to them. A lot of it was good, and showed that they valued peace and morality and protected it without the intervention of the local nobility or the priest. Fascinating fascinating stuff.

Comment from cw4billt on 2005-02-01

2005-02-01T11:36:54Z

Cricket - Relaxed, but not relaxed enough to tolerate the stuff in the museums--plural. The Germans I got to know didn't sneer at me, just thought I was an interesting change from the norm--but there's a lot of truth in what you're saying. Regardless, the incident did provide me with a new perspective on the phrase, "Inside the beltway"...

Comment from Cricket on 2005-02-01

2005-02-01T08:43:54Z

EEEeuuuuwwww! Then there was that twit who wanted to be eaten. I don't think the Germans have always been 'that' relaxed about sex, as they have some pretty interesting stuff in the Kriminal Museum that says otherwise. I think as their society has moved away from religion and moral absolutes to relativism and government mandated reproductive choice, there is more of a casual aspect to their attitudes. Bottom line, Germans are more open about sex, but they sneer at our so called hypocrisy. I don't see that we repress it as much as we try to put it in its proper place. I think the Germans to a greater extent than we have, have a pragmatism about it that is unnerving...that it is just a means of relief, not a means of building intimacy and bonding and that is something I am not so sure was left over from Hitler. His Kinder Hausen and all but destroyed the family...just that whole culture of racial supremacy and purity. And they do use their fests as an excuse to cut loose and break down some taboos...Oktoberfest being one such event. Thoughts?

Comment from cw4billt on 2005-01-31

2005-02-01T05:26:27Z

JTG - First time I saw German TV (especially the commercials), I thought I'd clicked on the Late Night Red Light channel. Reaction by most Germans to my remarking on this was, "Ummmm, yeah--do you have a point to make?" On the one hand, they have a more relaxed attitude toward sex. I was sitting at a table in one of the church squares in Heidelburg with a couple of the locals, who explained a quaint prenuptial custom to me after I passed half a hefe weissbier through my nose in response to being publicly groped by a bride-to-be. Cold hand, cold, cold, cold--and sharp nails... On the other hand, their rivers kinda stink.

Comment from Justthisguy on 2005-01-31

2005-02-01T05:15:30Z

P.S. "He said "Schuetzengraben"!" Giggle, snicker. In TOTW Hitler was making a speech about the sacrifices of the soldiers on the Western front in the trenches and dugouts. Apparently the German word for dugout is "Schuetzengrabe", which I immediately literally-mindedly translated to myself as "Safety-Grave." As in, "Make sure yer men dig safety graves on the new position first thing, Sergeant!"

Comment from Justthisguy on 2005-01-31

2005-02-01T04:58:01Z

Know whatcha mean about those films, cricket. I remember watching "Triumph of the Will", which really is a beautifully made film, and even liking some of the boy-scout-like parts, guffawing at the "Ich bin Westfaelisch" parts, and getting totally creeped out by ol' Adolf talking around the subject of why he had all those SA guys kilt. Ever see "Sieg im Westen"? It's fairly propaganda-free, for those guys, but I couldn't help noticing a little dig at the French in one scene. In the background, they (cough) just happened to include a sign saying "Domremy 20 km." That was Joan of Arc's home town. Speer was really proud of that searchlight trick for the rally. I wonder how much Speer really repented. I read both of his books, seems he did to me, but some have suggested that he was sucking up to current opinion. He was definitely the nerdiest of the Nazis, IMHO. Oh, yeah, to get back on topic; German culture seems a little weird, sexually. I recall reading in one of Eric Flint's 163x novels about a 17th-century German woman getting raped and suing the rapist to make him post a pregnancy bond. Of course the 30 years war was going on at the time, and all, but she seemed to consider it more of a trespass than a crime. Flint does good historical research, so I bet it reflects the actual behavior at the time. I've often heard that Germans have muchly different sexual customs from Americans. Surely some of the people reading and writing here have spent time there. What have y'all observed?

Comment from cricket on 2005-01-31

2005-02-01T03:49:19Z

yeah, but all those rallies in Nuremburg..I used to watch the prop films in German class (no we weren't being brainwashed for the Fourth Reich)with this horrid fascination. It just amazed me how closely he tried to follow the Roman model in displays of statism and in being with the people. Truly an interesting, very charismatic person...and then ol Mel Brooks goes and puts him on ice! Anyhow, in reading this story it just sort of reminded me of the stories my parents told me about their putzfrau when my dad was stationed there after the war. She had a tattooed number on her chest courtesy of the Third Reich. Yes, she was at Auschwitz. The timing of this story is incredible. Sick sick sick.

Comment from cw4billt on 2005-01-31

2005-02-01T03:13:12Z

John - Tsk. Hitler was the embodiment of National Socialism (really torques the lefties when you remind them what the abbreviation "Nazi" is all about). Mussolini was the embodiment of fascism. Come to think of it, Hitler was also the embodiment of charismatic lunacy...

Comment from BloodSpite on 2005-01-31

2005-02-01T01:59:43Z

And how many of her services are tax deductible^^?

Comment from J. Kevin on 2005-01-31

2005-02-01T00:34:23Z

Egad! Let me see if I have this straight: "Prostitution was legalised in Germany in 2002 because the government believed that this would help to combat trafficking in women and cut links to organised crime." So they are saying "We don't want organized crime trafficking our women, let the government do it." Is that about right?

Comment from John of Argghhh! on 2005-01-31

2005-01-31T23:19:53Z

Um, Hitler was, like, er, the *embodiment* of fascism? I hadn't considered the the value added tax aspects. What if she's no good (uninspired, unwilling, uninterested)- do I get a rebate?

Comment from Cricket on 2005-01-31

2005-01-31T23:10:45Z

You know, I could get all sarcastic about the mehrwehrstueurfrei benefit off of this, but this is sick. Beyond oogie and they DEFINATLEY took a leaf out of Caligula's book...Hitler wasn't that far removed from Fascism.

Comment from AFSister on 2005-01-31

2005-01-31T17:14:08Z

Oh Good Lord. What a load of crappola that is. And we wonder why Germany isn't on board with US? We should be wondering why they are on board with this insane ruling. This is the German *Sex for Food* equivalent of the UN *Oil for Food* scandal! Get yer weinerschnitzel here! yeah, right.

Comment from cw4billt on 2005-01-31

2005-01-31T14:39:13Z

[Flawless Werner Peters-as-Gestapo-baddie accent] "Ve haff vays to make you [vulgarity deleted by frantic NetNanny], Fraulein..."

Comment from cw4billt on 2005-01-31

2005-01-31T14:32:26Z

From those lovable folks who brought you the deutschesbundesmadchen program...

Comment from Rosemary on 2005-01-31

2005-01-31T12:20:41Z

Those French need to quit! (as usual)