You Must Be From Away

Just in case anyone’s interested

Posted on 4 January, 2012 by jb

Christian Wullf is Germany’s president, a mostly titular position but constitutionally significant and with a high moral authority

Used to be Premier of one of the Federal states, got to be too much competition for Angela Merkel who grabbed the chance to sideline him when his predecessor as president resigned in a hissy-fit.

Press report in December about a question to him in the state parliament about his ties to an industrialist – did he have any commercial dealings with this person.

“No” was the answer.

Turns out that said industrialist’s WIFE had provided him with a 120% mortgage for his house, but they’re not “commercial dealings” and if they were, they were with industrialist’s wife.

Said industrialist then pops up and says actually, he and I negotiated the loan and we funneled it via the wife.

Wulff turns up weeks later on TV (PR disaster in itself, having just sacked his press secretary) and admits shamefacedly that he’d been a tad economical with the truth and it won’t happen again. Promise.

Next story is that he rolled over the mortgage to a bank which profited from a deal he’d sponsored with Porsche at a pittance of an interest rate.

No comment.

For days on end

Then the press reports that he’s called the chief editor and then the publisher of a major rag, trying to coerce them into burying the story. Even left a VOICEMAIL (FFS), threatening the publisher with war….

Same thing happened last year with another unfavourable report in another paper.

He’s on TV tonight, trying to convince people to believe him.

85% of people polled by Financial Times Deutschland want him gone..

Hands up over here, too.

Posted in Bastards | Tagged christian wulff | Leave a comment

The view from Away

Posted on 4 January, 2012 by jb

Will someone please explain this to me? (And just what have these people been smoking anyway – just look at their eyes….?)

The New York Times says:

The Iowa caucuses open the Republican nominating contest on Jan. 3. The outcome will not only set the tone for the rest of the early-voting states, but also likely start whittling down the field. Social conservatives carry significant sway, but voters say the economy and finding a candidate to beat President Obama are important factors. The changing fortunes of Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum shows how voters are searching for a nominee to confront Mr. Obama. Mitt Romney is trying to resolve questions about his appeal to conservatives. The Ron Paul campaign is real and could surprise. Organization matters, and the results will elevate — or extinguish — aspirations of other candidates.

Wikipedia says

There is a debate over the effectiveness and usefulness of caucuses in Iowa.
An Iowa caucus can last up around two hours, preventing people who must work, who are sick, or must take care of their children from casting their vote. Absentee voting is also barred, so active-duty Iowan soldiers lose the opportunity to participate, as do locally-registered college students who leave the state during winter holidays. The final criticism is the complexity of the rules in terms of how one’s vote counts, as it is not a simple popular vote. Each precinct’s vote may be weighed differently due to its past voting record. Ties can be solved by picking a name out of a hat or a simple coin toss, leading to anger over the true democratic nature of these caucuses. Additionally, the representation of the caucus has had a traditionally low turnout.

120,000-ish people participated.

Mitt Romney wins by a margin of 0.0066%.

The top 3 candidates garnered 70% of the votes.

The only candidate who looks even vaguely qualified for the Presidency gets a total of 745 votes.

I’m a bit confused about it all. I mean, can someone tell me which conclusions can one draw from this triviality?

What I DO know is that the 4th placed candidate in last year’s ~~farce~~ err caucus went on to be selected as the Republican presidential candidate.

With 13% of the vote.

The same as Newt Gingrich.

A bit of a worry….

Posted in Politics, The view from Away, This is America | Leave a comment

It’s all Chinese to me…

Posted on 4 January, 2012 by jb

Oh.

I see.

That would be “jaune”….

HT to the lovely Catherine Moullé for the translation

Posted in I'm very sorry about this | Tagged catherine moullé | 2 Comments

A short love story

Posted on 4 January, 2012 by jb

A man and a woman who had never met before,
but who were both married to other people, found themselves assigned to the same sleeping room on a trans-continental train.

Though initially embarrassed and uneasy over sharing a room, they were both very tired and fell asleep quickly, he in the upper berth and she in the lower.

At 1:00 AM, the man leaned down and gently woke the woman saying,………. ‘Ma’am, I’m sorry to bother you, but would you be willing to reach into the closet to get me a second blanket? I’m awfully cold.’

‘I have a better idea,’ she replied ‘Just for tonight … let’s pretend that we’re married.’

‘Wow… That’s a great idea!’ he exclaimed.

‘Good,’ she replied. ………….’Get your own f***ing blanket.’

After a moment of silence …he farted.

The End

Posted in Bad joke alert, V strikes again | 1 Comment

Belting it out

Posted on 3 January, 2012 by jb

Quote

“I am the embarrassed angel in the middle with the gold tinsel halo. You can’t really miss my little sister with her humongous wings”

Or voice…

Posted in Cousin Dave strikes again, Too good to miss | 3 Comments

Tunes for a Tuesday – 3 January 2012

Posted on 3 January, 2012 by jb

Analog – Georg Ringsgwandl – Untersendling [Listen]
Baby Blue – Echoes – Billboard Top 100 – 1961 [Listen]
Mess Your Hair Up – White Denim – Workout Holiday [Listen]
The Promise – Bruce Springsteen – 18 Tracks [Listen]
Dead Man – Pearl Jam – Lost Dogs [Listen]
God’s Plan – Desert Rose Band – Pages of Life [Listen]
Portuguese Solid Summer – Chad Valley – BIRP! July 2010 [Listen]
Safe in Silence – Former Child Stars [Listen]
Angel – Matt Nathanson – At the Point [Live] [Listen]
A Taste of Honey – The Beatles – Live At The BBC [Listen]

Posted in Mixtape, Music, Tunes for a Tuesday | Tagged 18 Tracks, 1961, A Taste of Honey, Analog, Angel, At the Point [Live], Baby Blue, Billboard Top 100, BIRP! July 2010, Bruce Springsteen, Chad Valley, Dead Man, Desert Rose Band, Echoes, Former Child Stars, Georg Ringsgwandl, God's Plan, Live At The BBC, Lost Dogs, Matt Nathanson, Mess Your Hair Up, Pages of Life, Pearl Jam, Portuguese Solid Summer, Safe in Silence, The Beatles, The Promise, Untersendling, White Denim, Workout Holiday | Leave a comment

Willy DeVille is America’s loss

Posted on 2 January, 2012 by jb

Willy DeVille is America’s loss even if America doesn’t know it yet. The reason is simple: Like the very best rock and roll writers and performers in our history, he’s one of the very few who got it right; he understood what made a three-minute song great, and why it mattered—because it mattered to him. He lived and died with the audience in his shows, and he gave them something to remember when they left the theater, because he meant every single word of every song as he performed it. Europeans like that. In this jingoistic age of American pride, perhaps we can revisit our own true love of rock and roll by discovering Willy DeVille for the first time—or, at the very least, remember him for what he really was: an American original. The mythos and pathos in his songs, his voice, and his performances were born in these streets and cities and then given to the world who appreciated him much more than we did.

Thom Jurek

Saw him 3 times.

Not nearly often enough