The first of many more doing the rounds:
Gillard takes Oakeshott, Windsor and Wilkie for a celebration dinner at a big fancy restaurant in Canberra.
The waitress approached and asked, "What would you like to order, Ms. Gillard"?
She replied, "I'll have a nice fillet steak please, medium to well. Nothing else, just the steak thanks."
"The waitress said, "But Ms. Gillard, what about your vegetables"?
She replied, "They can order whatever they like."
Germany will finally pay off the last of its debts from World War I this Sunday, on the 20th anniversary of German reunification.
Germany's federal office for central services and unresolved property issues (BADV) said a bond issued to pay remaining debts stemming from the conflict would mature on October 3, two decades after West and East Germany united.
The final $US94 million instalment will close a 92-year chapter that saw Germany plunge into totalitarian dictatorship and trigger World War II.
The Treaty of Versailles, a peace settlement signed by Germany and the Allies in 1919, made Germany solely responsible for World War I, requiring it to pay reparations for the damage done to the Allied countries and peoples between 1914 and 1918.
The sum was eventually fixed in 1921 at 6.6 billion pounds, a vast sum for the time, which many historians argue was beyond Germany's ability to pay.
Efforts were made to reduce the strain, notably with the Dawes Plan in 1924 and the Young Plan in 1929, during which Berlin was granted loans to meet its reparation payments.
But the heavy burden nevertheless unleashed massive resentment in Germany and helped fuel the rise of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party.
Germany stopped paying the reparations under the Nazis, and the Western Allies - the United States, France and Britain - reached a new deal on Germany's foreign debts in 1953.
The London agreement stipulated some debts were not to be paid off until Germany reunified, the BADV said.
[More]
The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.
As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".
In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.
There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.
In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.
Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.
Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.
By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".
During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.
Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.
Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas. 
I've decided to do something about this 1960-ish house and called in a builder! Here's my wish-list:
And the collection of design ideas continues ...
In the meantime, while I am waiting for the quote and for BHP to go up so I can pay for it all, I have installed energy-saving lightbulbs throughout the whole house.
I am appalled that so many of my friends are against the mosque near
Ground Zero. We should allow it in order to promote tolerance.
I also propose that two gay nightclubs be opened next door to the
mosque to promote tolerance in the mosque. We could call them "The Turban Cowboy" and "You Mecca Me Hot".
Next door should be a butcher shop that specializes in pork and have
an open barbeque with pork ribs and across the street a very daring
lingerie store called "My Bare Lady". And next door in flashing lights an Adult Toy Shop.
Vive la tolérance!
... and Nick and I will be on the Road to Bali.
You may follow us on this blog. Photos will be added later.
Thilo Sarrazin is a member of the board of the Bundesbank in Germany. For several years his outspoken opinions about immigrants have caused controversy — he has declared that Turks and Arabs are making Germany "dumber” because they have lower IQs and are more fecund than native Germans.
The hot water he found himself in as a result of all this has neared the boiling point in the last couple of weeks with the publication of his new book, Deutschland schafft sich ab — Wie wir unser Land aufs Spiel setzen ("Abolishing Germany — How we’re putting our country in jeopardy”).
Sarrazin wrote, "In no other religion is the transition to violence and terrorism so fluid.” For this he was likened to (who else?) anti-Semites and Nazis. With depressing predictability, a virulent case of the Screaming Nazi Heeber-Jeebers rapidly infected the German media, with every major outlet falling into line to decry his "racism”. An opinion piece in Der Spiegel concluded that "Germany is becoming Islamophobic”, with Sarrazin heading the list of notorious Islamophobes.
Meanwhile, Germany’s culture-enricher interest groups went into high dudgeon, especially the Turks. The "Turkish community” made demands of the German government:
The chairman of the Turkish Community in Germany (TGD) has called on Chancellor Angela Merkel to send a clear signal condemning anti-Muslim comments by Bundesbank official Thilo Sarrazin, according to a Saturday report.
Ms. Merkel did a reasonable job of complying, saying that Mr. Sarrazin’s statements were "defamatory” and "completely unhelpful”. But the author has not backed down, and yesterday continued his criticism of Muslim immigrants, even as the SPD moved to expel him:
Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin reiterated his criticism of Muslim immigrants on Monday, saying the vast majority were not fit to integrate into German society. Meanwhile the Social Democrats prepared to kick him out of the party.
However, there are also saner voices such as René Stadtkewitz, a member of the Berlin house of representatives, who writes:
"Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Distribution of Dr. Thilo Sarrazin’s book "Germany Abrogates Itself” has hardly begun and already his statements are being ripped, condemned and labelled as racist, and of course, once more, his expulsion from his party is called for. I find this development noteworthy. Hardly anyone could have read the book through. Although I had ordered it long ahead of time, I only received it yesterday. Had Sarrazin’s defamers made the effort just to page through the book, at least give it a quick read-through, they would have realized that Dr. Sarrazin differentiates demographic development as well as migration — which includes both immigration and emigration — and backs up his observations with facts. Beyond that, he offers the reader a number of suggestions which both can and must be discussed.
I do not intend to go into the individual nonsensical misrepresentations and demands by politicians of all parties, who have made their rote comments on Dr. Sarrazin’s statements. I will just confirm once more how politics ties itself in knots and, now as ever, is not prepared to debate problems of integration, especially of immigrants from Islamic countries. The politicians responsible today have no doubt been aware for decades that the collision of two completely different social models caused by immigration from Islamic territory had to lead to substantial conflicts. It is that much more difficult to understand their reaction to this objective description of the situation. Although the debate is desperately necessary, so that it may even be possible to think about various attempts at a solution, it is refused as always, and the initiator of the debate declared to be a non-person. Independently of the damage the defamers are causing to the political climate in Germany, they presumably do not comprehend that it is they who are contributing to the fact that not only is their own country’s future being stolen, but countless women in Germany are being executed in the name of honor or deprived daily of their constitutionally protected rights. It is especially reprehensible that the chancellor is a part of it.
We must talk about this problem. If politics continues to refuse to act for the good of society, there will soon have to be a change in the political landscape in Germany." (Underlining added by me for emphasis)
I have placed an order for the book. As soon as an English translation is available, I shall buy a copy for my local member.
A friend who now lives in the Caribbean is deep into 'Forex'.
I was deep into 'Forex' myself from a very early age. In fact, when I lived and worked in Brisbane in 1980, I occasionally took the train from Toowong into the City and watched it from my window-seat as I passed through Milton Station.
My friend has since put a slightly different slant onto his 'forex' involvement by directing me to this link for which I am ever so grateful.
Ich wanderte im Jahre 1965 vom (k)alten Deutschland nach Australien aus. In Erinnerung an das alte Sprichwort "Gott hüte mich vor Sturm und Wind und Deutschen die im Ausland sind" wurde ich in 1971 im Dschungel von Neu-Guinea australischer Staatsbürger. Das kostete mich nur einen Umlaut und das zweite n im Nachnamen - von -mann auf -man.
Australien war der Anfang und auch das Ende: nach fünfzig Arbeiten in fünfzehn Ländern - "Die ganze Welt mein Arbeitsfeld" - lebe ich jetzt im Ruhestand in Australien an der schönen Südküste von Neusüdwales.
Ich verbringe meine Tage mit dem Lesen von Büchern, segle mein Boot den Fluss hinunter, beschäftige mich mit Holzarbeit, oder mache Pläne für eine neue Reise. Falls Du mir schreiben willst, sende mir eine Email an riverbendnelligen [AT] mail.com, und ich schreibe zurück.
Falls Du anrufen möchtest, meine Nummer ist XLIV LXXVIII X LXXXI.
This blog is written in the version of English that is standard here. So recognise is spelled recognise and not recognize etc. I recognise that some North American readers may find this upsetting, and while I sympathise with them, I sympathise even more with my countrymen who taught me how to spell. However, as an apology, here are a bunch of Zs for you to put where needed.
He reserves the right to revise his views at any time. He might even indulge in the freedom of contradicting himself. He has done so in the past and will most certainly do so in the future. He is not persuading you or anyone else to believe anything that is reported on or linked to from this site, but encourages you to use all available resources to form your own opinions about important things that affect all our lives and to express them in accordance with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Everything on this website, including any material that third parties may consider to be their copyright, has been used on the basis of “fair dealing” for the purposes of research and study, and criticism and review. Any party who feels that their copyright has been infringed should contact me with details of the copyright material and proof of their ownership and I will remove it.
And finally, don't bother trying to read between the lines. There are no lines - only snapshots, most out of focus.
