Germany demands apology!
 

The top story on CNN this morning is that Germany demands an apology, as if anyone gives a shit.

I've been following the story since yesterday, when it broke, because I had nothing better to do. So here's the gist of what's going on:

Italian PM Berlusconi likened a German heckler to a Nazi. Everyone shits their pants and blah blah blah. Berlusconi won't retract the remark or apologize, and Germans care because Naziism isn't exactly one of those things they're proud of, and they want to distance themselves from it whenever possible.

Here's a nice little quote from CNN's article:

<blockquote>The diplomatic fallout reached Berlin, where the Italian ambassador was called by Schroeder for an explanation.

And in a speech to the German parliament on Wednesday, Schroeder said the Nazi comparison was competely unacceptable, and said he expected an apology. </blockquote>
Schroeder doesn't give a shit when one of his cronies compares Bush to Hitler, but someone makes a joke about Naziism against a German and he's all up in arms.

What it boils down to is this: Schroeder has no integrity. Germany will be better off when he loses his next election.

(Here's the actual quote: "I know in Italy there is a producer, producing a film on Nazi concentration camps. I will suggest you for the role of kapo (commander). You would be perfect for that role.")

(And here's CNN's article: http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe...ech/index.html )

I love this image of him:

http://www.n-tv.de/images/200307/316...N0_3TR_EJ8.jpg

Note the "Ceasarian Crown" and the " **** all ya´ , who´s da boss in here, hu? " expression in his face

Looks a bit like El Duce, ehrmmm, didn´t say that of course.
:)

While it does seem that the Germans are being too sensitive about the situation, Berlusconi is a dummy for saying it in the first place. Given that he just took over as EU President, he's under incredible scrutiny at the moment. His reputation for being corrupt only intensifies that scrutiny.

(Personally, I think the quote is rather funny. It sounds like something I would say.)

Well, there's no question it was a dumb thing to say (though I also thought the delivery was rather humorous). But the point is, what a fucking hypocrite! Schroeder can eat deez nuts. One can look at it two ways, either of which are ridiculous:

1) It's okay if a German makes a Nazi comment, but not someone else

2) It's okay if parallels are drawn between Bush and Naziism, but not a German and Naziism.

Crying foul on one while basically ignoring the other just highlights his lack of integrity. What a tool.

I hope the Japs get their two cents in just like old times.

Bruce, you gotta give a heads up on stuff that's not safe for the workplace.

Yeah, no shit. Our filtering shit blocked it but I need another red flag by my profile like I need Nic Name back here.

Sorry guys...my bad. I forgot you people are doing this at work. The cartoon wouldn't be a problem but the site is.:(

Post a direct link to the image, I'll ssh into my server and download it, then post it here so everyone can view freely. Yay for sneaking around!

You can say that again! The Army has a mandatory proxy on all web traffic, and their proxy is pretty restrictive. But (whoops!) they're not blocking port 22! Squid and SSH tunneling to the rescue. :)

Yeah, I've been wondering what Germans think about all the Bush/Nazi comparisons.

No soup for you! Next!

This is the address of the link I had posted. At this point you click on the name and it plays
a 2.76mb clip of a Donold Duck cartoon from WW II. I forgot C.J. will red flag at work. I downloaded it to my PC but being an idiot all I can do is email it. :confused: