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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elsewhere who wrote (21881)	12/28/2003 5:52:39 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793958

This guy is on the right track. That's why I aimed it at you, JJ. I wonder how long you Germans will put up with your old age program. Your costs are really out of control. Just having to put up 5 or 10 Euros for a Doctor's visit would make an enormous difference.

To: Elsewhere who wrote (21881)	12/29/2003 5:33:39 PM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793958

AP: German Public Mood Reaches Pessimistic Low If you believe the answers given by citizens in polls then Germany is currently experiencing a new pessimistic low. The survey made public last weekend shows above all that the economic situation is seen as gloomy despite all of the predictions of recovery: Hardly anyone believes that things will get better in 2004. In a poll carried out for (the Sunday newspaper) “Bild am Sonntag,” Forsa found that of 1,009 respondents, 74 percent rated the economic situation as being worse than it was a year ago. Concurrently, the news magazine “Der Spiegel” publicized an NFO-Infratest-poll carried out with nearly the same number of respondents in which only 21 percent expected an economic upturn for the coming year. Parallel to that, 70 percent expect that unemployment would likely rise rather than fall. Furthermore, the majority of Germans see the expansion of the European Union as a threat: According to “Spiegel” 68 percent of respondents fear negative effects from the joining of new Eastern European countries. Of course, the social security systems took the biggest loss in standing – 88 percent told the Forsa interviewers that their faith in the social state and the pension system fell further in the past year. The biggest outrage from 2003 was cited by 83 percent of Germans as being the new fee for visits to the doctor’s office that will be charged starting this coming January 1. According to a poll of 500 respondents carried out by the market research institute Valid Research and published in the news magazine “Focus,” the lengthy fight over reforms came in second at 82.4 percent. The inconsistencies surrounding PR contracts given by the German Federal Bureau of Employment and its head Florian Gerster took third place with 80.1 percent. The problems with the highway toll system and deposit system for aluminum cans took the fourth and fifth places. In addition, the Forsa poll lets one come to the conclusion that the people currently have very little faith in their political leaders. 47 percent of the respondents rated the work of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder with “poor.” But 38 percent of respondents also rated the work of CDU Chairwoman Angela Merkel as “poor.” Among East German respondents, the rating was an even higher 43 percent of the opinion Merkel was doing a poor job. According to a “Focus” poll, Germans good resolutions are topped by healthy living” ahead of “living more consciously,” “more time for the family” and “doing more for education.” Remarkably low in the rankings in seventh and ninth place are “save more” and “work more.” medienkritik.typepad.com

To: Elsewhere who wrote (21881)	1/3/2004 11:40:03 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793958

"Tim Blair" Blog WEAPONS FOUND, TURBAN ABANDONED Americans are behaving badly in Baghdad, according to The Guardian: Surrounded by upturned chairs and an abandoned turban, Sabah Al-Kaisey surveyed his ransacked office yesterday. The American troops who burst into his mosque on Thursday morning had smashed down the front gate, broken the air conditioners and ripped up the carpets. They had also thrown several Korans on the floor and allegedly punched the man giving the call to prayer in the face. "They even took our nuts," said Mr Kaisey yesterday. They got your nuts a long time ago, pal. But why were these US troops being so unruly? The troops who raided the Ibn Taymiyah mosque, used by Baghdad's Sunnis, appear to have been looking for weapons used by Iraq's resistance. They recovered a couple of AK-47s, hand grenades and an anti-aircraft missile, US military officials said. Hmmm. Explaining that stash of goodies might be a little difficult. Abdul Sattar, the mosque's imam, said the weapons were used by its guards. "They were there to protect ourselves," he told the Arabic TV station Al-Jazeera. Excuse me ... an anti-aircraft missile? timblair.spleenville.com