EU will Telefondaten sechs Monate speichern - and the sheer incompetence (some call her Federal Minister of Justice) is so busy patting herself on the back that she completely misses the mark. That this minimal consensus is a total disaster for data protection and privacy is, of course, completely irrelevant ...
politik - 13.7.2005 - 3.12.2005
Does the FDP have to pay a million fine? - the Möllemann time bomb continues to tick.
New Health System Cuts
It's quite amusing how Schmidt continues to play incompetent doctor games with the healthcare system, and the Union complains - because they weren't allowed to participate, and because the poor pharmaceutical industry is allegedly disadvantaged.
By the way, neither of the two coalition partners talks about the patients - the real victims of this concentrated incompetence ...
In office for only a few days, but corrupt to the core?
Glos insists on the takeover of ProSieben/Sat.1 by Springer:
Federal Minister of Economics Michael Glos is counting on the planned takeover of the television company ProSiebenSat.1 by Axel Springer Verlag to proceed in a normal manner. However, he did not rule out that a so-called ministerial permit might also be discussed in this context. He hopes, however, "that everything will be resolved," said Glos in Munich.
Concerns at the Federal Cartel Office? Screw it, what does the government care ...
A prerequisite for approval is that the restriction of competition is justified by overall economic advantages of a merger or by an overriding public interest in the merger.
Likely, the private coffers of the Minister of Economics are then simply of overriding public interest, or what does he want to base it on? After the CSU supported the Kirch conglomerate in Bavaria far beyond its viability for a long time, is it now Springer's turn? It's already absurd what politicians will stoop to ...
Why our politicians don't want popular initiatives
After a referendum in Switzerland: Swiss agriculture remains GMO-free. The government had hoped for a different outcome. Well, in Switzerland there's something similar to democracy. Not here - it would be too much to ask if the stupid voters might spoil the politicians' bribes from the biotech companies ...
First impending departure of the government?
It looks like Gabriel is the first candidate for ministerial departure:
A criminal complaint has already been filed against Gabriel with the Braunschweig public prosecutor's office. He is accused of concealing an illegal sham activity for VW, perjury, and a breach of the rules of procedure of the Lower Saxony state parliament. Its president, Jürgen Gansäuer, now wants to have Gabriel's secondary activity checked for compliance with the regulations.
Well, the whole story at VW is also quite cute - the top harasser Hartz gets one dent after another (and the Berlin proletarians still don't find it embarrassing to associate the unfair treatment of the unemployed with such a name). And now there are indications that VW sponsored Viagra for the works councils for sex parties. What a pathetic bunch of louts on all sides ...
Off to total surveillance
Matching the US military's satellite-communicating RFID chips, there's also some brainless news to report from Europe: EU committee approves compromise on telecommunications data retention:
Data protection advocates have rejected the agreements as a "disastrous breach" in telecommunications surveillance and a "massive restriction of fundamental rights." In their opinion, the question of the constitutionality of the bill would also arise in its revised form here in the country.
But the politicians involved in the compromise are celebrating the whole thing as a great success. Well, the constitution doesn't interest anyone here in Germany, especially not the current government - as can be seen from their budget for 2006, which is not in compliance with the constitution ...
Oh, and since we're on the topic of brainless ideas: the music industry demands the same access rights to citizens' dial-up data as those provided for combating terrorism. Another parallel to the brainless consequences of the fight against one's own population in the USA.
The Vienna Conclusion: Sponsorship+Politics=Influence
Strong move: according to Georg Greve, a closing statement of a WSIS working group in Austria was changed at the request of Microsoft. Instead of a sentence about the success of free software, there was suddenly a never-before-seen sentence about the advantages of DRM. This is how an unwanted voice is simply silenced - and then it is claimed that everything is fine ...
Germany - Arms Dealer
First the Leopard II tanks to Turkey, now submarines to Israel - and then also with financing a part of the production by Germany itself. Quite a big action.
And no, what bothers me is not the word "Israel" - there could be any other country. What bothers me - besides the general fact of arms production and arms exports - is the part where Germany itself bears a third of the production costs ...
Disgusting ...
... the fearmongering of the agitators against data protection and privacy, when the secrecy of telecommunications threatens to be taken seriously.
e-Voting: Contesting the Bundestag Election Due to Voting Computers
Problems with voting machines in the federal election:
Wiesner criticizes in particular that the voting is indirect – via the voting machine and the software used – and it cannot be verified whether the vote is stored immediately and unchanged in the vote memory and subsequently in the electronic vote memory until the election result is determined is not changed.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he succeeds with his application, but I don't see any greater chances - because surely it will just be discussed to death again and by then the Federal Constitutional Court may decide, the current coalition will have long since gone to Orkus (they won't last 4 years) ...
And then there was ...
... the bankruptcy of the Red-Black horror coalition and the loud howling and gnashing of teeth of all the interest group arse-lickers who now think they might lose their little butter. Meanwhile, the hunt against Hartz IV recipients continues and the welfare state is dismantled, but the police state is further expanded. Any sense is left out and therefore the little conjuncture is simply murdered with a VAT increase. The whole thing is then garnished with a clear violation of the constitution in the budget for next year. And these idiots stand up and celebrate themselves and their pathetic work.
When watching bad movies, you can always switch channels. Where is the remote control for reality, please?
SPD Sells Job Protection
To continue playing a role in the Berlin government, the SPD sells out job protection:
The experts from the Union and SPD have agreed to further relax job protection in a grand coalition. As reported by the "Bild am Sonntag," the probationary period for new hires may be extended to up to two years in the future. "This does not shake the substance of job protection," SPD labor market expert Klaus Brandner told the newspaper.
Okay, the whole thing is from Bild am Sonntag, so you can't put much stock in the truthfulness, but if it's really true, that's quite an outrageous audacity. A probationary period of two years is de facto an abolition of job protection, no matter what this SPD blowhard says - new hires then have no security at all, and the slightest disagreement and the contract is terminated. That's simply absurd.
Especially since employers already have a comparable option with fixed-term contracts today, only the employee then at least has some security for the duration of the fixed-term relationship - with the idea sketched above, there is no security at all.
And let's be honest: a boss who needs two years to determine if a new employee is suitable for the job (and that's exactly what the probationary period is for, not as a dishonest way out for the abolition of job protection), must either be a lying piece of shit, or dumb as a piece of bread in the puddle...
The lies of the SPD in recent years (with Hartz IV and all the crap from Schily) and in the current coalition negotiations is in any case a clear sign that the SPD no longer deserves its own name. It has nothing to do with social anymore. This is the sale of the welfare state purely out of power greed and obsession.
Off to the Police State Germany!
Coalition of Social Democrats and Christian Democrats to review data protection:
Under the title "Germany – a safe and free country," the fight against terrorism is described in the paper available to heise online as "a very important task for all German security authorities." In addition, a "claim" of citizens is postulated "to be protected from crime." According to the interior experts of the grand coalition, other constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties must be subordinated to this. It is necessary to examine, as stated in the eight-page contract document, "to what extent legal regulations, for example in data protection, stand in the way of effective combating of terrorism and crime" and whether the "proven security architecture" needs to be further developed.
Speechless.
The Cowardice of the SPD
She shows herself in the position on (not quite?) General Secretary Nahles:
Nahles had previously been sharply attacked within the party. The spokesman of the conservative Seeheimer Kreis, Johannes Kahrs, said in the ARD morning magazine: "I think it is absurd that someone is rewarded as a regicide who, with his stubbornness, has led the party into crisis."
I think it is absurd that a right-wing pile of trash like the Seeheimer Kreis gets a voice in the SPD at all. He should just go over to the Union ...
The "regicides" were, by the way, not Mrs. Nahles, but the party executive - of whom 8 also did not attend the meeting. But criticizing them, the little coward naturally does not dare, because they could cut him back in his perks and trim him down to what he is: nothing.
But unfortunately, the SPD executive probably does not have the guts and will chicken out in front of the conservative forces and thus help to make the SPD just as boring, uninteresting, predictable and insignificant with new personnel as it already is. Just a red-painted Union. Who needs that? When we have Stoiber and Seehofer?
Stoiber has dusted off
Stoiber is not going to Berlin - the signs of decay of the grand coalition are already evident before it even comes into being, and they are really quite amusing. On both sides, people are falling apart like cardboard boxes.
The entertainment value of this Berlin docu-soap is certainly remarkable.
Education and Prosperity - But Not for Everyone
Go together - education only for those who can afford it. The others should better stay stupid: Chances of inequality have grown further. And our state governments (on whose behalf education policy grows) will make sure that this remains the case. With certainty at least in the Union-governed countries, to which NRW unfortunately now also belongs.
For someone like me, who comes from a working-class family, this development is more than shocking. In my time, children from working-class families were not the majority in the classes at the grammar school, but there were some there. But with today's developments - school fees, teaching material fees, later tuition fees - the politicians make it very clear what they think of workers: nothing at all.
We are Germany? Up the arse. Money is Germany.
MĂĽntes Departure?
I can't help but crack a small, nasty grin about MĂĽntes' preferred candidate for General Secretary losing to Andrea Nahles. Guess that's nothing for MĂĽnte as the new Wehner, pulling the strings from behind and everyone dancing to his tune - he's been whistled off.
Bock: meet Gärtner
And that with Scatman Ede as the economic miracle. Well, whether his underlings would have turned against him would be doubtful anyway. But certainly a great idea if those who are well greased by the industry are the ones to decide on the use of biotechnology ...
Eerie Alliance
When industry, union members, and the CDU join forces to prevent the nuclear phase-out.
Dismantling the Alleged Savior
Nice when a corporate bigwig is taken down. I've always wondered why the SPD lets an HR manager from the automotive industry reform unemployment insurance (keywords Bock and Gärtner and so on - and yes, I am aware of the auto chancellor). Will his name ever be separated from this absurd unemployment policy, or will politicians in the future still be proud of the name Hartz?
A model for the complete failures too ...
... in Berlin, I mean: as easy as Berlusconi changing the electoral law - because maybe then it will actually be enough for the CDU to have its own majority, without hiding behind factional squabbles and other hypocrisies. Oh well, Adenauer's heirs have mainly inherited his stupidity and corruption, with election successes it's rather bleak. It's enough to just lie to yourself about the world with your pathetic 29 percent.
Seehofer strengthens the position of the SPD ...
... say Merkel and other CDU bigwigs. Why are they then making Stoiber the Minister of Economic Affairs? Or is that now a different title for the court jester? They can, in my opinion, gladly dispose of the threatened horror cabinet to Madame Tissot right away.
The EU Commission Again
That they want to introduce software patents through the back door is not new - but still concerning. But if you look at such excesses of their ideas about the possibilities of reacting to copyright and patent infringements:
If the controversial enforcement directive is approved by the European Parliament and the Council, the police would, according to FIPR, "have more powers against copyright infringers than against terrorists". Thus, law enforcement authorities would in future be able to freeze the accounts of parents whose children might have illegally downloaded music on the Internet, in coordination with lawyers.
Freeze the accounts of parents because their children have downloaded music? Hello, are you still there? What kind of idiots are actually assigned to the EU Commission?
Politicians and Reality
According to the projections, the SPD is the strongest party in Dresden and is clearly ahead of the CDU. So what conclusions does the Union draw from this? Clear: they see the election result in Dresden as clear evidence of their claim to leadership. It's quite strange how this peculiar people in Berlin view the world ...
By the way, such a clear claim to leadership cannot even be derived from the direct mandate: the Union may have won, but only narrowly with a few percentage points ahead of the SPD. But what does the Union care about the fact that over 60% of voters did not vote for the CDU in the direct mandate and over 70% of voters did not vote for the CDU in the second vote - it remains a clear claim to leadership.
In the direct arithmetic duel Ă–tzi against Merkelnix and the soup cook, Ă–tzi would probably win. Even in his current state ...
HH-CDU and Democracy? Not really.
Because the CDU is changing the electoral law and the composition of the districts - and against a citizens' vote:
The SPD, GAL, and the initiative "More Democracy" reacted with outrage to the Union's plans, which can be decided by a simple majority in the BĂĽrgerschaft. The vote of the Hamburg citizens in the referendum had been clear, said SPD state chairman Mathias Petersen. The SPD interior expert Andreas Dressel spoke of a "renewed moral breach of the constitution". Referendums were apparently only followed, "when the gentlemen Beust and Fischer have no objections". The Senate had already sold the municipal clinics against the will of a referendum at the turn of the year.
Power is more important than democracy and the will of the citizens. Here one coalitions with the right-wing scum or simply tramples on democratic decisions, as one pleases ...
Cowardice or Laziness?
Particularly reprehensible: His patronizing remark that if there were a ministerial position to be filled, one could just call him. You can't disqualify yourself more clearly than that.
Yeah, Turnschuh-Joschka's nonsense was really more than out of place. Minister - he'll do that. But opposition work? Oh no thanks, I'll just exercise my mandate and let the others do the opposition work.
Poor, Misunderstood Media
You have to feel sorry for the media, given the massive criticism they're facing. And Nowotny - as the top media official of the public broadcaster - was embarrassed by Schröder:
Nowottny: I watched the show, and I must say that I was embarrassed by it. How the former media chancellor turned into a media critic was quite unique. My compliments go to the two moderators of the show, who did not let that accusation stand.
Well, he could have also taken a look at the media's programming beforehand - massive talk of change and transition, I have no idea how often during the day one was supposed to be brainwashed with the inevitable change. Actually, I am rather embarrassed by the amateurishness of the media in dealing with the only interesting detail of this election: the highly praised and supposedly infallible pollsters collectively messed up.
Therefore, the personification of embarrassment are people like Nowotny, who get worked up about the only sensible statement by Schröder - what was embarrassing about Schröder was his "I am chancellor" attitude, but not the media criticism. But that's how the divas of professional journalism are - how dare the citizens pee in their pool, one becomes thin-skinned...
But the entertainment program in the news is really great, one has to give the election result that
Election Results or Poor Results?
Somehow quite stupid - neither here nor there. And Stoiber even threatens to go to Berlin - who wants that? Well, at least the negotiations about possible coalitions could become amusing:
- Stoiber is unwanted, but the Union insists
- Schröder wants to remain Chancellor, no matter what - but he doesn't have the strongest faction
- The Greens want to hold on to power, but will they with the Black party?
- Traffic light coalition with and without a broken red light the FDP does not want - but only in a traffic light coalition does the FDP have a chance of participation
- Red-Red-Green would be the logical consequence, but Schröder and Lafontaine - that won't work. And SPD+PDS - that won't work either.
Actually, all politicians have expressed so many exclusions about what wouldn't work that we can't get a government - snap elections would be a solution
Since there were only election winners, one could also summarize: "we are chancellor"
Media Literacy Ă la CSU
Söder: 300,000 Emails Are Not Spam - and knowing how to deal with criticism:
However, the CSU seems to be at least unsettled by the criticism on their own election campaign site. More than 100 partly very critical comments about the email action had been posted in the official party blog «blog4berlin.de». In response, the CSU initially deleted some of the comments on Tuesday afternoon. On Thursday, the comment function, which is essential for blogs, was completely turned off.
Oh yes. First, they want to spam people - and sorry, but this excuse that they had signed up is quite absurd in view of the further plans to have these people provide more numbers - and then deal with the criticism in Bavarian style and simply turn it off. Great.
They're doing the same shit as in the USA
Here the state also provides backing to a voting machine manufacturer and keeps the inspection reports under lock and key due to alleged protection of know-how:
That the BMI keeps the inspection reports under lock and key weighs heavily, especially in light of a waiver of an additional vote recording independent of the electronics, criticizes Wiesner: "Neither the voter nor the election committee in the polling station can determine which software is actually used in the polling station and how secure the devices used are against manipulation." Consequently, the form for the election record does not even provide for the alleged program version to be recorded.
For me, this is just as dubious as the same nonsense in the USA. Voting computers must - if they are to be trustworthy - withstand public discussion. The alleged know-how protection of the manufacturer must not be valued higher than the citizen's right to information on how the vote counting is conducted. It is simply absurd what the BMI is doing here - but what else can one expect from the authority of Otto Orwell?
Does twice stupid hold better?
As if Kirchhoff alone weren't threatening enough, now he also wants to ride tandem with Merz - the only thing that comes to mind is the Mad Hatter and the March Hare...
LĂĽgen-Linssen and the Finances
Well, this is how Linssen envisions the austerity measures - with a bunch of new positions, including speechwriters. Because we certainly need those urgently in NRW, so that the black-yellow embarrassment can be talked away.
Because it's not about the election promises at all - it's only about gaining power and holding onto it, and then embezzling as much as possible as quickly as possible.
Brain Fart
Bayern's Brainfart Producer No. 1 (yes, he even beats Scatman Eddy) demands internet filters for bomb-making instructions:
Bayern's Interior Minister GĂĽnther Beckstein (CSU) has urged the business community to find solutions for what he considers a very serious security problem: bomb-making instructions on the internet.
The much bigger security problem: crazy and incompetent interior ministers. Unfortunately, you can't just filter them out of existence. Ok, you can't do that with bomb-making instructions either - they're in books after all, which you'd then have to burn as well. A solution that might also be suitable for politician ejection ...
First Fallout from Black-Yellow
Black-Yellow on the ideological crusade against wind energy:
The Federal Ministry for the Environment sees the initiative of the state government as a "frontal challenge" to wind energy. "This means that no more wind turbines may be built in NRW," a ministry spokesman told wdr.de on Tuesday. If the example of North Rhine-Westphalia were to be followed, Germany's climate protection targets would no longer be achievable. The CDU and FDP are fighting "for ideological reasons" against wind energy.
Well, of course, the Union has to diligently crawl up the energy monopolists' asses, so the fluttering of the wind rotors is a nuisance ...
All Just Stolen
CDU admits: Merkel copied from Reagan:
Yes, the closing statement by Angela Merkel, the Union's candidate for chancellor, in the TV duel with Chancellor Gerhard Schröder was based on a speech by former US President Ronald Reagan.
Well, well, she can't even come up with her own praise and boasting. Should someone like that become chancellor?
Karlsruhe clears the way for new elections
Am I the only one, or does anyone else feel like Karlsruhe wanted to avoid the discussion about the legitimacy of the new elections? The justifications read as if a blank check has now been issued for the Chancellor and the President - if the two agree, the Bundestag is gone in a flash. An allegedly bad prognosis and the consent to it are enough ...
Why do we even have rules for the dissolution of the Bundestag in the Basic Law if the Constitutional Court apparently doesn't care much anymore?
On the Bavaria Fuss
Nothing comes to mind other than a hearty: Keep it up, Mr. Stoiber! - it's true, the Left Party couldn't wish for a better election helper than the raging dwarf from the backwoods. Okay, his outbursts lack a certain degree of appropriateness - it's quite annoying when people in Bavaria are supposedly so terribly smart, but the head of state once again doesn't understand what democracy means. Well, whatever happens, Mr. Stoiber, one thing is certain: we will not be governed by Bavaria. And the way you are currently dismantling Mrs. Merkel, suddenly everything is possible again for the SPD. Thanks to you and your colleague Schönbohm, who with their absurd statements have probably mobilized more East German voters than Gysi and Lafontaine together ...
EU Commission acting alone again
This time with a direct attack on common sense and the bio-system: EU Commission approves import of genetically modified corn:
Controversial genetically modified corn may now be imported into EU countries as animal feed. The EU Commission made this decision unilaterally.
I'll repeat: I am actually pro-EU and see only a functioning European Union as a viable long-term path for our region. But not with an EU Commission that makes arbitrary decisions that go against common sense. And all of this only for the financial benefit of a non-European company whose sole aim is to crack the European market and dominate it just like other markets.
Environmental Clearance Sale in D-Village
It was to be expected, the state government presents environmental policy goals - and what does that bring:
Environmental protection will also have "high priority" in the new NRW state government - promises Environment Minister Eckhard Uhlenberg. But he wants to reduce the influence of nature conservation associations.
And then there are various other niceties, in principle a dismantling of what has always distinguished NRW's environmental policy from the rather weak stance of the federal government (and probably a merit of Mrs. Höhn - not that anyone believes the SPD in NRW has been particularly environmentally conscious).
Merkelnix is also cramping
Just so no one thinks only the SPD has brainless slogans to shout into the world: "Make work possible in Germany again" is the reason why they want to increase the value-added tax:
Union Chancellor candidate Angela Merkel defended the planned increase in value-added tax by the CDU and CSU. The Union wants to achieve the goal of reducing labor costs with this, she said in an interview with "Bericht aus Berlin". It is about "making work possible in Germany again and thus enabling social security," the CDU chairwoman continued.
Sorry, but how incredibly stupid is that? Social security through an increase in value-added tax, which hits the hardest those who cannot further reduce their consumption because it already only consists of staple foods and other expenses necessary for survival?
Election Campaign, Election Agony ...
MĂĽnte on the Roll: Linkspartei "politically and legally absurd". I have the impression, however, that he would help the SPD more by giving them a program that appeals to ordinary citizens again, instead of simply stirring up fear of the left and spreading defamation (sorry, but the combination of PDS and WASG in the open list may be strange, but legally flawless - claiming otherwise is simply defamation).
If the SPD cannot achieve more in the election campaign than just to blow the horn of the Union parties against the alleged danger from the left, the SPD will simply put itself out of the political game - with such nonsense, you don't win an election. If the SPD is nothing more than a union with a red tie, it can stay away from me ...
Beckstein on the Roll
No idea what the herb is called that he takes, but it leaves severe brain damage: Beckstein wants German Guantanamo. Apart from the fact that he also wants to shoot suspects in the head and pack foreigners into camps because potential terrorists must not be allowed to run around freely (politicians like him, who are completely crazy, are not only allowed to run around freely but also to express their opinions freely), he is also constitutionally hostile:
Beckstein also criticized the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court, which in a ruling on Lower Saxony legislation had demanded clear limitations on preventive telephone surveillance. The balance between security and freedom of interests must be re-evaluated, said Beckstein: "That the intimate sphere of terrorists should be protected is for me hardly bearable."
I'm sorry, Mr. Beckstein, but you have failed the test. Because the Constitutional Court does not explicitly protect the intimate sphere of terrorists - but the intimate sphere of citizens. And this is listed in the Basic Law as a protected asset.
Why is someone like this not observed by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution? His hostility to the constitution is really documented multiple times ...
Mandatory insurance sponsorship by the state?
Foreign Minister Fischer advocates for a mandatory Riester pension - naturally, the reader wonders what the Foreign Minister has to do with it, but never mind:
Federal Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has spoken out in favor of introducing a mandatory private pension insurance. "The pension system must be affordable. I wish that the Riester pension would finally be introduced in a binding manner and that we encourage people to private provision."
Well, well. Encouraging private provision. To this end, a mandatory participation in the biggest insurance scam of all time - the Riester pension, whose returns are modest and whose payment guarantees are more than questionable.
One could, of course, simply choose a model of a citizen's insurance, in which everyone pays into the state social insurance schemes, without leaving a loophole for higher earners to escape - especially within the framework of great ideas such as the Ich-AG and increased self-employment, the social insurance system is further hollowed out. But that would be an intelligent solution. The state social insurances have the advantage that they are subject to certain rules by the constitution - and the state must ensure that the corresponding services are provided.
Instead, the private insurance industry is further sponsored and, according to Fischer's ideas, even with a mandatory requirement for citizens. Yes, that brings growth, that makes sense. That citizens are simply being taken advantage of and many models are pure extortion, and no payout security is given in any way, we simply ignore for now.
One thing is certain: with the idiocy of our politicians, there will soon be a lot to earn in the insurance industry. Which will presumably have nothing better to do than to gamble our then private forced pensions on the stock market and sell them to hedge funds.
Major Eavesdropping Also in Saxony Unconstitutional
Sachsens Verfassungsgerichtshof kippt in Teilen den "GroĂźen Lauschangriff" and of course the politicians still feel confirmed, the laws just need to be changed - sorry, but I see it differently. The mindset needs to be changed and it's a shame that the constitutional judges are not more explicit about this.
How Bertelsmann's business administrators are entering education policy
Found on Telepolis: TP: Enforcement of Controlling and Ranking at All Levels:
If a critical economist had been invited to the congress, he would have probably formulated the Bertelsmann strategy as follows: Democratic decision-making and open discussion are replaced by control procedures from modern business administration. Everything is sweetened with dynamic Anglicisms from marketing babble, but often ideas from the business administration specialty of controlling are hidden behind them. Earlier, one spoke more prosaically of accounting/internal auditing, but meant the same thing: the internal control and monitoring of production processes. This is done by means of cost-benefit analysis, profit and loss accounting, budgeting, profit centers, key figures for everything and anything, etc.
My personal aversion to business administration as, in my opinion, a far too short-sighted vision of the market should be known by now. However, the connection with a rather sanctimonious acting major publishing house makes the whole thing really explosive - because such corporations primarily have their own economic interests and should therefore be kept out of educational policy discussions, especially they are definitely the wrong ones to be involved as advisors in educational policy decision-making. But in the course of the politicians' privatization frenzy, such blunders are repeatedly made - combined with the marketing lies that automatically arise from such companies to consolidate their own route (such as the survey on tuition fees cited in the text, in which the path of free study was simply excluded - and then it was claimed that students were predominantly in favor of tuition fees).
The biggest problem with this close connection to the economy - whether it's Bertelsmann in educational policy or other companies in other areas - is the lack of democratic control. Politicians are still controlled in a rudimentary way, public institutions are forced by the new information law to disclose many areas, but decision-making in private sector institutions is not subject to these controls. If politicians, for example, refer to studies from the economy, one may get to the point - that the decision is based on a study by Institute So-and-So - but one may find out nothing about the structure and actual content of the study. And thus, control by the population is bluntly circumvented.
In my opinion, given the importance of educational policy, every influence of the economy and industry must be excluded. Completely irrelevant what they demand - they have nothing to do with the political design of educational policy. But unfortunately, our politicians repeatedly sell political control to private sector institutes instead of doing the work themselves. And they are selling our future and our sovereignty as a society to the economy.
EU Arrest Warrant Unconstitutional
The Federal Constitutional Court makes a decision on the European Arrest Warrant - and it turns out negatively. The European Arrest Warrant violates the Basic Law. And our government? It calls this a blow to the fight against terrorism and mocks the bureaucratization. Please what? Adhering to the Basic Law is not principle riding and bureaucratization, but a necessity. But this interests Mrs. Zypries just as little as the decision of the Bundestag against the software patent directive - and she immediately announces a legislative initiative that would make the European Arrest Warrant possible again.
I find it disgusting. Incidentally, the suspect has not been convicted in Germany - the deportation/extraction is based solely on a European Arrest Warrant from Spain. And it is not as if it had not been tried to convict him here - it just was not enough what was presented.
So the presumption of innocence is simply circumvented and the Basic Law is dismissed as silly bureaucracy - all in the name of the fight against terrorism.
Who actually protects us from the lunatics in Berlin?
Integration Security or Xenophobia?
Great idea from Bavaria (hey, I'm in Munich, so I can also pick up Bavarian topics): Integration of foreign children: Only those who speak German can go to school. The question that arises for me: does the regulation only affect foreign children, or are all children with poor German skills sent back? And if they are sent back - is it ensured that kindergarten places with language promotion courses actually exist? Or are foreign children simply kept out of school to keep everything nicely German?
On average, ten percent of all elementary school students in Bavaria have a non-German mother tongue.
Sorry, but that should be significantly more than 10 percent - because if I listen to what people speak here in Bavaria, it is by no means always German, even if it sounds similar. So how does it look - are dialect-impaired children also sent to language courses, or does it only affect the unpopular foreigners?