Pedaling for Rights

Well, we made the Kreisfahrt bike demo this year, helping to snarl traffic throughout the inner city by passing nearly all major thoroughfares and shopping avenues, reminding car drivers of the idiocy of attempting to reach such places by individual automobile in the first place. Today they surely learned. And we had ideal weather for the whole thing: sun and 22°. A few photos:

On the way back home, we cycled past the corner where the demo against too much surveillance in Germany was headed shortly after its beginning. As indicated by the absurdly militant equipment and exaggerated numbers of the police there, the government evidenty fears this group a lot. The clowns were good, and even the yuppiest of the German political parties took part in it. And all they want is to be able to read a book or send an email without having the government know the contents. (This concern is, of course, though it shouldn't be, completely foreign to Americans living in the playpen of the bushbaby, even though a revolution or war of independence was conducted there for such reasons.) And two photos:

Das Wort

Im Griechentum ist ... das Wort ... dasjenige, worin das Sein sich dem Menschen zuweist, damit er es als das ihm Zugewiesene in seinem eigenen Wesen bewahre und aus solcher Bewahrung seinerseits erst sein eigenes Wesen als Mensch finde und behalte.
[MH, GA Bd.54, §5, S.115]

For the Greeks, the Word is that in which Being allocates itself to Man for him to preserve it in its own Essence as what was allocated to him and, from this preservation, on the other hand, finally to find and maintain his own Essence as Man.

American Tourist Abroad

On her last day there, she's stealing peas from a very nice, somewhat perplexed Berliner, even though she claims not to like them!

Degenerate Art is the best !

Here's to degenerate art!

And here's a call for caricatures of the reactionary catholic fundamentalist german cardinal Meisner for condemning any art not conforming to his notion of godly culture AND the new stained glass window done by the esteemed artist Richter, saying it was more suitable for a mosque or a synagoge because it was abstract rather than figurative. The fact that he used the same term for condemning art he doesn't like - degenerate art - entartete Kunst - that the Nazis used when they were burning books and deporting and gasing artists, only adds more evidence for this so-called man of god being a dangerous fundamentalist. Why is no one shadowing him and monitoring his email and tapping his phone?

Meisners Bild vom Menschen
Unter Kardinal Meisners verblasenem Satz von der "entarteten Kunst" kann sich jeder etwas anderes vorstellen, eindeutig sind bloß die Assoziationen, die das Vokabular erweckt - es verweist auf den nationalsozialistischen und klerikalfaschistischen Feldzug gegen die Moderne zwischen 1933 und den fünfziger ahren.
Ein Kommentar von Gustav Seibt
Süddeutsche Zeitung 15.09.2007

We Need Many, Many MORE CARICATURES !

Read Voltaire's play, look at the earlier caricatures, enjoy satire, think, go to political spoofs and consider whether thought without irony, irreverence, and nastiness is possible at all. NO RELIGION OR POLITICAL IDEOLOGY has the RIGHT to tell me or you that you don't have the RIGHT to READ or SAY or LOOK AT whatever you want to!

FAZ.NET - Mohammed-Zeichner: Al Qaida setzt Kopfgeld auf schwedischen Karikaturisten aus

15. September 2007 Eine irakische Gruppe des Terrornetzes Al Qaida hat zum Mord an einem schwedischen Karikaturisten aufgerufen, der den Propheten Mohammed als Hund dargestellt hatte. In einer im Internet erschienenen Videobotschaft setzte die Gruppe „Islamischer Staat im Irak“ am Samstag ein Kopfgeld von 100.000 Dollar - etwa 73.000 Euro - aus. „Von heute an rufen wir alle auf, das Blut des Karikaturisten zu vergießen, der es gewagt hat, den Propheten zu entwürdigen“, hieß es in der Botschaft. „Wir erhöhen die Belohnung auf 150.000 Dollar, wenn er geschlachtet wird wie ein Lamm“, drohten die Extremisten.

Qaeda calls for killing of Swedish cartoonist - The Boston Globe - Sept. 16, 2007
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The head of an Al Qaeda-led group in Iraq has offered a $100,000 bounty for someone to kill a Swedish cartoonist for his drawing of Islam's Prophet Mohammed, and has threatened to attack major Swedish companies.
Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, also offered $50,000 to anyone who kills Ulf Johansson, the editor of the newspaper that published the drawing by Lars Vilks. Sweden's Nerikes Allehanda daily newspaper published the drawing, part of a series that art galleries in Sweden had declined to display, last month. The cartoon showed the Prophet Mohammed with a dog's body.

Al-Qaida setzt Kopfgeld auf Karikaturisten aus - Spiegel Online 15.09.2007

Zwei Schweden fürchten um ihr Leben: Iraks Al-Qaida-Chef will demjenigen, der den Karikaturisten Lars Vilks oder den Chefredakteur Ulf Johansson tötet, ein Kopfgeld zahlen. Vilks hatte den Propheten Mohammed als Hund dargestellt, Johanssons Zeitung die Zeichnung abgedruckt.
Hamburg - Die Terrororganisation al-Qaida im Irak hat ein Kopfgeld auf den schwedischen Karikaturisten Lars Vilks sowie Ulf Johansson, Chefredakteur der Zeitung "Nerikes Allehanda", ausgesetzt. Diese hatte im August eine Zeichnung von Vilks abgedruckt, die Mohammed als riesiges Hundedenkmal in der Mitte eines Kreisverkehrs zeigt. Das Blatt illustrierte damit einen Leitartikel über Meinungsfreiheit.

On the way to the airport to fetch her husband...

... my sis saw a palace, had to pull me out from under a tree, and smiled for the birdy!

Wonderful lit fest discoveries

Here to Dutch illustrator Sieb Posthuma and one example of his work, an enormous theater decoration for a Diaghilev festival, from that linked website:

And the Russian illustrator Vladimir Radunsky, charming, witty, intelligent, Dadaist:

Depressing to Find Auntie Times Right Again

It really does get to me, so often finding that The New York Times has understood something, but this is again the case after the bushbaby's most recent proof that he and his playpen will never understand anything, nothing, nuttin at all!

NYT Editorial
No Exit, No Strategy
Published: September 14, 2007
Last night’s speech could have been given any day in the last four years — and was delivered a half-dozen times already. Despite Mr. Bush’s claim that he was offering a way for all Americans to “come together” on Iraq, he offered the same divisive policies — repackaged this time with the Orwellian slogan “return on success.” [...]

Once again, it is clear that President Bush refuses to recognize the truth of his failure in Iraq and envisions a military commitment that has no end.

Doing the tourist thing

Taking Terri to Berlin gardens you end up traveling the world without leaving the city.

(Drooling yet, Jenn? Cause actually, this is me in a photo by Terri in a pasha's garden in Morocco.)

Literary Privilege

For the internationales literaturfestival berlin yesterday evening, I had the great privilege of interpreting for (among others) Anne Waldman as she explained and spoke about her choices for this year's Berliner Anthologie published for and with the literature festival. Her own piece, without, which you can listen to under this link, first title, was a refreshing reminder of the need for incantatory exorcising poetry to drive back the spirits of war. Also, she chose and read Allen Ginsberg's great Pentagon exorcism poem from the days of the movement against the Vietnam War.

Terri & Jeff, visiting, did NOT come along, Jeff being on another wavelength, but Terri, who actually was planned and should have come and would have liked it, was, at time to head over there, suddenly afflicted by fatiguing jet lag and decided to remain home with Detlef & her husband to play Kulturbanausen and go for a Döner for supper (trotz Fleischskandalen).

The next event of the festival will not be avoidable for her.

Check out Anne Waldman and learn to bang the poetic drums of resistance.

Justice Patriotic : PATRIOT ACT unconstitutional

In the case Doe v. Gonzales originally filed in April 2004, a federal court yesterday struck down the National Security Letter (NSL) provision of the amended version of the so-called Patriot Act. It has allowed the FBI to present NSLs to obtain private information about people in the US without court review or approval, while forbidding those who get NSLs from telling anyone about them. This prohibition power, said the court, is unconstitutional since it hinders courts in meaningful judicial review of same, in violation of the First Amendment and the principle of separation of powers.
U.S. District Court Judge Victor Marrero wrote, "In light of the seriousness of the potential intrusion into the individual's personal affairs and the significant possibility of a chilling effect on speech and association - particularly of expression that is critical of the government or its policies - a compelling need exists to ensure that the use of NSLs is subject to the safeguards of public accountability, checks and balances, and separation of powers that our Constitution prescribes."

The full text of the court order is in this link.

Justice is the only method to combat the enemies of human and civil rights and democracy. This decision is a true tribute to those who have died at hands of terrorists and a true slap in the face for those terrorists and all those who, like them, seek to limit our right to think and speak and live freely.

My favorite person's birthday !

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when skies are gray, and you sure know, dear, how much I love you. So lets make some sunshine today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Detlef

ALLES GUTE ZUM GEBURTSTAG

BONNE ANNIVERSAIRE

Try to remember what started it all...

... the firey destruction of the WTC by fundamentalists unswayable in their blind convictions of being right while everyone else is wrong.

This is a characteristic they share with the bushbaby and his playpen, along with both groups' distrust of human rights, people who are different, free thought, passion, justice, etc.

As September 11 again nears, six years after those events, it is time to recall what was and is at risk:

• civilized enlightenment with humans doing what makes them human : thinking

and what the threat is:

• blindly believing religious fundamentalists afraid of thought and free people and prepared to do anything to stamp them out.

Fly the flag of enlightenment on September 11 !

And here's is an accurate assessment of the current dilemma from -
The New York Times
Editorial
Another Iraq Photo Op
Published: September 5, 2007
As Americans and Iraqis continue to die, President Bush stubbornly refuses to recognize that what both countries need is a responsible exit strategy for the United States.

And finally the title page of a government report with a link to the full document:

GAO
United States Government Accountability Office

Testimony

Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S.Senate
SECURING, STABILIZING, AND REBUILDING IRAQ
Iraqi Government Has Not Met Most Legislative, Security, and Economic Benchmarks
Statement of David M. Walker Comptroller General of the United States

For Release on Delivery Expected at 2:00 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Amazing concert & view

After the famous lunch that an American niece commented on before it was eaten and a sister reminded me of remembering the mention of in The Sound of Music, we went out to the street fair of the Berlin water company because SILLY was giving a free concert. And it was fantastic, a good ninety minutes of their fabulously powerful rock & sentiment songs. The attempt to make a video of a number (SILLY's official website has some samples) was stymied by the concrete canyon echoes from the walls of the modern administration buildings flanking the outdoor stage, so I've settled for posting this stunning photo of the old city hall at sunset as it looked behind and above the stage. It fitted the music just fine.

Für die verlorenen Kinder in den Straßen von Berlin.

Lunch is gonna be good...

Today, Edith is coming to visit and prepare us lunch as well. Ingredients are at the ready, and this is what we're having:

Jägerschnitzel a la DDR (mit Jagdwurst)

Zutaten
500 g Jagdwurst (möglichst großer Durchmesser!)
2-3 EL Mehl
2-3 Eier
3-4 EL Semmelbrösel
Bratfett, Pfeffer, Salz (optional Paprikapulver)

Info: Zu DDR-Zeiten oft so gegessen & auch selbamacht... Hintergrund der Falsifizierung' (Wurst statt echtes Schnitzel): Fleisch war knapp, Wurst war da schon eher zu bekommen (und billiger)... Wer diese Variante von Jägerschnitzel nicht kennt bzw. früher damit mal nicht so gute Erfahrung gemacht haben sollte, möge trotzdem mal den "Mut" haben, das selber auszuprobieren! Das Rezept ist mitnichten ein Kandidat für ein Gala-Diner, vor allem Kinder sind aber (ähnlich wie bei Fischstäbchen) dankbare Abnehmer ...

Zubereitung

Jagdwurst in 5..8 mm dicke Scheiben schneiden, pfeffern & salzen, panieren, (kross) braten, feddich!
'Standesgemäß' gehören eine einfache Tomatensauce (nur Tomate und Zwiebeln) und Makkaroni-Chips dazu! Jedwede andere Nudel/Pasta, aber auch Reis oder andere Beilagen passen aber auch...

Yes, ymm, and we're getting the version with tomato sauce !

A Singing Grand Cousin

With this link to the contest my cousin's son Robert Leonard is in, you can hear one minute of his song and give him a vote.
WDWG - The Big DAWG
But, I have another reason for putting this here:
He sang this song in a private concert for my mom, and Rose loved it, and today's her birthday, and this is a little memorial present for her.
So thanks to Robert & Cynthia & Lindsay & Robbie for making it possible for me to post a present for Rose, cause she'd love to know Robbie's getting this kind of attention and recognition.
Thanks.

Tap, tap

Tap, tap... tap, tap, tap... tap, tappity, tap... tappity, tap, tap... tipple, tap, tap, tap... tappity, tap... tipplety, tappity, tap... tap, tap, tap...

Do you know what I mean ? If so, be careful you don't get arrested by the bushbaby squads against freedom in the playpen of the brave.

Thanks to Rose ...

Thank you, Rose, for your birthday tomorrow !

Rose Tyson Gardner

August 30, 1926 - April 21, 2007

You filled me with being and your being is here in me.

Slowly pain transforms and eases into thanks to the departed. Those who reach thanks experience the mysterious power of recall which thanks enfolds.

[My English rendition of MH's thoughts in memory of Fridolin Wiplinger in 1974 from vol.13 of the complete works, p. 238, which, in the original, reads as follows:

"Langsam wandelt und mildert der Schmerz sich zum Dank an den Abgeschiedenen. Die ins Danken gelangen, erfahren die geheimnisvolle Kraft der Vergegenwärtigung, die der Dank in sich birgt."]

Justice At Last !

Gonzo Gonzales is no longer Attorney General of the United States. This is a victory for JUSTICE over the cronyism and debasement of civil rights so dear to the bushbaby playpen. Those who uphold the laws must also understand and uphold the constitution, rather than holding it up like Billy the Kid in a bank in the Wild West.

Biking where the Wall was

Today a bike tour from Teltow to Schönefeld along the southern border of Berlin ... all on a path where the Wall stood from 1961-1989.
At this linked site to the whole Berlin Wall path you can follow ours today: two sections - Schönefeld-Lichtenrade and Lichtenrade-Lichterfelde Süd - though we went the other way round.
And here a few pix of our own from the tour.

Lea with grandma & uncles at the zoo

Today we both took a well earned day off and went with Edith and our niece Lea to the zoo, an outing we managed to squeeze into a perfectly sunny 4-hour interlude between thunderstorms. It would have been nice to ride in the wagon intended for the soon-to-be 5-year-old Lea ourselves, but at least she enjoyed it for the last 100 meters.

And we saw Berlin's new elephant baby, 1 1/2 days old, on his first outing, even if difficult to spot between his mother's legs and under her belly and behind the crowds there for the new star of Berlin's animal world. (The TV crews were there, so there will certainly be good pix on the news tonight.)

Reading...

Supporting and guiding what we call reading is the act of gathering, gathering up what has been written and what the text has to say. Reading gathers what has already laid claim to our innermost self without our knowing it, whether we live up to, or betray, that essential core. But without true reading, reading proper, we cannot see what is peering at us nor look at what appears and shines.

[My own colloquial English version of MH's "Was heißt Lesen?" from 1954, included in GA Bd.13]

Bringing Someone to Justice

Despite the bushbaby playpen's devious efforts to deprive him of a trial, despite the fact that most of the charges against him were dropped when it was time to lay them out in a court of law, Padilla has finally met justice.
Sworn jurors, under the eyes of a judge, have, in an American court of law, found the man guilty of those charges brought against him.
This is one of the few correct ways of fighting terrorism and that form of fundamentalism desirous of eliminating justice from the word. This trial is a demonstration of practicing what you preach: equal justice for all in a court of law as a foundation of democracy and civil rights!
It is only a great shame that the playpen stalled on this case, as it is still stalling on so many others today.

Below, excerpts from and links to editorials on the subject in today's papers and then a link to all judicial actions in terrorist cases in the US.

Jose Padilla, symbole des excès de la lutte antiterroriste, a été reconnu coupable
LEMONDE.FR 17.08.07
La Maison Blanche a immédiatement salué cette importante victoire, évoquant une décision "juste". Mais le verdict, qui ne fait pas mention d'un projet d'attentat à la "bombe sale", rappelle toutefois, pour ses opposants, les excès de l'administration Bush dans sa lutte contre le terrorisme.

©

Jose Padilla's Due Process
The five-year path to a verdict is an indictment of the administration.
The Wahington Post, Friday, August 17, 2007; Page A22

Does the orderly disposition of Mr. Padilla's court case prove that every terrorism prosecution can and should be channeled through U.S. courts? No, although civil libertarians will make that case, there will be genuine enemy combatants who may not belong in civilian courts. But every person held by the government -- U.S. citizen or not -- must have due process to challenge that detention. The presumption must be that U.S. citizens can rely on the federal courts to oversee their prosecutions. And Mr. Padilla's abhorrent disappearance into limbo should come to be remembered as an aberration never to be repeated.

The New York Times - Editorial
The Padilla Conviction
Published: August 17, 2007

It would be a mistake to see the guilty verdict against Jose Padilla as a vindication for the Bush administration’s serial abuse of the American legal system. [...]

In hailing the verdict yesterday, a White House spokesman thanked the jury for “upholding a core American principle of impartial justice for all.” It is a remarkable statement, since the administration did everything it could to keep Mr. Padilla away from a jury and deny him impartial justice.

After all that, there was still some good news yesterday: a would-be terrorist will be going to jail. And the Bush administration was forced, grudgingly and only at the very end, to provide him with the rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

And, finally, the link to FindLaw's special coverage of the war on terrorism, including

• Terrorism Cases Prior To Sept. 11th
• Airplane / Airport Security Cases
• Civil Cases
• Criminal Cases (page 1)
• Criminal Cases (page 2)
• Hate Crimes Cases
• Terrorist Hoax Cases

and court documents such as this: American Jose Padilla’s Terrorism Trial / U.S. v. Adham Amin Hassoun, Mohamed Hesham Youssef, Kifah Wael Jayyousi, Kassem Daher, and Jose Padilla: Jury Verdict Form convicting the three defendants on all terror-related charges (HTML) Aug. 16, 2007

Food for thought

Frédéric Berthet, Journal de Trêve, p.21:

Et la femme fit Dieu à son usage. (Et si l'homme fit Dieu à son image, la femme le fit à son usage.)

MH, GA Bd.13, S.33:

Das Denken, gehorsam dem Seyn, sucht diesem das Wort.
Das Denken des Seyns ist die Sorge für den Sprach-gebrauch.

You can hear a lot of nonsense on the 100 and 200 bus lines, and it helps to read from such works as those I've quoted above, especially when you hear a tourist claiming they misspelled Checkpoint Charlie on the sign posted to tell such creatures how to get there, insisting that, "You spell 'Charlie' with a 'Y'." Now, I ask you, what would that look like? Checkpoynt Charly, I suppose. Somehow, I don't think it would have become famous under that label.
Anyway...

Successful Surprise for Edith's 70th

Well, not just lunch and then coffee & cake, but the route turned out to be a good birthday surprise for Edith. (And I think we all enjoyed it as much as she did.)

Spies and Walls...

Monday, August 13, is the 46th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall. It was one of the best examples of the absurdity and horror of trying to keep a people under control and complete observation.

As a reminder, then, a few links to keep things in perspective.

• The Documentation Center and Memorial to the Berlin Wall, with many links and references, available in French, English, Italian, and German.
• The site for the former Stasi prison, now a memorial to those held and tortured there for political "crimes" such as saying the government was bad or trying to leave the GDR or not informing on others, most victims of an intense network of spying and collaborators informing on their friends.
• In an August 11th editorial entitled The Need to Know, the New York Times quite rightly comments that, "If President Bush wants Americans to give him the power to spy on them at will, Americans should be allowed to know how much their freedoms are being abridged."
• And here The New Yorker publishes Jane Mayer's article on secret CIA prisons in Poland and elsewhere, The Black Sites, A rare look inside the C.I.A.’s secret interrogation program.
• And finally an editorial from Berliner Zeitung pointing out how absurdly little the bushbaby has learned about giving weapons to supposed allies, forgetting what happened with Saddam and Iran, only to name a few, and blindly believing guns will stop terrorism. Neither it nor spying will.

Various and sundry

• Maebelle died on Monday; Sheila wrote in what seemed good spirits, which we of course wish her & Bobby.
• Jennifer apparently cake-walked through her first law school exams, at least she sounded typically blasé and relieved about them when I caught her at "home" when I wanted to phone with her mom.
• Die Deutsche Bahn meint Streiks gerichtlich verbieten lassen zu können, ihr offenbar lieber als ernsthafte Verhandlungen mit der Gewerkschaft der Lokführer, die den Arbeitskampf als legitimes Druckmittel verwenden wollen. Nun werde Geisler und Biedenkopf vermitteln - hoffentlich kriegen die Arbeiter mehr Geld und nicht nur die "Managers".
• There are cracks in some 425 of the stone slabs of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, although it only opened two years ago. Most aren't serious, but repair must occur before the winter frosts come. Another enduring repair site.
• The brick-facade skyscraper at Potsdamer Platz is still bounded by scaffolding to protect everyone below from the bricks falling out of the building, and there is still no sign of any work being done to fix the structure!
• Edith, my mother-in-law, will turn 70 on Monday, and we're all taking her out on a pedal-train ride preceding and following a fancy lunch. She's promised to serve as my other mom for some time to come, now that Rose is no longer.
• Another MH has arrived for my perusal: Aus der Erfahrung des Denkens, a collection of 66 years of shorter pieces.
• Berthet's Journal de Trêve is also awaiting my reading, as is the rest of Pamuk's Snow, Chomsky's Failed States, and Grimmelshausen's Simplicissimus.
• And last night we watched that fabulously quirky 60's film: I love you, Alice B. Toklas with Peter Sellers etc.
  And now it's time for a weekend.

We celebrate our sixth "legal" anniversary

Six ans de PAC

Sechs Jahre eingtragener Lebenspartnerschaft

Six years of civil union

pour/für/for

D&R

7 août/August 2001

(together/ensemble/zusammen

since/depuis/seit

2 mai/Mai/May 1996)

To Those Snoops Reading My Email and Listening to My Phone Calls...

I suggest you snoops of my emails and phone calls to the US read the post below from yesterday ("In the Name of the People") to know what category you fall into. Don't expect me to contribute to a memorial to you, however, but surely to your victims when your shenanigans are halted, as they hopefully will be.

In future I shall always attempt to greet you - with a line in every email or phone call to this effect: "Hello, Snoops, hope you're having fun." This was a technique citizens of the GDR used to annoy the Stasi listening in on their phone calls.

Discite iustitiam moniti !

The New York Times

Washington
House Passes Changes in Eavesdropping Program
By CARL HULSE and EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: August 5, 2007

Despite serious objections from many Democrats, the House endorsed a bill the Bush administration said was needed to keep pace with new technology. [...]

Representative Silvestre Reyes, Democrat of Texas and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Friday that the bill the administration wanted would allow wiretapping without warrants as long as it was “concerning a person abroad.”

House Approves Wiretap Measure - White House Bill Boosts Warrantless Surveillance
By Ellen Nakashima and Joby Warrick

Washington Post Staff Writers

The Washington Post, Sunday, August 5, 2007; Page A01

Civil liberties and privacy advocates and a majority of Democrats said the bill could allow the monitoring of virtually any calls, e-mails or other communications going overseas that originate in the United States, without a court order, if the government deems the recipient to be the target of a U.S. probe.

Last night, several Democrats said the bill would undermine the Fourth Amendment. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said lawmakers were being "stampeded by fearmongering and deception" into voting for the bill. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) warned that the bill would lead to "potential unprecedented abuse of innocent Americans' privacy."

In the Name of the People . . .

Don't ever forget what crimes have been committed under that label !

Never acquiesce quietly to injustice being done in YOUR name !


Today we visited the Plötzensee Memorial in Berlin, tucked right in among industrial sites, churches, canals, a scenic lake, lovely villas, and a charming lake, easily accesible by all forms of transportation. Nearly 3 thousand were executed there after summary trials by Nazi judges sentencing people to death for such things as saying Hitler was a nut. By those standards, I should have been sentenced and executed decades ago. And you? Think about it.


The following comes from the website of the memorial.

The Plötzensee Memorial Center commemorating the victims of National Socialism is a site of quiet remembrance. From 1933 to 1945, nearly three thousand people unjustly sentenced to death by the National Socialist judiciary were executed here. Today, the execution chamber is a memorial. The exhibition in the room adjoining it documents the practice of the National Socialist judicial and penal system.

One example of the many innocent people executed there "In the Name of the People":

Karlrobert Kreiten is born June 26, 1916, in Bonn as the son of a Dutch citizen. He grows up in Düsseldorf and is regarded as one of the most talented pianists of his generation. Contemplating the defeat at Stalingrad during a concert tour in Berlin in March 1943, he remarks to a friend of his mother that the war is lost. He calls Hitler ”a madman.” His mother’s friend reports Karlrobert Kreiten to the authorities, and he is arrested in July of 1943. The ”People’s Court” presided over by Roland Freisler sentences him to death on September 3, 1943, for ”subversion of national defense, aiding the enemy, and defeatist statements.” Four days later, Karlrobert Kreiten is murdered in Plötzensee.

The court documents of his "guilty" verdict and death sentence:



The photos are some of the ones we made today.

Idealer Gatte to be broadcast again

My German translation of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband will again be broadcast on German television (a video recording of the production in the Schauspielhaus Bochum under the direction of Armin Holz, my co-translator).

August 18, Saturday, from 8:15 to 10:40 pm.

3sat
Samstag, den 18.08.2007

20:15 Uhr
Ein idealer Gatte

Schauspiel von Oscar Wilde

Deutsche Übersetzung von Armin Holz und Richard Gardner

Aufzeichnung einer Aufführung aus dem Schauspielhaus Bochum, 2006
Lord Goring - Sebastian Koch
Lord Caversham - Hans Diehl
Sir Robert Chiltern - Markus Boysen
Vicomte de Nanjac - Michael Lippold
Mr. Montford - Jaschar Sarabtchian
Phipps - Cornelius Schwalms
Mrs. Cheveley - Jeannette Hain
Lady Markby - Margit Carstensen
Regie: Armin Holz

Die intrigante Mrs. Cheveley erpresst den aufstrebenden Unterstaatssekretär Sir Robert Chiltern mit einem Brief aus dessen Vergangenheit. Sie weiß, dass seine Karriere einst mit einem Insidergeschäft begann und droht nun, ihr Wissen zu veröffentlichen. Als ihr Mann das Geheimnis seiner Ehefrau verrät, bricht für die prinzipientreue Lady eine Welt zusammen. Der heiratsresistente Dandy Lord Goring versucht nun, seinem Freund Chiltern zu helfen. Er droht Mrs. Cheveley, mit der auch er eine Vergangenheit hat, als Diebin zu entlarven. Plötzlich steht Intrige gegen Intrige.

Verhängnisvolle Affären stehen im Mittelpunkt dieser Sittenkomödie: Im Spannungsfeld von persönlichen Interessen und gesellschaftlichen Ansprüchen versteht es Oscar Wilde, mit seinem Schauspiel zu brillieren. Geistreich und ironisch zeigt er die Divergenz zwischen Schein und Sein in den Denk- und Verhaltensmustern der Viktorianischen Ära und enthüllt die Fadenscheinigkeit eines Gesellschaftskodex' mit all seinen Normen, Rollenspielen und Illusionen. Er beweist mit diesem Stück einen scharfen Blick auf gesellschaftliche Zwänge und bigotte Moralvorstellungen nicht nur seiner Zeit.

Radiation (Erasure -or- Elimination -or- Strike Out)

Recommended reading regarding relentless relegation of responsible renegades to remunerationless roles. (Or: workless woes wallowing in woeful work.)

Guy Tournaye: RADIATION [2007] , 128 pages, 140 x 205 mm. Collection L'Infini, Gallimard -rom. ISBN 9782070784806. Parution : 20-04-2007. 12,50 €

Here one short exemplary quote followed by my cursory translation:

Tout le monde s'accorde à dire que le chômage est un cancer et qu'il faut traquer sans relâche les faux malades. Mais personne ne se risque à remettre en cause la norme qui fonde un tel diagnostic. Les discours incantatoires sur la valeur travail traduisent au contraire une forme de fuite en avant et tendent à légitimer un modèle social de plus en plus coercitif, où chacun est sommé de brader ses désirs pour accepter n'importe quel poste, à n'importe quelle condition.

Everyone is in agreement in claiming that unemployment is a cancer and that fake patients must be relentlessly pursued. But no one dares to question the norm underlying such a diagnosis. On the contrary, the incantations about the value of labor reveal a form of hasty action and tend to legitimize a more and more coercive social model in which everyone is called upon to surrender his desires to accept any old job no matter what the conditions.

This is essential reading for everyone who can understand French and who is prepared to think about the condition of our world today. Hopefully it will also be translated into many other languages, English and German among them, as it portrays in a charmingly novelistic esayistic manner the malaise of our age in its inability to come to terms with work and distribution of funds for living.

Birgit Winkler +

It was a privilege to have known you, Birgit, even though it wasn't very long. I quickly discovered my great respect for your mind, your heart, your charm, your ideas. May your two daughters Anna and Nina and your son Uli gather all they had with you up into a soothing whole: They, too, were able to be there with you as you concluded your path, and you know how important that was for me as my mother finished hers. Thank you for your smiles and for sharing some of your time with me and speaking so well and intelligently with me in both your and my languages!

Birgit Winkler

née Sievers

29 August 1950 - 30 July 2007

Woman Hides with Children from Beating Husband and Is Condemned in Court

Une femme battue doit communiquer sa nouvelle adresse à son mari violent - 20minutes.fr:
"Le tribunal correctionnel de Dunkerque (Nord) a condamné à trois mois de prison avec sursis, jeudi, une mère qui s’était réfugiée avec ses enfants auprès de l’association Sedire. Motif: ne pas avoir communiqué sa nouvelle adresse à son mari..."

That's the kind of judgements that let you speculate about whose rights are being protected by whom!

German-American Summer Fun in Berlin

This is where we were yesterday evening, almost like a county fair somewhere in the South. And we even rode the ferris wheel, I ate spare ribs and Detlef a steak. We were there more or less during the early evening "family hours" and headed back home before the rowdies started getting too out of hand. Later the American beers and whiskeys start to rev up another aspect of the occasion.

47. Deutsh-Amerikanisches Folksfest

and two typical shots of the "food mile /American village":

He'll never understand ...

... but hopefully he won't drive us to oblivion before he's driven from office !
HE opened the way for them in Iraq, and no one else; HE's responsible for giving them the opportunity to wreak havoc there!

President Links Qaeda of Iraq to Qaeda of 9/11
By JIM RUTENBERG and MARK MAZZETTI
Published: July 25, 2007; The New York Times
President Bush sharply criticized those who contend that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and the network responsible for the attacks on 9/11 are independent of each other.

A Modest Suggestion ...

... to the bushbaby and his entire playpen :

SIMPLY CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO

BRING THOSE DETAINED THERE TO JUSTICE

(WHICH MEANS TO A COURT OF LAW)

TO FACE THE CHARGES AGAINST THEM

(INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY)

AND CONDUCT A FAIR AND IMPARTIAL TRIAL

(AS REQUIRED BY THE US CONSTITUTION)

Then you wouldn't have to deal with this constant badgering about telling everyone about what's going on there, because it would no longer exist. We wouldn't need a list of all the people you've kept their in deprivation of their fundamental rights, denying them the opportunity to face those bringing charges against them. That the Constitution demands a speedy trial is something you can no longer remedey: you've waited far too long already. And here, in case you don't read the court decisions against your baby-rattler notions (which you apparently don't) information on the latest court decision against the legitimacy of what you're doing in Guantánamo.

Court Tells U.S. to Reveal Data on Detainees at Guantánamo
By WILLIAM GLABERSON
The New York Times - Published: July 21, 2007
In a stinging legal challenge to the administration’s detention policies, a ruling requires virtually all information to be shared with defense lawyers.

busbabies just don't get scared

Eugene Robinson - Bush's Cognitive Dissonance - washingtonpost.com

One hopes the leader of the free world hasn't really, truly lost touch with objective reality. But one does have to wonder.
Last week, George W. Bush invited nine conservative pundits to the White House for what amounted to a pep talk, with the president providing the pep. Somehow I was left off the list -- must have been an oversight. But some columnists who attended have been writing about the meeting or describing it to colleagues, and their accounts are downright scary.
[...]
It's bad enough that Osama bin Laden is still out there plotting bloody acts of terrorism, convinced that God wants him to slay the infidels. Now we know that the president of the United States believes God has chosen him to bring freedom to the world, that he refuses to acknowledge setbacks in his crusade and that he flat-out doesn't care what "the polls" -- meaning the American people -- might think. I'm having trouble seeing the bright side. I think I need cognitive therapy.

By Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, July 20, 2007; Page A19

I've recognized and been talking and writing about this alarming aspect of the bushbaby and his playpen for many years now. Good that a Washington Post columnist has also seen the two faces of the one coin of fundamentalism, its resultant terror and its underlying denial of reality. Such inability or unwillingness to call a spade a spade is also one of the definitions of INSANITY.

Just to say thanks...

Many have followed the wishes of the Countess and given memorials after her death. The Lady-in-Waiting has written to them all to express our thanks, and here, I, the Page, would like to add my personal thanks to all of you below who with us remember Rose Tyson Gardner.

Memorials to West Haven Presbyterian:
The F.M. Pridgen Sunday School Class
Ruth McLean
Henry and Wilma Tyson
David and Melanie Gardner

Memorials to Hospice of Nash General:
Jane Gardner Smith
Tommy and Margaret Gardner
George and Ruth Price
Amos Tyson
Mary Smith
Charles Sutton
Sandra Bonner
Mary Ann Sutton
Lichtenfelt Nurseries
Joe and Marti Cash
Park and Thomas Williams
Sally Mozingo
Inez and Julian Gardner
Jeanette Allen
St. Giles Presbyterian Women

Memorials to St. Giles Butterflies & Memories Garden:
The Greenville Chamber Singers
Memorials to the NC Order of Eastern Stars Foundation:
25/Past Matrons Club
Nell Boone
Nashville Chapter #332

Flowers:
Sag Harbor
Battle & Steven Whitley

If anyone has been omitted, it is not intentional. Please let me or Terri know if we have not listed you and thanked you for a memorial. The information is not always very quick getting to us and we are truly grateful to everyone for their accompaniment of us and Rose on her final path.

Jour de la Bastille

La Marseillaise

A. Roiné © Tous droits réservés

Allons enfants de la Patrie

Le jour de gloire est arrivé !

Contre nous de la tyrannie

L'étendard sanglant est levé

Entendez-vous dans nos campagnes

Mugir ces féroces soldats?

Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras.

Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes!

Aux armes citoyens

Formez vos bataillons

Marchons, marchons

Qu'un sang impur

Abreuve nos sillons

Tremblez, tyrans et vous perfides

L'opprobre de tous les partis

Tremblez! vos projets parricides

Vont enfin recevoir leurs prix!

Tout est soldat pour vous combattre

S'ils tombent, nos jeunes héros

La France en produit de nouveaux,

Contre vous tout prêts à se battre.

Amour sacré de la Patrie

Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs

Liberté, Liberté chérie

Combats avec tes défenseurs!

Sous nos drapeaux, que la victoire

Accoure à tes mâles accents

Que tes ennemis expirants

Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire!

Mireille Mathieu's performance

The bushbaby knows worst...

Everyone knows better, some may know pretty well, but the bushbaby knows absolutely worst: His war in Iraq is helping the terrorists, fomenting fundamentalism, damaging the image of democracy, trampling on human rights, disregarding justice, and flying in the face of reason. When the troops leave, there will be a disaster, a bigger one the longer they stay, even bigger the more time passes before a plan is devised how to pull them out with as little resultant bloodshed as possible.

No Progress Report - New York Times
Editorial
No Progress Report
Published: July 13, 2007

President Bush still refuses to talk about what almost everyone else now understands is essential: the need for a plan to extricate American troops from a lost cause in Iraq.

More From Maledictus fundamentalistus !

Vatican says other Christian churches wounded - International Reuters:

"A 16-page document by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which Pope Benedict once headed, described Christian Orthodox churches as true churches, but suffering from a 'wound' since they do not recognize the primacy of Pope.
But the document said the 'wound is still more profound' in Protestant denominations.
'Despite the fact that this teaching has created no little distress ... it is nevertheless difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to them,' it said."

Just a little assistance for the Reuters translators: the German word they translated as "wounded" also serves to describe a DEFECT, so essentially the papal dictator was declaring all churches other than his own as "religiously defective".

Anyone still wondering why the ability to think is so rapidly disappearing, amidst all the clouds of shadowy smoke designed to debilitate all brains everywhere ?

Ob Schäuble sich freut ?

Vielleicht würde Herr Schäuble sich besser fühlen, wenn er am Monitor eines solchen Systems in Berlin säße? Obwohl zu häufiges Fernsehen angeblich die geistigen Kräfte mindert. Er könnte aber viele arbeitslose Fernsehzuschauer im Innenmnisterium dafür einstellen...

New York Plans Surveillance Veil for Downtown - New York Times

The program would include license plate readers and 3,000 security cameras below Canal Street.
[...]
There is little evidence to suggest that security cameras deter crime or terrorists, said James J. Carafano, a senior fellow for homeland security at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative research group in Washington.
For all its comprehensiveness, London’s Ring of Steel, which was built in the early 1990s to deter Irish Republican Army attacks, did not prevent the July 7, 2005, subway bombings or the attempted car bombings in London last month. But the British authorities said the cameras did prove useful in retracing the paths of the suspects’ cars last month, leading to several arrests.
While having 3,000 cameras whirring at the same time means loads of information will be captured, it also means there will be a lot of useless data to sift through. “The more hay you have, the harder it is to find the needle,” said Mr. Carafano.

Schließlich möchte Schäuble jeden Tag mehr Spielzeuge einführen:

SPIEGEL-INTERVIEW

07. Juli 2007 Hamburg

Schäuble fordert Handy- und Internetverbot für Terrorverdächtige

Schäuble macht ernst: Für den Anti-Terror-Kampf fordert der Innenminister im Gespräch mit dem SPIEGEL eine deutliche Ausweitung der staatlichen Befugnisse. Seine Liste reicht von Handy- und Internetverboten bis zur vorsorglichen Internierung von Gefährdern.

"Man könnte beispielsweise einen Straftatbestand der Verschwörung einführen, wie in Amerika", sagte Schäuble im Gespräch mit dem SPIEGEL. Zudem denke er darüber nach, ob es Möglichkeiten gebe, "solche Gefährder zu behandeln wie Kombattanten und zu internieren".

"Contre le terrorisme, l'aide aux moins riches est plus efficace que des chars"
LE MONDE 09.07.07

Aujourd'hui, vous pouvez rajouter des avions de combat et des missiles, vous ne combattrez pas les vrais fléaux de l'humanité que sont le terrorisme, les pandémies et le réchauffement climatique. L'aide est infiniment plus efficace que des chars, mais elle suppose que l'on sorte des conservatismes budgétaires qui reconduisent d'année en année les mêmes dépenses en faveur d'armées régulières inadaptées dans le monde actuel. Je sais de quoi je parle : j'ai été ministre des finances de mon pays, la Turquie.

©

Caritas Sine Amore ?

Papus maleficus missa latina edicet.

Verbum sine vi.

Fiat mysteria.

For example, if other fundamentalists annoy you with strange formulations in another language and never recognize translations of their holy text, but insist on the original, like this:

ذَلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لاَ رَيْبَ فِيهِ هُدًى لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ

الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ وَيُقِيمُونَ الصَّلاةَ وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ

والَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنزِلَ مِن قَبْلِكَ وَبِالآخِرَةِ هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ

أُوْلَـئِكَ عَلَى هُدًى مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ وَأُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ

... then the popal one wants you to answer like this ...

in principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum
hoc erat in principio apud Deum
omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil quod factum est
in ipso vita erat et vita erat lux hominum
et lux in tenebris lucet et tenebrae eam non conprehenderunt

On the other hand, you could go with the following to evoke another monoculture:

בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ.

וְהָאָרֶץ, הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ, וְחֹשֶׁךְ, עַל-פְּנֵי תְהוֹם; וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים, מְרַחֶפֶת עַל-פְּנֵי הַמָּיִם.

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, יְהִי אוֹר; וַיְהִי-אוֹר.

[SOURCES- Koran: The Cow 2:2-5; Bible: John 1:1-5; Torah: Moses I 1.1-3]

If you don't grasp any of the versions and are more interested in mystification than in thinking, you are the papal piddler's intended audience, especially given that his version isn't the original anyway.

FIAT LUX !

Home Again ... !!!

Hooray for a relatively sunny beach vacation while the rest of Germany was pretty much rained in the whole week ! And that continued this morning with our departure: it was raining when we got up, cleared up for us to go to and board the ferry, started raining again before the ferry reached the next island port, but we were ensconced in our cozy seats and looking for rainbows, which we found, as the first picture below testifies, also indicating that the rain stopped.

Well, it started again, but ceased and let the sun come out for our short bike trip to the train station in Stralsund, where it again started after we left. On the way to Berlin, we passed through another couple of hefty showers, but, when it was our stop and we were on our bikes from S-Bahnhof Greifswalder Straße, the sun was shining again. Once we were unpacking in our wonderfully clean apartment (Edith had been there while we were away) it started raining again, until we were ready to go pick up Koko, our famous parrot. On the way, while we were dry on mass transit, there was a downpour, stopping again in time for the walk to the site of poor Koko's week-long exile at Rainer's. And then once we got him back here, it started raining again, but will surely stop before we head over to Erich's for his gallery open-house this evening.

And it IS good to be rested and relaxed and a bit tan and home again!

The next pictures give a mere hint of what went on at yesterday evening's grill event with our vacation abode hosts.

And today was once again BEACH WEATHER

Actually, mixed weather: some clouds, some sun, some storm, some beach, and this evening a grill party with our "hosts" the owners of the place here and the other guests. Tomorrow we head out on the first ferry --- at 7 am and should be back in Berlin in time to go to Erich's Atelierfest (gallery party) in his artist-village.

(The earlier post today was before the weather was ready to permit our outings.)

Even a rainy day is enjoyable...

Just walk down the street to the inn for coffee and lunch...

This is the main street of the artists' and writers' town, the fashionable village of Kloster.

Ein bißchen Klarsicht - A bit of transparency

As can now be found on the website of the German Parliament / Deutscher Bundestag, Germany's Supreme Court ruled constitutional the law requiring members of parliament to make public income they receive from other sources. Now, the official biographies for each member include this information for all the world to see. First below, the link to the information on the website, then within the quote the link to the bios with incomes.

Nebeneinkünfte der Abgeordneten online abzurufen: "Die Angaben der 613 Abgeordneten zu ihren Nebeneinkünften sind online veröffentlicht. Unter den Biografien der einzelnen Parlamentarier stehen nunmehr auch die veröffentlichungspflichtigen Angaben, die unter anderem Auskunft über bezahlte Tätigkeiten neben dem Mandat geben. Bundestagspräsident Dr. Norbert Lammert hatte nach der Entscheidung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts am Mittwoch, dem 4. Juli 2007, die unverzügliche Bekanntmachung angekündigt."

Fireworks for Fourth of July at the Baltic Shore

This picture really says it all!

[This morning it's raining, but yesterday was the first time clouds opened up on the western horizon as the sun went down. So even if we spend more time indoors today, yesterday truly was a perfect July 4th, even giving us our first sunset on this trip. Now we can watch the low swooping swallows and listen to the croaking frogs all playing in the drizzle. Later we'll venture out to the beach, enjoy some nature, read, relax, do exactly what vacation means.]

WE hold these Truths to be self-evident

On the Fourth of July, a brief reminder of what it's all about, warmly blogged by an unashamedly overly idealist American after a morning on the beach of Hiddensee (Germany) on the Baltic shore with his husband-&-lover, proudly noted again as a bushbaby reveals what could in the same document hereinafter to be quoted be deemed tyrannical behavior necessitating removal from office (condoning libbying lobbying lying), but anyway, here some snippets to remember, to take to heart, and to ponder, followed by a couple of Fourth of July pictures from the real world.

WE hold these Truths to be self-evident [...] all Men are created equal [...] certain unalienable Rights [...] among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness [...] to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted [...] deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed [...] [One] whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.

Action of Second Continental Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America

And here photos of moments when such thoughts occur to me on The Fourth of July - Those are fireworks of thought designed to light up the world and stand up against fundamentalist darkness.

And here a video Fourth Of July to make you all envious:

Yesterday hiking, today on the beach

Today we spent the morning on the beach (photos tomorrow) and yesterday, before the enchanting puppet production of Robinson Crusoe, included a nice hike in the hills at the islands north end, as shown here.

And the sun is still shining, so, with lunch over, we're off again.

Remembering Beverly Sills

She was one of the highlights of my time at the Metropolitan Opera as well. Bubbles from Brooklyn, as the ushers there called her, was one of a kind, a queen among divas, a gift to opera audiences, and a true boon to fundraising for the continued production of high-quality opera in New York City.

Beverly Sills, the All-American Diva, Is Dead at 78 - New York Times

Beverly Sills, the acclaimed Brooklyn-born coloratura soprano who was more popular with the American public than any opera singer since Enrico Caruso, even among people who never set foot in an opera house, died last night at her home in Manhattan. She was 78.

Justin Lane for The New York Times
Beverly Sills in 2002, after coming out of retirement as chairwoman of Lincoln Center to lead the Metropolitan Opera

Second Morning With Sunshine ...

Unbelievably enough, while storms may be brewing elsewhere, we had a hazy sunny day yesterday, comfortable but not too hot; and the sun is shining this morning, though heavy thunderstorms are promised for the afternoon and evening. But then we're going to the puppet theater next door for their production of Robinson Crusoe, so who cares !

And here there are no cars (to be searched or feared), no airports (to wait in lines at or worry about attacks in), no trains (to miss because of wildcat strikes), no targets (to be hit by fundamentalists to defeat enlightenment), and no way on or off except by ferry from three easily controllable little harbors.
This is truly a little island paradise.

Yesterday we did the lighthouse and Enddorn; this morning we're going to do the Dornbusch hike up around the cliff edges to the west & north. And we're enjoying every minute of it.