Comments on: Speaking of schadenfreude: Meanwhile, in the German elections

By: Carson Fire

Carson Fire — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 16:00:59 +0000

Ethan, the danger in being pedantic is that you have to set a good example. Ignoring capitalization and punctuation is probably no less sloppy than using the grating variant of regardless.

And the history of language shows us that constant use of a word like “irregardless” can, unfortunately, give it some standing, even if merely as a dubious but popular bastardization. Punctuation and capitalization mistakes, however, will always be incorrect.

By: Ethan

Ethan — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 14:21:22 +0000

google “irregardless” and “definition” kat

By: kat

kat — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 12:20:06 +0000

Ethan–tell that to the people at Princeton.

irregardless

adv : regardless; a combination of irrespective and regardless sometimes used humorously

By: tknuewer

tknuewer — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 09:10:21 +0000

And furthermore, there’s the Dresden-problem: Because the candidate of the far-right NPD party died short before the election day, one part of Dresden is going to vote at Oct. 2. Because of the complicatet Ueberhang-Mandat-system it may be possible that the SPD will go even with the CDU.

Exciting days here in Germany…

By: KirkH

KirkH — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 07:12:23 +0000

Hayek, lord of the small-government right, has an interesting insight about the lure of the left. He basically says that smart people believe in Socialism because they have no metric to with which to gauge their own intelligence other than by those who are less intelligent. There is no AI to make the cognorati? realize that they’re not the smartest possible form of intelligence so they’re not aware of the limitations of their own, albeit relatively high, intelligence. So they overvalue and overextend that intelligence to a disbelief in economic freedom as the least flawed path to progress, economic or otherwise. In other words; everything needs to be managed and by god, according to their IQ tests, they’re the most qualified candidates.

Ethan, criticizing someone’s generalization about liberal bias in academia with “sweetie” isn’t much of a response.

By: Ethan

Ethan — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 05:52:40 +0000

hey penny, before you go spouting some rebaked talking points on “lame academics,” you might want to check your own grasp of academics: “irregardless” ain’t a word, sweetie. never was. new rule: before you defame college campuses, you actually have to have stepped on a college campus!
anti-intellectualism is deeply hilarious when it’s perpetuated by dullards.

By: KirkH

KirkH — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 04:19:15 +0000

Yeah, I guess I’d make a bad journalist Though a quick google search shows some contradictory information

“The German Social Democratic Party (SDP) was established in 1875 with the publication of its Gotha programme. The programme was a mixture of the ideas of Karl Marx and Ferdinand Lasselle. Its originally leaders included Ferdinand Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht.

Though, according to Wikipedia…

In the Russian sector which later became East Germany, the Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party of Germany were forced to merge to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). During the fall of Communist rule in 1989, the SPD was re-established as a separate party in East Germany (1989 as Social Democratic Party, SDP) and then merged with its West German counterpart upon reunification.

By: penny

penny — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 03:41:38 +0000

Thank you, Joost.

By: Joost Schuur

Joost Schuur — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 03:36:56 +0000

Kirk/Penny,

I think you have your parties mixed up. The SPD (not ‘SDP’) are the ‘Social Democratic Party of Germany’. They’re the left/center counterbalance to the right/center CDU/CSU (the ‘conservatives’). The Left Party is the new incarnation of an alliance of former East German ‘communists’ (SED) and disgruntled SPD members who didn’t like their parties shift towards the center.

By: penny

penny — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 02:14:58 +0000

How in 2005 people are still voting for a party composed of communists(SDP) as a way to increase their standard of living is totally mind blowing

No surprise. We have our share of lame academics who still tout Marxism on many campuses. Of course, paradoxically, the fools never suffered under communism. Irregardless that communism is a failed system by every metric there will always be idiots that defend it.

It would be interesting to know how many East Germans who lived the horror of communism versus West Germans spared the real horror of communism voted for the SDP. Angela Merkel has East German roots so her conservatism is logical.

Never mind that Germany because of its socialist pathology is pulling Europe down economically; we have our share of deluded moonbats here.

By: KirkH

KirkH — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 00:07:54 +0000

How in 2005 people are still voting for a party composed of communists(SDP) as a way to increase their standard of living is totally mind blowing. Even though I’m a believer in free markets I was hoping for a Schroeder win here so the ensuing economic collapse would finally put an end to the idea that socialism is more than just a well meaning, outdated relic.

By: K

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 21:41:07 +0000

It’s long ago that I took some studies in comparative government. But I recall that Germany has historically lacked a good way to form governments when no single party had a majority.

They ought to amend their procedure as follows.

If there is no majority the smallest party is suspended from voting on forming the goverment or in the legislature for one year. If there is still no majority among the remaining then again the smallest is ousted.

Things clear up in a hurry by this process.

By: The English Guy » Blog Archive » A German Iron Lady?

The English Guy » Blog Archive » A German Iron Lady? — Sun, 18 Sep 2005 21:15:44 +0000

[...] So now in the aftermath of the German election, with a deadlock between two great rivals, it remains to be seen what coalition, if any, can be forged. It seems unlikely that the two great parties would ever form a coalition together, at least at this point as both Schroeder and Merkel both vow to be the Chancellor on their own terms. What is Germany’s state then in this political paralysis, as we speak, what might happen? [...]