Thursday, February 24, 2005

Hurray for the New York Times!

Empty Town: The Germans Bush Wasn't Able to See: ". . . the isolation of Mr. Bush from everyday Germans seemed a metaphor for how far apart Germans and Americans have drifted."

Yes. Or rather, No. Germans, in general, hate Americans like Dubyah and the things they do, but I wouldn't say the people have drifted apart (everyday life in the two countries is probably more similar now than it has been in decades). Anyway, I have yet to get a single bit of guff for being an American. Mind you, I am REALLY cool, so I prolly throw 'em off.

So Dubyah was in Germany yesterday. I didn't go see him. I thought about going down there, but when my invitation didn't arrive I decided not to bother. Who knows? Maybe he really doesn't want to see me anymore.

By the way: the NYT notes that Dubyah called the German chancellor "Gerhard", so things may not be all bad. Horse feathers. He says "Gerhard" (putting too much emphasis on the last syllable) because he can't pronounce "Schröder".

There was a decent protest, which I really should have attended. (In my defense: Mainz is several hours [I have time] and dozens of Euros [I don't have money] away from Wuppertal. Still. I should have gone.) Anyway, especially when one considers that Mainz isn't all that big (and so it would need outside agitators), it was a work day, and it was cold and snowing, the turnout was good. The cops say around 7 or 8 k at the main protest site and the organizers say around 12 k.

The only real excitement (and it was well covered on ARD television) was produced by Greenpeace. Two brave planetlovers sped out into the Rhine in a rubber dinghy with an outboard motor just in time to hold up a sign as Dubyah's motorcade crossed the bridge. They got busted, of course, but dig it: it was prolly 25 degrees out (fahrenheit) yesterday and water is unfriendly in such weather AND the Rhine is not a small river AND the Rhine is a swift river AND Mainz is where the Main joins the Rhine, so the river is a bit bigger and swifter than normal in that area. Add it all together and you have a recipe for a glorious death by drowning. Greenpeace rocks.

Dubyah sucks. I hope he had a shitty time. As Dog is my witness, I hope never to be as close to him again.

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