blue-plate special or everything’s up-to-date in kansas city

For the US presidential election less than a year out, I am guessing that the voting public and the public at-large has only been served the first loathsome appetizers of what rhetoric is in store for them in the coming campaign. Watching from a safer distance yet still not clear of the eruption of embarrassment and the rubber-necking over a profoundly expensive, corrupt and obtuse fight to secure the consent of an increasing narrow majority of the American voters--as much as can be fairly represented by gerrymandering, lobbyists and arcane institutions of indirect democracy.

Disappointment and hopes dashed from the last US election certainly make for a strong aperitif (or apparatchik) and the ultimate differences between the American political parties may only be as significant as that narrow, polarizing majority that either one holds, but the campaigning is already ugly and averting and I am sure that the next course will only be more unpalatable. Just like the farmer and the cowman, the tea-partiers and the occupiers should be friends, and both camps fighting against the establishment and would not revile one another so much if they essentially weren't fighting for the same thing. Whatever the culinary agenda, which I can't imagine would be very rife with surprises and some things are only for internal consumption, before it even begins in earnest, I bet Jesus and Mohammed (along with a whole host of others) are cringing at their summonses, much preferring words not be put into their mouths and dragged into the muck as casually as any other words of sophistry. It seems the attacks get more vicious every cycle, and I wonder when undisguised incivility reaches the point where it is no longer tolerated, stomached, when it becomes an insult to general intellect.

london bridge or two turntables and a microphone

Over British objections, Franco-German efforts to introduce an overarching treaty for all members of the European Union were scaled back (following coverage and some handy infographics from the BBC), and changed rules imposed without the ascension of any individual member, on euro-users and a collection of a few willing hosts. This deal brokered within the bounds of market and trade and below the threshold of submitting the changes before the full EU assembly but also broke by a vocal abstention is basically a mechanism of enforcement of guidelines, a honour-system that was already in place that enumerated the conditions of being a part of the union, like maintaining a healthy debt-to-domestic revenue ratio and reciprocating freedom of movement rights for fellow-member states.  Perhaps from the beginning, such peer-review ought to have been in place, although it does seem a bit of a slight to have one’s national budget, spending plans and tax schemes subject to approval by the EU before one’s own government. Ireland first was the brunt of that outrage, but essentially, in hock and with a narrow discretionary latitude already a puppet on a string to the IMF and other lenders, Ireland was already not in charge of its own monetary affairs.

And although such a shift (and it only applies to situations where economic stability is threatened and rescue funding has been distributed, not as a matter of course) does mark a retreat on national sovereignty, it does seem better (although a slippery precedent) to surrender this bit of procedure that will only underscore weaknesses and highlight where help is needed, than risk peace or protectionism on a bigger, uncontrolled scale. The UK is course right to raise objections and even divorce itself from the whole union, if such is the will of the people, but the tenor of the UK’s hue and cry sound suspect, more like a chorus of bankers and not of Britons, Welsh and Scotsmen. Were banks with the attested aims of protecting the financial sector of the City of London behind the opposition and fear-mongering? Shielding the banks’ profits and misplaced mercy for their transgressions are what created this mess to begin with, and safeguarding the financial sector should not come at the expense of further isolation for the British Isles, a Europe running at two speeds, maybe this estrangement translating to loss not only in integration but also trade and opportunities to do business with the rest of the euro block.

patteran or tacit knowledge

Ranker--and it is amazing what boutique web-sites one can find--showcases the top 50 internet memes of 2011, via Neatorama, which is curating many of the superlatives, achievements and things better forgotten of the past year. Some of these are really funny and flooring and even though for the best ones only a glimpse and no explanation suffices to communicate everything without killing the joke, I do like the Cliff's Notes and appreciate the background with plenty of inspirations and variations on a theme. What other statement in short-hand, writ small, might you include here?

kitchen-witch or jahresendflügelfigur

We have a pretty papier-mâché angel hanging up for Christmas time. Last year, we had it up as well and H's father asked if she was a witch. H was a little embarrassed, but H's parents lived in East Germany, and as H once explained to me, Christmas and all the seasonal trappings were tolerated during the DDR-Zeit, only the idea of angels was secularized in the form of their official catalogue designation: ein Jahresendflügelfigur, basically an end-of-the-year-figure-with-wings. Maybe angels, regaled not as a Guardian Angel (Schutzengel), and such would not be instantly recognizable.  I thought it was sweet what H's father said and having a Christmas witch is certainly something to hang with the mistletoe.