Sun, 18 Sep 2005
[German elections] Uhm... now what?
It's 18:00 local time. The polling stations closed. The first extrapolations are published.. and we know... nothing.
The preferred coalitions of the parties won't work out. Neither our current coalition of the Social Democrats and The Green Party seem to have a majority, nor the Christian Democratic Liberal one. All other coalitions (like (Social Democrats, new Left and Greens) or (Christian Democrats and Social Democrats) or (Social Democrats, Greens and either (new Left or Liberals))) were rejected from different parties previously... now it seems we will see, if they stand true to their sayings before the elections...
On the other hand... some people already filled lawsuit against the election... and parts of the city of Dresden will vote in two weeks (since a candidate of a party died short before the elections... don't ask for details, difficult to explain)... so... those of you, who mailed me after my "pick your poison" blog asking me for details about the results of the elections: Sorry, currently nobody knows what's going to happen here in .de.
postet at 18:44 into [Debian] permanent link
[German election] Oops, I did it again!
Good god, I did it. With shivering hands I cast my ballot... after I sat a couple of minutes in the cubicle looking at my ballot. Rethinking again, searching a last minute solution whom to elect.
Well, to make it short: I didn't found one. Again I voted for the least undesirable option. Well, at least I didn't voted for them...
postet at 16:15 into [Debian] permanent link
Sat, 17 Sep 2005
The German election dilema
Those who aren't interested in German / European politics might not be interested in this blog so you can just skip it.
Well, so here we are. Again we Germans are invited / allowed / asked to elect a new parliament (which is called Bundestag). And again I think it's rather a "Pick your poison" decision than a choice between real alternatives...
Well... let's look at the situation: For the last seven years we were governed by a government of Social Democrats and the Green Party. The big problem that I see is not that our chancellor thinks he has lost the trust of the people in his politics (which he has indeed in many parts), but a more fundamental problem: He has already lost the majority in the other important council of the legislative, the Bundesrat which consists of representatives of our federal states (called Bundeslaender). When our red-green government was elected for the first time in 1998 they had a majority in the Bundesrat. That this important, since many laws need to pass both councils, the Bundestag (which we will elect this Sunday) and the Bundesrat (which we elect indirectly by electing our state parliaments).
If you followed this far and still understand what I'm talking about: Congrats, I know some Germans who haven't understood our political system 'till now ;) The rest will be quite easy: Basically there are four possible outcomes of the elections...:
- A so-called "big coalition" of the Social Democrats and the conservative Christian Democrats
- A coalition of the Christian Democrats and the Liberals
- A coalition of the Social Democrats, the Green Party and the new Left Party
- A coalition of the Social Democrats and the Green Party (that is what we currently have)
Well... And now I'm to decide... I'm a left green... and I don't like any of the first two options. I think the third option could bring some fresh air into politics... but honestly, I have doubts that the new Left Party can really make a change. I fear they lack a sense for reality and sooner or later such a coalition will break, leaving us in an other crisis (did I mention that our current chancellor and one of the most important politicians of the new Left Party had some serious problems in the past?). So let's drop that option.
Okay, so I should hope for the last option to win? Our current Social Democrat - Green government? Actually: They disappointed me quite a lot - they did things I would have never expected from such a government: Cuttings on our social system, participation in armed conflicts... and even if they would win the elections (with my vote), I would annoy me to hear them say their election result is a good sign of confidence of the people... Dear me!
Let's stick with that idea for a moment (and now we get back to the problem with the Bundesrat back): Even if the least undesirable option wins and our current government can remain in power for another four years: That wouldn't change anything! They can't do any bigger reforms (which are really needed in our country), since their laws won't pass the Bundesrat! And although we have a couple of state elections in the next year it will hardly change the composition of the Bundesrat and therefore won't change overall situation!
That brings me to the most incredible thought: Perhaps I should vote for the Christian Democrats? Even if I dislike their politics, something needs to be changed and it seems to me that they are the only party with a chance to change something within the next two years...
So with the knowledge that something needs to be done and for the sake of our country I would need to vote for the party which represents my personal interests least of all :( Damn.
No, I can't do that... Even though the internal politics probaly wouldn't change that much (which is an other sad chapter of Social Democratic disappointment)... a government ruled by the Christian Democrats will change our foreign politics! And I don't want that to happen.
So I will swallow the bitter pill and vote like I voted the last times. And watch our chancellor celebrating his victory as sign of confidence in his politics, knowing that most things won't change. *sigh*
Well, at least I'll vote for the only party which mentions "Open Source" in their agenda...
postet at 02:59 into [Debian] permanent link
Sat, 10 Sep 2005
Premiere at Darmstadt
This is the first time, where I didn't put all those fingerprints on the stack until it falls from my desk! This time, I not only managed to get all those keys signed, before the event ended! NO! I finished signing all new keys, before the keysigning party ended!
Well... with only four new keys to sign for me, that was quite easy to archive...
PS: BTW, Sorry for those guys visiting the keysigning party at FOSDEM 2004, I somehow lost the list with the fingerprints while moving...
postet at 23:59 into [Debian] permanent link
Sun, 28 Aug 2005
Debian quiz - small correction
Bad luck :( We made a small error checking the facts behind the questions of Myons Debian quiz.
Indeed Myon needed to replace question 29 and asked me to retest it. Damn, I didn't got it, I don't got my 100%!
Branden, don't worry. According to the quiz, I should no longer run for DPL...
... and thanks Nion for telling us about the error. If you wouldn't told us, I could still have the perfect result...
postet at 14:56 into [Debian] permanent link