Politics

A recent article on a famous German news site is talking about the significant world wide climate change we are facing at the moment. In fact, most scientists judge the situation much more severe than I have been doing so far: They talk about 13 years during which we will have time to take big efforts in gas reduction. This means we may not wait until sometime in the future, but measures have to be taken in the upcoming years. I am not an expert in those things, but I have at least some thoughts to share about the topic.

I am kind of in a rush right now, so I'll have to be very brief. Just thought I'd share this very interesting article with you by Doug Soderstrom of on "The Dumbing Down Of The American Mind".

In case you are interested in discussing it, why not join in on digg. Hope to hear your interesting comments here or there!

An Australian man was denied to board a plane for wearing an anti-Bush T-Shirt. Headlines like these make it sound like we're all losing our most basic right. However, on a closer look you find that the T-Shirt actually said "World's #1 Terrorist" and shows a picture of George W. Bush, ...thus breaking that unwritten "never-say-terrorist-(or-bomb)-on-an-airplane" law. It seems the readers are split on this subject. Read about it here.

Is it just me, or is the U.S. American lifestyle giving me a tough time again? First, there are the political decisions: A 15 year old murderer was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Thieves are condemned to wear signs of their criminal act outside of the shops they stole from. Sexual offenders must make door-to-door visits to inform people of their criminal past.

Now, I know, that unlike Germany, the U.S. constitution has no clause on the right to human dignity. But isn't that something a democracy should include inherently? How far is such a jurisdication from the ones found in totalitarian states, where public humiliation are common means of punishment? Not far, in my opinion.