Nachrichten aus Deutschland

Decided to take a break from US news and happenings. The southern California plume is still a mystery. And Nancy Pelosi still thinks it wasn't Democrat policies that caused the route in the mid-terms. So here is a bit of international flavour.

Almost 100 US military families lost their possessions in Stuttgart, Germany. The storage facility where military household goods of families being transferred are kept caught fire on Nov. 2 and it took firefighters three days to put the blaze out. Luckily no lives were lost, but only now are families being notified of the loss and Family Assistance is swinging into action.

Pieces of artwork that the prudish Nazis found degenerate and thought lost have been found in Berlin. Archaeologists were excavating the area near Alexanderplatz before the new U5 metro line was built. They think the works of art fell into the basement when the building they were stored in was destroyed by fire during World War II. Berlin is laying claim to the art as an archaeological find and some commenter's are not buying the claim.

For an example of true degeneracy, now offer up examples of simple human greed. Two funds that were setup by Germany for Jewish survivors of the Holocaust/Shoah have fallen victim to fraudsters. A possible $42 million was defrauded from these funds. The false documents were submitted and processed by co-conspirators who worked for the Jewish Material Claims Against Germany agency which administers the funds. The FBI has been investigating this case since 2000 and people are now in custody.

And to prove Bush Derangement Syndrome can still be found in Europe. The former German chancellor Gerhard Schroder is claiming Bush lied in his new book about how the German backed out of a promise Bush said Schroder gave to him to support possible miiltary action against Iraq. It should be noted that Gerhard Schroder, once he was thrown out of office, promptly went to work for the Russian company Gazprom; a company that had previously cut off gas supplies to Germany during the winter. So his trustworthiness is suspect to say the least.