The wedding is a royal pain

A Fairytale Wedding? What Nonsense!

The wedding of William and Kate on Friday will be a joke, a hopelessly overhyped celebration of an absurdly undemocratic system, writes SPIEGEL London correspondent Marco Evers. He pities the bride for her imminent loss of freedom, and wonders why this eccentric nation continues to worship the Windsors.

The whole thing feels like an aberration of history.

It’s wrong if the head of state of a country can only come from one family. It’s wrong to furnish this clan with palaces, land and all manner of grants to spare its members the indignity of having to earn their keep and enable them to live in luxury. It is wrong to address the Windsors and, from next Friday the delightful Kate Middleton as well, as Your Royal Highness or even Your Majesty. It is wrong to see them as anything other than people made of flesh and blood, like you and I.

Millions of Britons know that. The Guardian newspaper wants to abolish the monarchy, as does the Independent and the Economist magazine. Many professors, film directors, writers, actors and politicians would like Britain to become a republic — but they remain in the minority which for years has been constant at around 18 percent of the population.

Cherie Blair, the difficult wife of the former Prime Minister Tony, once refused to curtsey in front of the old Mrs. Elizabeth Windsor, but the majority of Britons enjoy doing that, and much more, for Queen and Country. The Windsors are Europe’s most expensive royal family, but the people go on paying, without grumbling, at least as long as Queen Elizabeth remains alive. (…)

British soldiers are fighting for democracy in Afghanistan and Libya, and they fought for it in Iraq. But at home, they defend the absurdly undemocratic idea that nobody but a Windsor can be head of state. (…)

The pomp and ceremony surrounding the marriage of William and Kate is the latest expression of British eccentricity — but a large part of the world appears to be succumbing to it as well.

Yes, the carriages of gold and velvet look pretty, the bride’s train will be a sight to behold and Westminster Abbey is quite a spectacular backdrop for the ceremony. But is it really worth all the fuss? More than 10,000 journalists are descending on London. The German networks ARD, ZDF, Sat.1, RTL, n-tv and N24 will hardly be broadcasting anything else on Friday. Everyone is pretending that this spectacle is the most important and beautiful event on earth — but it is not. (…)

The whole thing feels even worse than just an aberration of history. It’s a joke.

Source.

Märchenhochzeit? Alles Quatsch!

Ist die Vermählung von William und Kate das schönste und wichtigste Großereignis auf Erden? Von wegen, meint der Londoner SPIEGEL-Korrespondent Marco Evers: Er empfindet die Trauung als völlig überschätztes Tamtam und das Königshaus Windsor als abstrus undemokratisch. Eine persönliche Abrechnung.

Das Ganze fühlt sich an wie ein Irrtum der Geschichte.

Es ist falsch, wenn nur eine Familie das Oberhaupt eines Staats stellen darf. Es ist falsch, diese Sippe mit Schlössern, Ländereien und Apanagen auszustatten, damit jeder der Ihren vor Arbeit bewahrt bleibe und im Luxus lebe. Es ist falsch, den Windsors und von Freitag an auch der reizenden Kate Middleton zu huldigen als “Eure Königliche Hoheit” oder gar als “Eure Majestät”. Falsch, sie als etwas anderes zu sehen denn als Menschen aus Fleisch und Blut, wie du und ich.

Das wissen auch Millionen Briten. Der “Guardian” will die Kronenträger abschaffen, ebenso der “Economist” und der “Independent”. Viele Professoren, Regisseure, Schriftsteller, Schauspieler und Politiker wünschen sich eine Republik – aber sie bleiben in Großbritannien eine Minderheit mit einem seit Jahren konstanten Anteil von etwa 18 Prozent.

Cherie Blair, die schwierige Frau des damaligen Premiers Tony, hat sich einst geweigert, im Angesicht der alten Mrs. Elizabeth Windsor den unterwürfigen Hofknicks aufzuführen, doch die große Mehrheit der Briten tut das gern, das und noch viel mehr, for Queen and Country. Die Windsors sind das teuerste Königshaus Europas, sie liegen dem Volk schwer auf der Tasche – doch das Volk zahlt, ohne zu murren, solange zumindest Elizabeth lebt. (…)

In Afghanistan kämpfen Briten gerade für Demokratie. In Libyen auch, ebenso zuvor im Irak. Nur daheim verteidigen sie die abstrus undemokratische Idee, dass allein ein Windsor Staatsoberhaupt werden kann. (…)

Das Tamtam um die Hochzeit von William und Kate ist nur die Zuspitzung der britischen Seltsamkeit – der jetzt aber auch noch ein großer Teil der Welt zu erliegen scheint.

Ja, die Kutschen in Gold und Samt sehen schön aus, die Schleppe der Braut wird beachtlich sein, und Westminster Abbey ist eine hübsche Traukirche. Aber ist der ganze Rummel angemessen? Mehr als 10.000 Journalisten fallen in London ein. ARD, ZDF, Sat.1, RTL, n-tv und N24 werden am Freitag kaum noch etwas anderes senden. Auch SPIEGEL ONLINE berichtet mit Liveticker und Livestream über die Hochzeit. Alle tun so, als sei dieses Spektakel das Wichtigste und Schönste auf Erden. (…)

Das Ganze fühlt sich nicht nur an wie ein Irrtum der Geschichte. Es ist ein Witz.

Source.

Schock – Kate und Williams Hochzeit bedeutungslos

Experten warnen: Die royale Hochzeit von Kate Middleton und Prinz William könnte einige Enttäuschungen bereit halten.

(…) Böse Vorahnungen

Ausgerechnet jetzt aber, wo die Aufregung allmählich ihren Siedepunkt erreicht, ist ein dunkler Schatten auf die Veranstaltung gefallen. Wie aus Hofkreisen laut wurde, könnte das große Medienereignis einige Enttäuschungen bereit halten.

Kate und William, so heißt es, werden nun doch nicht den Nahost-Konflikt beenden. Es sei auch nicht vorgesehen, dass das Paar die Mondoberfläche betrete. Während es noch widersprüchliche Informationen über das geplante Stopfen des japanischen Atomlecks gibt, gilt es als relativ sicher, dass die königliche Hochzeit den Hunger in der Welt beenden könnte. Oder zumindest den der geladenen Gäste.

Bei einigen unabhängigen Beobachtern hat sich inzwischen sogar die Meinung durchgesetzt, dass die Hochzeit von Kate und William komplett bedeutungslos für große Teile des Universums sein könnte. Allerdings widersprechen nicht nur Vertreter der Gedenkteller-Industrie energisch.

Führende Wissenschaftler gehen davon aus, dass Kates streng geheim gehaltenes Hochzeitskleid Krebs heilt, Gaddafi zum Abdanken zwingt und Knut wiederauferstehen lässt.

Source.

Piped Music:

God save the queen
The fascist regime
They made you a moron
Potential H-bomb

God save the queen
She ain’t no human being
There is no future
In England’s dreaming

Don’t be told what you want
Don’t be told what you need
There’s no future, no future,
No future for you

God save the queen
We mean it man
We love our queen
God saves

God save the queen
‘Cause tourists are money
And our figurehead
Is not what she seems

Oh God save history
God save your mad parade
Oh Lord God have mercy
All crimes are paid

When there’s no future
How can there be sin
We’re the flowers in the dustbin
We’re the poison in your human machine
We’re the future, your future

God save the queen
We mean it man
We love our queen
God saves

God save the queen
We mean it man
And there is no future
In England’s dreaming

No future, no future,
No future for you
No future, no future,
No future for me

A Certificate of Embarrassment

With sardonic resignation, President Obama, an eminently rational man, stared directly into political irrationality on Wednesday and released his birth certificateto history. More than halfway through his term, the president felt obliged to prove that he was a legitimate occupant of the Oval Office. It was a profoundly low and debasing moment in American political life. (…)

People are out of work, American soldiers are dying overseas and here were cameras to record him stating that he was born in a Hawaii hospital. It was particularly galling to us that it was in answer to a baseless attack with heavy racial undertones. Mr. Obama practically begged the public to set aside these distractions, expressing hope that his gesture would end the “silliness” and allow a national debate about budget priorities. It won’t, of course.

If there was ever any doubt about Mr. Obama’s citizenship, which there was not, the issue was settled years ago when Hawaii released his birth certificate. The fuller document that Mr. Obama had to request contains some extra information, including his parents’ signatures and the name of the hospital where he was born, but it was unnecessary to show his legitimacy.

So it will not quiet the most avid attackers. Several quickly questioned its authenticity. That’s because the birther question was never really about citizenship; it was simply a proxy for those who never accepted the president’s legitimacy, for a toxic mix of reasons involving ideology, deep political anger and, most insidious of all, race. (…)

Sarah Palin said the birth certificate issue was “fair game,” and the public was “rightfully” making it an issue. The House speaker, John Boehner, grudgingly said in February that he would take Mr. Obama “at his word” that he was a citizen, a suggestion that the proof was insufficient. He said, however, that it was not his job to end the nonsensical attacks. “The American people have the right to think what they want to think,” he said at the time. That signal was clearly received. Lawmakers in nearly a dozen states introduced bills requiring presidential candidates to release their full birth certificates.

It is inconceivable that this campaign to portray Mr. Obama as the insidious “other” would have been conducted against a white president. (…)

Finally, his taunting and the questions of television correspondents obliging Mr. Trump got on the president’s nerves. Mr. Obama was tactically smart to release the certificate and marginalize those who continue to keep the matter alive. It is tragic that American politics is fueled by such poisonous fire. Mr. Trump quickly moved on to a new fixation, questioning Mr. Obama’s academic credentials. Mr. Boehner, and other party leaders, have a new reason to call a halt to the politics of paranoia and intolerance.

Source

President Barack Obama released the birth certificate and what hast Trump to say about it? Not only that he is very proud of himself  (“….because I have accomplished something that nobody else…”) but that the certificate should be inspected to ensure its authenticity! He added, however, “…it is rather amazing that all of the sudden…” (???) the document surfaces. And he even went on saying that he hoped Obama would also release his educational records. The man is just unbelievable. Sounds so egomaniac, irrational and arbitrary that it’s almost Charlie Sheen stuff.

You can also watch the video in better quylity here.

Piped music: