One reason why I like Germany

[firefox_fan]

<...>Not everyone shares Mr. Singer’s enthusiasm. “Scientology is a totalitarian ideology,” said Berthold Graf von Stauffenberg, the eldest son of Colonel Stauffenberg and a retired West German army general. “The fact that an avowed Scientologist like Mr. Cruise is supposed to play the victim of a totalitarian regime is purely sick.”<...>

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/30/movies/30valk.html

[soothsayer]

1. :Well you'll enjoy when it's the capital of the World Union (once the EU

and the coming AU are merged, and the World Mark becomes our global currency)

[michael_1166]

7. We've changed to Euros, in case you didn't notice. n/t

[LeftishBrit]

9. This won't happen, for all kinds of reasons

One of which is that Germany, like a number of other countries, changed its currency from the Mark to the Euro to fit in with much of the rest of Europe - quite the reverse of what you're suggesting!

[RB TexLa]

13. Watch out, I think this one is comming for you!

[madrchsod]

2. money ,money, money

it`s all about the money....

[DavidDvorkin]

3. von Stauffenberg makes a good point

Ironically, though, his father was not a democrat and wanted a Germany modelled on a mythical past and ruled by a benevolent aristocracy with a sense of duty towards the lower classes.

Well, that would have been better than Nazism or Bushism, anyway!

[Aristus]

11. Von Stauffenberg, like most officers of the regular German Army, was a conservative monarchist.

Conservative or not, he is a hero to me and many millions of liberty-loving people.

[DavidDvorkin]

12. He's a hero to me, too

But the irony remains.

[NoPasaran]

4. Oddly, I'm not as comfortable with singling out religions as "unacceptable"

Especially since Germany already has a certain amount of history in that area.

[michael_1166]

8. Scientology is a dangerous cult, not a religion.

[DFW]

5. Germany doesn't single out religions as unacceptable

They do not consider Scientology as a religion. They consider it is a cult and a
for-profit enterprise. Considering their behavior here in Germany, I agree. A friend
of mine, who is a life-long member of the Greens, and has a nose for business, has
built himself up a decent local business, and despite Germany's high taxes, has built
himself up a decent company and makes good money. He hires people with skills and who
say they share his philosophy. At one point he noticed that a certain number of his newer
employees had been working to hand over revenue and assets of the company over to another
"entity." He is a hands-on guy, builds stuff for his house as well as his company, and
stopped it before it got out of his control. He got help from the authorities, and found out
that the rogue employees in his company were all German Scientologists who had targeted his
company for takeover. He fired them, not an easy thing to do in Germany, and was given legal
backing by the State, as their actions were corrupt. He got control of his company back,
but now does a more thorough background check of new employees, something he disdained
beforehand as "intrusive."

I would do the same thing in his position. I wouldn't trust adherents to Scientology or
Pat Robertson, or any other for-profit enterprise trying to operate under the guise of
religion where their motives blatantly appear to be financial.

Religions are protected in Germany. For-profit cults run by control-freaks are not.
The Germans have had enough of control-freaks for a while--the last one that ran the
place didn't turn out so well. I don't blame them.

[Karenina]

6. Scientology targeted Germany for r€€€l

The government is well within its rights to protect its citizens from the scam.

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

10. I say they should all be shunned by the government

Catholics, Protestants, Scientologists, the whole fucking lot of them. The sanctioned churches here in Germany are all for profit cults anyway (take taxes from the state) so why discriminate against Scientologists? Of course we also have compulsory crucifixes in public schools and a ban on the wearing of head scarves for teaches here. Pick and choose seems to be the order of the day. I say outlaw all of it.

[Karenina]

14. Na Du! Ich lubs me some Donnerstag

Himmelfahrts!! 4 DAY WEEKEND! :woohoo: