Posted on 06/19/2006 7:26:33 PM PDT by NCjim
No other capital city would allow its center to be abused for commercial purposes the way Berlin has for the World Cup, argues one newspaper in an editorial that is likely to be drowned out in the World Cup frenzy gripping the country. Plus, the German government shouldn't copy the anti-smoking "hysteria" sweeping the United States.
Berlin is abusing its landmarks in its obsession with the World Cup, according to left-wing newspaper Berliner Zeitung in a commentary criticising the city for allowing the Brandenburg Gate to be obscured by a giant soccer ball on one side and a public viewing screen on the other. "In no other capital city of the world can one see such an undignified treatment of the nation's holy sites.
...
New York would never close off the Central Park to the public in the way Berlin has fenced off its Tiergarten park on either side of the central World Cup public viewing area, the newspaper writes.
"In Berlin the practice of abusing national sites has become the norm," it added, noting that the Brandenburg Gate was regularly obstructed by screens and stalls for public events.
It also criticised the city's the decision to allow sports goods company Adidas to build a temporary stadium for public screen viewing on the square in front of the Reichstag parliament building. The Holocaust Memorial, it added, was being defiled by a terrace of shops and snack bars for tourists that was opened next to the site last month.
"How can we make clear to immigrants or to the Iranian president what immense importance the book burning and the Holocaust have for modern German patriotism if we abuse their monuments and surroundings in such a way?" the newspaper asked.
(Excerpt) Read more at service.spiegel.de ...
Gotta get that obligatory dig in somewhere...
Unfortunately, this time it's true... especially if you live and try to smoke in California.
As opposed to Down East in North Carolina where it is heresy to even think of a non-smoking section in a restaurant.
Yeah. Went to Vegas for a conference a few months back and was floored to be able to smoke inside.
I'd forgotten what it felt like...
Entry #91: June 19, 7:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. ET)
Wow. The ratings are in for USA-Italy and they are pretty great. On ABC the match earned a 5.2 overnight Nielsen rating, the highest overnight rating for a World Cup game on ABC since the 1998 final between Brazil and France (which earned a 7.0). Univision did a 13.5 NHTI (Nielsen Hispanic Television Index) household rating for the match, translating to 1,511,000 Hispanic TV homes. Overall, there were 2,661,000 Hispanic viewers, making it the fourth most-watched game of this tournament. Since they announced the exact tournament schedule earlier this year, we've been thinking that USA-Italy, on a Saturday, at 3 p.m. ET, on ABC, would be huge. We were right. Fantastic stuff.
http://www.ussoccer.com/articles/viewArticle.jsp_280957.html
I will be up at 6:55 Pacific on Thursday, that's for sure.
The only thing that comes to mind is, ''Smokin' in der Reichstag''.
Holy sites in Germany? Give me a break.
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