improvements

no fever right now, though it feels like it might start up again towards evening. much less gunk in the lungs and sinuses, and i can actually move without coughing every time. though now of course every muscle in my torso hurts from all the contractions, *rolls eyes*. mostly feel exhausted; went outside to check out the garden, and harvesting a few tomatoes left me wanting to fall right back into bed. might move to the couch to watch the first season of alias which came from zip.ca. but first must wash hair, because it hurts.

or maybe first eat some grapes straight off the vine. i am so proud of these grapes!

( harvest picture )

oh, and tom delay was indicted. finally. and he resigned as house majority leader. here's hoping this will be the death blow to his corrupt political career.

and it seriously looks like rain outside. yay, rain.

what pleasant things to wake up to while sick!

and now for something completely different

i don't usually write much about non-UK european politics because most people on my flist aren't from non-UK europe. but sometimes things get too thrilling to contain myself! :) if you know nothing about german politics, but want to, here's a fairly decent general overview, and this wikipedia article goes into more detail.

i've been watching the electoral deadlock mess in germany. *bleh* -- a grand coalition is one of my least favourite outcomes, but it is what seems likely now. i would have liked a red-red-green coalition a whole lot better, and it's pretty obvious to me that more germans voted for a left(ish) party than didn't, but i guess the SPD has slipped too far to the right for that to be possible.

i've had experience with the last grand coalition in 1966-1969, and it sucked sharp volcanic rocks through tiny straws; mainly because of legislation regarding the restriction of civil liberties. however, contrary to the pessimistic view of a grand coalition producing policy gridlock, that didn't actually happen back then; the government was quite active in passing new legislation. while during the campaign she claimed a grand coalition would result in a standstill for german politics, merkel herself sounds a lot more upbeat about the possibility now; calling the discussion so far "useful" and "constructive", and stating that a grand coalition ought to tackle grand projects (german article).

who ends up leading this coalition will be interesting. i can't see merkel and schröder getting it together enough, too much crap was slung during the campaign, though i see there is talk about the "israeli solution" -- switching the chancellorship after two years. hm. interesting, but i can't really see it. it would seem perverse to me to retain schröder and not use merkel at all, while retiring schröder seems fairly sensible, and i am noticing parts of the SPD are starting to weasel around his leadership being a "condition" and are now calling it a "goal". i think it's time for him to leave.

it might end up with neither as chancellor/VC, and instead something like stoiber/müntefering. i wonder whether steinbrück/koch has any chance; they have previously worked together as well. personally, i think tapping stoiber would be an insult to merkel. in any case, we get to wait for dresden I to hold its delayed election this sunday (i dislike delayed elections a lot; knowing how others have voted does affect people). if the CDU wins, it'll give merkel somewhat of a boost, if the SPD wins, that boost goes to schröder.

in any case, it's pretty exciting. also, katja kipping, PDS party candidate, on the left. she's a proponent of one of my favourite political goals: guaranteed basic income for everyone.