Cars,Travel and Military in Germany

I just read an article on CNN about a War widow who is suing because the Veterans Administration will not display the Pentacle (a Pagan symbol) on her Army husband’s headstone.  Her argument is that the Army allows soldiers to register as Wiccans, and have that religion displayed on thier dog tags, but that the VA does not include it in thier list of allowed headstone symbols.

This is pretty interesting to me.  It seems that they are okay with the word Wiccan, but they are still affraid of the Pentacle because of misconception’s put forth by the Catholic Curch, and because of the way it has been used in Hollywood.  I personally don’t see what the big deal is.  It’s his grave, his headstone, and his choice. 

To publish this kind of scathing critique in all four US Military Times magazines, on the eve of the most important election in modern American history, will go down as the boldest statement our military has ever made. Make no mistake - this is as close to a coup as we have ever seen in this nation.

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2 German Soldiers were suspended after pictures surfaced (bild.de) of them playing with a skull in the desert. They posed for several shots, including one of the soldiers holding his penis up to the skull.  That part to me is just plain weird, but I guess I get they were “getting a little skull”  lol

I don;t see what the big International outcry is about. These are not humans, but human remains. There is a difference.  I don’t see what the big deal is.  We send these young boys to war and expect them to deal with the attorcities of death and war and act like perfect gentlemen.  They are just kids. Maybe this is their way of dealing with being stuck in a war to begin with.  I think they deserve a raise.

The German Police said that a possible WWII bomb exploded while men were working on the Autobahn (A3). They were performing highway maintenance, and thier machine hit an unexploded device that could possibly have been a British or US bomb leftover from World War II.

Yeah, that makes me feel safe, weapons of mass destruction exploding on the Autobahn while I am going 170MPH.  That sounds pretty safe doesn’t it? This was just a few miles down the road from me!

Here’s the rest of the story in The Jeruselem Post.  Strangly enough they were one of the first to list the AP story.  I just did a search on Google and the report is only being found on Google news by two sources, none German.

Here’s an email I just got at work:

ALCON,  Please disseminate to all personnel.  A WWII bomb exploded on B26 where it intersects with Autobahn A3 near Goldbach on the east side of Aschaffenburg about an hour and a half ago.  A3 is closed on both sides.  Avoid travel on A3 until this clears up.  Several German news sites are carrying the story.  RNZ.de in one of them. 

USAREUR G3 AT. 

Germany’s “other luxury car” wants to finally muscle its way into the top tier.
Audi introduced its new $130,000 R8 sports car to the United States Wednesday with a drive down Manhattan’s Park Avenue and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg riding shotgun.

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The construction began in Munich near the BMW Group research and inovation center.

BMW and Total Group have an agreement to build three public fueling stations in Europe by the end of 2007. The stations are necessary as BMW nears production of a hydrogen-powered 7 Series. Currently the handful of fueling stations are accessible only to the government or company researchers. Separately, Norway opened its first hydrogen filling station as part of the HyNor project.