The 2012 Austrian Election Interlude: The rise of Frank Stronach and more ...

[Franzl]

I'm happy Austria is holding the line against Turkish membership. Congratulations.

[Franzl]

The assholes should leave if they don't like it. Not our problem.

[Franzl]

How come younger voters are so fascist, weirdly sympathetic to the FPÖ? I could understand a broader trend being exaggerated, but this is just hilarious,...

I don't know why, but it's nut unusual in Austria.

[Franzl]

The rise of the far right in Austria is troubling.

[Franzl]

Well that's good because there's no way out.

[Franzl]

Why do you elect open fascists Austria?

I think it's always been in their blood

[Franzl]

The rise of the far right in Austria is troubling.

It's not troubling at all. Have you been to Austria, dude? The kids here - like 2nd graders - ride the subway to school. Could you imagine that in Chicago? And I can hold a beer in my hand while talking to customs agents. Can you imagine how much US agents would flip a sh**t if that were the case? This forum is absolutely retarded when it comes to deriving what a location is like based upon election results. Give me the strongest FPÖ bastion in Austria over Knott County, Kentucky any day of the week.  

I'm pretty sure I've been to Austria a lot more often than you have. And I agree with everything you wrote there. It's perfectly normal in Austria, Germany and a lot of places in Europe.

Everyday life in Europe is a lot more tolerant of things that you and I like to do.

Still doesn't mean the rise of the far right isn't troubling.

(Actually, I think I think it was in a thread we both posted in that I stated that Vienna and Munich are probably my favorite cities in the world....and indeed, I'm going to be moving from the Frankfurt area to Munich later this year, actually.)

[Franzl]

Tender, what does this poster mean:



(taken with my cell phone, probably while drunk, so the quality isn't that great)

The translation:

300,000 pigs are currently kept in body-sized cages for their entire lives. Annually, 1.3 million young pigs die under these conditions.

The SPÖ controlled Health Ministry, which is responsible for animal protection, wants to reduce the maximum time in these cages to 1.5 months but the ÖVP controlled Agriculture Ministry is trying to block even this slight improvement.

Please protest - now!

[Franzl]

Alcohol in virtually all public locations (with the exception of bars and the like) is a rather big tabu in the U.S. and can lead to arrest.

Obviously very very unusual for people used to Germany and Austria.

[Franzl]

Ah, right, that's "what you get" for nit voting left-wing. There's never corruption among them.

[Franzl]

Christine Marek, head of the ever-shrinking Vienna ÖVP, surprisingly stepped down today.

It has became known recently that the Vienna ÖVP fell below 10% in internal polling ...

Got any recent Vienna polls? That would be quite interesting.

[Franzl]

I´m already looking forward to the next federal polls !

I guess the ÖVP will be moving back down to about 20%, while the SPÖ should get about 30% now.

Really? I thought SPÖ, ÖVP and FPÖ were all about even at this point.

[Franzl]

Kind of depends what counts as wealth....as to whether or not I would support such a measure.

Not opposed on principle, but I usually find such proposals to be pretty stupid in practice.

[Franzl]

Are you certain the current Austrian government will really last until 2013?

[Franzl]

It's a pity there's no proper left and right in Austria (as in CDU/FDP vs. SPD/Greens). As it stands, the ÖVP, even without them being in a free fall due to scandals, doesn't really have a path to government outside of grand coalitions. They've been in a situation I wouldn't want to be in for quite a while....whether they get 30% or 20%.

[Franzl]

And, what Austrians want their government to do most:

89% Cut spending
87% Tougher rules and more integrity in the political and business sector
84% reduce the debt
83% reduce and punish Social Security abuse
76% constitutional balanced budget and debt amendment

When did Austria turn into the Republican party?

Also very sursprising 30% of Austrians want a United States of Europe. Didn't think that idea would break 10% popular support.

They're ideas that enjoy near-universal support in most places, I imagine. It's just that anything that would actually reach that goal is usually hated by the public.

Cut spending, yeah, great idea. But don't cut my social security, or my education....or my healthcare....and so on

[Franzl]

My German high school started at 7:45 am.

[Franzl]

Oh wow, noch ein Ösi!

[Franzl]

Oh wow, noch ein Ösi!

At the rate we are going, we'll soon overtake you Preißn/Piefke ...

(Franzl, you are living/studying in Munich now, right ? So you are only a semi-Piefke anymore ... )

It's a rather long story, but I'm back at my real home in Southern Hesse/Odenwald, studying in Frankfurt.

[Franzl]

Guess I'd vote SPÖ, believe it or not. Possibly Green....but SPÖ probably to help guarantee they would lead another "grand" coalition (not very grand in Austria these days).

[Franzl]

This whole Stronach thing is just ridiculous.

[Franzl]

Why should anyone really care about Graz local elections?

[Franzl]

Why should anyone really care about Graz local elections?

Because it could get a Communist mayor, the first Communist mayor in any of the 9 state capitals and a Communist mayor in the 2nd biggest city in Austria ...

Really communist....or communist in party name only? (Pardon my ignorance)

[Franzl]

Why should anyone really care about Graz local elections?

Because it could get a Communist mayor, the first Communist mayor in any of the 9 state capitals and a Communist mayor in the 2nd biggest city in Austria ...

Really communist....or communist in party name only? (Pardon my ignorance)

It's more of a localist hard-left thing, with a populist tone (Graz city politicians get about 4000€ a month, and the Communists donate about 2000€ of that to poor people). They also focus a lot on affordable housing etc.

I'm near the communist center of Western Germany, actually,.....so I'm familiar with the concept

That village is only about 10 km away from me.

http://www.reinheim.de/index.php?eID=tx_cms_showpic&file=uploads%2Fpics%2FVG_OBW_Ueberau.jpg&width=800m&height=600m&bodyTag=%3Cbody%20bgcolor%3D%22black%22%3E&wrap=%3Ca%20href%3D%22javascript%3Aclose%28%29%3B%22%3E%20|%20%3C%2Fa%3E&md5=a500057917532d120f356d56e33755c1

[Franzl]

So I guess that means Graz is not getting their communist mayor?