Bill SprichtJust another WordPress weblog

Because of something I wrote about here yesterday, I spent much of the day thereafter re-reading for the hundredth time many of the excerpts from the letters and diary entries of Sophie Scholl. And because of something I coincidentally read today, I now want to write a bit about Sophie Scholl. I type her name knowing full well that many readers will not know who she is. Good, because then I get to introduce her in the way I see fit.

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In a 16. August Die Presse review, Anneliese Rohrer pretty much pans Hillary Rodham-Clinton’s book, Living History. Rohrer echoes a complaint that many American critics have made: that Rodham-Clinton views all criticisms of the Clinton White House as somehow evidence of danger to America’s democratic system, and that she portrays the members of the administration as victims. (We would call it Hillary’s obsession with the “Vast Rightwing Conspiracy.”)

The ultra-left Red Army Faction (RAF) terrorized West Germany during the late 1970s, particularly in 1977. Of course in post-communist Europe they are now seen as murderers and as pathetic adherents to a discredited political system, correct? Incorrect. The group, which disbanded only eight years ago, is instead achieving cult-status, as is the entirety of East Germany itself.

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… replaced this week by “Downsize This!” — by Michael Moore! “Stupid White Men” sits at number two. This according to the Kleine Zeitung. Both books are in German.

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Saturday headlines:

Die Presse: P.1: “‘Black Thursday’ in the USA: Vulnerability Shocks the Superpower.” P.2: “Blackout in New York: Chaos, but no Panic.” Also P.2: “Electricity collapse: The power stations failed through the domino effect, but the morale of the people remained intact.”

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Today’s Kurier’s front page editorial blurb makes it a point to mention — in an editorial ostensibly conerning the power blackout in the U.S. — the American love of SUVs “whose tires have never touched anything other than the city streets.”

One reader, Tim, wrote to me and pointed out, among other things, that many Americans hate George W. Bush. I realized I had never said that before in these pages. Nor have I made it clear that I do not pretend to represent the opinion of the majority of Americans. So to be sure…

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Last night I was at a birthday party for an Austrian friend. I was very reluctant to go — though she is a good friend and almost family — because I know that the topic on everybody’s mind is the coming war with Iraq. She is in her twenties, and I knew that so too would everybody else be, besides my wife and I (33 and 34, respectively). It is completely natural for a group of 20-something Europeans to want to discuss the major topic of the day. The question was, how could I stay out of it? Once I start, it’s hard to stop, and, given the audience, there would be a high likelihood for bad feelings on what was supposed to be a happy birthday night.

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At a Friday after-work protest at Stephansplatz in Vienna I had a short “discussion” with a few protesters. Two (at different times) asked me outright if I am American, and I happily said “yes” to both, though, of course, I knew their feelings about such a nationality.

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I saw a captioned photo of a plaque that is on a building somewhere here in Vienna, remembering or commemorating or celebrating or whatever the fact that Josef Stalin lived in the building in 1913.

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