Monday, April 19, 2010
Thought for the day
Between the massive expense of the Icelandic financial crisis and the uncountable economic damage from the volcanoes erupting there now, Europe is losing billions because of an island in the North Atlantic with a few hundred thousand people. If the United States suffered similar damage under the same circumstances, how angry would American voters be?
I bet you could sell "Nuke Iceland" t-shirts in Germany right now.
8 Comments:
By 
Viking Kaj, at
Mon Apr 19, 12:19:00 PM:
There was this english guy in his mid twenties on fox news over the weekend who was screaming "I HATE Iceland !!!" at the reporter from sky channel who was doing a background piece at a continental airport. It was hilarious...
By Viking Kaj, at
Mon Apr 19, 12:26:00 PM:
BTW, Scandinavian Airlines Systems has been operating its regular flights from Chicago, Dulles and Newark since yesterday. The only difference is that they can't land and take off in Copenhagen, so everyone is having to take a bus from Oslo if you need to get back there.
Personally I don't think planes were designed to fly through clouds of rock dust so I think I will stay grounded for the time being even if the airlines think it expedient to resume operations.
By MTF, at
Mon Apr 19, 01:24:00 PM:
Maybe not "Nuke Iceland" given that we're seeing what the prevailing winds are and where the fallout would go.
Something a little less self-destructive in a t-shirt slogan might be more appealing to Northern Europe...
By Escort81, at
Mon Apr 19, 01:49:00 PM:
Heh. Maybe wearing such a t-shirt would not be protected speech in Germany. In any case, it's probably a good thing that Germany does not have a nuclear weapon!
By Unknown, at
Mon Apr 19, 05:32:00 PM:
Just move all the Icelanders to Greece, then Germany could just stay mad at one country!
By 
, at
Mon Apr 19, 06:15:00 PM:
One set of great eruptions, in 1783, went on for a considerable time and caused the near destruction of life in Iceland. As I recall, Denmark was nearly forced to evacuate all the remaining population from Iceland at the time.
This could go on for awhile and change much in Europe (including climate).
By , at
Mon Apr 19, 06:35:00 PM:
T-shirts? Look at the fortunes being made buying and selling carbon credits! Surely, the dust will add to global warming and surely, the commies and their captive media can claim that the eruptions are as a direct result of something the Bush administration did.
By , at
Mon Apr 19, 06:40:00 PM:
9-11 was a lot worse than Iceland and did not lead to widespread violence in the US so I'd happily give US voters the benefit of doubt.
At least in the Netherlands I dont see that much of anger towards Iceland. More a combination of 'if it sounded to good to be true, it probably was', and disgust at the Dutch politicians/bureaucrats at all levels and their shady financial advisers who managed to loose a lot of public funds in Iceland.
Greece is probably going to be a lot worse, and politicians are still busy shoveling money into that black hole. As in Germany most Dutch voters are unclear why we are supposed to fund the Greece retirees, while slashing benefits and raising the retirement age at home.
