Europa

Gotta admit watching Michael Moore's Sicko had the desired effect and made me glad we moved back to Europe. Sure it's propagandistic satire and in the usual Michael Moores style not quite acurate. After the French applauded the film frenetically in Cannes, because they're protrayed as living in a health care paradise they sheepishly told our film critic, that it's not quite that phantastic. And German healtcare sure is a two-class, expensive mess. But it's not the anarchy of pure profit margin mentality either. Social services somehow aren't seen as collateral damage yet. Take yesterday's fire alarm a few blocks down, which made us for the first time believe that our tax Euros are at work. A whopping eleven fire department trucks and cars decked out with tons of modern technology were there in a matter of seconds , just to make sure it was a false alarm. That's what makes you feel safe, not a permanent state of Code Orange alarm. Now this entry is of course the classic "Michael Moore in lefty Europe"-effect, where people watch his films and read his books just to reinforce their anti-american stereotypes. Works everytime.