Inkless Wells

Paul Wells on all the latest out of Ottawa—along with the occasional post about jazz. Follow Paul on Twitter: @InklessPW
He also offers his thoughtful perspective of Stephen Harper’s last 10 years in his recent eBook, The Harper Decade.

Categories: Capital Read, Inkless Wells

"In that regard, let me jog your memory"

by Paul Wells on Monday, June 1, 2009 11:43am - 33 Comments

Angela Merkel, who does not like giving interviews, grants one to Der Spiegel. The results are, in a very low-key way, comically combative on both sides of the microphone. Being Chancellor has not worked out the way the quiet, tough-as-nails East German technocrat wanted. But she defends her record down the line. One gets the distinct impression Merkel and Stephen Harper would have a lot to chat about, if either was chatty.

Tags: Angela Merkel

More by Paul Wells

Mulletaur

"The parent company, General Motors, is now more or less owned by the American Treasury Department. Opel can't do anything on its own unless the European governments take action. Why should the best part of the company go under, just because the parent company in the United States was mismanaged ?"

Looks like Stronach just bought a good company.

Merkel doesn't take any crap, eh ? Second favourite passage :

"SPIEGEL: But Steinmeier is making digs at you and accusing you of weak leadership.

Merkel: He can do so if he pleases, but that has nothing to do with whether the right decisions are being made. Otherwise, perhaps you should ask him yourself and write an article about it."

She told Spiegel. Wow.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack_Mitchell

Man, all my comments are getting auto-deleted.

http://intensedebate.com/people/macleans macleans

I don't see any of your recent comments in the moderation cue.
Are you sure they're being deleted? is the comment below your comment?

Mulletaur

Yes, I'm sure. I keep getting "This comment has been deleted by the administrator."

Mulletaur

It doesn't like html tags or special characters, you may have filters on that prevent injection attacks which are also automatically rejecting legitimate posts.

http://intensedebate.com/people/macleans macleans

Also, a tip for anyone, and pass this along. If you sign up for a Intense Debate account, I believe the chances that your comments will be thrown into no-where land (A place where we can not approve or disapprove them) and minimized.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack_Mitchell

Thanks for the help! I'm signed up for Intense Debate but it doesn't seem to affect the situation. I keep getting:

This comment has been deleted by the administrator.

– which I think means it doesn't go to the moderation cue but just gets deleted. The text I've been trying to comment with (not that it's exactly earth-shattering but just by way of a technical note) is really totally innocuous, it's just two quotes from Angela Merkel.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack_Mitchell

For reference' sake, the text I've been trying to use (and can't post here, even with asterisks, for some reason) is here:

http://www.jackmitchell.ca/deletedcomment.txt

Mulletaur

I just took your text and tried to post it, it was rejected. I am going to try another experiment …
Mulletaur

I think I see what one of the problems is. When you copy and paste text, this commenting software sees the format codes around the text, thinks they are evil, and rejects the comment. When I just type stuff I have no problem. Test "test". test
Mulletaur

This is a sentence typed in Notepad.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack_Mitchell

Ah, now that's interesting, can we still use html tags?

Thanks for trying to post my mysteriously anathema Merkel quotes, Mulletaur; but in the version on my website it's in the plainest of plain texts so I don't think that's the issue with this particular chunk of texts.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack_Mitchell

Hmm, I replied to Mulletaur's post here (beginning "I think I see what . . .") and it appeared in my list, and now has disappeared again.
Mulletaur

I think you can still use html tags, but you cannot use certain words like q-u-e-s-t-i-o-n or r-e-q-u-e-s-t as they are automatically rejected by the filter software. It is probably trying to filter out injection attacks.
Mulletaur

I did find there were some rather comic moments
Mulletaur

A bonzai tree can
Mulletaur

Lest we test.
Mulletaur

, e.g.,

http://intensedebate.com/people/Crit_Reasoning Crit_Reasoning

Is this a feature, or a bug? Isn't IntenseDebate still in its beta version? Why not use more reliable software?

http://intensedebate.com/people/Jack_Mitchell Jack_Mitchell

Harper, to give him credit, is very articulate on the economy — at least when he's on American television — but I have to say what I found remarkable about this Merkel interview was the low BS quotient. None of the dreary old boilerplate about "This government has a plan to help Canadians and their families blah blah blah." She's combative, sure, but intellectually so. Harper should take a leaf or two from Merkel's book.
Sisyphus

Fortunately, she does not generally have nightmares.
Critical Reasoning

Best answer:

SPIEGEL: You too were approached by the Stasi. Are you ever concerned that there might be something about you hidden in the archives?

Merkel: No. I am familiar with my life, after all.

Mulletaur

test : Stasi
Mulletaur

Unfortunately, it was common to be approached by the Stasi.

Mulletaur

Your new comment software sucks, I keep getting deleted by the 'administrator'.
DerekPearce

testing here… what a great interview.
Mulletaur

test
Mulletaur

This is a sentence typed in Word.
Mulletaur

Chancellor Merkel, thank you for this interview.
Mulletaur

But we may not r-e-q-u-e-s-t. Shhhh.
Mulletaur

Okay, this comment software is blocking any post which contains the word r-e-q-u-e-s-t. It is probably guarding against injection attacks by blocking words which are also commands in whatever software is running behind this interface.
Mulletaur

The q-u-e-s-t-i-o-n was how you responded.
Mulletaur

Another word it doesn't like is q-u-e-s-t-i-o-n. Am I making sense to you, sysadmin ?