inakayabanjin

Done and Gone

2011-06-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

I left Japan in December 2010, so I will not be writing anything here for the foreseeable future. Japan was a wonderful experience, much better than the unfolding predictable decay of Obamanation.

Testing

2010-07-23T00:47:00.001-07:00

Still on?

President Awesome

2010-02-23T05:27:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to say how awesome President Awesome is. Moreover, I wish it be known that I made that statement without a teleprompter or even lines written on my palm.

Barack's Teleprompter

2009-03-20T05:23:00.000-07:00

Did you know President Obama's TelePrompter has its own blog? If you really want to get to know The Big Guy better—to get behind his face, if you will—it's the place to go.

Oh President Obama

2009-03-13T21:29:00.000-07:00

Honestly, I wish the guy well, but he's doing a poor job with vetting (I've lost track of the nominated withdrawals and resignations). Then there's the scary use the crisis! talk from two bigwigs:
“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste," White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has said. "Never waste a good crisis" is how Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put it before a European audience last week.”
But Obama is supporting vouchers, if tepidly. Yay! American schools need innovation, not preservation.
He also seems to function by gut instinct, not logic, which makes him similar to George Bush.

Iraqi Election, Frozen Bluegrass, and Reverting to Nature

2009-01-31T21:42:00.000-08:00

Ann Althouse has it on the recent Iraqi election. You know, the one you didn't hear about. Why is this not big news? Perhaps because it might indicate success?

Yes, I purloined this, but it's classic: Obama dozed, people froze, stolen from here. That would be people in Kentucky: gun-clutching, Bible-thumping, xenophobic, bitter white people.

Rainforests are returning in some places (with skeptics, of course, who are probably on the Big Green or Federal grant payroll), just like nature is taking back parts of Detroit.

Debt Fret

2009-01-24T21:42:00.000-08:00

1) Looking bad for Greece, in particular, in Euroland:

The omnipotent hand of the Greek state produced a public debt of more than 90 percent of Greece’s total economic output. The relentlessly rising demand of its consumers, who were able to put off the day of reckoning because they enjoyed the shelter of the low-inflation euro, has created a current-account deficit of 14 percent of its gross domestic product — estimated to be the highest in Europe.

2) There's also California's Tipping Point:

I think a threshold or tipping point exists in the ratio between the political power of those who pay taxes and those who consume taxes directly. After that tipping point is reached, those who pay taxes become the economic slaves of those who consume taxes.

I think California has passed that point

. [h/t

Instapundit

] Tax consumers now control the state government and can vote themselves almost any level of personal income and benefits they wish while taxpayers cannot muster the political capital to defend themselves.

3) Maybe personal debt and sanity will reign in higher education costs, pricking that bubble. It might even force some universities to consider real diversity: of thought.

4) I didn't live the Bush years in the US, but The Atlantic posits they weren't so bad. The article tosses in words refreshingly true but rarely spoken:

No doubt the new guy, just like the old guy, will require unprecedented new powers to deal with the unprecedented threat to our well being. Obama is already asking for an unprecedented increase in the size of the national debt. Before we go back down that road, maybe we should stop and ask: "What crisis?''

5) President Obama has already ordered an airstrike on Pakitstani militants but the anti-war crowd's silence is deafening (but of course: our violence is OK, it's the others' whose is wrong).

Canadian–Cambodian Relations

2009-01-15T00:34:00.000-08:00

They seem to be sexist, "progressive," and exploitative, if this example is anything to go by.

Canadians and Cuban Bodies

2009-01-01T20:26:00.000-08:00

Fifty years ago, Fidel Castro took power amid promises of peace but immediately began executions (both links from a conservative site). For decades since then, Cubans living and dead have been reaching US shores to escape from Castro's tropical prison. I've met a number of foreigners in Japan who admire Castro, but this paragraph really takes it:

Fifty years ago today, many Cubans cheered when Fidel Castro seized power in Havana, and even now, the revolution attracts many fans — as evidenced by the Canadian tour agencies advertising trips “to celebrate five decades of resilience.”

"[T]o celebrate five decades of resilience" and political imprisonment ("Castro's Gulag" and TIME magazine), increased prostitution (apparently now undergoing a crackdown but read the Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation for Cuba data; a NYT article; read this one, especially the last paragraph), grave economic decline, and more. I wonder what proportion of Canadians eat that "resilience" shit up; I've met a German and a few Japanese who do. At allegedly 600,000 Canadians a year, a big proportion. According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canadians do a great job of keeping Castro's oppression and exploitation going, even if Canadians get caught up in it.

I've never encountered a more knee-jerk, unjustifiably anti-American nationality than Canadians. Provincial differences exist with those from the prairies and the eastern maritimes generally even-handed, reasonable, rational, and less in-your-face. But those from Ontario and, to a lesser extent, Ontario West (aka British Vancouver) are the worst. Two choice anti-American quotes from Canadians I have met teaching in Japan:

"Who cares about 9/11? It was only 3,000 Americans."
—someone from Ontario who reads the New York Times daily, loves Paul Krugman, proudly declares himself tolerant and progressive, and has parents who are teachers. Oh, and Canadians, Britons, Mexicans, Jordanians, and more were killed, not "only Americans."

"You can't see the World Trade Center from ten miles out. Of course, you could see the columns of smoke from two smouldering craters—ha, ha!"
—someone from British Columbia who is remarkably similar to the above except for the parents, about whom I know almost nothing.

Americans Not Welcome

2008-12-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

Every time the US military is involved in some tragedy overseas, especially in Japan, I feel terrible for a variety of reasons. One, it's a tautology but tragedies are tragic. Two, I fear there is an unconscious tally of such incidents that will cause Japanese to turn widely anti-American once the threshold is breached. Three, I hate crime and have a special animus against those that are intentional, such as US soldiers raping women, robbing stores, etc.

If a US military vehicle accidentally crushed two Japanese schoolgirls due to a combination of drivers' blindspot and bad luck, people would be deservedly and understandably angry but compensation paid. The story would of course be national news, a few locals (and professional protesters) would be shown demanding closure of the base, and then it would be over; it might continue locally, but nationally it would be supplanted by newer news.

In Korea, also home to many US military bases, things apparently turn out differently.

How about the store with the "Americans Are Not Welcome Here" sign? That would probably not happen in Japan, but were I in South Korea, I'd stand in front of the store with a fistful of won and giving them the finger. Beating of unrelated US soldiers just walking around on leave? In Japan, no; in South Korea, apparently yes.

Thanks, South Korean bigots and leftists, for giving me reason not to buy anything from your ungrateful country, let alone visit it.

I cannot recall ever having an ugly encounter with a South Korean in Japan or the US, although I have had Koreans complain about US policy and/or individuals to/with varying degrees of credibility and sympathy. In fact, I would say South Korean expats as a whole are usually great people.

However, I believe it is long past time for the US to pull out of South Korea (and Western Europe), amicably. When a majority of the local populace thrives on or requires anti-Americanism, it's time to quit serving it. With the US fighting two wars and running up insane debts, this would be a good and mutually understandable time for the US to begin to leave. South Koreans are rich enough to defend themselves and have plenty of veterans. The US will continue to sell the ROK whatever it can't make for itself. Their media can galvanize plenty of civilians in case the North Koreans invade. Why, maybe the North Koreans will even be much better to live with or under.

Clinton Democrats and the Credit Crunch

2008-11-08T18:50:00.000-08:00

Friends and appointees of Bill should be taking the fall. How convenient they're now largely out of office.

Obama Supporter Calls for Joe the Plumber's Death

2008-11-08T18:38:00.000-08:00

San Francisco radio automaton Karel calls for the death Joe the Plumber. It's a "progressive" jihad.

Yep, "progressive" Hope™ and Change™! It's all so tolerant and inclusive it gives me the willies.

How long before we hear "no man, no problem" as official Obama policy? It used to work in Chicago, you know.

Begging for Mercy

2008-11-07T02:31:00.000-08:00

In Somalia, a 13-year-old girl (according to Amnesty International; the Islamists put her age at 23) who was gang-raped or, if you believe the Islamists, confessed to adultery, was recently stoned to death.

The following excerpted paragraphs are revolting, so skip them if you're sensitive. But do remember that this is a benefit of diversity and no culture is better than any other:

"Don't kill me, don't kill me," she said, according to the man who wanted to remain anonymous. A few minutes later, more than 50 men threw stones.

Numerous eye-witnesses say she was forced into a hole, buried up to her neck then pelted with stones until she died in front of more than 1,000 people last week.

The witness said people crowdinground to see the execution said it was"awful".

"People were saying this was not good for Sharia law, this was not good for human rights, this was not good for anything."

According to Amnesty International, nurses were sent to check during the stoning whether the victim was still alive. They removed her from the ground and declared that she was, before she was replaced so the stoning could continue.

Amnesty International made sure she was dead so the stoning by 50 men could continue. Now that's progressive! Islam is indeed a religion of peace, for the dead are the most peaceful among us.

Has Amnesty International facilitated such stonings before? Even though the girl/woman was dead, for how much longer did the stoning continue? Until there were no more rocks? Until the 50 mens' arms got tired?

Obamanomics

2008-11-06T21:22:00.000-08:00

A taste of what's coming:
Detroit, Michigan
— The change we need? President-elect Barack Obama has just named Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm to his 17-member economic advisory panel.

>SNIP<

But Granholm has presided over the worst state economy in the United States since her election in 2003. Just last year, in the teeth of a gaping budget deficit and galloping unemployment now at 8.7 percent, she raised personal income taxes 17 percent. Her energy legislation passed this year further taxed Michigan ratepayers by hiking their utility bills an estimated 12 percent while gutting Michigan’s energy market deregulation so that major utilities can deal with the coming 10-percent RPS (not to mention modernizing old coal plants in the face of a predicted federal cap-and-trade plan).

Obamarama

2008-11-06T19:47:00.000-08:00

I've got a new President, which is good. I don't know much about him, because the press focused on Palin's wardrobe, a bogus McCain scandal, and everything but Mr. Obama himself, which is bad. Coverage of Rezko, Wright, Khalidi, Ayers, "bankrupting the coal industry," "spreading the wealth," breaking his public financing pledge then accepting online donations with verification intentionally turned off, tours of the blighted areas where Mr. Obama "community organized" to no effect, his role in suing Citibank to lend to bad credit risks, his overwhelming number of gutless "present" votes--barely a word. The national press wanted Obama/Biden to win, and they succeeded. Of course, Bush did his part to help, but he will not be thanked for it.

I do enjoy watching the falling share prices of most media outlets. It would be refreshing to see entire journalism schools shut down because the students have come to realize the degree is worthless and quit entering them. Oh tenured boob who can do nothing, who has done nothing for decades, but scribble mental dribble, what will you do when your department goes under?

The Obama-Palin Ticket

2008-10-14T20:24:00.000-07:00

Howard Stern asks people if they'll vote for Obama after attributing McCain policies and McCain's VP to Obama:

Unquestioning DNC party loyalty: don't ask, don't tell, don't think!

Al Franken (D), Asshole

2008-03-14T04:41:00.000-07:00

I happened across this Star Tribune article about how alpha wanker Al Franken, currently running for a Senate seat, mocked the physical tic of a college student identified by other students as a conservative—the minority it's recommended to bash and offend—after the kid avoided having his picture taken with Franken. Franken also, as many leftist statists are wont to do, drilled him with a flow of aggressive accusative questions about the student's assumed views and models. Despite the abuse, the kid offered to shake Francine's hand; Franken refused. His minders probably aware of what an insufferable immature jerk Franken had just shown himself to be, he was hustled away. President of the Carleton College Democrats, Pablo Kenney, backs up the abused student's story.

If only video footage existed! See ya, Senate hopes. Then again, for many "liberal" Democrats, such footage would probably confirm their beliefs that Al is indeed "one of us."

Al Franken: Democrat, "funny" guy, ass****. This story reminds me of many "tolerant and liberal" people I've met, especially Ontarians and Left Coasters.

Crisis: Bringing the Newsroom Home

2008-01-19T18:59:00.000-08:00

On January 13, 2008, the New York Times reported on 121 cases of veterans returning to civilian life but "bringing the battlefield home": committing or being charged for murder. When the Weekly Standard employed the requisite context that the New York Times did not, the results indicated that "the actual homicide rate among civilians is higher in similar demographic groups":

The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and other veterans’ advocacy groups are absolutely correct that not merely “many” but the vast majority of veterans not only remain completely law-abiding but go on to lead stable and productive personal, professional, and civic lives. Assuming 121 homicide cases in relation to 749,932 total discharges through 2007, 99.98 percent of all discharged Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have not committed or been charged with homicide.

And assuming 121 cases and 749,932 total discharges, the homicide offending rate for the discharged veterans would be 16.1 per 100,000. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has demographic data aplenty on homicide offending rates. For instance, in 2005, for white males aged 18-24, the rate was about 20 per 100,000. The Times opined that 121 was the “minimum” number, even as it counted veterans charged but not convicted with veterans tried and found guilty. Doubling the number to 242 would double the rate to 32.2 per 100,000.

Far more worrisome is the trend of Journalists Gone Wild, an article apparently as thoroughly researched as that of the New York Times: to wit, America's media misanthropes are bringing home the stress of speaking questionable truth to power from the safety of the newsroom, where they become corrupted, robbing banks, beating wives, molesting children, stealing property, and taking lives—committing hundreds of crimes. It is a crisis!

Of course, why worry about any of that when Dutch e-tailers' product displays run amok (let video content load). If not contained in time, such threats to global e-businesses will become more than a crisis, they'll become super-duper crises!

Stateless Kuwaitis: "Bidun"

2007-11-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

Many moons ago I considered going to work in Kuwait. According to Refugees International, some while ago the Islamic emirate rather arbitrarily classified a portion of its inhabitants, mainly the nomadic sorts, as bidun, stateless. They were given passports, different in color from those of "real" Kuwaitis', but thrown out of government jobs, not allowed to register their births, etc. In short, they became second-class citizens despite being brother Muslims, having been born in the country, having lineage their going back probably hundreds of years.

It's said that Kuwait is a progressive, a liberal, Muslim nation, but stories from some bidun might persuade you to believe otherwise. And then there's that whole deal about not being let in (or, depending on how useful you are to the country, how laboriously) if your passport carries proof of a visit to Israel. Does Kuwait also require foreign workers prove their religious affiliation (as Saudi Arabia does), ban pork products, ban non-Islamic religious texts, disallow foreigners' purchasing land or building of religious facilities?

Ralph Nader Sues the DNC

2007-10-31T18:16:00.000-07:00

With thanks to the Instapundit, this report of Nader turning to the pernicious embrace of lawyers gave me an early morning chuckle, especially with Nader "speaking truth to power," as in:

"The Democratic Party is going after anyone who presents a credible challenge to their monopoly over their perceived voters," Nader said in a statement. "This lawsuit was filed to help advance a free and open electoral process for all candidates and voters. Candidate rights and voter rights nourish each other for more voices, choices, and a more open and competitive democracy."
Though I am no fan of Nader (which has nothing to do with his scurrilous attack against the Corsair), I am glad he's attempting to stick it to the DNC for their thuggery. Of course, depending on how the Ron Paul "r-love-ution" turns out, we might see Ron Paul expressing something similar in the form of litigious love projected as a fissile legal epistle of similar content.

Though I doubt it, there is a possibility that Ron Paul will be to Gillian what Ralph Nader was to the Goracle.

YearlyKos Pickup Lines (Some Explicit)

2007-08-09T19:26:00.000-07:00

The big hullabaloo that is YearlyKos seems increasingly to attract attention from Democrats in (imaginary) power and various bloggers who are "pro-regressive" or not. Even though its attendees are not diverse, a point that causes sensitive reactions (read through the comments) among its enthusiasts, there seems to be great diversity in how members express their uniform hatred of President Bush, the US military, Israel, and more. I've heard that there is, as well, a highly diverse range of pickup lines among "Kossacks" although all show a remarkable conformity in the themes used to initiate contact with the opposite sex, when it can be found. Some samples follow:

1. What say you and me ditch this and really stick it to Bush, somewhere private?
2. I'll let you net my root any time.
3. One night with me and you'll be moaning and breathing so hard you'll need carbon offsets from Al Gore.
4. Has anyone ever told you how much you look like Nancy (Pelosi)/Rigoberta Menchú/Cindy Sheehan/Medea Benjamin/one of Castro's women/Nexhmije Hoxha?
5. How'd you like to engage in some highly localized global warming?
6. If I were a neocon/Zionist/Bushie/Christian, you wouldn't need to yell about screwing me, 'cause I'll let you do it.
7. You know Condoleeza? I've been called the Condom-pleaser.
8. Hi, my name's Karl, and I wanna Rove all over you.
9. I've got a Dick, and you've got a Bush, so let's get exploiting!
10. I'm not an Iraqi, but if you let me, I-raq-U.
11. If it weren't for the vast right-wing conspiracy, I would never have found a lady as perfect as you.
12. Bushitler has nothing on the inside job I'll give you, if you let me.
13. To tell the truth, I'm a conservative. How about coming with me to see how the Other Half lives?
14. If you do me, I'll tell Kos about it in my Diary.
15. How'd you like to make it with a Kos Diarist?
16. You can question my patriotism all you like if you just climb my flagpole.
17. Forget G-spots: Lemme stoke your G-had!
18. Bag me and you've only got 71 more virgins to go.
19. Democratic Underground is more hard-core than this stuff. Come with me and we can explore my Democratic Underpants.
20. My parents' house is just 10 minutes down the street. My dad's away on business and I can call my mom to have her go shopping for me. We'd have the whole house to ourselves for about two hours. Whattaya say?

John Edwards

2007-06-05T06:27:00.000-07:00

What a money-grubbing, doctor-screwing, patients'-health-care-eradicating, junk-science-exploiting scumbag trial lawyer.

Given Edwards' success in causing medical professionals to flee obstetrics after ruining their careers and reputations, I'd be reluctant to be his or his wife's doctor, because he'd probably sue me in the blink of an eye, even if I did nothing wrong.

Edwards keeps blowing on about two Americas, and he's right: One where doctors still exist, and one where they're packing up and leaving, thanks in part to Edwards.

British Animal Rights Performance Artist Eats Corgi

2007-05-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

A recent news article documents a "performance artist," which is a euphemism for "a**hole," named Mark McGowan who feels the British royal family is abusing its critters. At first, he seems almost, almost, a reasonable sort, though the whiff of activist lunacy is noticeable:

"We love our animals in Britain," McGowan told AP Television News. "Why is it then that we then allow people — especially people who are supposed to be ambassadors for this country — to treat animals with such disrespect?"

So McGowan decides he must protest the royals' animal abuse by eating a corgi, the Queen's favorite breed of dog. If you only caught the parts of the blurb, it might remind you of a sterling Monty Python sketch in which a hunter on the veldt says, "I love animals. That's why I track' em down and kill 'em." However, McGowan claims to have eaten pre-expired corgi, spiced to cover up the taste and smell of potentially putrid flesh:

To make the corgi more palatable, it was mixed with apple, onion and seasoning, turned into meat balls, and served with salad.

McGowan said the corgi he consumed had died recently at a breeding farm and had not been killed for the purposes of the protest. He did not say how the dog had died.

"I ate three lumps of it. But I spat two of them out, so I really ate one and a half of them," McGowan said.

Not eating the whole dead corgi he so disrespectfully ground up, which apparently no other animal rights activists found offensive. Very sensitive and caring of him. Surely he'd never abuse anything, except rational thought and public decency.

Ain't No Lie There Be Truthers in Berserkeley

2007-05-28T23:54:00.000-07:00

So I’m looking at the list of genii who have signed on to the ae911truth.org, architects and engineers dedicated to “9-11 truth.” Other than their being collectively nuts, I find it unsurprising that a significant number of the member architects are from Berkeley, California, long festering as a hotbed of radical Leftism. Some years ago my sister, on the Left Coast for vacation, brought me back a People’s Republic of Berkeley shirt. This was after the gulag, after Pol Pot, after Red Terror in Ethiopia, after Mao, after Lenin, after Stalin, after Che, after tens of millions killed for nothing, when people still thought (and still think) a People’s Republic is something to aspire to.

Not that I’d ever consider living in Berkeley—I’ve heard too many ugly stories of the filth on the campus, in-your-face nutjobs, high prices, tenured radicals, and power politics—but were I to do so, I wouldn’t want a house built by someone who thinks "9-11 was an inside job."

Al Qaeda Torture Manual

2007-05-21T00:46:00.000-07:00

Recently I was led to an alleged Al Qaeda torture manual (graphic pictures—beware!) liberated by US forces from a house in Iraq. I don’t know much about the credibility of The Smoking Gun, but I’ve seen it referred to in various online sources.

Whether the source is credible or not, pictures from the manual’s illustrated pages, such as using a clothes iron on some poor victim, are made even more insidious by the fact that almost every torturer is smiling: The Al Qaeda goons are loving what they’re doing, and they want the readers to share the Islamic zealot’s love; my guess is there is also a macabre psychological tactic too: Surely the victim’s condition will be worsened (and his/her will more quickly broken) by a smiling torturer, some so evil they enjoy what they’re doing, someone confident in their ability to torture with impunity.

Michael Moore calls the Muslims reading this manual “freedom fighters,” and many “progressives” agree. It seems that, to the fans of "freedom fighters," putting Iraqis in sexually humiliating positions is much worse than gouging out their eyes, drilling through their hands, or burning their torsos with clothing irons. Personally, I see elitist multicultural nonsense and paternalistic racism at work: It’s OK if those backward ethnic types do it, because it’s part of their culture, so who are we to judge? (lowering voice) Besides, they don’t know any better anyway? Snicker.

Kidnapping for the Cause

2007-05-07T07:32:00.000-07:00

I just read an account of Nazis stealing children with the potential to be "Germanized" for the Aryan project.

This reminds me of Islamists kidnapping children to convert them. Muslims also have used alms to entice people to convert, which the Nazis probably did not bother with. I've heard this practice shows a keen sense of economics, with animists in Africa being bribed with far less than Westerners in the Gulf states.

Some Reds Not Better Dead

2007-05-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

Apparently installed by the reinvading Soviets in 1956, Hungary's longest oppressing Commie tyrant, Janos Kadar, has had his final resting place disturbed by a proletarian or two, who made off with his skull, some bones, and his wife's ashes. Graffiti denouncing him as a murderer was left behind.

In Estonia, the extinct Soviet Empire still keeps killing. Rioting following Estonia's relocation of a Soviet war memorial, rightly seen by ethnic Estonians as a malingering remnant of a bloody colonial power, has killed one and injured many more.

Some Things That Are Just Plain Wrong

2007-04-24T22:02:00.000-07:00

Resurrecting a non-negative image of Felix Dzerzhinsky, the ruthless bastard who set up the Soviet Cheka, which became the KGB.

Believing cell phone viruses can kill you. That this is happening in Muslim countries is no surprise. That in more prosperous and modern Saudi Arabia people would fear geting AIDS from Israeli melons is perhaps even more wrong and illuminating.

NHK "Expert" on US Gun Culture

2007-04-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

Guns can be had in Japan, but they are very difficult to get hold of. Any encounter with the law here permanently ends your ability to mess with guns. Generally only a few hunters, probably thoroughly vetted, can get licenses to carry guns. I don't know whether they can store guns in their homes or if they have to be kept locked up elsewhere. However, the end result is that few guns are floating around. Bear in mind that this is all anecdotal--sorry.

Beware: a rant will commence below, one of the few I will post here.

The shooting at Virginia Tech has dominated Japanese news; it is getting more coverage than the shooting today of the mayor of Nagasaki (here in "gun-free" Japan). NHK just had an "expert" on US gun culture on. Ekisupaato-san said that the reason people still have guns in America is twofold: (1) the level of mistrust is so high that they feel they need them and (2) they "blindly" believe a gun is the only way to deal with life-threatening violence. He was followed by Mrs. Hatori, whose son was killed in New Orleans when he went to the wrong house by mistake for a Halloween party and didn't understand "Freeze!" Then came footage from "Bowling for Columbine," by Michael Moore, another "expert," one I'll ignore.

The pontificating NHK "expert" is apparently so well-versed in America gun culture that he doesn't bother to talk (or know?) about the 2nd Amendment and why it was enshrined in the Constitution (Penn & Teller can tell you more). Mrs. Hatori says she still can't understand why Americans have guns after all her efforts to have them banned (Again, that pesky U.S. Constitution, dagnabbit. Why can't the Americans just get rid of that thing?). I'm sorry for her great personal loss, but I wonder what she thinks about foreigners who come to Japan to urge Japanese to change deep-seated cultural practices and customs that are "wrong."

Let's look at those two points from the NHK "expert" again. As for mistrust, consider this excerpt from the Pew Research Center report, "Americans and Social Trust: Who, Where and Why"),

An International Perspective
The question of what explains social trust - and why certain societies are more trusting than others - has long fascinated social scientists. Many theories have been advanced - personal optimism; voluntary associations; homogeneous societies; equal opportunities; honest governments - but over the years, not all have stood up to empirical scrutiny. Cross-national surveys have found that the highest levels of social trust are in the homogeneous, egalitarian, well-to-do countries of Scandinavia, while the lowest levels of trust tend to be found in South America, Africa and parts of Asia. In these multi-national comparative surveys, the U.S. population ranks in the upper middle range of trust.3

So, in short, Mr. Expert is essentially wrong about US mistrust. It is probably lower than in Japan, but it is not remarkably low, as he suggests (without any figures, sources, etc.). No surprise there, especially since it fits so well with the stereotype of Americans being nasty soulless capitalists constantly screwing and exploiting each other 24/7/365 since 1776.

As for Americans "blindly" believing they can protect themselves with guns, what is the alternative? To wait for the police to show up in a couple of minutes, after you've been assaulted, if at all? What does Mr. Expert think one should do, reason with the attacker? Give the attacker what he wants, even if it's your own head? Never will I understand why some people are terrified that others might be willing (and able) to defend themselves. Why do people want to deprive others of the right to defend themselves?

What percentage of people who hate and fear guns do so because they have never handled or been around guns (like why some people hate or fear foreigners, homosexuals, Christians, gaijin, etc.)?

2007-04-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

Looking to the Future: Incarcerating TB Patients
What else are people to do with very communicable drug-resistant illnesses? Forced isolation is creepy, but what are the alternatives? I can see the concern about someone intentionally infecting themselves with such an illness then visiting NYC, London, Paris, wherever to ride public transit purposely to cough and infect "infidels," "little Eichmanns," "neo-cons," or "Gaia rapists."

Like illegally introducing into New Zealand, with apparent ease, a lethal virus that decimates rabbits. Only humans could be targeted next in the future.

Yikes!

2007-03-30T17:05:00.000-07:00

Red for Oil
Red Castro isn't Green: he opposes biofuels. Says it's all a Yanqui plan to starve 3 billion people (including Cubans malnourished by his criminal policies). What will Hollywood say? Probably "It ain't easy / being green."

2007-03-20T10:34:00.000-07:00

"The Abyss"--Abysmal
NHK aired "The Abyss" tonight and I sat through it, hopefully so you won't have to. Here's the storyline in a nutshell: Fun loving guys in an oil rig get ordered to rescue/salvage a US nuclear sub that's crashed. One of the SEALs sent to help goes insane and decides to use a retrieved nuclear warhead to annihilate the friendly pretty (pronounce pretty like a three-year-old, please) underwater ETs that make their existence known. The worst SEAL dies, the rig leader visits the ETs' city, they threaten humanity with massive tidal waves that tower menacingly then harmlessly retreat, scaring humanity into a peaceful communal existence--you know, peace through superior firepower.

Granted, the living water tentacle that crawls through the ship is pretty impressive as a special effect even 17 years later, but the underwater aliens are some pathetic SFX critters. They move extremely awkwardly, as if the puppeteer were drunk and the body parts were catching on each other, and look (especially the faces) as if they were made out of carefully selected light bulbs glued together. Their city is a fiberglass-bodied purple-sparkly hotrod jazzed up with a '60s blacklight color scheme. "Groovy!" is an apt description. The hero rescued by the aliens thanks them by throwing his diving helmet away down a chute in their city that looks like an engine hood scoop from the Batmobile.

That the US military is the real enemy is a foregone conclusion; they gnash their teeth in impotent rage when told (by one of the oil company's (Halliburton's?) bigshots) that the aliens have "put you outta work." Naturally, everyone resents the military guys. The Gaia's revenge symbolism of the aliens' manipulation of the oceans and skies was politically prophetic (well, maybe not in Hollywood circles). When the aliens are explaining why they should destroy humanity, they show plenty of footage of human outrages: Nazis, the Holocaust, Vietnam War footage (Vietnam given the same amount of time as Nazi footage, naturally, since the two are equal outrages, right?), and even a scene of a Palestinian kid tying a jihad bandana around his head (How'd that slip by?).

Various other things:
There's a blatant rip-off of the "2001: A Space Odyssey" op-art freakout trip.

The oil rig's conspiracy nut, "Hippy," Watergates the war-mongering SEALs' genocidal aims: It is a conspiracy!

The oil rig people dig country music and, many of them, talk Texan, yet they're heroes (well, W wasn't president in 1989).

The omnipotent aliens failed to rescue the sub at the beginning, which caused them to be discovered (and almost nuked). Despite their omnipotence and ability to play terrestrial TV broadcasts, they were unable to talk with the humans. By nearly eradicating humanity, they've surely caused some people to start thinking how to protect themselves by destroying the ETs in case the underwater ETs decided to follow through with their Fluid Solution.

There are other noxious points, but the SFX that won it an Oscar aren't, wholly, one. Perhaps because it probably "spoke truth to power" in a reedy flatulent tone, it was nominated for a 1991 Saturn Award for writing.

2007-03-17T00:21:00.000-07:00

Falsely Born into Islam: No Way Out?
An old news story, so perhaps no longer available, but:

A Malaysian Muslim man switched at birth in a hospital mix-up wants to change his name after being reunited with his ethnic-Chinese biological family and become a Buddhist.

I am quite curious as to how this turned out. Is the unlucky soul still alive?

A little on his Muslim upbringing:

As a child, Zulhaidi said, he was teased about his Chinese-like features and never felt accepted by the family in which he was brought up, so he left them when he was 13.

"My Malay father had left us when I was three," he said. "My mother remarried, but I could not get along with my stepfather, so I left."

About "religious freedom" in officially Muslim Malaysia:

Whether Muslims can convert to another faith is a tricky legal question in Malaysia, where Islam is the official religion, although freedom of worship is a constitutional right.

2007-03-14T21:48:00.000-07:00

The Sweet Smell of the Law.
No, really, in India. Were lawyers, especially trial lawyers like John Edwards, to be required to wear uniforms, I know what aroma I'd assign them.

Oh, and have you read Tintin in the Land of the Soviets?

2007-02-24T05:15:00.000-08:00

Clowns Down
Clowns suck. I've never found them funny; rather they're creepy and tedious. This is an apparent atavistic trait, as other relatives have told stories of being drug unsympathetically to the circus, forced to stay put for the clowns, and being singled out for special attention by the painted frights.

However deep my distaste for clowns, I'd never imagine killing them in front of an audience of children. Good Lord, why do such a thing?

2007-02-21T17:18:00.000-08:00

Japanese Leftists...
Setting bombs near US bases to protest a US attempt to reduce bloody violence in Iraq. Attempting to kill to end an attempt to end killing.

Meanwhile Japan is launching spy satellites to monitor truly dangerous leftists in North Korea. It is also getting tougher--starting from a very soft warm spot--on Iran.

New Start

2007-02-08T07:16:00.000-08:00

Last year I read that 2007 is the year in which the blog boom will die. I feel that to be a statement of merit.

I've gotten tired of the dead wood here, cleared it out, and will grow some more, pusillanimously.