JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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1
Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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2
U.S. Navy investigating how parts fell off aircraft near Atsugi
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3
Confrontation
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4
California court to decide if SeaWorld whales are illegal 'slaves'
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5
Kuroki reported pregnant 2 weeks after denying relationship with Akanishi
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- Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Kanto region
- RCS (RCSコーポレーション), Kanto
- Salary: ¥180,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month includes performance bonus
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- Assistant Language Teacher - TOKYO - late-March start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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- Assistant Language Teacher - Kanagawa Prefecture - late-March start
- Interac, Kanagawa
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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Betzee
"As many have said in the past about Bush and his war against Saddam, yes he was an ally of the US, but then we just shifte allegance and many on the left threw a fit."
What "the left" objected to was the justification used to topple Saddam: he was a ruthless dictator who murdered his own people. Yeah, but he'd done it while as ally of the US and we looked the other way because it was in our geopolitical interests to support him. When those interests changed, we conveniently forgot our earlier support for the guy.
'[T]his sends a message to all of our allies. If things get too tough, we will cut and run." Things are tough because Mubarak's own people are rising up against him. So you're saying we should support repressive measures against a "people power" revolution of the type that swept Ferdinand Marcos from power?
Mubarak has been grooming his son to succeed him. He knows what awaits most dictators in retirement: there's already a warrant out for Tunisia's Ben Ali's arrest.
Posted in: As unrest sweeps Egypt, president refuses to quit
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Betzee
"How many U.S. tax dollars have been sucked up by Egypt during this guy's rule?"
A lot. Egypt is the second largest recipient of American aid after Israel. It's been that way ever since Egypt recognized Israel. A democratically elected government, in contrast to the Mubarak regime, wouldn't necessarily do that despite the cash pay-off. In a nutshell: US geopolitical interest collide here with support for "freedom."
Posted in: As unrest sweeps Egypt, president refuses to quit
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Betzee
I think it's a lot more than you!
Posted in: 50 killed in Baghdad apartment blasts
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Betzee
Obama issued the equivalent fighting words of "Bring it on!" after it was clear the Republicans were not interested in any sort of reform. What they are worried about is the benefits which kick in immediately, such as the right to keep children on a family plan until the age of 26, will prove popular. I have two friends who plan to just that because it will save them money and provide their kids with better coverage.
Posted in: U.S. Congress completes overhaul of health care; more threats come in
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Betzee
Then Wal-Mart is really the victim since the incident could cause them to lose black shoppers (who can take their business to a competitor big box retailer). I'm sure there is a way to charge the kid with a criminal offense. If, to get to the intercom system for example, he passed through an area open to "staff only," they can get him for trespassing. Did his false announcement cause panic among shoppers? That's another issue.
Posted in: Teen charged over racial announcement at New Jersey Walmart
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Betzee
I presume this has always happened in this neck of the woods, but let's not let that in the way of a good shriek (check's under the bed) about Islam, now shall we?
Happy New Year old friend! In fact the ruling party altered the constitution to throw a bone at the Islamists and didn't understand they were conferring equal status to Shari'a courts with that of civil jurisprudence.
The problems really come in the case of conversions. There's been a few. Whoever has converted then bestows the Muslim faith on their children and the non-Muslim parent has no standing to petition the Shari'a court. Another case was about burial rites for a man whose Hindu wife insisted he never converted. In Selangor, apostasy is punishable by death, though the constitution allows for freedom of religion.
Posted in: 52 unmarried Malaysian Muslim couples face jail for hotel liaisons
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Betzee
Malaysia and Indonesia seem to be coming to a sort of crisis point of late however. They have become very 'modernized' in many respects and maintain constant commercial ties to other more libertine nations - yet the clerics and governments seem intent on continuing with sharia law and ultra-conservative Islamic principles. Much of the population yearns to breath free, so to speak, but Islam is an important tool, and sword, for those weilding political power.
Malaysia is a lot wealthier than Indonesia which exports labor, some undocumented, to its northern neighbor.
Malaysia has one of the highest rates of private auto ownership in Asia. While the country's economic development had been envied throughout much of the world, it's also brought social dislocation. As a result, some Malay Muslims "cling to their religion." The Islamic party won control of Selangor state, where this occurred, and has pushed enforcement of Shari'a law.
Posted in: 52 unmarried Malaysian Muslim couples face jail for hotel liaisons
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Betzee
No the actual irony is: These people cannot practice their freedoms without religious police kicking their a$$es.
Muslims don't enjoy the freedom to have sex with someone other than their spouse.
Posted in: 52 unmarried Malaysian Muslim couples face jail for hotel liaisons
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Betzee
Malaysia truly muslim....Don't go to malaysia
Religious policy is set at the state level in Malaysia. The Islamic-leaning party has enjoyed electoral success in some states, in part owing to ruling party corruption which is analogous to the situation in Japan, and stepped up enforcement of Shari'a law. By contrast, despite a "sin tax" on alcohol in Kuala Lumpur, bars fill up every night. Penang state, a major tourist destination, has an ethnic Chinese majority, international visitors are hardly aware they are in a Muslim country.
Posted in: 52 unmarried Malaysian Muslim couples face jail for hotel liaisons
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Betzee
"The irony is the police are enforcing religious rules. Non-muslims are exempt, but Muslims can be sent to a secular prison for a religious offense. Particularly one as simple as being alone with someone who is not your spouse (or relative)."
The irony is that it's not the activity per se but who's doing it which determines whether it's an offense. There are two legal systems in Malaysia. Civil applies to non-Muslims while Shari'a applies to Muslims. Married Muslims carry couple identification to prove they are entitled to engage in khalwat.
The divorce rate among Malay Muslims is higher than for ethnic Chinese and Indians. The Shari'a court in one state caused a stir by accepting a declaration of intent to divorce sent by a man to his wife via text message.
Posted in: 52 unmarried Malaysian Muslim couples face jail for hotel liaisons
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Betzee
Details are trickling out. Apparently the Garrido "family" ran a printing business in which Jaycee was introduced by patriarch Phil as "my daughter." It's her artwork which adorned much of their business so she has some skills. Moreover, she has memories of a normal childhood to draw on as well as a loving family to assist her in what will be a difficult transition given so few people can identify with it.
For her two daughters, the future is much more problematic. They have no knowledge of any other type of life. They've never been to school. And they are going to be thrust into a world in which their mother, and it's not clear they know Jaycee is their mother rather than their sister, is going to be embraced by people who will inadvertently invalidate their existence by pointing out, "He should never have been released, this all could have been avoided."
"He" of course is their father and they may have warm feelings toward someone who is viewed as a monster by everyone else. As unpleasant as it is to contemplate, he may have had sex with them. Apparently he gave up the printing business to preach, trying to create flock out of transients and homeless people living in Berkeley. The girls were often with him according to those who've been interviewed.
Posted in: Questions arise over how 11-year-old girl's kidnapper went undetected for 18 years
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Betzee
Garrido and the girls showed up Monday on the Berkeley campus, where they distributed fliers and met with Lisa Campbell, manager of special events for the UC Police Department.
Garrido told her he wanted to hold a campus event he called "God's Desire," which he frenetically described as having to do with schizophrenia and the FBI.
Campbell, 40, a former Chicago police officer, said she found it curious that the girls were not in school and appeared not to have spent any time in the sunlight. Campbell said that Garrido was "clearly unstable" but that the girls were even more striking.
Clothed in drab dresses, with penetrating blue eyes that matched their father's, they were "non-responsive" and exuded no energy, she said.
Busy with other matters and eager to learn more about this strange trio, Campbell asked Garrido to return the next day to plan the event. She then went to campus police Officer Ally Jacobs, 33, and told her something was not right with the three.
Jacobs ran a computer check and learned that Garrido was a federal parolee and sex offender. She joined Campbell in the Tuesday meeting and tried not to arouse Garrido's suspicions.
Posted in: Horror story emerges after woman kidnapped as child resurfaces 18 years later
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Betzee
One can say, why didn't the neighbors suspect something given they knew the guy was a registered sex offender? Well, he put up a high fence around his yard. Nonetheless, in 2006 someone did call to report people, including children, seemed to be living in the back. But the sheriff's deputy dispatched to investigate never went to look himself after speaking with Garrido out front. Moreover, given his record the police had the power to drop by unannounced without probable cause. So the community may have felt the police knew everything there was to know.
In addition to the charges that stem from kidnapping Jaycee, he's being investigated in connection with a string of unsolved murders near where he previously worked where the bodies of prostitutes were found.
Posted in: Horror story emerges after woman kidnapped as child resurfaces 18 years later
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Betzee
It was actually the Special Events Coordinator for the UC Berkeley police who should be credited with freeing Jaycee and her daughters. She decided, "There's something really wrong here" when Garrido showed up on campus last Monday with the two kids to inquire about staging a religious event. School had already started and the older girl, whose demeanor and appearance were odd, claimed they were home-schooled in response to why she and her sister weren't in school. The younger one also said they had a 29-year old sister at home.
The coordinator got bad vibes and asked Garrido to return to discuss his plans the next day, when she arranged to have him meet with her superior (and joined them though it was her day off). His sex offender status was revealed and he was packed off to his probation officer with the rest of the "family" in tow.
About ten years ago another sex offender with religious delusions and a female partner kidnapped a 16-year old girl from her home in Utah. When the vagrant trio came to police attention several years later, she too claimed to be his wife.
Posted in: Horror story emerges after woman kidnapped as child resurfaces 18 years later
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Betzee
"military-industrial complex"
I believe it was Dwight Eisenhower, as he was leaving office, who coined the term and warned Americans of its dangers. While it does create an incentive to go to war, I think pursuit of American strategic interests, as they are understood, is the determinant of policy.
Posted in: U.S. looks to Vietnam war experience for Afghan tips
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Betzee
Trade with the Taliban?
They already have control over an ever expanding opium crop which is far more profitable than anything else the average Afghan farmer can grow.
Posted in: U.S. looks to Vietnam war experience for Afghan tips
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Betzee
Where Afghanistan most clearly resembles Vietnam is in state-building. One of the problems the US encountered in the earlier conflict was a succession of leaders who appropriated American aid for their own ends. One only need to study the Strategic Hamlet Program, intended to give South Vietnamese farmers a stake in defending the country from communism. Run by President Ngo Dinh Diem's brother, it was an abject failure.
In Afghanistan the problem is compounded by the fact its a tribal culture with a weak sense of national identity. The Karzai government, widely deemed a failure, is, like its Saigon predecessor, riddled with corruption and people who only think in terms of advancing a narrow set of interests.
Posted in: U.S. looks to Vietnam war experience for Afghan tips
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Betzee
"But Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, called the result a“divine assessment” and called on all Iranians to support Ahmadinejad."
If it didn't matter who won as claimed by those who dismissed the election as a sham, then why would Khamenei need to make his voice heard in this manner?
Posted in: Tehran calm after vote fraud claims trigger clashes
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Betzee
I don't see a second Ahmadinejad term as simply a continuation of the first. After Saddam was toppled there was a power vacuum in the Muslim Middle East. Ahmadinejad was clearly trying to increase his regional stature by making pronouncements intended to play well on Arab Street and position himself as the anti-GWB. But he wasn't successful. It's very likely Persian Shias can assume leadership of Arab Sunnis.
Posted in: Iran declares win for Ahmadinejad in disputed vote
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Betzee
I wonder how much Iranians regret replacing the Shah dictatorship with a theocratic dictatorship.
I wouldn't go there, it will elicit a denunciation of the US role in toppling democratically elected Mossadegh and re-installing the Shah in power in 1953. Had he not been forced to leave the country in 1979 when he was terminally ill, it's unlikely his teenage son could have held on to power. The family is immensely wealthy and he maintains a government in exile which is not taken seriously be anyone in Iran.
Posted in: Iran declares win for Ahmadinejad in disputed vote