JTDanMan's past comments

  • 0

    JTDanMan

    "Republicans block" is all they got.

    Supposedly, they decided blocking everything was the best way to defeat Obama. Well, we saw how that worked. But really, that was just post rationalization for the Bagger Republican insane extremism. Republican blocking = Republican extremism. And it only helps them get re-elected to the House, and only because they gerrymandered the hell of of the districts. Many millions more voted for Dems for the House, but because of Gerry Mander, we got the asshat Republican, er, "majority"

    Simply put, the Republican party is broken. They cant' win elections without being nicer to brown people, but they can't be nicer to brown people because the base of the party is full of Right Wing Idiots.

    Posted in: Republicans block Hagel vote for now

  • 1

    JTDanMan

    U.S. believes Japan on China radar incident

    So, now everyone knows: The US back ups Japan here. This is important.

    With this latest spat, and the problem last fall, Japan is winning. What do mean?

    Recall, last fall, Japan successfully got the US to state that despite US neutrality on the issue of who own the Senkaku's, the US considers defense of the Senkakus as part of our security alliance with Japan. That's Check.

    Now, the US has clearly stated that it will believe Japan's versions of any conflict with China first based solely on what our ally tells us. That's mate.

    Japan has successfully gotten the US to consider the Senkaku's as functionally part of Japanese sovereign territory, and gotten the US to affirm it will side with Japan before all the facts are made clear.

    In short, Japan has won. The US now explicitely backs Japan on the disputed islets.

    China failed here.

    Posted in: U.S. believes Japan on China radar incident

  • 2

    JTDanMan

    Radars can have a track-while-scan capability. That enables it to function simultaneously as a fire-control radar and a search radar.

    Me thinks China may have some of those.

    IOW, both Japan and China may be right.

    Posted in: U.S. believes Japan on China radar incident

  • 0

    JTDanMan

    Tokyo is a great place to visit. Wouln't want to live there...

    Anyhoos, my five favorite places in Japan to visit. Note: this is not list of the five "best places," just my five favorite places that I always want to go to when I get back to Japan:

    1. Kochi, Japan.

    Ok this city is actually not too special, unless one, you like to surf, and two, you have friends there. The surfing is really really good. Nice pleasant breaks, fairly long swells. A very easy place to learn, and the locals are welcoming once get the introduction.

    1. Kinosaki Onsen, Hyogo, Nihonkai

    Just a real nice, traditional, hot springs resort. Can get crowded at some times of the year, but still, what a place. Great food, great atmosphere. I really miss not being there every fall, when the kani season starts.

    Actually, I try to get to the Nihonkai every chance I get when I'm back in Japan. In the summer, its pretty muggy, but who can tell when you either soaking in the tepid ocean, or braising yourself in hot water?

    1. Kobe

    It was me old stomping ground. For the tourist, check out any of the hiking trails behind Kobe. I really like Maya san, and Kikusuiyama.

    1. Nagano, Winter Ski

    Some of the best skiing in the world. No kidding. And we have a particular place we like to stay in Hakuba, named Mominoki Hotel. It is very convenient, clean, economical and, my favorite part, they have a little rotemburo that you can order hot sake or beer in.

    1. Kyoto

    The wife's home town. So, there you go. Things to see and do: everything. Kids love the Tokugawa Summer Palace, 'cause tall the floors squeek to alert gaurds against intruders.

    Favorite ramen: yokozuna

    And speaking of food, if you have never been to Osaka and eaten horomon, or okomiyaki, you really ought to.

    Posted in: Top 5 worst places to visit in Japan

  • 4

    JTDanMan

    Japan NEEDS TO GROW UP!!

    Ooops.

    Posted in: Renowned photographer Leslie Kee arrested in Japan over obscene photos

  • 1

    JTDanMan

    Ain't. Gonna. Happen.

    Posted in: Ex-minister warns of unrest, secession over Okinawa

  • 0

    JTDanMan

    Hmmm. It seems many here recognize the need to reassess Art 9, but question the wisdom of changing Art. 96. I think Abe's thinking may be something along the following lines:

    It is time to dump Art. 9. To do so, we need to amend the Constitution. We don't have the votes to do so. So, to dump Art 9, we need to change the Amendment process.

    OK, fair enough, I suppose. Only the thing I don't get it to Amend Art. 96, Abe would need the 2/3 vote he thinks he can't get to dump Art 9 in the first place.

    Either I'm missing something, or Abe is cleverly playing the change Art. 96 charade to get the compromise votes he wants on Art 9.

    We'll see.

    Posted in: Abe says he intends to change constitution

  • -1

    JTDanMan

    Just when you think you'd seen it all...

    Posted in: AKB48 singer shaves her head as act of contrition for dating

  • 7

    JTDanMan

    Screw the NRA. It has no credibility. As measured by either popular opinion or empirical evidence.

    1. Popular Opinion

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/20/1172170/-Daily-Kos-PPP-Poll-NRA-and-GOP-grossly-out-of-step-with-America-including-Republicans 2. Empirical evidence

    Columbine had an armed guard. Fort Hood had plenty of armed guards. Virginia Tech has it's own police dept.

    And 126 buildings spread over 2,600 acres.

    So tell me, how how do you stop a massacre without posting armed guards outside of every building, outside every classroom?

    The NRA in unhinged. American DO NOT agree with them.

    It is time.

    Posted in: NRA calls for armed police officer in every school

  • 1

    JTDanMan

    Here's the deal: the Republicans based blame Romney when they should be blaming themselves.

    The base, members of which post here, believe Romney lost because he was not conservative enough.

    Actually, this is nonsense.

    Mitt Romney lost because he failed to win enough voters outside of the GOP's base coalition—not because he failed to energize the GOP base. Here are facts:

    In 2008, John McCain won white evangelicals by a 50-point margin. In 2012, Romney won those voters by a 57-point margin—a seven-point gain. (As a share of the total vote, white evangelicals were 26 percent in both years.)

    Contrast Romney's seven-point gain in support among white evangelicals with his much smaller gain in support among everyone else: In 2008, President Obama won those voters by 26 points. In 2012, he won them by 23 points. Romney gained, but not by enough.

    In shot, the GOP's base wasn't enough to deliver victory. They turned out for Romney, and he lost. Just as they turned out for McCain. And he lost too.

    The Republican base lives in fantasy land. The problem is not with their candidiates for* national office * not being conservative enough. The problem is their candidates are too conservative. Too conservative on women's liberation, too conservative on gay rights. To conservative on taxes. Too conservative on immigration. Too conservative on the integreity of science.

    In short, too conservative on everything.

    The Republicans estblishment knows this. The base does not. They cling to a past that never existed. And that 'traditional America' is gone, baby gone. The base either must accept that, or the party will go the way of the wigs.

    Posted in: Republicans say party needs to get with the times

  • 2

    JTDanMan

    Idiot.

    Posted in: U.S. Marine arrested for trespassing in Okinawa

  • 2

    JTDanMan

    "Who are we Japanese?" one noted author once asked. "We are the people who ask ourselves 'who are the Japanese'?" And, I will add, have never come up with a satisfactory answer. This inability of Japanese to articulate who they are has plagued modern Japan since, well, the begining of modern Japan.

    Until they come up with a satisfying answer, they will continue to suffer from the malais they currently have.

    Posted in: Survey asks: What makes Japanese citizens feel distinctly Japanese?

  • 0

    JTDanMan

    Yawn.

    It is just, well, impossible to give a crap what Republicans have to say about national security after their years of silence on Bush.

    Posted in: Republicans say Rice must testify on Benghazi statements

  • -1

    JTDanMan

    So long as it don't form a govt with the Restoration Party, all is well enough.

    Posted in: More opinion polls show LDP favored to win election

  • 3

    JTDanMan

    The election is over. Analysis now largely replaces partisanship for me. Here are two interesting observations, with which I agree.

    From the Votemaster

    Losers are often criticized, but one has to go a long way back to find any losing candidate who has been repudiated as much by his own party as Romney. Even George McGovern, who was beaten far worse than Romney, was not the subject of such bitter attacks as Romney.. The Democratic Party quickly moved to the center after McGovern's loss in 1972, but McGovern personally was not the subject of the kind of vituperation we are seeing now. When he died last month, McGovern was largely regarded as a hero, someone who flew 35 missions over German-occupied territory in WWII and after he entered politics, someone who fought for what he believed in, even if it wasn't popular at the time. It is hard to imagine any future obituary of Romney saying: "He didn't win, but he spent his life fighting for a cause that millions of others believed in." More likely is: "He made a lot of money in private equity and he thought that qualified him to be President. Because then-President Obama hadn't been able to dig the economy out of the hole he inherited from George Bush, Romney almost made it."

    From Ramesh Ponnuru

    All of these writers are intelligent people (some of them friends of mine). None of them makes the mistake of assuming that this election should have been easy to win given the weak economy, the public’s dissatisfaction with the status quo, and the unpopularity of Obamacare. They know that the economy has been improving, that the Democratic base in presidential races has been expanding for decades, and that the public still blames George W. Bush and his party for an economic crisis that began during his second term. Nor are they entirely wrong in their diagnoses of Romney’s distinctive weaknesses and errors. They err mainly in attributing too much importance to them.

    Romney was not a drag on the Republican party. The Republican party was a drag on him

    In short, the Republicans blame Romney when they should be blaming themselves.

    Posted in: Romney breaks silence to accuse Obama of bestowing gifts for ballots

  • 2

    JTDanMan

    Obama is gonna stand his ground this time. And the Republicans are gonna cave.

    Posted in: Obama insists on tax hike for rich as part of fiscal deal

  • 0

    JTDanMan

    Somewhere between the week-kneed alamism of the Ossan's of the this world and the glib head-in-the-sandsim of Bertie Woosters of this world lies the truth about China rising, and what challenges that poses to Japan and the rest of our allies in the region.

    Posted in: Japan, U.S. to discuss revising defense guidelines

  • 1

    JTDanMan

    So, I posted the following, and got two thumbs down for it:

    When you include Obama led all year by a small but steady lead in OH, if you were paying attention to the date, this election was not a nail biter. It was not a foregone conclusion, but not close at all. Obama was the favorite, and by the last two weeks, the strong favorite.

    I welcome the thumbs down. And here's why:

    'Cause I know it is true. I know it was not a nail-biter. I know it was not a foregone conclusion, but it was not close at all because Obama led in OH all year. The only people who didn't recognize the implications of this fact were either unaware of it in the first place, illinoformed or willfully ignoring it. Those who willfully ignored it did so because they are part of the right wing bubble. The bubble that makes them think Obama is a socialist, blab bla bla.

    And the amazing thing about that bubble is they believe their own bs. I know it is hard for some here to understand this simple fact. But it is the truth. Even the most seemingly rational partisan Republican kind of believes in his hears that Obama really was born in Kenya. They certaily believed Romney had more than a chance. They actually believed the race was a 'toss-up."

    It was not. Not on election day it wasnt. Not even before Sandy hit. The data shows "Mittmentrum" stalled after Biden mopped the floor with the Kid.

    Presuming the thumbs down I got came from the partisan Republicans here, I welcome their continued rejection of reality. It means they still believe their own nonsense.

    But, as I have said many times before, America ain't buying what they are selling. Americans used to, But then Bush happened.

    Posted in: Obama's re-election celebrated around world

  • 1

    JTDanMan

    yabits

    I look at it empiracally:

    Republican free market fundamentalism does not work.

    Posted in: Obama's re-election celebrated around world

  • 0

    JTDanMan

    And this from WaPo

    Republican leaders awoke Wednesday to witness their grim future. Without a makeover, a party that skews toward older, white and male voters faces political peril in an increasingly diverse and complex America. President Obama’s decisive victory over Mitt Romney served as a clinic in 21st-century politics, reflecting expanded power for black and Hispanic voters, dominance among women, a larger share of young voters and even a rise in support among Asians.

    Posted in: Obama's re-election celebrated around world

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