JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- English Instructor (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe)
- Berlitz Japan, Inc. (ベルリッツ・ジャパン株式会社), Kansai
- Salary: ¥125,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month
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- FT English Teachers for Kids - Osaka
- Kohgakusha Co., Ltd. （株式会社興学社）, Osaka
- Salary: ¥255,000 ~ ¥275,000 / Month Travel Expenses, Encouragement of Japanese learning*
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- Translator
- ZAIHON, Inc. (日本財務翻訳株式会社), Tokyo
- Salary: ¥6.0M / Year Negotiable
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Klein2
See? The last 5 comments are DEMA. They raise questions that are really irrelevant. They don't really intend to foster inquiry, they are intended to raise fear, uncertainty, and doubt in people who need to make important decisions with their lives.
"why it took Japanese authorities several weeks to make these "new assessments of radiation leaks". "
Why is that an important question? The IAEA level is supposed to reflect what HAS happened, not what is going to happen. If the government had made this determination NEXT YEAR it would not matter. Again, the purpose of this statement by the poster is to make people distrust their government in a time of crisis.
"I hear TEPCO is changing the title from "Executive Committee" to "Putzmeisters"."
Translated, this is, Do not trust the most knowledgeable people working to save your health, life and welfare. Would you tell someone in a hospital that their doctor is a murderer? That is what is happening here. Why is this allowed? Where is the victim? It is the guy in Fukushima wondering if he is going to survive or see his house again. Why can't we assume the best about people making a sincere effort? Just for a little bit.
"communism"
This is topical? OK. Whatever.
"Japanese government's reaction to the Minamata mercury-poisoning was "
The implication is that the government NOW is going to do the same thing again. That government is somehow lying or trying to protect someone who is harming taxpayers. In any normal time, it is criticism, but in a time of crisis, is this appropriate? And you mention cancer and contaminated food. Really. We are still burying bodies in Miyagi. The government is monitoring conditions and food responsibly. Why are we benefited by thinking that government is trying to kill us?
"the authorities seem to have spent the initial period at least trying to salvage the reactors for continued use"
This is just false. The poster is not even sure that it is true, but again, we have an allegation of a profit motive that is stronger than teh desire to save lives. This is not true and it is not appropriate or justified in any way.
All of these are panic-mongering. I urge JT and other readers to reject this. These are baseless statements that might be pretty funny to all of the people posting them, but there are people who need reliable information and really DO look to JT. Don't get sucked in. When foreigners flee in panic, I blamed them. But now I see that most of their information was given to them by idiots on opinion forums.
I personally do not trust Kan to get tax messes straightened out, and I think that TEPCO probably charges its customers too much money, but now is not the time for that. It is a terrible shame that at a time when Japanese people here are trying (desperately in some places) to keep things together, foreigners have to drive wedges between them.
The aftershocks and the Fukushima thing are going to continue for quite a while. If we are civilized, then let's ACT civilized.
Posted in: Comparing Japan and Chernobyl
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Klein2
Seems like the headline should be "Contrasting Fukushima and Chernobyl",
but let's just keep up appearances, shall we?
Posted in: Comparing Japan and Chernobyl
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Klein2
"Anytime anything happens there--even really bad stuff--they announce it like it was nothing more than a sparrow's fart."
On the contrary. We all know that the buildings are messed up. So what? Oh, and the IAEA ranking has been put up to 7.
Are you frightened? Are you scared? Why? What has changed? Nothing. Except we are another day along in the cooling process of all of those rods. Another day closer to stable containment. Things get better every day and more and more tools and plans are brought to bear.
Spread your fear people. Just keep panicking. When in trouble or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.
Posted in: Small fire extinguished at stricken Fukushima nuclear plant
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Klein2
seems to me that there should be some word that means a mix of glib and macabre.
How about whimsitastical?
Actually, I might be whistling in the graveyard, but I don't think Fukushima Daiichi is in much danger of getting swamped by another tsunami in the next few years at least. There is not enough tension for a megathrust, so the tsunami mojo is about spent. Besides, two orders of magnitude separate a 7.0 quake from a 9.0.
Posted in: M7.0 quake jolts eastern Japan; two killed
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Klein2
Why is this news? Of course people forget warnings. My favorite is
close cover before striking
It is entirely rational for people to ignore warnings meant for 1000 year events. You are likely to go an entire lifetime without facing any consequences. So is such a person stupid, or a genius?
Fat people eat eclairs and burritos, and they have far more immediate consequences.
The article seems surprising, but it isn't. I predict that most people reading this will not pay too much attention the next time an earthquake drill is announced. Lazy fools.
Posted in: Tsunami-hit towns forgot warnings from ancestors
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Klein2
A skinhead with a copy of Mein Kampf killed a Jewish congressman and a judge. And Palin today used a term that has been used historically as a call for pogrom.
That is the story that everyone is missing.
Posted in: Ariz shooting suspect appears in court; Giffords responds to verbal commands
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Klein2
And while you watch Obama, realize that he probably had 20-50 death threats... PLAUSIBLE death threats requiring investigation... today. Will he even mention them? Probably not.
Posted in: Obama, at Arizona memorial service, says polarized nation needs healing
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Klein2
"The guy is nuts, bottom line, and unfortunately he took that to the most extreme point he could and murdered a bunch of people. Looking for any explanation beyond that is just going to leave a bunch of question marks, finger pointing, and frustration."
Sorry Smith. Wrong on several counts. THIS is the argument that gun control proponents want to make and good on them, but he did not "murder a bunch of people." He, to use his words, "assassinated" a woman that he knew to be a Jew AND an elected official of the Federal government. He did it for a reason. It was not random. If you forget all the rest, remember that. And no, he is not a bunch of question marks forever and ever. He is question marks until the evidence is gathered and analyzed. Oswald was kept for quite a while before Ruby killed him, and we know NOTHING about the Kennedy assassination. Same thing here.
The press wants to take this to Palin and to gun control, but the story, I think, is still in Tucson. Don't let the press distract you either by telling you that Palin set it all up or that it was totally random. Both are false.
Posted in: Ariz investigators say there were warning signs on day of shooting
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Klein2
Blood libel. My head is exploding. If Rush does not jump all over this, he is going to get fired. This is huge.
Posted in: Ariz investigators say there were warning signs on day of shooting
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Klein2
"What is crazy is ascribing reasonable motives to the acts of the criminally insane."
To quote Molenir: What are you a psychic? This man has not been declared or diagnosed as insane in any way. We don't know his motives, but we do know he was impressionable... as in "affected by other people's words."... as in "likely to interpret gun sights as a signal to kill someone."
Posted in: Ariz investigators say there were warning signs on day of shooting
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Klein2
Palin is openly Jew-baiting. The use of "blood libel" appeared in the Wall Street Journal earlier in the week and it was VERY obvious from teh comments there that BLOOD LIBEL will not be condoned for use in any relation to the Jewish community.
She did this on purpose. It is deplorable. Absolutely disgusting.
Agh. And to use it after these Jewish public servants were slain just doubles it.
Posted in: Ariz investigators say there were warning signs on day of shooting
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Klein2
More bizarre.
The man arrested in Colorado for threatening Sen. Bennett was away from his residence for two months before returning to Denver shortly before this incident.
Loughtner was reportedly in the company of some older guy in the month leading up to this shooting.
Is it possible that this guy met with Loughtner, planned the threats and attacks together, and then separated to carry out these attacks? Was the Denver man's "I killed that woman" statement a miscue?
Are they both patsies?
Posted in: Ariz shooting suspect appears in court; Giffords responds to verbal commands
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Klein2
Something extremely bizarre to report. In Colorado, Ken Salazar gave up his seat to Michael Bennett, who was elected despite being on Palin's crosshair list. He is actually the first on Palin's list to be threatened, Giffords was the second. We have to wait to find out who the third is.
Anyway, a man, a right-wing kook, was arrested for phoning death threats to Senator Bennett and his staff. He was arrested the day BEFORE Giffords was shot. But this is where it gets weird.
Last Thursday, during one of his phone calls, he said, "I killed that woman." Nobody but nobody has figured out what he meant by that. I have my own theories.
Something else to think about. Giffords apparently kept her Glock with her, and Roll, the judge, usually carried his handgun. How did Loughner know to attack them when NEITHER of them was armed? She was not armed because she was at the event and HE was not armed because he was coming from church. How did that happen? And if Loughner was so crazy crazy, how did he plan this so well? She did not do events so often that he could have been so sure she was unarmed. And rather than have somebody else who might be armed with with her as a guest, Giffords had a nine year old girl with her. Loughner knew that they were defenseless. But how could he know in advance? The event was just beginning when he started shooting. Look at the timeline.
Weird stuff.
Posted in: Ariz shooting suspect appears in court; Giffords responds to verbal commands
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Klein2
Super Lib. I really want to hear what he has to say. I want to know what he was doing during that loner month. I want to know how an unemployed nobody gets 500+ bucks cash together to go buy a Glock, clip, and ammo. I want to know what is on his computer and where he got his ideas.
We pretty well got all of this from every crazy shooter but Oswald.
If we don't get more information, the Oliver Stone will have to make a movie, and we don't want that, do we?
Posted in: Ariz shooting suspect appears in court; Giffords responds to verbal commands
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Klein2
"Wake up. His favorite movies and books are staples in the library of leftists like yourself."
Yeah. Like Peter Pan and Aesop's Fables. What a commie. I have tons of books. I read a lot. So what? I have a lot of your favorites too. Don't right wing kooks read? I read EVERYTHING. My reading list is much much more dangerous than old Uncle Fester's. Doesn't make me a dangerous person though. My most pink by far is Das Kapital, which you could not make it through, believe me. I have read Mein Kampf, which is an easy read. Hitler made it that way so that any old fool could skim it and get the gist. Studs Terkel, WORKING is very pink. Gore Vidal is pink. Chomsky and Roald Dahl are pretty pink. But you can balance that stuff out. I have a lot of military history (Dick Winters died yesterday. I cried.), Heinlein, Hemingway and many biographies of "patriots". Several Bibles of different sorts.
"And on the same day, 90 million registered gun owners in America didn't shoot anybody."
With a big enough clip, it really only takes one to ruin your day, right tech?
"affected by a campaign ad he likely didn't read? After all, if he saw the ad, why didn't he attend the event?"
How do you know he didn't? Apparently, he attended political events. Besides, even if he didn't, SOMEBODY did. Perhaps the next shooter?
WhiteHawk, looking at your other comments, it looks like most of what I wrote went way over your head. Just forget it. Read someone else's posts. But as far as "provide specific examples" please have a look at the list I refer to. Threats and vandalism against a guy with four small children is somehow one bit of sadness that stands out. The pattern is astonishing.
And you know what, it occurs to me. A lot of the right fringe is saying "What about rhetoric from the left?" Well, hey, we have a body count to keep score now, don't we? The rhetoric from the left is limp and flaccid. That from the right incites people. Same words in a few cases... very very different effects. John McCain knew that. The Tea Party doesn't know it or does not care. Loughtner was really big on finding "the real meanings of words." Did you miss that hint?
"Would your neighbors describe you as a "troubled loner", by any chance?"
No. They wouldn't. They would say, "He seemed like a regular guy." But thanks for bringing it up. It makes me cry. Then I wish for my blankie. Then I get this urge to go buy a Glock with a big big clip. I could use it to go collect party favors.
Moderator: Readers, please keep the discussion civil.
Posted in: Ariz shooting suspect appears in court; Giffords responds to verbal commands
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Klein2
"Like I said before, if it hadn't been this then it would have been something else, the political rhetoric didn't "make" anyone else start shooting, so clearly there isn't a cause-effect relationship between the political rhetoric, in fact statistically I can say that is one guy in 310 million does this then with 98% certainty it is NOT exclusively because of political rhetoric"
And see. That makes total sense, until you realize that he stalked and killed/maimed a congressman AND a judge even though he was destitute, using a 500 dollar gun and 30 rounds costing him at least another 50 bucks.
And how come only a day before, 500+ miles away, a Senator and his staff were threatened by ANOTHER gun wielding maniac?
And BOTH were on Palin's gun-sight list.
And BOTH were Democrats elected to high office in Washington in November.
And how come his blog and Facebook pages are full of the stuff that the Tea Party rants about?
And he has a skinhead in Tucson, where the sun beats down, but this crime is not specifically to target liberals or Jews?
No. It's ALLLLLLL coincidence. Nothing to see here. Move along everybody. Move along.
Posted in: Man due in court over Tucson shooting rampage
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Klein2
"And Vt. independent senator Bernie Sanders, who votes with Democrats, has sent out a fundraising appeal that cites the shooting of Giffords in his pitch for money."
Yeah. It is a great fundraising idea. It just requires that several Democrats die, that's all. I know a lot of people who are giving today and they sure as heck did not need to be asked.
Posted in: Ariz shooting suspect appears in court; Giffords responds to verbal commands
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Klein2
I will write again in response to someone who thinks that Giffords and others were not armed because of their "ideology". The statement angered me because it makes no difference, and it was wrong anyway. The statement seemed to imply that people who are "too stupid" to own guns are naturally going to be shot. What we all know is that it makes no difference. And in fact, both of the political targets were shooters themselves.
Giffords has stated publicly that she owns and fires a 9 mm Glock. She was not packing it that day.
The judge was also not armed. Someone who knew him believes that he was not armed because he was coming to the event directly from church.
The nine year old girl was also not armed, but that probably had little to do with ideology.
Posted in: Ariz shooting suspect appears in court; Giffords responds to verbal commands
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Klein2
TWO of the people on Palin's gun-sight list (Bennett and Giffords) were threatened or assaulted on two consecutive days, resulting in deaths, arrests, and Federal charges of violent people targeting elected representatives, both Democrats, for their political and other beliefs.
Palin pulled that list quickly, BUT denied that it had any effect on anyone who might have viewed it. Then why pull it? Why make excuses? I will say again that I don't think Palin is responsible, she is irresponsible. I will also say that it is the guilty who run and make up defenses instead of standing behind their actions.
Authorities have already stated that Giffords was the intended target. He described his act as "assassination" before he did it. To me, his actions and motives jibe perfectly with the Turner Diaries, an anti-semitic novel in which Jewish people, government officials, specifically judges and elected officials, are targeted during a xenophobic insurrection to overthrow a US government that is non-Christian (Obama is a muslim?), non-democratic (Obama is not a US citizen?). He spoke of hatred of government and government officials, which is very typical of Tea Party rhetoric. Until we know much more about his motives, I will believe that he is a skinhead who wanted to kill liberal Jewish people.
His internet sites included rants against the Federal reserve and specie-monetarism, which are particular talking points of the John Birch Society and other right wing groups. I have never seen a tract or publication of the JBS advocating violence, but I HAVE seen ones that recommend the overthrow of the US government and monetary system. I have seen similar rhetoric from Tea Party members. Even those posting here.
James Fallows pointed me to a site run by the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence ...that is a timeline of threats and actions made by ultra-right wing groups. It includes, now, the cases of Senator Bennett and Rep. Giffords. Go look at it. It shows a pattern of violence and intimidation by people with guns against duly elected officials.
The face of Loughner, who does look like Uncle Fester of the Addams' Family, is the new face of American politics. If the right is not involved in this, why does it not denounce or "refudiate" ALL violence that is politically motivated instead of threatening "second amendment remedies" if it does not win elections? The time line I cite above shows that many such threats were made during elections. And why make such a quick assumption that this shooter "could not possibly be linked to right wing causes" instead of doing some soul-searching and admitting that the Tea Party have acted like thugs on plenty of occasions? Even John McCain thinks so. They DO protest too much.
To me, it all adds up. This is the Reichstag fire. The immediate attempt to blame this on the left by the loudspeakers of the right shows exactly what it is. The right will avoid culpability, but let the intimidation against Democrats stand. Gun control efforts will fail, and gun intimidation will continue. Loughner is only the latest hammer to come out of the far-right's toolbox. Expect it to get worse.
As the John Birch Society has noted, when one wins power by conspiracy, what is it? Well, none dare call it conspiracy.
Please don't believe me. I am not leading anyone. But everyone, open your eyes.
Posted in: Ariz shooting suspect appears in court; Giffords responds to verbal commands
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Klein2
"Heh, the left's shriek that Loughner is a "tea party fundraising tool" is falling apart pretty quickly."
Hmm. But his actions show he was more affected by this, from Giffords' Tea Party Opponent, Jesse Kelly.
"Kelly's campaign event website has a stern-looking photo of the former Marine in military garb holding his weapon. It includes the headline: "Get on Target for Victory in November. Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office. Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly."
Yeah. If you are Tea Party and you want to remove a Jewish woman from office, you have options OTHER than voting and fund-raisers, is that right? Loughner wanted to get into the Army. Maybe he thought this was a way for him to participate in saving America, the Tea Party way.
Posted in: Ariz shooting suspect appears in court; Giffords responds to verbal commands