JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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1
To be healthy, live in the big city
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2
Teacher nabbed for using miror to peek up girl's skirt
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Japan's nuclear safety standards flawed, says commission chief
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4
Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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5
From carnivores to herbivores: how men are defined in Japan
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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
3
Laguna
It would be strange if income hadn't fallen. The Euro crisis rages, the world is in recession, and asset deflation has yet to reach bottom in the US. Adjusted for inflation, income now is about the same as it was during the mid-00s. Data also shows, though, that median income during the Bush years never reached the levels it did during the Clinton years - that the Bush presidency was eight long years of stagnation.
More important is what to do about it. Republicans, like a scratched record, eternally repeat trickle-down remedies. Whoever wins the Republican primary won't be allowed to propose anything else. They are intellectually bankrupt.
I'm actually somewhat excited about the foundation Obama has laid for recovery. His economic team has chosen the perfect time to lead the dollar down - at a time when inflationary pressure is non-existent - and even manufacturing is showing signs of recovery. The next six years could be quite sweet; throw in reverting the tax system back to what it was during the '90s, and the US could be back to a budget surplus by the end of that period.
Posted in: Gingrich attacks Obama in South Carolina victory speech
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Laguna
Conciliation of this:
with this:
seems impossible. The internal logic of these people is astounding.
Posted in: Gingrich attacks Obama in South Carolina victory speech
2
Laguna
Jan. 31 in Florida, Nevada on Feb. 4, and into March: This is shaping up to be a most entertaining spring.
Posted in: Gingrich attacks Obama in South Carolina victory speech
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Laguna
Gee - less than a week ago, Romney was poise to be the first person ever to win the nation's first three primaries. Since then, he has lost two (one retroactively). Things must be dark indeed in the Romney headquarters.
Posted in: Gingrich attacks Obama in South Carolina victory speech
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Laguna
Yeah, sailwind, it's beautiful and it's true, and I do thank you for bringing that prose to my attention.
When I generalize of Republicans, however, I do so in quotes: there exists a summary of historical fact, buttressed by what current candidates utter, that lies at the base of my claims.
I ask you, honestly, would you accept this statement:
or:
Honestly, prejudice is a human frailty. It is also easy to target candidates in a primary, when they are both required to assume positions they are not comfortable with and simultaneously under attack from their own brethren. We Democrats are enjoying this now, just as you Republicans would be if it were a Democratic primary.
Truth does exist beneath and apart from partisanship, though, as I believe you believe. What is emanating from the Republican primaries is nothing but the truth: it is obfuscation and downright brazen lying. This is why whoever emerges from the primaries will lose to Obama, and this is the beauty of the American democratic system: it is messy and ugly, but it prevents (usually - the previous president was an exception) really bad people from coming to office.
Posted in: Romney: Tightening presidential race 'exciting'
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Laguna
Wow. Anthropometry? Or just better breeding?
Posted in: Romney: Tightening presidential race 'exciting'
0
Laguna
You are wrong there. He was the first president of HLR not to SEEK to clerk for a judge. Look it up: It is not what he wanted to do. (And I empathize: I was the only member of my graduating class in economics not to go on to an MBA or a career in banking.)
A more thorough understanding of what the presidency of the HLR comprises and how Obama fulfilled that role can be found here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/us/politics/28obama.html?ei=5088&en=bed3e016d07394c2&ex=1327640400&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1212207297-AT4u8n1L5i/2UmNHQuCUCA
Posted in: Romney: Tightening presidential race 'exciting'
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Laguna
The author continues:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/04/barack-obama-affirmative-actions-best-poster-child/237990/
Obama received nothing more than he would have naturally received if he had been born a Romney or a Bush. Affirmative action does not always work, but as the author points out, when it does, it really does.
Posted in: Romney: Tightening presidential race 'exciting'
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Laguna
Thanks for the literary lesson, Sailwind. I particularly like this line:
It reminds me a bit of Rick santorum:
and also Newt Gingrich:
Some can't seem to expand towards seeing the individual: They view race as a group and tend to stereotype each individual as such. The result is that an individual may not be considered as such - as a person such as one's self, whose opinions are perhaps different from one's own but are a result of shared experiences and common history and are thus at least accessible via empathy - but instead is something "foreign," beyond cognition: An object to be studied.
Enter Newt again:
So thank you again, Sailwind, for your outstanding literary expose of how the modern Republican Party is dominated by "pea-wits."
Finally,
One might what would have become of GWB if his father hadn't been president (or even GHB, if HIS father hadn't been a powerful senator); or of whether Romney could have risen beyond purveyor of private capital if his father had not been a former presidential candidate. Obama, at least, got where he is despite his name, not because of it.
Posted in: Romney: Tightening presidential race 'exciting'
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Laguna
Stephen Colbert is currently running for President of South Carolina, so it's a different kind of thing.
Posted in: Romney: Tightening presidential race 'exciting'
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Laguna
Nice that Newt's doing well, if only because more details are desired regarding this "sharing" deal. For example, was he planning on, say, alternating weekends, or would he take on his wife and mistress at the same time?
The people need to know.
Posted in: Romney: Tightening presidential race 'exciting'
3
Laguna
Oh please .... Notice how the debt/GDP ratio fell even during the reviled Carter years. Don't think the Soviet Union existed during that time, Sailwind - or during the 30 years prior to that? You might remember the Cuban Missile Crisis; heck, you might even remember the Vietnam War. During that entire period, the debt/GDP ratio fell. Continuously. Steadily.
Until Reagan.
Clinton brought it down again; it skyrocketed once more under Bush II. What happened there? - another Soviet Union? Crimminy, Republicans complain when Democrats point at the toxic legacy of what happened a mere three years ago as the cause of our troubles today, but they never hesitate to point to the "shining" legacy of Reagan for events that occurred a decade after he'd left office. Nope: Reagan was the genesis of our current debt problem. It is an historic fact.
Posted in: Surging Gingrich blasts U.S. media, Republican rivals
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Laguna
Hey, everyone! Me eating cheezburger!
Posted in: New Facebook apps let users share key events
2
Laguna
Madverts - the deficit as a percentage of GDP is high - very high - but it hasn't topped the peak of WWII. Restraint is needed for reduction; Democrats believe sacrifice must come from a balance of reduced spending and increased revenue, while Republicans believe sacrifice must be limited to the spending side (military exempted, of course).
This chart shows federal spending as a percentage of GDP. Notice how it rises during the Reagan years, falls during the Clinton years, then rises again during the Bush years - this despite what Republicans fondly recall as "economic prosperity." If the debt-to-GNP could rise so during such "prosperity," Republicans certainly have no standing in criticizing the Obama debt.
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/debt_deficit_brief.php
This is not the end of the world. Solid, fundamental changes in global trends and American socioeconomics are bringing relief if slowly - to the middle class. Clinton produced a budget surplus in his latter year; the same can be done again. Obama's second term, I believe, will see more aggressive moves towards realigning the American economic structure towards production and employment and away from speculation and investor-led outsourcing.
Posted in: Surging Gingrich blasts U.S. media, Republican rivals
1
Laguna
Romney's best shot was to have put it away in New Hampshire. The horse is out of the barn, now, though: the Dems would have had to be very circumspect attacking Romney on his concept of "capitalism" and "fairness," but when that comes from the right, it's out there.
Right now, it's Romney's nightmare: it looks like SC will leave all 4 candidates in the race, and the attacks in Florida will simply escalate, particularly with all those elderly voters panicking over their entitlements.
He'll no doubt still win the nomination, but only as a shredded, shadow of the mannequin he is.
Posted in: Surging Gingrich blasts U.S. media, Republican rivals
5
Laguna
Maybe his severed appendage committed the deed, then offed itself amongst the dust bunnies in remorse. That would also explain the lack of footprints.
Posted in: Police haven't ruled out suicide in severed penis case, media report
1
Laguna
Jeremiha, when you say, "Gingrich absolutely humiliated the CNN guy who was dumb enough to open the debate with a question about dirty laundry," you neglect to mention Gingrich's response:
Sure, everyone KNOWS personal pain, but few have CAUSED it like Gingrich has - not once, but twice. He might as well complain about his wife having the temerity to still be married to him when his capital-A Alpha male hormones were boiling for his hot congressional staffer Callista. Oh, the injustice of it all! Oh, the pain!
This is all pretty good stuff. I'm looking forward to the next debate in Florida.
Posted in: Surging Gingrich blasts U.S. media, Republican rivals
2
Laguna
Hah! Gingrich just declared,
Let's clarify: when a Republican (or one's former spouse) brings up issues regarding another Republican in a Republican primary, and Republican-affiliated PACs publicize and push those issues, and when contending Republican candidates adopt and echo those issues: when Republicans generate all this cacophony and the media reports on it, it is a case of the media being biased?
Like I said, Gingrich has the brain of a narcissistic weasel on speed. Good try, though.
Posted in: Surging Gingrich blasts U.S. media, Republican rivals
0
Laguna
At least he asked; probably used Powerpoint.
I kinka like Gingrich: overreaching pomposity contained in such a droll package by itself is pleasing, but then there is also his peripatetic self-absorption, the brain of a narcissistic weasel on speed. Sure beats that mannequin Romney. I hope Gingrich can hang on a bit longer.
Posted in: Surging Gingrich blasts U.S. media, Republican rivals
0
Laguna
A slight understanding of economics helps here. It really doesn't matter WHO buys the oil - China buying oil from Canada means they'll buy less elsewhere, and the global price will remain the same.
Also, Obama does not need to satisfy his base; environmentalists may have been displeased by his green-lighting the project, but they'd be apoplectic at the thought of a Republican president allowing industry free rein to rape the country. He's going to take a political hit from this from the moderates. If he'd been calculating votes, he would have let it go.
Posted in: Obama rejects contested Canada pipeline