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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3
Japan's nuclear safety standards flawed, says commission chief
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4
From carnivores to herbivores: how men are defined in Japan
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5
Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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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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SezWho2
LFRAgain,
I'd say that the employees who are losing their jobs as a result of a company collapse are some of the least qualified people to know this. Furthermore they are precisely the people who are most likely to be looking for a scapegoat and to want to bring someone down on account of the fact that they have been put out of work. These are people who are most likely to have done functionary work and to have had work goals which afforded them targets to be measured against when it came time to award raises but which individually did very little to forward the aims and purposes of the company.
Posted in: Obama calls executive bonuses 'shameful'
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SezWho2
TPOJ,
I'm afraid you'll have to say specifically who does not deserve a bonus and why. To simply say that earned bonuses should not be paid because the financial institutions received taxpayer money does not look good even on paper--especially when there were no strings attached to the taxpayer money.
Posted in: Obama calls executive bonuses 'shameful'
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SezWho2
I think it would be difficult to say that North Korea is not at all a most provoking country. However, that the North Korean statement is a response to South Korean rhetoric seems to me to be a fair point. (It would, wouldn't it!) If it is not a response to South Korean rhetoric, what is it? Of course, that again would require attending to the topic instead of arguing against the man.
Kim Ho-nyeon's statement strikes me as either ridiculous, poorly translated or taken out of context: "Agreements between the South and the North cannot be scrapped unilaterally." Obviously they can.
Posted in: N Korea declares past accords with South 'dead'
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SezWho2
Triumvere,
I think insanity begins with imprecise speech. The article says she wants criminal aliens off our streets. I think that would include all illegal aliens whether they had committed another crime or not.
Why wait until someone commits a crime, feed them, clothe them and give them shelter and a criminal education while in prison and then deport them?
Posted in: Homeland secretary wants criminal aliens out of U.S.
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SezWho2
ilcub76,
Yes, that's true. In Illinois recall would have been impossible. But what does that have to do with recall being preferable?
Posted in: Illinois Senate votes to remove Gov Blagojevich from office
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SezWho2
SuperLib,
I think the proper retort to that is, "I know you are, but what am I?"
You wouldn't have to post such silliness if you were to abandon the notion that sarcasm is a meaningful contribution or if you concerned yourself with what people said rather than speculating on why or how they said it.
Of course, the function of Davos is not to resolve the dispute between Israel and Palestine or even to affix blame for it. But as Netanyahu said, the financial meltdown is reversible and in that half of his observation he was right. That is going to be dealt with no matter what happens in Davos. And what has happened in Davos in the past, or in all the economic councils among the talking heads, has done very little to help the third-world boot-strap itself or even give it a leg up.
So, what is more important than peace? Perhaps that confrontation was exactly what was wanted and needed.
Posted in: Turkish PM blasts Israel president at Davos
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SezWho2
TPOJ,
I don't think that's an accurate assessment of executive compensation. Yes, there are severance packages and golden parachutes and all sorts of exotic forms of compensation that are not necessarily related to performance. However, on an ongoing basis executives earn bonuses for performance and those bonus programs are often rather meticulously designed by big accounting firms or actuarial firms to incentivize productivity.
Posted in: Obama calls executive bonuses 'shameful'
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SezWho2
likeitis,
I'm not sure they performed as well as Congress. However, yes, they did perform. On the other hand, are they the ones who got the bonuses?
Specifically whose bonus should we take away and for what reason? If people meet performance standards and if the company has the money to meet its compensation requirements, on what grounds do we recommend denying them their contractual payments?
Posted in: Obama calls executive bonuses 'shameful'
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SezWho2
Isn't anyone who is in the United States illegally a criminal? Does she mean criminal or does she mean convicted felon, accused felon or what?
Posted in: Homeland secretary wants criminal aliens out of U.S.
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SezWho2
I think that, given the absence of proof of criminality, recall would have been superior to impeachment. However, the 59-0 vote and the absence of defense for him among the electorate in Illinois suggests that recall would simply have been a somewhat longer process with the same result.
Posted in: Illinois Senate votes to remove Gov Blagojevich from office
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SezWho2
Yes, let's not let a little death and destruction get in the way of prosperity for the rest of us.
Posted in: Turkish PM blasts Israel president at Davos
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SezWho2
The bonuses may be politically shameful--especially to those who handed money out to Wall Street with no strings attached--but they are not shameful per se.
People qualify for bonuses on the basis of performance. That performance is defined in their contracts and bonuses are often a trade-off for salary. What would have been truly shameful is not to honor contracts, whether those contracts be with high-flying executives or with rank-and-file workers.
It would have been nice, perhaps, if the executives had refused the bonuses as a matter of conscience. Some have previously done so. However, very few other than those who actually received the bonuses are in positions to know whether they were truly deserving of this compensation.
Posted in: Obama calls executive bonuses 'shameful'
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SezWho2
skipthesong,
I get upset just having to go to Fox News. However, no, the article itself did not upset me--except to the extent that the article appears to be nitpicking.
Go to the NEA home page and look at the grants section and look at the scope of the grants the NEA makes. While you're there, look at the financial summary and see where its money comes from and how it is spent.
Putting this funding in this bill is gives traction to folks who want to whinge about their money being spent unnecessarily. That doesn't mean that the money isn't necessary. If people didn't complain about this, they would complain about something else.
Posted in: House approves Obama's $819 bil stimulus package
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SezWho2
Sarge,
Yes, that's right. It would weaken Hamas by showing the Palestinian people that it is willing to listen to all sides and it would dilute Hamas's ability to use the US as a whipping boy to stir up Palestinian people. At present Hamas is very willing to do that and it is not entirely in the wrong.
Posted in: U.S. envoy urges stronger Gaza truce amid airstrikes
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SezWho2
SuperLib,
What do you demand an apology for? Perhaps after you specify we could talk more. But then we would really have to talk about substance instead of sniping at character.
Posted in: Obama must apologize for U.S. crimes against Iran: Ahmadinejad
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SezWho2
skipthesong,
Apologizing for a wrong against Iran is not kissing up to it. If it does nothing else, it would be a curative for ourselves. Denial is a disease.
Posted in: Obama must apologize for U.S. crimes against Iran: Ahmadinejad
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SezWho2
skipthesong,
What have you got against funding the National Endowment for the Arts? The arts are an important part of any culture and artists have to eat, too. That's difficult enough in flush times and much worse when corporations lose the ability to subsidize artists.
Combatting global warming was an important part of his campaign. Sexually transmitted diseases are a problem and abstinence programs have not been successful in eliminating it so we do need cures for those diseases. And, as far as television is concerned, maybe you could explain exactly what is meant by "coupons to subsidize TV viewers for digital television conversion" and then show your math as to why your plan is better. Better yet, if you are convinced it is better, draft a letter to Obama with copies to Reid and Senators Inouye, Cochran, Baucus, and Grassley or whatever committee chairs are appropriate if not the Finance or Appropriations committees.
Posted in: House approves Obama's $819 bil stimulus package
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SezWho2
VOR,
I don't think we know the context in which Obama said, "I won." Do we know who told the press that Obama said it? Do you think that Obama could have been in a situation such that, despite his efforts to reach across the aisle he met with the same kind of stubborn resistance that saw the House Republicans unanimously vote against the Democratic measure?
Obama did win. More accurately, however, the Republicans and their policies lost. Obama has a mandate to do exactly what the House has done here. It may not work but the nation fundamentally rebuked the Republican party and its doctrine of tax-cuts as a one-size-fits-all instrument for economic health.
Unlike his predecessor, Obama did not speak to the nation and declare that he won and that he would now pursue his mandate. He made that comment in closed chambers. And, unless we know otherwise--and I certainly don't--it might have been an appropriate reminder to an uncompromising resistance. And that comment may never have been meant to go outside the meaning room divorced from the context in which it was uttered.
Posted in: House approves Obama's $819 bil stimulus package
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SezWho2
The Republican plan was defeated rather soundly owing to a great Democratic majority. 2 Democrats, however, did vote for it. 9 Republicans voted against it.
I find it a little astonishing that all of the 9 Republicans chose to dig their heels in and vote as a bloc against the Democratic plan. Silly wabbits.
Posted in: House approves Obama's $819 bil stimulus package
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SezWho2
Meanwhile:
And:
So, if there had been a few violations or irregularities or whatsoever, they might have gone unnoticed.
Posted in: Big turnout as Iraqis vote in first stage of election