JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- Financial Advisor
- Select Asset Management KK, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥100,000 ~ ¥999,999 Paid Training Commission Based
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- Corporate Business English Trainers
- ACT Systems, Inc.（株式会社アクト・システムズ）, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥269,500 ~ ¥280,000 / Month
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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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TheQuestion
And I doubt that highly. Nobody I know or have heard on television has given me any impression other than the expressed desire to see the man receive the most severe punishment available.
The fact that he is using the insanity defense is due to the fact that he has no other option save pleading guilty and putting himself at the mercy of the court, and considering one of his victims was a child I think his lawyer knows there's not much mercy going around for him. Nobody is happy about the insanity defense being used because it means it will take that much longer to finish all of this.
Everybody I've heard seems convinced that he had planned his crime in advanced.
Being crazy and acting crazy are two completely different things. Killers from serial killers to genocidal dictators are perfectly capable of going through life, crazy as hell, but appearing perfectly lucid.
That only serves to prove that he was solely fixated on Giffords, for what reason one can only guess. From everything that’s been presented the man jumped around on his political views like, well, a madman ranging from being apathetic towards politics too believing in mind control.
Though perhaps I should clarify, that Loughner wasn't politically motivated in any sane sense. Though it should be noted that simply being mentally ill, as Loughner clearly is, does not constitute an insanity defense. The only thing he has going for him with such a defense would be the chance to prove diminished capacity but even that is suspect.
Posted in: Case in Giffords shooting likely to take years
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TheQuestion
That’s offensive on so many levels I don't even know where to begin. I don't even identify myself with the 'conservative' crowd but the very idea that you'd insinuate anybody in the U.S would want anything but the most fitting punishment for this crime is absolutely horrific. Only the most twisted of people could be pleased by this and when a person is that far gone terms like conservative and liberal become useless.
Some people are so blinded by bipartisan crap they stop seeing others as human beings. It's already become clear that Loughner wasn't politically motivated, at least not in any normal sense. The fact that people are still trying to pin the crime on one another or asserting that the other 'side' is thankful for it is disgusting.
Posted in: Case in Giffords shooting likely to take years
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TheQuestion
I always answer yes by default to questions like this. Free trade could improve the lives of everybody, to bad nobody actively engages in it. Not just of goods but of information and customs as well. If ideas and product were free to flow to all people in the world it would be a much different place, for better or worse.
As far as free trade between Japan and the U.S I'd contend that both sides could benefit from better access to each others markets.
That's up for debate, I believe government should exist purely for the defense of my choice in how to best use my life and my property. They need not look after my health, my retirement, or my prosperity if there is any to be had. Freedom doesn't mean security and it doesn't mean happiness, it just allows one to pursue such things to their hearts content.
You can't do drugs because they're bad for you, you can't smoke tobacco because someone else might get sick, you can't drink alcohol because of how the government interprets Sharia, you can't own a firearm because you might be a psychopath, you can't access the internet because you might find something unflattering about the government, and the list goes on.
Posted in: Are you in favor of a trans-Pacific free trade accord between Japan the United States?
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TheQuestion
Yes, though I'd probably be dead by that point, I've never been particularly cooperative in mugging attempts, and I must stress attempts, and I doubt I'd be more inclined to help in a hostage situation. If someone managed to take me hostage I'd want them dead for the indignity no matter the cost.
Posted in: EU force says anti-piracy raids endanger hostages
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TheQuestion
Different people handle their experiences different ways. Best thing you can do is respect their wishes, listen to what they have to say if they feel like sharing, and wish them well when they pass.
Posted in: Oldest living member of 'Band of Brothers' dies
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TheQuestion
That’s what I was thinking. Then again that’s why the company I work for started using cognitive and ethical tests rather than interviews, people like me kept hiring on intuition and we were only right a quarter of the time.
Never actually interviewed for a job over here so I'm not really in the know about the differences but in Detroit, before aforementioned exams, when you made it to 3rd round of interviews it was all about force of personality. But I guess it depends on the job, I was initially hired as the traveling hatchet man, so I can see how that may end up scaring off a potential employer.
Just remember to be yourself kids... unless nobody likes you, then you can lie. Pretend to be more interesting until you get the job.
Posted in: Job-hunting
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TheQuestion
Well there's your problem. The best defense is a good offense and it's quite difficult to take hostages if the EU navies start making use of their long neglected deck guns, honestly, missiles get all the love these days.
Posted in: EU force says anti-piracy raids endanger hostages
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TheQuestion
I think what they're getting at is the ridiculousness of limiting what food can be marketed to people while there are people that would fight tooth and nail for a bag of the calorie laced junk food. Imagine what people from starving countries would think if they heard that in some countries the people ate so well that the government feels the need to step in to prevent them from getting too fat.
Yes, leave people to their own devices. I've always advocated that whether it’s food, drink, alcohol, or drugs. If a person wishes to live in a drug induced stupor their whole life then who’s to say they should be stopped? Same goes for a person that wishes to make themselves a fat slob. All humans might not be smart but placing bans, restrictions, and regulations on consumption assumes they lack sapience and the ability to make decisions for themselves.
Posted in: World leaders to discuss junk food ad ban at U.N.
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TheQuestion
But I love Dorritos commercials, they're the only ones worth watching.
Posted in: World leaders to discuss junk food ad ban at U.N.
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TheQuestion
Presidents are, more often than not, remembered for their failures than for their accomplishments. The only thing that tends to alter this trend is an assassination, it then becomes disrespectful to mention these shortcomings. My family certainly remembers the Bay of Pigs, we needed thousands. We got 1,500 and some limited air support.
If it had gone right maybe I would be chilling in Santa Clara right now instead of freezing in Detroit. Maybe take some time out of my schedule to dance on the grave of Che Guevara.
Posted in: 50th anniversary of JFK's inauguration observed
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TheQuestion
Clarification:
There can be 'no' other option
Posted in: U.S. House votes to repeal Obama's health care law
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TheQuestion
I've accepted as a foregone conclusion that anything that makes sense is wrong and/or immoral. There can be other option than what is presented by Democrats or Republicans because they are all so much more brilliant than I.
Posted in: U.S. House votes to repeal Obama's health care law
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TheQuestion
Bah, all the real mobsters went to Windsor and Toronto years ago, I see them near the Ambassador bridge a lot. Sad too, they kept the other gangs in line for a long time. At least Anthony Zerilli has some class, since the mafias largely left the city the violence associated with the crappier parts of Detroit have spread to Warren and other, previously respectable, parts of Metro Detroit.
When the mafia was around I could walk down Woodward Avenue without a care in the world. But after years of muggings and the occasional group beatdown, just for the heck of it most of the time, most of us got CCW's just to get from our buildings to our cars. It used to be that if there was an Italian place on the block you'd expect a level of stability.
Posted in: More than 120 busted in northeast U.S. mafia crackdown
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TheQuestion
And I have no doubts than rates will continue to increase as more portions are put into effect. The insurance companies helped write the bill for heavens sake, they've got democrats and republicans both in their back pockets, do you really think anything in this is going to increase the quality of care? Not a chance.
The reason healthcare is so expensive in the U.S is because having insurance disconnects people from how much procedures and drugs cost, thus allowing doctors, hospitals, and drug companies to charge more and more. This government plan, or any kind of public option, further extends that disconnect.
Case in point. One of the few procedures not covered by most insurance companies is lasik eye surgery, people have to pay out of pocket for it. The result? It has gone down in price, up in quality, and the recovery time has gone down at a staggering rate. It's because clients shop around for the best and cheapest providers. Competition between providers made the procedure better across the board.
My idea of improving the system would be for the insurance company to compute the average cost and give people hard cash when they want to go to the doctor and let them use the difference as credit on their insurance account. How fast do you think doctors would start scrambling to prove to their clients how good they are compared to their competitors or how much cheaper? Pretty darn quick I'd wager, unless they don't like being in business. And if they dare reduce quality they'd be out of the job quicker yet when people start wailing, which they do very well.
And I can't stress enough how much our medicine could be improved if FDA approval on new drugs would be voulentary. Let people and doctors try new products, if the patient accepts the risk I can think of no reason why they shouldn't be able to get access to life saving drugs. That way if people want a safe, tested drug they can just look for the FDA seal of approval. But if all other products fail they should be able to seek alternatives.
Yet none of this has even been mentioned. Not by democrats, not by republicans, not by anybody in the media. The government has thus failed utterly to increase quality of care through any of its attempts to influence healthcare. You may argue that this new bill increases accessability but I contend that it hardly matters if it allows equal access to a steaming pile of horse dung.
Posted in: U.S. House votes to repeal Obama's health care law
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TheQuestion
As it's the government accepting the loans I fail to see how this is broken on the business end of things, more a failing of government. Not to say our business model isn't broken, any business that requires government intervention to support itself deserves to be liquidated and sold off, end of story.
Wal-Mart and other businesses that utilize chinese labor have it right. Manufacturing in the U.S is a lost cause, finance and service is where all the money is now. Let them work for our benefit, let them help make us wealthy, it looks like they'll make themselves more wealthy along the way.
Posted in: Obama holding first White House dinner for China in 13 years
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TheQuestion
That makes absolutely no sense. If everybody must buy your product there is no incentive to een slightly lower your price. My insurance cost has gone up, everybody I know who has insurance have had their rates go up, and the insurance companies have come out saying that they will continue to go up. It only makes sense, if somebody who needs dialisis or a similar regular, and expensive, treatment the insurance company doesn't have a chance in hell at recouping the loss they'll experience on that person. That cost gets handed down to consumers who have no choice but to have healthcare.
So how exactly is any of this condusive to lower insurance rates?
That sounds like a win win, accept the minor fines associated with not covering pre-existing conditions and people with high risk factors and you get to avoid being forced into a market inhabited only by those to poor or stupid to look for insurance on their own. Avoiding two problems simply through neglect.
In the end the healthcare plan would have not done anything but jack up prices for those already insured. No increase in quality and no increase in affordability.
Posted in: U.S. House votes to repeal Obama's health care law
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TheQuestion
My left eye. If you make them cover people with pre-existing conditions and/or crap credit of course rates are going to go up. They already have.
Posted in: U.S. House votes to repeal Obama's health care law
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TheQuestion
I opted for a high deductible so I shop around for my doctors and you wouldn't believe how difficult it is just to get the price of a doctor’s visit. Even worse, the price between equally qualified doctors can vary by hundreds of dollars that most people never even see because they just let the insurance company take care of it. People wonder why healthcare is so expensive, it's because you can't see the money.
If I were to tell you that the procedure would cost 5 grand at one doctor and 10 grand at another equally qualified one I doubt you'd be willing to dole out the extra 5 for giggles. But thats what people do because they just let the insurance handle it so doctors and hospitals can charge absurd amounts.
You want to increase quality and decrease cost? Increase deductibles, allow FDA approval for drugs to be voluntary to allow experimental drugs onto the market, get some better protections against frivolous malpractice suits, and encourage doctors to post their rates.
Posted in: U.S. House votes to repeal Obama's health care law
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TheQuestion
Well that is what execs are supposed to do after all.
Well yeah, our labor is to expensive. Anybody working in the manufacturing field in America is delusional, machines can do the work better and for less overhead or the chinese can do it for less. Take your pick, machines or chinese because nobody wants American workers.
If unions can mess up the educational system and maintain influential lobbies in political elections they're hardly dead, less prominent thank goodness, but not dead. Lovely little nanny states like San Francisco have been imposing increasingly absurd requirements on what people can eat, food that people already know is bad for them. And hypocrisy does not negate the fact that the average American views both Wal-Mart and McDonalds some special kind of socially acceptable evil. Both have entire movements dedicated to their demise.
Subsidized crops have always been ridiculous. But there's nothing wrong with wanting more for less.
The reality is, and most in the business field have already accepted it, that china will become a larger economy. They have more people it only makes sense. That is, however, an opportunity for the increasingly service based economy of the U.S. But the only way we're going to come out of this alive is if we kick our opportunistic, profiteering, good old capitalistic swine insincts into high gear. If government wants to help they can pave the way with better trade deals, we don't need more bailout money, just better avenues to where the money can be made.
Posted in: Obama holding first White House dinner for China in 13 years
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TheQuestion
The fact that anyone stupid enough to lend to the government, especially one that thinks inefficient businesses can be fixed by giving them more cash, can figure out how to get a fork to their mouth is quite frankly amazing and I'm happy for Hu's accomplishment. As I am, was, and will always be against any bailout or subsidization I don't see why I should relish the idea of blowing a few hundred grand (I think that's a pretty conservative number) on one of the men who made it all possible.
Sure. Wal-Mart is one of the most powerful businesses in the world and became so through excellent supply chain management, a little bit of muscle applied to its suppliers, and staying power. I can say the same thing for McDonalds. Two excellent businesses that started in the U.S and are able to thrive in the face of incredible opposition from unions, government regulation, and public resentment.
Heck, maybe taking Hu to a Wal-Mart would generate some respect. After all, if Wal-Mart was a country it would be China's 8th largest trading partner ahead of Russia and Canada. Chinese labor should be a tool for the U.S to make it even more wealthy, instead we go into debt trying to sustain failed businesses.
Posted in: Obama holding first White House dinner for China in 13 years