Wednesday February 15, 2012

grafton's past comments

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    grafton

    nylex4 at 09:32 PM JST - 15th June

    “You may be wrong but look what happened in Saudi Arabia, Qutar, Kuwait, Oman, UAE. Must be pretty hard letting in foreign countries to make you rich.”

    “Now there's a list of countries who are shining lights for democracy.”

    Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, UAE. All set on the road to riches by the British and help later by the Americans. And a few helpful Europeans. What a coincidence?

    Article Unavailable

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    grafton

    Art or obscenity?

    That’s asking a bit much isn’t it? The reality must be yes and no, depending on an image by image basis. Beyond that there is nothing anybody could say. Though some will judge emotionally rather than rationally

    ChrisBiggins at 02:48 PM JST - 14th June

    “Pure vulgarity and filth, to be enjoyed be immoral vulgar men. I abhor this kind of stuff, worldwide blanket ban please.”

    You are being a touch extremist toady aren’t you and you have no evidence to back up your claim that one leads to the other when you say that depiction leads to the crime. Because there is no such evidence. By the way can you at least stay in one character mode within each thread? Changing you personality hardly enhances the credibility of anything that you write.

    Posted in: Sexual images of minors in manga: Art or obscenity?

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    grafton

    How about a “new” Star wars or a “new” Star trek? There must be something with the word “star” in the title or it wouldn’t be a Hollywood summer. There isn’t a thing in this list that is worth getting out of my chair for. But then that could be said about most everything that Hollywood has produced in a long, long time.

    Posted in: Hollywood is bombarding us this summer with lots of sequels and remakes, such as "Iron Man 2," "Sex and the City 2," "Toy Story 3," "Shrek 4," and "The Karate Kid," among others. Whatever happened to creativity and originality in films?

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    grafton

    “I hardly give a crap about what so-called "reasons" they make up for killing people.”

    Well given that these two young men were killed for doing the disgustingly unIslamic thing of watching football don’t you think that countering that with an argument that does not involve religion might be seen by most people as being a little pointless?

    “If the religion cannot prevent more death than it causes, dude, I got no use for it.”

    I would actually agree, but might go further and say I really can’t understand why an intelligent mind feels it needs to believe any of these silly things.

    tegomas at 08:52 PM JST - 15th June

    “Can anyone point out where in the the Qu'ran watching a football game is illegal?”

    Page 217, same page as not watching TV. I wonder where Sabi is today?

    Posted in: Two Somali soccer fans executed, 30 arrested for watching World Cup

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    grafton

    smithinjapan at 05:20 PM JST - 15th June

    Christians do not kill other Christians for not following their religion.

    Jews do not kill other Jews for not following their religion.

    Muslims DO kill other Muslims for not following their religion.

    You can talk down to everybody on the site all you like, but is changes nothing, Islam has a built in ability to kill that does not exist in other religions. Killing two young men for simply watching a football match may be an extreme act but it is only possible when the main religion fails to take control and explicitly denounce killing on religious grounds. Something that Islam as a whole has failed to do and probably can’t do given it’s principles of faith. Any religion that advocates death to the none believer is toxic and can only be seen that way by sane people.

    MistWizard at 07:10 PM JST - 15th June

    “A lot of Christians were convicted of genocide, including pastors and even nuns.”

    From this are we to assume that you are saying they killed other Christians for religious reason?

    If so the maybe it is you that should “Scroll down to 1994 and get an education.”

    They killed for tribal reasons that is a very African thing.

    Posted in: Two Somali soccer fans executed, 30 arrested for watching World Cup

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    grafton

    I can think of some tube stations in London (Gloucester Road for example) where had this happened we would be reading about fatalities but this? This just isn’t news. Maybe it’s just put up to generate some Japan bashing, stupid drunk, stupid police, poor woman. Minimalist ingredients needed for showing how silly the Japanese can be without reference to any other country as that would be off topic. Granted this might make the real news a few months from now should the woman decide to sue the drunk and JR for her injuries, but then she’s Japanese so probably not.

    Posted in: Pair sustain minor injuries after tumble down Ginza subway escalator

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    grafton

    Steve “grafton and Cleo, iw as educated in the 70s and 80s in London and i cant make head no tail of what you are on about. I guess it verifies my decision never to accept ofers to reach English whilst i am herecos i know i would be cheating people.” “The only person i ever taught was me missus and voila, a Japanese lady with a South London accent when she speaks English, bless her.”

    If your first paragraph is anything to go by the people of Japan are going to be eternally grateful for the decision you made. I will keep my ears open for the lady with a South London accent because it would be music to my ears after all the “English” accents I (we) do hear. I think Cleo might have over reacted to what she thought I was saying. I wasn’t being negative about accents as such, only that I can’t see the value of anybody acquiring a strong accent when they are learning a language. I would think that would be counter productive unless the person was going to live in that region. She may also have thought that I was being a typical Southerner and we both know what them up North think of people from London.

    Posted in: Do English teachers at schools have to be native speakers? Can non-native English speakers do just as well or better?

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    grafton

    cleo at 09:14 PM JST - 8th June

    A Derbyshire accent can, as you know full well, be next to impossible, if the person puts it on, you may understand it and I might just get by, but I am positive you never used such an accent when you were teaching or should we all be listening out for Cleo students that sound like English farmers?

    “But then I was in the North, where it seems we speak a different language to the English grafton learned.....”

    Embassies tend to be in the capital cites and as a child of a diplomat that’s where I simply had to go to school, I was just lucky I suppose. Sorry. Besides aren’t you gilding the lily here in that I was talking about the NE and you know as well as I do what the accent sounds like, it’s impossible.

    Posted in: Do English teachers at schools have to be native speakers? Can non-native English speakers do just as well or better?

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    grafton

    Just before xmas last year a friend asked if I would help his daughter out with her English and I did, and when I asked where she was in her studies she said “passive voice” and I simply said what I was taught at school, passive is bad grammar. It isn’t of course, but in English schools in the 50s and 60s that is what we were taught. I was also taught to never end a sentence with a preposition or start a sentence with ”and”. But we all know that today much of this is now acceptable. So to what degree is being a native speaker helpful?

    I grew up in and went to school in London so my English is good, but there are parts of Northern England that for me might as well be speaking a foreign language. Newcastle (in the NE) is one part of the country I really do have problems with and if I have problems what is a Japanese student going learn from someone from that region? Yes it is English English, as apposed to American English or Australian English both of which have their own innumerable collection of accents. British, American and Australian English are the three main language groups, but there are so many more and even as English speakers for one of the main groups we can’t be expected to understand all other native “English” speakers. I can understand Jamaican but never speak it, would we be happy to have that taught as a second language called English? I think not.

    Really what is needed is some control, some standard that we all accept and I’m at all sure that a native speakers needs a teaching qualification, a brain yes, something that might not always be present in qualified teachers. I also agree with some posts above that many none native speaker do understand the mechanics of English far better than most native speakers, but then we live and use our language in an organic sense, we don’t dissect it and have no need to. That isn’t to say that at a particular point a native speaker will be needed, no speaker of English as a second language is ever going to be able to teach phrasal verbs and idioms of a particular English speaking country and they are different from country to country. This level of English is learned almost by osmosis.

    One thing I think we can all agree on is that no country needs the one year backpackers that say they are teachers because they are native speakers.

    Posted in: Do English teachers at schools have to be native speakers? Can non-native English speakers do just as well or better?

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    grafton

    Madverts at 06:14 AM JST - 8th June

    “The Lebanon is a melting pot that Isrqel sh¿t on in 2006. I for one won´t let them forget.”

    I am old enough to remember how beautiful the Lebanon was before the Islamic militants ripped it apart turning it from being one of the best places in the region to a place to be avoided. Perhaps being so knowledgeable on the Lebanon you can also fill in the details for the ill-informed Americans in Japan (and me) on how you feel Syria has played its part in the development of the Lebanon as it is today?

    Posted in: Defiant Israel says activists prepared to fight

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    grafton

    MistWizard at 10:10 PM JST - 7th June

    I would like you to think about something and give me your opinion. Hamas fires many, many rockets into Israel and they do occasionally kill people. You reason that they really are not that important. Well, be that as it may, what about the cost of the materials used in the construction of these rockets. Where does that money come from? I am of course assuming that the materials are being smuggled through the tunnels along with whatever else Hamas allows into Gaza. The point I am getting at is that you reason that these rockets are near enough meaningless and nowhere near deadly enough to justify Israel attacking Gaza. If that is so are these rockets not a dreadful waste of the little money that the poor Gaza have? Could this money not be better spent bringing in something that benefited the people of Gaza as a whole rather than these meaningless rockets that do so little harm to Israel yet bring about retaliation?

    You will probably tell me that freedom fighters have a right to fight or something of the kind and then try to redirect me back to the “peace” activists only wanting to bring aid to the poor people of Gaza and I don’t for one moment doubt that most of the “peace” activists really do believe that is what it is all about. But if the tunnels that could be used to bring in aid are being used to bring in weapons and explosives doesn’t it follow that any shipping that manages to reach Gaza will be used to the same end, only on a larger scale?

    We might both reason that the weapons and explosives are not in fact paid for but are being sent by countries that want to “help” Hamas (not the Palestinians I think). Now since the rockets are obviously having only a negative effect in that they ultimately bring Israel down on Gaza and they are not doing much in the way of damage to Israel would it not make sense for Hamas, the elected rulers of Gaza to ask their kind benefactors to send something that would be of use to the Palestinian people rather than taking what the are given and using it simply because they have it. Given as you say they are little more than toys at best?

    One final point, do you believe that life in the Middle East will be improved if Iranian navy or even the Turkish navy does escort the next team of “peace” activists into Gaza? Is this something you want to see happen, I know Sabi wouldn’t mind this, but what about you? And please keep in mind that once that blockade is down Hamas will access to real rockets from their friends and when Israeli cities start being hit by these they really will then have even more reason to come down heard on the Gaza. In a sense that blockade is actually protecting the Palestinians from the insanity of Hamas, strange reasoning I admit, but a truth none the less.

    Posted in: Defiant Israel says activists prepared to fight

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    grafton

    “Huwaida Arraf, a leader of the Free Gaza Movement, which organized the flotilla, denounced Netanyahu’s claims as “another pack of lies.”

    Arraf is without doubt a honest man that nobody could possibly fail to believe, granted nobody knows who he is or what he really believes but given that he is not Israeli he must be telling the truth, mustn’t he?

    “Arraf said all the passengers were screened for weapons, and that partners in the mission, including IHH, agreed not to bring weapons on board.”

    Arraf also said that Santa Claus had said he would have liked to have been on one of the ships but this really is a busy time for him. But he will be stopping off in Gaza on the 6th. of January as usual.

    Why Netanyahu’s even bothering to make the effort I really don’t know, he could say the world is round and next thing we know the world’s press would be proclaiming the discovery that the world really is flat after all.

    Posted in: Defiant Israel says activists prepared to fight

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    grafton

    What a very laboured beginning to this review, are we to get the impression that Mr. Hadfield wanted us all to know and marvel at how well read he is? Whatever his reasons this takes away any trust that might be needed in a reviewer.

    Posted in: The Maid

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    grafton

    semperfi at 09:50 AM JST - 5th June

    “Great ! Another Japanese-junk-food to add to the increasing cholestoral and heart disease inducing varieties in this country.”

    I know, it’s great isn’t it? With the rest of the world working so hard to make food sad, healthy and tasteless Japan can always be trusted to come up with something horribly wonderful. By the way I always thought that it was cholesterol, or is this one of those words our countries spell differently?

    Posted in: Spicy cheese

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    grafton

    Not again, please, what have we done to deserve such cruel treatment?

    They may have to watch themselves ageing everyday in the mirror but is that any reason why we must be forced to go through the horror with them?

    Posted in: SATC2

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    grafton

    YongYang at 08:53 PM JST - 1st June “In fact I threw my socks at the TV when the Netanyahu press conference was broadcast. I fully expect and deserve the ensuing helicopter gunship assault for my act of aggression.”

    I take it you see your socks as being deadly then.

    Posted in: Israeli commandos storm aid flotilla; 10 killed

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    grafton

    smithinjapan at 10:21 PM JST - 1st June

    I think you will find the word rampage more appropriately describes what the peaceful activists on the ship did. By the way the word “conspiracy!” is in the language for a very good reason, though we might find it missed used a great deal it does sometimes scribe a truth. We wouldn’t have it in the language if it had no use now would we?

    MistWizard at 09:53 PM JST - 1st June

    “I can prove that Israel blocks imports of the items I mentioned.”

    And can you also tell us how Hamas gets its hands on the material it uses to construct rockets or even ready made ones? Yes of course you can. Its those tunnels again isn’t it? Shame the tunnels are so busy transporting rockets rather than needed food for all those poor starving little babies, you know the ones the Israelis failed to murder.

    Article Unavailable

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    grafton

    The whole objective of this was to drive a wedge between Israel and Turkey, a probable future member of the EU. It was a success so maybe the few lives lost will seem a low price to have paid if the end of Israel is your ultimate objective.

    I now think that the Gaza blockade should be lifted and the Gaza be treated as a fully functional independent country.

    That way when they fire one single rocket into Israel it can then be termed an act of war. Maybe Hamas needs to be careful what it asks for. If Hamas want to run that country then they must take ultimate responsibility for ANY rocket fire from their land.

    Article Unavailable

  • 0

    grafton

    MistWizard at 07:00 PM JST - 1st June

    The “peace activists” are only a minor part of the set up, they are the useful idiot cover for a greater confrontation by people that cannot by any stretch of the imagination be called peaceful. I normally ignore the idiots on this site and there are many, you are however are not one of them so I don’t really feel a need to write simplistic detail with you and as such I would rather you didn’t play little games of deliberately misreading anything I write.

    “Never in my life did I ever think I would hear that internationally accepted rules of the sea would be declared nitpicking!” Good sentence and well written, but what in any real sense has it got do with what I wrote? You know perfectly well that I wasn’t talking about the international law of the sea, I was talking about how this law was being used to justify a mob attack against a small number of poorly armed Israeli soldiers. The idea that that group of ships was ever going to reach Gaza was a none event from day one, everybody knew that. So why the attack on the soldiers, what point was being served by this? The argument today that these people had a right to defend themselves while in international waters is insane. They knew they were going to fail and they knew the Israeli navy was there so the game was at an end, having rights made no difference at that point because this was not a court of law. It was the desired confrontation and how violently that confrontation went was in the hands of the people on the ships, not the Israelis. If you fall into the simplistic media trap of saying what their readers want to hear rather than dealing with the reality of the situation then nothing you have to say is worth the time you have taken to write it.

    I am not for one moment suggesting that the people on those ships expected to get shot at, but there was an element among them that had every intention of turning it violent and I do not for a moment believe it would have mattered where that ship was, that mob attack would still have taken place. You may not wish to speak badly of those that you would wish to defend, but you would expect me to speak badly of those I wish to defend if they were in the wrong. We have both seen the film, we both know that the soldiers were attacked by a mob, we have seen the level of violence before a shot was fired. Talking about where the ship was at the time of this violence is nitpicking. Any group of normal people attacked by a mob of that kind is going to defend itself, the Israelis did, you would have too. Because where the ship was didn’t matter a damn to those soldiers, staying alive was all that mattered to them. This level of violence didn’t happen on the other ships and nobody was killed, were they not also in international waters? The violence originated on that ship, and it matters not a bit that the Israelis had a right or not. Otherwise you need to explain why nobody was killed on the other ships.

    The whole objective of this was to drive a wedge between Israel and Turkey, a probable future member of the EU. It was a success so maybe the few lives lost will seem a low price to have paid if the end of Israel is your ultimate objective.

    I now think that the Gaza blockade should be lifted and the Gaza be treated as a fully functional independent country.

    That way when they fire one single rocket into Israel it can then be termed an act of war. Maybe Hamas needs to be careful what it asks for. If Hamas want to run that country then they must take ultimate responsibility for ANY rocket fire from their land.

    Posted in: Israeli commandos storm aid flotilla; 10 killed

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    grafton

    mushroomcloud at 10:23 AM JST - 1st June

    “Just look at Grafton's 'childish' remarks and you can understand my point.”

    Nobody gets to the top of the heap in China by being a Mr. Nice guy. So think what it must have taken for him to have got where he is today. What I fine childish is the way a suit and tie can fool the naïve into believing this man is anything other than a seriously nasty bit of work. Just wait for the next Tiananmen type situation and see what happens and keep in mind this man had a part to play in Tibet’s problems last year. Yes, I am sure he is ever such a nice man, he loves cats, dogs and children, he just not that fond of Chinese people that might want a free country. Ask the people at google.

    Posted in: Wen ever

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