JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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To be healthy, live in the big city
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Japan's nuclear safety standards flawed, says commission chief
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Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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4
Teacher nabbed for using miror to peek up girl's skirt
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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
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inkjet
are you putting me on?
Posted in: Republicans call Obama timid on Iran
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inkjet
you are useless. we're done.
Posted in: Obama lays down harder line on Iran violence
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inkjet
i googled the book. here's a blurb promoting the book.
"It needs to be stressed, of course, that the Council of Guardians, a body of 12 Islamic jurors, has the right to exclude candidates from parliamentary elections on any grounds and has used this power quite widely. So one cannot speak of democracy at work, but there is nonetheless more political pluralism in evidence in Iran today than in many other Middle East countries."
faint praise indeed.
now you will continue to insist that real democratic reform, with real open elections, next door could have no influence on the iranians? it's just laughable, right?
Posted in: Obama lays down harder line on Iran violence
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inkjet
i went to the easy source again. wikipedia.
"Due to the non-elected elements brought into the constitution, and the ability of those elements to override all elected offices, the Iranian constitution does not ultimately allow for any real democratic participation beyond what is deemed appropriate by the non-elected bodies.
Posted in: Obama lays down harder line on Iran violence
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inkjet
yabits,
i reread your post without my kids pulling on my arm.
ok. the us constitution was ratified by the elected representatives of the people. was the guardian council elected by the people? was parliament who set up the islamic 'constitution' elected? or were they appointed?
ps. 'choosing from column a and column b' in america is sort of an idiom. it comes from chinese restaurants where the menus are set up that way. it means you have choices but they are pre-determined choices. i didn't mean literally two choices.
Posted in: Obama lays down harder line on Iran violence
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inkjet
"He also appoints the chief judge, the chief prosecutor, special tribunals and, with the help of the chief judge, half of the 12 jurists of the Guardian Council – the powerful body that DECIDES both what bills may become law and who may RUN for president or parliament.[9]"
wikipedia is not the be all and end all but it's a start. can you show me something that would back up your position?
i remember a while back reading a popular candidate was not allowed to run for office on ideological grounds. he wasn't a pure enough islamist (is that the right term?) if candidates can be denied for this reason how can there ever be change?
of course the system is open for new blood to enter, as long as you are pure enough. and of course there have struggles within any 'party' or system. that is not the same as having an open system.
in the old soviet days people would emerge from the local ranks. they had local elections. but only communists could run. within the party there would be power struggles and policy debates. but the system was rigged to promote one ideology. it was not open. i see basically the same situation in iran.
Posted in: Obama lays down harder line on Iran violence
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inkjet
it's interesting. obama hasn't come out and made a direct statement on MJ. he only released one through his spokesperson. MJ was too controversial.
i guess he doesn't have to worry about the black vote.
Posted in: Michael Jackson dies of reported cardiac arrest at 50
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inkjet
please don't guess what i would say. it makes you look even thicker.
Posted in: Obama lays down harder line on Iran violence
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inkjet
i didn't say it wasn't an election. i said it wasn't a fair election. first of all in the tradition of other totalitarian government elections, the (unelected) leaders pick the candidates, then the people decide: choose one from column a or one from column b.
then on top of that the people felt they chose column b but the government insists they chose column a. how can the people know for sure? the government checked it themselves. no outside monitoring of any kind. not even the candidates themselves were allowed to see the ballots.
that was an election, a farce election.
if you don't fine see it that way fine. feel pleased with yourself. i'm through trying to convince you. throw up your hands in victory.
Posted in: Obama lays down harder line on Iran violence
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inkjet
if you believe in hell you've probably heard, 'don't judge lest ye be judged.'
i give him the benefit of the doubt. he was certainly strange but where that strangeness went has never been proven. and they did try.
it will be interesting to see if any of the kids in question come forth as adults to tell their stories.
Posted in: Michael Jackson dies of reported cardiac arrest at 50
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inkjet
his ex, their mother will get custody.
Posted in: Michael Jackson dies of reported cardiac arrest at 50
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inkjet
i guess i'm the only one?
i'll wait to respond to the other points if sezwho2 wants to to come back on them.
Posted in: Obama lays down harder line on Iran violence
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inkjet
you are right. where we disagree is over the motive for the war. for the sake of this discussion we should just agree to disagree about that. we won't resolve it here. it would be off topic and would send this thread into a very different complicated, emotional direction.
we can agree on this i think. the coalition invaded iraq for stated security reasons (rightly or wrongly). after the fall of saddam the coalition could have simply left the country to fend for itself. or as was done so many times in the past they could have installed a strong man who would do their bidding. instead they chose the path of setting up free elections.
i believe we must put aside the question of invasion for this discussion because we will never agree on it. but more importantly the issue of the elections is a post invasion issue. once the invasion had already happened (with broad based bipartisan backing) the issue of invading or not became mute. what was done was done. the question then became, what is the best way to leave the country?
i believe giving the iraqis the support they needed to have elections and to form a government which represents the will of the people was the right thing to do. obama obviously agrees his troops are still there. right?
but back to this discussion. which ever way you feel about the elections in iraq. i haven't heard a convincing argument that says those elections couldn't have a positive effect in iran. explain why having open elections next door wouldn't have a positive effect on iranians?
please don't say because bush is a hypocrite. i heard that. try to focus on how the iranians might view open elections next door in the context of their own lives.
Posted in: Obama lays down harder line on Iran violence
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inkjet
it's ironic that both the us and iran were founded off violent revolution. are you suggesting we should have used sanctioned government assemblies instead? revolution's come from the people. if a government chooses to deny the people a voice then they should not expect them to lie down quietly. that's why they spend so much time fortifying there positions. it takes a lot of effort to keep people down.
personally i don't promote violence. i'm not sure who was promoting violence in iraq. do you?
easy for you and the ayatollah to say isn't it? i accused you of bending over backwards for the ayatollah. i see you'll do back flips as well. why not let the people speak for themselves? what puts you in a position to know what they want? like castro and so many revolutions in the past, once the dictator is thrown out by the people another one takes his place.
why bring him in to it? to prove i'm being hypocritical? i never mentioned the dalai lama. why not stick to the issue?
it's not up to me to decide what government is right for iran. i say that should be left up to the iranian people. you seem to be supporting the totalitarian government who control all avenues of power. i would suggest you stop deciding what you think is best for the iranians and start supporting their right to decide for themselves.
Posted in: Obama lays down harder line on Iran violence
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inkjet
i read reports of MJ having 100 unreleased songs. songs he wrote recorded for his kids. these will now be released. i can't wait. i'm not a MJ fan per say. but these songs could wind up being very different than his other material. this could be very interesting.
Posted in: Michael Jackson dies of reported cardiac arrest at 50
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inkjet
fair enough. but tell me how do you put the ilsamists out of power if they choose the candidates? it's a total political monopoly controlled by one man.
as long as the current system exists the way it does there can be no change in the regime's position of a religious run state. the people have no option. they can not vote on it.
the protest were about the people speaking out, finding a voice. that is why the grand exalted mystic poohbah is so nervous. the differences betwen the candidates is not so drastic. but he can't allow the people to tell him what to do. that would be the first step in his downfall.
some here argue the people need permission from the government before they can speak out against it. sorry but that is pathetic.
Posted in: Obama lays down harder line on Iran violence
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inkjet
boy you laugh a lot. nervous?
like i said some people prefer not having elections. when a minority brutally dominates the majority it may take them a while to accept democratic elections.
but they are coming around.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7863529.stm
it seems the liberals are the ones having the hardest time accepting success in iraq.
but don't give up obama still just might screw it up. there is hope.
just keep laughing it helps.
Posted in: Obama lays down harder line on Iran violence
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inkjet
well of course. there were a lot of people who just don't like the idea of people choosing their own government. that is pretty obvious. but we saw, given a little back up, the citizens of these countries embraced the chance.
don't sell all democrats short. i'm sure there are some who would be proud to promote democracy under those conditions. and if some were critical of their efforts they might sound an awful lot like you.
if they had fair and open elections they might solve that problem. why not get behind that concept? the first step is admitting there are no fair and open elections now.
Posted in: Obama lays down harder line on Iran violence
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inkjet
just to be clear. i'm not suggesting iranians have bush in their thoughts. and granted if they did they are probably mostly negative thoughts. what i'm suggesting is they may have their neighbors, their iraqi brothers, and their election in their thoughts. why is that so hard to imagine?
try this exercise. imagine it was a democrat who promoted free elections in iraq. visualize it. ok do you have that image in your head? now is it any easier?
Posted in: Obama lays down harder line on Iran violence
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inkjet
it is similar to the soviet system. the party puts up it's guy and they rule till they die. there have been just two grand exalted mystic poohbahs in 30 years since the revolution. my guess is the grand exalted mystic poohbah puts his supporters into positions of power. consolidates his strength.
there may be a split developing in the ranks. this is of course good. but simply hoping they eat themselves is not the greatest system for letting people have a say in their government is it?
your suggestions for appropriate ways for the people to speak out were all at he pleasure of the regime. in your book they can only protest when given permission. you think that's effective?
again i suggest the citizens in iran may just expect more now from their own elections when they see their neighbors in iraq are having free elections. wouldn't that be a bummer for the bush bashers?
Posted in: Obama lays down harder line on Iran violence