Wednesday February 15, 2012

shimajiro's past comments

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    shimajiro

    I'm not bothered by the fact that Obama is forgoing the public funds and seeking to fund his campaign privately or by the allegedly "obscene" amount of campaign cash he expects to raise - more power to him. [I don't like McCain's advocacy for contribution limits and he has shown a touch of hypocrisy by violating the spirit of campaing laws he helped to enact].

    Nor am I especially bothered that Obama has broken his campaign promise. After a couple of narrow, hard fought losses to Bush, many Democrats will doubtlessly silently cheer his ruthless opportunism. I confess I could muster a grudging respect as well were Obama not so disingenuous about the reasons why he has broken his promise.

    Surely the real reason is that when he made the promise he had no idea of his capacity to tap into a nigh inexhaustable reserve of private donations via the internet. In retrospect the promise was a tactical blunder. Cold political calculation now tells him that the PR hit he will take for his hypocrisy today will be more than offset by the financial advantage he will gain over McCain. He's compromising his (at least professed) principles to increase the likelihood he'll win.

    Instead Obama implies that the corrupt system and his unscrupulous rivals have forced his hand. But that's just political spin. Yet one more example that Obama is not the change agent he professes to be. Not a new kind of pol, just same 'ol same old.

    Obama said McCain and the Republican National Committee are fueled by contributions from Washington lobbyists and political action committees.

    As if he and his party were not. Personally, the only attack ad I've seen in the General election cycle so far - just today in fact - has been one targetting (and shamelessly misrepresenting) McCain.

    [Obama] secured the endorsement of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a political powerhouse union that was a strong backer of his former Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton.

    Earth to Obama, unions are every bit as much special interest/lobbying groups as the "corporations" whose motives you impugn with regularity.

    Posted in: Obama says he won't take public campaign funds

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    shimajiro

    Some rights should never be up to the ballot box and that is why we have a judiciary to balance state and citizen interests.

    I disagree. The judiciary should interpet and apply the law as it was intended by the lawmakers, not as they might wish it to be.

    Some of the most controversial racial and voting rights issues would never have been won at the ballot - it took courageous and bold justices to make the call.

    Almost certainly true - though in many cases the public support would likely have evolved in the same direction. But if the law only means what judges want it to mean rather than what they understand to be the intent of the applicable legislation, then the law means nothing. IMO, rule of law is much preferable to rule of men.

    Posted in: Gay, lesbian couples rush to get married in California

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    shimajiro

    These are the same guys who helped to engineer the distraction of the war in Iraq at a time when we could have pinned down the people who actually committed 9/11,”

    Obama should not assert speculation as fact. What's more America's best chance to secure or kill OBL would seem to have been when he was holed up in Tora Bora or shortly thereafter. That was well before the "distraction" of the war in Iraq.

    The Republican argument proved less effective in 2006 when then Bush adviser Karl Rove said the Democrats had a pre-Sept 11 view of the world and Republicans had a post-Sept 11 terror attacks perspective. In November of that year, Democrats captured enough congressional seats to seize control of the House and Senate.

    To the extent that Republican policies have been successful in safeguarding the country from terrorist attacks, they have ironically reduced the electoral potency of the security issue that has helped Republicans politically. If the situation in Iraq continues to improve and ther are no terrorist attacks before election day, then US voters will turn their minds to domestic concerns such as the economy and health care - areas where Dem policies are favored.

    Obama agreed with the Supreme Court ruling last week that detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have a constitutional right to challenge their indefinite imprisonment in U.S. civilian courts. McCain derided the ruling as “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.”

    Obama and the SC are right to want to extend greater legal protection to the detainees. Even alleged illegal enemy combatants are due the presumption of innocence and due process.

    Posted in: Obama rebukes McCain; says bin Laden free due to GOP tactics

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    shimajiro

    Welcome symbolism but the cut in troop strengh is the real news and that is to be regretted. Taken together with the limitations many European nations place on their soldiers' ability to actually wage war, cuts in troop strenght and spending endanger the alliance. It is becoming ever-more lopsided.

    Posted in: Sarkozy announces French return to NATO command

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    shimajiro

    While I think it would have been much preferable for gay marriage to have been legalized via the ballot box rather than legislated from the bench the result is still to welcomed.

    Posted in: Gay, lesbian couples rush to get married in California

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    shimajiro

    ...that ought be realized

    "...that ought to be regulated" I meant to say.

    Posted in: Obama seizes on growing disapproval of Bush policies to differentiate himself from McCain

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    shimajiro

    Instead, Obama is perceived as the one best able to handle the economy, and has repeatedly shifted the debate in that direction.

    Obama has done a better job of tapping into voter anxiety about the economy and has proposed more and more comprehensive measures to deal with the effects of the slowing economy and globalization but, IMO, his economic policy is the worse of the two major party candidates. Obama would undercut the one cylinder of the American economic engine that is still firing reliably - the export sector - by adopting protectionist trade measures. He would also burden U.S. companies with a higher minimum wage, more regulation and unfunded mandates. Finally, his education program offers little hope of improving worker productivity which is the only means by which the US will raise its standard of living over time.

    He again criticized McCain’s proposal for a temporary halt in the federal gasoline tax.

    The tax is a bad idea but, IMO, not worth the time that Obama devotes to it on the campaign trail.

    It would “actually do real harm,” Obama said, by reducing revenue for road and bridge construction even as oil companies make record profits.

    Unfortunately both Obama and McCain seem to buy into the idea that windfall profits and high CEO salaries are ill-gotten gains that ought be realized. It's not appropriate for governments to regulate the profitability or cost structure of privately-owned companies.

    Posted in: Obama seizes on growing disapproval of Bush policies to differentiate himself from McCain

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    shimajiro

    Better late than never, I suppose.

    Posted in: Gore endorses Obama

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    shimajiro

    [Obama] said he told Zebari that he was encouraged by the reductions of violence in Iraq, but that as president he will carefully move to end U.S. combat operations in Iraq.

    While the improving situation in Iraq may well allow for a quicker drawdown of US troops from Iraq that both candidates want, it would be unwise to make a rapid drawdown the overarching goal. A precipitous withdrawal of US troops at this juncture could lead to disaster for Iraq, its neighbors, the US and the wider world. Better, I think, for both candidates to study the situation there and avoid tying their hands with campaign promises they may later regret.

    Last week Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the talks on the status of U.S. troops were stalemated, but Zebari told CNN television on Sunday that was no longer the case. He did not elaborate.

    While it is understandable that Pres. Bush would want to take steps to sustain his policy beyond his departure from office and for the Maliki administration to desire a deal that would reduce uncertainty about what the election will bring, they should avoid committing their successors to a long-term policy. Let the American and Iraqi politicians campaign on the issue and seek mandates from their respective electorates.

    Posted in: Obama, amid criticism from McCain, says he will visit Iraq

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    shimajiro

    The trends of the past few months have indeed been heartening. Here's hoping a virtuous and self-reinforcing cycle has set in.

    In the meantime, Sunnis who once shunned politics are gearing up to contest provincial elections this fall.

    The Sunni's partial boycott of the 2005 elections robbed them of political clout. Hopefully this fall's election will correct this imbalance and give the incoming government greater legitimacy in the eyes of Sunnis and provide them with a political outlet for grievances that have previously found expression in acts violence.

    Despite the signs of progress, recent opinion surveys show that more than 60 percent of the American public opposes the war and believes it will end badly.

    The presidential election could well turn on whether the positive trend in Iraq can be sustained and the degree to and speed with which the American public's - but particularly independents' - perceptions of the prospect for success there can change. Accordingly Dem and Republican partisans will be working overtime trying to shape such perceptions.

    Posted in: Iraqi violence down

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    shimajiro

    yabits,

    The Iraqi parliament is already in favor of setting a definite date for a US pullout.

    That has yet to be established by vote. It's one thing to favor a withdral in the abstract, it's quite another to vote to demand a withdrawl by a certain date.

    The facts that the US government is engaged in negotiations with the Iraqi government about the conditions under which US forces will stay and how long they will stay and that Iraqi legislators are posturing and deliberating and ultimately will vote on the matter proves my point. The US is currently operating under a UN mandate which may or may not be renewed. If it should not be renewed and the Iraqi government were to vote for US forces to leave then, I am quite confident, that the US president would be compelled to leave, whatever his preference. Alternately, were the Iraqi government to insist upon conditions for staying on that the US side feels are unacceptable then, again, the US would depart of it's own volition.

    Posted in: McCain says setting Iraq withdrawal date 'not that important'

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    shimajiro

    chardk1,

    but claiming it is doing nothing but God's work on Earth, as some Americans (Dubya) do with no perceivable irony, is going to draw a lot of criticism and rightly so.

    I think this is a bit of a strawman. It's one thing to believe or claim one's country to be a paragon on virtue - which I think few Americans do - and another to defend one's country from charges of being bad/evil - which they are unfortunately often obliged to do.

    You can't claim the moral high ground AND complain about being held to a higher standard.

    It may, however, complain of being held to double standards.

    Posted in: Anti-Americanism at record levels worldwide, report shows

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    shimajiro

    chardk1:

    But as Americans we should care about why people think what they do about us even if we disagree with the "what."

    Agreed. All other things being equal it is desirable to be popular. I wouldn't make it a primary aim of US foriegn policy, though.

    Posted in: Anti-Americanism at record levels worldwide, report shows

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    shimajiro

    Licensed deri-heru services are legal, but limited to erotic massage culminating in oral or manual stimulation.

    Wow, that would meet the legal definition of prostitution in the U.S. I didn't realize such was legal recreation in Japan. Do Japanese wives and courts consider it to be adultery and/or grounds for divorce?

    Posted in: Kitakyushu cops’ indiscretions come under scrutiny

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    shimajiro

    Esther Brimmer, director of research at John Hopkins University’s Center for Transatlantic Relations, noted that after the September 11, 2001, European nations were keen to help the United States, including in Afghanistan. But their support was “deeply impacted by the invasion of Iraq,” and cooler relations contributed to Washington’s failure to secure Macedonia’s membership of NATO and to undermine its role in reforming the U.N.’s human rights mechanisms, she said.

    The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq provided an excellent natural experiment to test the U.S.'s NATO allies' willingness and ability to share the burden in a fight. Afghanistan was the so-called "good war" in which the Europeans were fully complicit. Even if they later refused to join the fight in Iraq on legal or moral grounds they could have delivered a powerful object lesson to the US had they shown their mettle and value in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, their paltry contributions to the effort in Afghansitan have shown Ms. Bremer's premise to be threadbare. Even such troops as have been sent have often been prohibited by their governments from operating in the dangerous parts of the country - not primarily because of their disagreement with the US but because their stingy with their blood and treasure.

    Posted in: Anti-Americanism at record levels worldwide, report shows

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    shimajiro

    yabits quoting Chait:

    But the history of the Middle East suggests that Iraqis are never going to accept a long-term American military presence.

    If they can't, then they won't, regarless of who's president. Were the democratically-elected government of Iraq to request that the U.S. leave, the American president would find it politically untenable to stay - whatever his preference. If the recent trend of improving security in Iraq can be sustained there is every reason to think that Iraq's government will ask for the US to begin scaling back its operations sooner rather than later. Iraqis are already bearing the brunt of the security load in terms of ground fighting and policing but the Iraqi government will likely continue to need and want various kinds of support for some time.

    So these comments are a window into McCain's rosy scenario that ought to be challenged.

    Sure challenge McCain - but challenge Obama, too. Would Obama really jeopardize the hard-won recent gains with a precipitous withdrawl over the objections of the Iraqi government and risk genocide and a wider conflagration just to meet an arbitrary timetable?

    McCain backed Gen. Petreus's plan at a time when it looked liked political suicide to do so because most of the trends in Iraq were bad. That now appears to have been good judgement. McCain was also an early and vocal critic of Rumsfeld's prosecution of the war.

    Yes, he wants the Iraq occupation to become like the West German occupation, but right now it's not, and McCain won't concede there's any limit to how long the status quo is acceptable to him.

    At the end of WWII, were a US presidential candidate to have predicted that the US presence in (West) Germany would end by a date certain in the near or intermediate future, s/he would today look foolish. Both Obama and McCain would be wise not to tie their hands today because the situation may look quite different come inauguration day.

    Posted in: McCain says setting Iraq withdrawal date 'not that important'

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    shimajiro

    As with Japan, protectionist sentiment plays a role in this. The concentrated domestic producer interest will almost always trump the diffuse domestic consumer interest in the political realm.

    It's tempting to say "screw 'em" and adopt a beggar-they-neighbor trade policy wherein their exports are prohibited on trumped up safety grounds as well. But such a policy would deny American consumers and producers of valued Korean goods and marginally undermine American competitiveness. Such demonstrations should be met with a concerted information campaign (to put the infintesimal risks into context) and patience.

    Posted in: 80,000 rally against U.S. beef in South Korea

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    shimajiro

    Hey, Taka! Thanks.

    Posted in: McCain, Obama trade jabs on economy, taxes

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    shimajiro

    Obama wants to eliminate the secret ballot for union votes..

    This position would seem to be indefensible. Unions want to be rid of the secret ballot so that their organizers can either use strong-arm tactics to coerce votes out of employees or offer inducements in exchange for votes.

    [Obama] even proposed a unilateral re-negotiation of NAFTA — our agreement with Canada and Mexico that accounts for 33% of American exports,” McCain said.

    Unilateralism, this. And bad policy to boot.

    McCain “wants to add $300 billion more in tax breaks and loopholes for big corporations and for the wealthiest Americans, and he hasn’t even explained how he’d pay for it,” Obama said.

    McCain was right to oppose the Bush tax cuts on the grounds that they weren't "paid for" in spending cuts. As it turned out their stimulative effects were salutary given the bursting of the internet bubble and the drag of 9/11 but the principle was a good one. Both candidates should be pressed to provide more details on how they plan to pay for the programs and tax cuts they favor.

    McCain would eliminate the tax subsidy for employer-based insurance and give individuals a tax break to offset the cost of buying their own insurance.

    A good idea. A better idea would be to eliminate the subsidy altogether. The tax treatment of health benefits has been a major contributor to health care inflation and wage (though not compensation) stagnation.

    Obama said the McCain plan would help only the wealthy...

    It would mitigate the problem of "job-lock" which presumably affects workers at all income levels.

    He’s offering a tax cut that won’t ensure that health care is affordable for hardworking families who need help most...

    If Sen. Clinton is to be believed neither would his.

    Sen. Obama's plan would do a good job of expanding insurance coverage but would do little to control health care costs - the overall affordability of health care. In fact, there's a good case to be made that they would exacerbate the problem. McCain is right to try to expand private insurance through cost control but he needs to supplement his plan by bolstering and rationalizing our safety net in the mean time.

    Posted in: McCain, Obama trade jabs on economy, taxes

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    shimajiro

    Betzee:

    ...be it bringing freedom to the long-suffering Iraqis or providing the world's downtrodden with the opportunity to better themselves by coming to the USA, these choices cost and that has to be acknowledged by their respective proponents.

    Agreed. Costs as well as benefits should be tallied. On balance I think the evidence suggests that immigrants are a source of economic vitality both for our country and the countries they leave behind. However, the U.S. could do a much better job of managing the flow. A good place to start would be by making it much easier to enter the country legally and become citizens.

    Posted in: Obama slams McCain, Bush on economy, gasoline prices

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