JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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Why do Japanese change their attitude when they communicate with foreigners?
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Confrontation
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U.S. Navy investigating how parts fell off aircraft near Atsugi
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California court to decide if SeaWorld whales are illegal 'slaves'
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Kuroki reported pregnant 2 weeks after denying relationship with Akanishi
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- Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Kanto region
- RCS (RCSコーポレーション), Kanto
- Salary: ¥180,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month includes performance bonus
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- Assistant Language Teacher - TOKYO - late-March start
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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- Assistant Language Teacher - Kanagawa Prefecture - late-March start
- Interac, Kanagawa
- Salary: ¥230,000 ~ ¥255,000 / Month
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yabits
Romney won't do it. Much too embarrassing.
Posted in: Opponents target Romney finances, to little effect
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yabits
So, Willard's got millions of dollars tucked away in the Cayman Islands. I guess 15% isn't low enough for him.
No wonder he doesn't want to release his past tax records.
Posted in: Opponents target Romney finances, to little effect
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yabits
A homeless Vietnam War vet killed mercilessly by an Iraqi War vet. Cruel coincidence there.
Posted in: Iraq vet charged with killing 4 homeless men in California
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yabits
Yes, not known. When it hurts, we don't let on.
On the other hand, conservatives must be giving until it hurts all the time because we constantly hear them piss and moan when someone suggests they pitch in and help. Perhaps they are more like hypochondriac givers: every little bit hurts them and they let everyone around know it.
It's King Day here in the U.S., and the words of Dr. King on that topic are just as true now as they ever were: "A society based upon justice will have minimal need of charity." We liberals, therefore, turn our attention to the constant work of creating a society better in tune with that ideal.
Posted in: Romney team hits back at Obama's 'job destroyer' attack
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yabits
The groups backing Gingrich and Perry in their attacks on Romney's record at Bain would vehemently denounce anyone who said they were not conservative. Observing the situation as a liberal, it's clear that this is one of those Marxist-style ideological squabbles over whose interpretation of economic doctrine, in this case capitalism, is the most pure.
Well, it is clear, as you have stated, that a bunch of these "conservative" candidates have apparently abandoned their principles. There's nothing at all "nonsensical" about pointing that out.
Posted in: Romney team hits back at Obama's 'job destroyer' attack
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yabits
Oh, but does it ever help.
Posted in: Huntsman to drop out of U.S. presidential race
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yabits
Those who claim to be? Gingrich and Perry were vetted and supported by various Tea Party organizations. Their attacks on Romney are funded by right-wing organizations who can't stand Romney. What does this example clearly show: You can't trust the right-wing when there's power up for grabs. Put more simply: You can't trust the right wing, period.
Lesson: You can't trust the Republicans. They know no fundamental truth other than the one that compels them to attain power by any means necessary. Their values and principles will shift according to the situation. One of their key traits, amply displayed on this board, is to blame Democrats for everything. Even worse than that, they attempt to demonize Democrats because that is the only way they can hope to look acceptable by comparison.
Pretending that the 39th president didn't inherit an economy with a serious inflation problem from his predecessors is a lie. But it's one that the conservatives who are so willing to shift from principle to principle are willing to accept. Just as it is a factual delusion to deny that the 44th president didn't inherit an economy that was shedding jobs faster than any time in the past century, save for the Great Depression.
Posted in: Romney team hits back at Obama's 'job destroyer' attack
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yabits
@Wolfpack:
Thanks for not making any comment on the fact that the attack against Willard's Bain ties is not being led by the Liberals, but by the Tea-Party-approved candidates -- mainly Gingrich and Perry. It's just so obvious.
Return to my statement: "[Obama] inherited an economy that was bleeding jobs at the highest rate since the Great Depression." The key word is "rate."
The facts prove my statement exactly right on. The unemployment rate going into the last two years of the Bush administration was around 5%. In the last half of 2008 and heading into 2009 the Bush mismanagement caused the rate to nearly double to the "official" rate of around 9.3%.
I find it simply amazing how so many ignorant conservatives want to promulgate the misinformation that the economy was fine until Carter inherited it. The unemployment rate in 1976 was edging towards 8%. I find it amazing how conservatives forget that inflation was so bad during Nixon's terms that he enacted "wage and price" controls. Jerry Ford had a stellar plan: issuing buttons that said "W.I.N." (whip inflation now -- the equivalent of "Just say No to higher prices.")
So from a nearly 8% unemployment rate to the high under Reagan of 9.7%, the economy was nowhere near shedding jobs at a rate comparable as what occurred during the last year of Bush's regime.
Posted in: Romney team hits back at Obama's 'job destroyer' attack
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yabits
I had a key decision to make early on whether or not to produce our product with American talent or to seek out talent outside the U.S. and save quite a bit of money. I never really hesitated: I have gone with American talent all the way and it's proven to have been the right move. No "bean-counter" would have ever approved of it, however. Being an American myself, keeping our developments in American hands and minds as much as possible is a key value for me.
Conservatives can chide that kind of old-fashioned loyalty, while they point out people who don't wear a flag on their lapels.
Funny. That attack has been led by the Tea-Party-favored candidates of Gingrich and Perry. What does that tell you about "conservative" values? Tells me that they are situational in nature and that any attack on a fellow "Republican" is fair game when power is being sought after.
Conveniently, it is "fact" you can't back up or support. More conveniently, we have Willard's own words saying how much he thinks it's a good thing to fire people. President Obama has never said any such thing. He inherited an economy that was bleeding jobs at the highest rate since the Great Depression. No fair-minded American would deny that fact.
Posted in: Romney team hits back at Obama's 'job destroyer' attack
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yabits
As Laguna has stated, you leave yourself open. I see that as a sign of someone whose power of reasoning never gets beyond a very shallow zone. (Hence a conservative outlook.)
As someone who does recognize and knows better from firsthand experience, profit is not the primary goal. Yes, we need "air" to breathe. But our primary purpose and goal is not to breathe air. Likewise, maximizing profits takes a back seat to other goals that we consider far more important over the long haul towards the care and feeding of a sustainable business.
No. There is a marked difference between companies like Bain and others that exist with a successful business model which allows for consistent job creation. Using money to make more money for a relative few already-wealthy people is vastly different from using money to create opportunities for "ordinary" people to practice and grow their talents and skills to produce better products and services for ordinary consumers. I don't believe you could ever understand that.
This needs to be put squarely and clearly in front of voters: Bain took over one company by pumping in $30M and taking out over $160M, by stripping and selling assets and killing jobs. One ordinary voter has asked: "Would $120M have been enough of a return if it could have saved a few hundred jobs?" If Romney's answer is "No," the voters need to understand that in no uncertain terms, and decide accordingly.
This assessment would mean something if it came from someone who didn't have such a poor ability to think and reason. President Obama's slow, steady, rising poll numbers are just one indication otherwise.
Posted in: Romney team hits back at Obama's 'job destroyer' attack
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yabits
Agreed, and a very good point it is. One of the major challenges arises because those coming in to a mature business have, in essence, "inherited" it, and will almost certainly be driven by something other than a founder's vision.
I see your point. But it goes back to the question of just what is a "good CEO." I agree, the typical one deemed "good" by Fortune magazine or Bloomberg, may turn out to be a horrible president, just as a humble community organizer may turn out to be a darned good one. Touting Willard's "experience" in the private sector without really looking at his record of creating jobs is foolish and asking for trouble. In that case, rejecting his "CEO experience" is the wise thing to do.
With Bain, the idea was just to make a small handful of people very rich while thousands lost their jobs. When Willard claims he was worried about receiving a pink slip, people have to laugh at the spectacle of a guy with millions of dollars to back him up trying to relate his experience to the "common man."
Posted in: Romney team hits back at Obama's 'job destroyer' attack
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yabits
I would put forth the notion that a good CEO has to do something slightly different. ROI is just a measurement. As the owner of a growing business, my main purpose is to drive myself and others towards a vision of really great products and services that provide a return on our customers' investment in us. The "bean counters" have a very limited role in what we do, but in vulture capital firms like Bain, they hold great power.
I was "fortunate" or unfortunate enough to experience working in a company that was purchased by a vulture capital group, though not Bain. I know firsthand and intimately that people mean nothing to them, other than what they can do for the vultures now. It's why Willard has maintained that corporations are people, and its corollary -- people are corporate entities -- must be true to him also.
Willard has said he enjoys firing people. It sounds to me like a general saying he enjoys killing people. Is that the kind of leader most Americans want? Well, in a relatively short time, they'll get to decide.
Posted in: Romney team hits back at Obama's 'job destroyer' attack
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yabits
This is what the hard right wing can't tolerate.
Posted in: Showtime making documentary about Dick Cheney
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yabits
Sounds like a good, old-fashioned American lynching.
It is the supreme cultural influence that would cause a majority of the people there to find the actions by a relative few to be repellent. Just as many Americans find the actions of these soldiers who desecrate the bodies of fighters to be repellent -- and would not try to rationalize it away.
Posted in: U.S. probes video of Marines urinating on dead Taliban
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yabits
If they're so worried about rats, they should focus on K Street.
Posted in: Protesters in Washington defiant over removal threat
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yabits
In other words, factual.
Posted in: Showtime making documentary about Dick Cheney
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yabits
It is not representative of the military as a whole, but it is representative of something that is worth looking into.
I wouldn't describe Afghanistan in 2012 as anything remotely resembling Buchenwald or Bataan.
Posted in: U.S. probes video of Marines urinating on dead Taliban
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yabits
LOL!! She was called that by Reagan's own Chief of Staff, Donald Regan. Some of us didn't forget. Nobody ridiculed her more than those who were closest in proximity to her.
Hillary Clinton was vilified far worse than any other First Lady, to the point of being accused of murder in the Vince Foster suicide. Let's not forget Sean Hannity's referring to daughter Chelsea as "the White House dog."
Posted in: Michelle Obama dismisses 'angry black woman' portrayal
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yabits
LOL! It is not fantasy to report that the U.S. government believes it has uncovered some kind of Iranian hit squad.
But what the U.S. believes about this is pure fantasy, now that the allegations regarding this are being debunked.
I believe most adults can distinguish the difference.
Posted in: Iranian judge sentences American to death for spying
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yabits
This is the kind of behavior that compels American leaders to have to go on "apology tours." Whatever high moral ground can be claimed thru this will come from the identification and punishment of these dishonorable soldiers.
Posted in: U.S. probes video of Marines urinating on dead Taliban