US to move marines out of Japan
9,000 of the military contingent that is upsetting residents on the island of Okinawa will move to other parts of Asia Pacific region
The US marines' Futenma base on Okinawa, Japan. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters
Japan and the US have agreed to relocate thousands of US marines from Okinawa in a move aimed at reducing the island's military burden amid lingering anger among residents over pollution, accidents and crime.
Under a deal reached in Washington late on Thursday, about 9,000 marines will move from the southern Japanese island to the US Pacific territory of Guam and other locations in the region, including Hawaii and Australia.
By shifting a large number of the 19,000 marines on Okinawa, leaders in Tokyo and Washington said they hoped to reduce the US militaryfootprint on the island while retaining a strong enough presence to deal with security emergencies in the region.
In a joint statement, the US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, and the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, said the agreement would honour Washington's commitment to defending Japan and maintaining stability in an "increasingly uncertain security environment".
"Japan is not just a close ally, but also a close friend," Panetta said separately. "And I look forward to deepening that friendship and strengthening our partnership as, together, we address security challenges in the region."
No date has been given for the $8.6bn (£5.3bn) move – of which Japan will pay $3.1 billion – and questions remain over the fate of Futenma, a sprawling marine base located in Ginowan, an Okinawan city of 95,000 people.
Earlier this year, President Obama signalled a shift in US military priorities towards the Asia-Pacific region, after a decade of prioritising expensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The potential for volatility in east Asia was underlined by North Korea's recent rocket launch and the prospect of a third nuclear test by the regime.
There is concern, too, over Beijing's military spending and long-standing disputes between China and Japan over territory and energy resources.
"I think we have made some progress and this plan offers specific and forward-looking action," said Japan's foreign minister, Koichiro Gemba, adding that Japan wanted to "reduce the burden on Okinawa".
But the agreement, made days before the Japanese prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, meets Obama in Washington, is unlikely to satisfy residents living near Futenma, a cause of friction between successive US and Japanese administrations.
Local opposition to the US military presence on Okinawa reached a high point in 1995 after three servicemen abducted and raped a 12-year-old girl.
The crime prompted the US and Japan to look for ways to reduce the military presence on Okinawa, which comprises less than 1% of Japan's total area, yet hosts three-quarters of all US bases and just under half its 47,000 troops.
The talks led to a 2006 agreement under which Futenma was to be relocated to Henoko in a less populated part of Okinawa, and 8,000 troops moved off the island by 2014.
The Futenma question remains unresolved, however, after the government in Tokyo failed to persuade people in Henoko – an ecologically important stretch of coastline – to agree to host the new offshore base. Most residents of Okinawa want the base moved off their island altogether, but the government has failed to find a new host community.
Up to 5,000 troops – about 3,000 fewer than envisaged in the original 2006 agreement – will be sent to Guam, according to a US defence official quoted by Associated Press in Washington. The remainder will move to Hawaii or rotate between Australia and other parts of the region.
Kurt Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state for east Asian and Pacific affairs, said the deal should satisfy congressional critics who had denounced the original plan as confused and expensive.
"We think it breaks a very long stalemate that has plagued our politics, that has clogged both of our systems," he said.
==================================
Pvt. Kevin Lee Flippin leaves the Uijeongbu courthouse following the first day of his trial Oct 21, 2011. Flippin confessed to raping, beating and burning a 17-year-old South Korean girl after a night of drinking in Dongducheon on Sept. 24.
Violent crime by US military personel on foreign posts is nothing new. Kaiserslautern in Germany was notorious for violent crimes by US troops in the 1960s and remarkably is still in the local German news.
ReplyDeleteKAISERSLAU-TERN, Germany — In the early hours of Saturday morning, five figures cut a distinct upright swath through the beery, giggling revelers weaving along Kaiserslautern’s pub zone.
ReplyDeleteAir Force Staff Sgt. Christopher Casey, Army Staff Sgt. Jessie Goff, and German civilian and squadron member Bernd Hemmer, along with two German policemen, were making their rounds on foot to curb crime and disorder during K-Town’s raucous weekends.
“When I first started, it was uncontrollable downtown,” said Casey, 26, of Killington, Vt. “There was lots of action on the streets.”
So much so that German police decided to invite Casey’s unit, the 569th U.S. Forces Police Squadron, to join them in the foot patrols on Friday and Saturday nights.
The 569th, which always patrols off-base, is in charge of a region about the size of Rhode Island, stretching from Pirmasens to Frankfurt. At its heart is Kaiserslautern’s restaurant and bar district, where dozens of watering holes and dance clubs attract the young and the reckless.
“We wanted to be more proactive and show a presence,” said Master Sgt. Leo Birch III, the squadron’s noncommissioned officer-in-charge of law enforcement and security.
The joint German-American patrols have several benefits. The U.S. military police are there to translate when Americans get in trouble, and will handle most of the cases in which Americans are involved. It makes it easier for the Germans and Americans to share case information and track crime.
And, so far, it appears to be working.
From April to June this year, the squadron handled 46 drunken-driving cases; 78 assaults or domestic violence cases; nine sexual assaults; and 142 larceny cases, Birch said. After the foot patrols started, between July and August — albeit a month shorter time period — the unit handled 18 DUIs, 37 assaults or domestic violence cases, one sexual assault and 107 larcenies.
“Our presence has made a difference,” Birch said.
Foot patrols are used on occasion near other Air Force bases in Europe. Security forces squadrons at RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall, England, periodically patrol with the constabulary in areas frequented by off-duty troops, base officials said.
Air Force police have long patrolled the bar zones where troops are stationed in Korea.
{…}Air Force police have long patrolled the bar zones where troops are stationed in Korea.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Navy routinely sends teams of sailors on “shore patrol,” to walk bar districts to deter shipmates from getting into trouble or to help those who might have had too much to drink.
Friday night’s town patrol in Kaiserslautern was a little unusual. An American Forces News reporter’s bright camera lights gave the patrol the look of an on-location movie shoot. That seemed to fascinate drunken passers-by, who mugged for the camera and made inane remarks to the police.
One man jumped from his seat in a bar, ran out the door and shouted, “Hey! I’m gay! I’m gay! Come and get me!”
A few partiers, obviously American by their lingo, T-shirts and baseball caps, heckled the police, then quickly scurried away.
Casey and Goff, a National Guard soldier with the 2nd Battalion, 115th Field Artillery Regiment from Lexington, Tenn., kept a steely front. They said they get a lot of guff from drunken U.S. troops, even when the TV cameras aren’t around.
“You’ve gotta bite your tongue sometimes,” Casey said. “I really don’t care what they say. We’re here to protect them.”
One man approached the group to complain about Americans’ bad behavior downtown.
“They don’t know their limits,” said Manuel Lamas, who lives in Kaiserslautern. “They walk down the streets screaming. They pee on the walls. They throw bottles.”
German police officer Christoph Mauer, night duty officer for the Polizei’s downtown station, said Americans are only part of the problem. Germans, Russians and Turks make their share of trouble as well. Drinking and drug use are the catalysts, Mauer said.
One obviously inebriated airman, who was wearing an earring and had three pretty girls on his arm, stopped to have a chat with the military police.
“It’s good they’re here,” he said. “There has been some pretty serious stuff happen down here.”
military.com
Such is Empire.
ReplyDeleteIt's ridiculous.
If the EU countries, and Japan can't defend themselves by now they don't need to be "nation-states."
ReplyDeleteThe whole "Global Police" thing is inane, and we can't afford it. The good news is Obama is in the process of shutting down/has already shut down two combat brigades in Europe.
1st qtr. GDP 2.2%
ReplyDeleteNot bad if you consider it was brought down significantly by a 5.9%, annualized, Drop in Government Spending.
inflation 1.5%, Year on Year.
ReplyDeleteOther areas of the economy that struggled include spending by state and local governments, which decreased at a 1.2 percent annual rate, after a 2.2 percent drop. Outlays by federal agencies declined 5.6 percent. National defense spending slumped 8.1 percent, following a 12.1 percent decrease the prior quarter.
ReplyDeleteAs I've stated before, the U.S. has one very big advantage among the "Developed" countries. We have a LOT of low-hanging fruit. And, somewhat incredibly to me, we're actually picking some of it.
Amazon just knocked th cover off the ball. Maybe the perfect company for a "post-peak oil" future.
ReplyDeleteApple, Amazon, E-bay
ReplyDeleteThat "internet world" that everyone was so excited about in 2000 is starting to arrive.
So, we've had "Quantitative Easing" out the wazoo, and the end result is a whopping 1.5% rate of inflation.
ReplyDeleteMore reinforcement to me that we could very easily be in the middle of a "Depression," right now, without an activist government, and Fed.
the rate of inflation is another fraudulent Government number.
DeleteThe real number?
Loaf of bread, tank of gas...
Cost of education?
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — A U.S. soldier who allegedly commandeered and then crashed a taxi cab in Kaiserslautern early Friday morning was being turned over to U.S. military police, the German prosecutor’s office said Monday.
ReplyDeleteThe 31-year-old soldier got into the cab at about 4:45 a.m. Friday, telling the driver he wanted to go to Ramstein, according to a Kaiserslautern police news release. An argument allegedly ensued, and when the driver pulled over and threatened to call police, the soldier allegedly pulled out the radio, hit the driver in the arm, ordered him out of the car and drove off, the police statement said. Moments later, he crashed the car into a lamppost and then a metal gate, police said. He fled but was soon apprehended and taken into custody, the police statement said. German police reported the soldier had a blood-alcohol level of .138. Damages were estimated at 20,000 euros, according to police.
Helmut Bleh, the chief prosecutor for Kaiserslautern, said Monday the soldier was a sergeant en route from Afghanistan to the United States and had arrived at Ramstein on Thursday evening, and was due to fly out Friday morning.
ALEC on Collision Course With U.S. Air Force over Renewable Energy.
ReplyDeleteLed by the True "Manchurian Candidate," John McBatshitcrazy, of course.
Soldier stole, crashed cab in Kaiserslautern, German police say
ReplyDeleteBy MARCUS KLÖCKNER
Stars and Stripes
Published: April 16, 2012
Here is what Empires always do to garrison the military in foreign lands.
ReplyDeleteAccording to a story in the Army Times, one out of eight new Army recruits require a waiver to enlist, a rate which is more than double what it was during Fiscal Year 2004. In 2004, 4,6 percent required a moral waiver for criminal history or other past misconduct. During last fiscal year, the rate had jumped to 11 percent. So far, during Fiscal Year 2008, which began on Oct. 1, 13 percent of new recruits have required a moral waiver.
According to the article, most waivers involve misdemeanors. The Army has granted 4,676 conduct waivers among the 36,047 recruited from October through late February.
Great for "hearts and minds" actions, I am sure you will agree.
I'm seeing a two-way.
DeleteThe military used to be a way out for the ghetto, the displaced, the lost, those looking for some kind of life outside of jail but not seeing a lot of options - a large grey demographic of young boys prepared to go either way. The military provided discipline and training. Sometimes it took, sometimes not.
I don't know this for a fact but I'm guessing the 'sweet and light' footprint idea led to compromised basic training - in duration and quality (in addition, like a response to, the multiple rotations back into the active theaters). The young recruits got thrown directly into hell without adequate prep, not that I have any idea what that might be.
I'd be interested, as a decision-maker, to see more about the moral waivers. Yesterday's boyish prank is today's ritalin-drugged potential criminal.
Good analysis. I belive that the office corps, post draft, is more gung-ho, more conservative and way more career oriented. The current enlisted ranks are much less representative of the general population, less educated and way over-deployed.
DeleteThe ultimate in affirmative action, inclusion at its best, diverity’s finest hour.
ReplyDeleteHow Californians are getting Cheap Renewable Energy
ReplyDelete.
DeleteAnother Side To The California Miracle
.
I notice no rate for electricity?
DeleteTo steal Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera's thunder, "all the players are here:"
ReplyDeleteThis board has a history of (and I’m being generous) sneaky deals. In late 2008 when Chesapeake stock plummeted, Aubrey forfeited most of his stock to a margin call because he had borrowed hundreds of millions to purchase yet more Chesapeake stock, the board voted (gave) Aubrey a $75 million bonus to continue participating in his “Founders Well Participation Program”. Also in 2008 this board purchased McClendon’s rare map collections for $12.1 million. After three years in the courts McClendon agreed to repurchase the maps plus interest. Anyway, this board has, as far as I can tell, only one real mantra which is to enrich Aubrey at all cost. It is an assemblage devoid of independent thought and malleable as putty to the kings’ wishes. Droplets of turpitude obviously have leaked into their moral compass. If only to be a fly on the wall to gain first-hand insight to insidious cronyism. Too bad for shareholders that as of last year Oklahoma passed a law allowing corporate boardmembers to sit for staggered terms, so they can’t all get voted out at once. Guess whose lawyers and lobbyists wrote the law? Chesapeake’s.
-Guest writer Richard Finger is a principal of Houston-based Ariadne Capital. His previous columns for Forbes include “Some Tips For The Simpletons of Occupy Wall Street.”
Link
.
ReplyDeleteIntel's 3-Diminsioan Ivy-Bridge Chips Keep Moore's Law Rolling
...Existing transistor designs—little changed in decades—could not simply be made smaller, with 22-nanometer features. That would cause them to become leaky, so that a transistor would allow some current to flow even when set to off. Intel got around that by adding an extra dimension to transistors, which for decades have been made as a stack of flat layers of material on top of one another.
A transistor's basic design comprises separate electrodes for incoming and outgoing current, known as the source and drain; material connecting the two, known as the channel; and a third electrode known as the gate, which controls the flow of current. Rather than being a flat layer, the channel of Intel's reinvented transistors is a long "fin" that protrudes up into the gate electrode above, creating a more intimate electrical connection between the layers. Intel refers to its three-dimensional transistors as having a "tri-gate" design...
Intel's New Transistor
.
The Mensa boys at BC are suspicious of quantum computing - need to *know* too much about the answer in order to formulate the inquiry. Seems to me they might be on to something. But it also seems to me that quantum computing represents a technology in search of an application.
DeleteAt any rate, several small companies claim they have achieved quantum "computation."
(Which I understand is not related to Intel's 3D chip.)
Advice to OWS re coherent agenda:
ReplyDeleteCampaign for shareholders rights via proxy votes to elect directors that represent owners NOT management, and set limits on executive compensation.
Let’s put some of these guys in jail. Ask for an SEC investigation on former Bank America CEO Ken Lewis for withholding information (lying) to shareholders regarding losses at Merrill Lynch prior to the proxy vote. Demand more investigation of the egregious AIG bailout.
Call for further investigation of the ratings agencies.
Among the punitive, the vindictive, and pettiness of Dodd-Frank there stands one potentially seismic thought that sits so far not implemented. Title VII or the “Wall Street Transparency and Accountability Act” is intended to regulate the over the counter swaps markets.
So far, Washington is 0/4.
Link
.
ReplyDeleteMore Treaty Obligations Ignored
It is interesting that those who complain about other countries not living up to their treaty obligations ignore the fact that the US does it on a routine basis. This article talks about obligations missed under the CWC yet we invaded a country because we 'thought' they 'might' have chemical weapons.
Some argue that we should use the military if necessary on Iran because they 'might' be developing a nuclear bomb which is forbidden them by terms of the NPT; yet the US ignores one of the key inducements for new countries to sign the NPT, that the nuclear powers reduce the amount of weapons that currently exist.
Ironic or hypocritical?
.
.
ReplyDeleteLincoln and Obama and Habeas Corpus
First a definition: The Latin phrase habeas corpus means "you have the body." The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus refers to a common-law tradition that establishes a person's right to appear before a judge before being imprisoned. When a judge issues the writ, he commands a government official to bring a prisoner before the court so he can assess the legality of the prisoner's detention. When the privilege of the writ is suspended, the prisoner is denied the right to secure such a writ and therefore can be held without trial indefinitely. Habeas corpus is the only common-law tradition enshrined in the Constitution, which also explicitly defines when it can be overridden. Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution says, "The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it."
Habeas Corpus
In my opinion, Lincoln's actions were bad enough. However, taking into account circumstances that existed and the actual words of the Constitution, I would judge Obama's recent actions as defended in Holders dissembling and euphemistic justifications is infinitely more egregious.
.
I happen to agree. Holder needs to go. Too many strikes.
DeleteMore bad news for Republicans.
ReplyDeleteSpain Downgrade Proof Austerity Not Working (Link):
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgrade of Spain's credit rating Thursday for the second time this year highlights the fact that austerity alone is not enough to tackle the euro zone debt problem. Experts tell CNBC that European leaders need to focus on growth now.
That's the good news. The rest:
Analysts agreed that there was no short-term solution in sight and that the European Central Bank would have to keep injecting cash into the banking system.
"In Europe, they're basically committed to providing money to throw at the problem forever. They might need to do it for years," Richard Jerram, Chief Economist, Bank of Singapore told CNBC Asia's "Squawk Box."
Menon adds, "If anybody expects any quick solution out of Europe, they're really hoping for too much."
No bond vigilantes in Meredith's world:
ReplyDeleteElsewhere, Whitney sees the problems in Europe serving to benefit U.S. banks and other investments as money will have "no other place to go."
That relative stability also means the Federal Reserve will not need to institute a third round of bond purchases, known in the market as quantitative easing [cnbc explains].
"The U.S. looks like a more [stable] liquidity pool," she said. "Long-term rates will stay lower for longer and the Fed has less to worry about. So the Fed doesn't need to be proactive in terms of QE3 and whatnot, because longer rates stay low because there's no place else to go."
Whitney did warn investors away from regional banks, which have attracted attention because of their lack of exposure to the European sovereign debt crisis [cnbc explains] . She said some of the solid earnings reports this quarter are attributable to one-time loan-loss provisions that won't be repeated in subsequent quarters.
Meredith Whitney (Link)
While I would agree with here in the immediate term my concern is when the Europe thing finishes its course.
DeleteA decade at least. For those who thought the last decade was tough, the best we can hope for is a Pink Slime of marginal relevance that doesn't taste too bad. But medicinal it will be.
DeleteA decade if they manage it but if the Euro should break apart (i.e. adopt their own currencies again) things could happen pretty quick once it starts.
DeleteI don't think it'll take that long. I believe we'll be "up against it" within a year, two at the most.
Delete"Peak Oil," you know. :)
Why would peak oil spook investors of US bonds?
DeleteGood question, Ash. I really wasn't thinking in terms of "Bonds." I was just thinking about the Economy in General.
DeleteThinking on it just a mite, we might continue to be the best miserable house in a sorry neighborhood for a while.
DeleteI don't think it'll take that long. I believe we'll be "up against it" within a year, two at the most.
Delete"Peak Oil," you know. :)
Not going to argue against the coming energy headwinds but I would increase the resolution a little bit.
Just as Meredith Whitney notes that the US is comprised of micro economies defined by "right to word" and the heartland commodities states, so too the global economies bring starkly different conditions and constraints.
One could argue (not wisely w/out numbers) but one could make the case that EUrope, in whatever form, is not as sensitive to an energy-driven economic contraction as it is to an austerity-driven fiscal contraction.
RE energy - EUrope is smaller, denser, and has lots of electric trains. Second, economic GDP has a "large" service sector relative to manufacturing, as is true for USA. Third, their renewables sector is clipping along at a pace faster than ours in some countries.
RE austerity - the fiscal contraction is going to hit EUrope harder because they were 'deeper into it.' Analysts like to say USA is the next Greece, Italy, Spain, ....
It is not, as the next decade may likely show.
If people like Dick Finger can make some ingress into that 0/4 number I cited earlier. Very important stuff compared to big sticks, flukes, and Meghan McCain's obsession with Greta van Susteren's dinner companions.
Given that USA GDP numbers (drilled down) are better than they look, so too are EUrope's numbers worse:
DeleteStandard & Poor’s ratings agency denied on Friday it had not taken into account the recent reforms Spain had announced when it downgraded the country for the second time this year, saying Spain’s weaker-than-expected economic outlook and rising risks in the banking system had added to concerns and prompted the downgrade.
Link
USA is not EUrope.
DeleteIt certainly isn't. The USA does have chronic current account deficits, chronic budget deficits, and a gridlocked political system.
DeleteThe knee-jerk reaction to this country says it all.
DeleteThere was nothing chronic about any of it until 2001 & 2008.
The political gridlock took time to develop. It will take time to reverse.
Make your choice and place your bets.
It seems Max you are prone to boosterism. I am simply adding to my arguements as to why the US will probably face problems in the bond market.
DeleteThey are chronic problems your statement otherwise notwithstanding.
Political gridlock is by the design of the founders.
United States federal budget:
"Since 1970, the U.S. federal government has run deficits for all but four years (1998–2001)[42] contributing to a total debt of $15.35 trillion as of January 2012"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget
Current Account Deficits:
"Since 1989, the current account deficit of the United States have been increasingly large, reaching close to 7% of the GDP in 2006. In 2011, they have been the highest deficits in the world.[3] New evidences, however, suggest that the U.S. current account deficits are being mitigated by positive valuation effects.[4] That is, the U.S. assets overseas are gaining in value relative to the domestic assets held by foreign investors. The U.S. net foreign assets therefore is not deteriorating one to one with the current account deficits. The most recent experience has reversed this positive valuation effect, however, with the US net foreign asset position deteriorating by more than two trillion dollars in 2008.[5] This was due primarily to the relative under-performance of domestic ownership of foreign assets (largely foreign equities) to foreign ownership of domestic assets (largely US treasuries and bonds)."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_account
Someone else noticed:
ReplyDeleteHowever, the private components of GDP (personal consumption expenditures, gross private domestic investment, and net exports) grew by 3.4% from January-March, following a 4.6% increase in Q4 2011 (see chart above). In contrast, there was a 3.1% decline in "government consumption expenditures . . . . .
GDP Report Much Better Than It Looks
Nat gas continues to trade higher - up about a $quarter from the recent lows.
ReplyDeleteCNBC, and the Republicans continue to try and sell a rapidly expanding Private Sector, and a Contracting Public Sector as a bad report. The market isn't buying it, of course.
ReplyDeleteI hate disingenuity. I hated it when the Dems did it, and I hate it now that the Pubs are doing it.
ReplyDeleteI hate it when you do it :)
ReplyDeleteThe ultimate dis here is Idaho --
Just remember always to think twice before ordering someone to dance the “moonwalk” at the barrel of a gun.
An Idaho man has been hit with a felony assault charge for allegedly forcing another man to perform Michael Jackson’s signature “moonwalk” while having a rifle pointed at him, the Bonner County Daily Bee reported.
Police accused John Ernest Cross, 30, of using an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle while issuing the bizarre order to mimic a dance the late King of Pop debuted back in 1983.
Cross said during an initial court appearance that there was no rifle involved, only a pellet gun, the Daily Bee reported.
His bail was set at $20,000 and he was reportedly ordered to steer clear of the moonwalking victim.
The ultimate dis here is Idaho --
DeletePiffle pfffsst
What's your governor said lately?
Has he kept Leno occupied for weeks?
Is Idaho the drag queen heaven for drunk drivers?
Did Marc Racicot move?
Meanwhile China a Buyer in Biggest One-Day Corn Sale Since 1991
ReplyDeleteDear Japan,
ReplyDeleteI do not accept any person raping a woman under and reason.
However before you demand the USA to leave, let's review how Japan behaves when not constrained.
From Wikipedia:
The term "comfort women" was a euphemism used to describe women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II.[1][2]
Estimates vary as to how many women were involved, with numbers ranging from as low as 20,000 from some Japanese scholars[3] to as high as 410,000 from some Chinese scholars,[4] but the exact numbers are still being researched and debated. A majority of the women were from Korea, China, Japan and the Philippines,[5] although women from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Indonesia and other Japanese-occupied territories were used for military "comfort stations". Stations were located in Japan, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, then Malaya, Thailand, then Burma, then New Guinea, Hong Kong, Macau, and what was then French Indochina.[6]
Young women from countries under Japanese Imperial control were abducted from their homes. In many cases, women were also lured with promises of work in factories or restaurants. Once recruited, the women were incarcerated in "comfort stations" in foreign lands. Other women were rounded up at gunpoint, some being raped before being herded into "comfort stations".[2][7] It has been documented that the Japanese military itself recruited women by force.[8] Some "comfort stations" were run by private agents supervised by the Japanese Army or run directly by the Japanese Army.[1][2]
Some Japanese, such as historian Ikuhiko Hata, deny that there was organized forced recruitment of comfort women by the Japanese government or military.[9] Other Japanese historians, using the testimony of ex-comfort women and surviving Japanese soldiers have argued that the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy were either directly or indirectly involved in coercing, deceiving, luring, and sometimes kidnapping young women throughout Japan's occupied territories.[10]
This country needs to be alert to sliding down the rabbit hole of sack cloth and ashes "beat me again father for I am bad beyond repair" repentance.
DeleteMonastery Life
ReplyDeleteA young monk arrives at the monastery.
He is assigned to helping the other monks
in copying the old canons and laws of the
church by hand.
He notices, however, that all of the monks
are copying from copies, not from the original
manuscript. So, the new monk goes to the
head abbot to question this, pointing out that
if someone made even a small error in the first
copy, it would never be picked up! In fact, that
error would be continued in all of the subsequent
copies.
The head monk, says, 'We have been copying
from the copies for centuries, but you make
a good point, my son.'
He goes down into the dark caves underneath
the monastery where the original manuscripts
are held as archives in a locked vault that hasn't
been opened for hundreds of years. Hours go
by and nobody sees the old abbot.
So, the young monk gets worried and goes down
to look for him. He sees him banging his head
against the wall and wailing.
We missed the R !
We missed the %@#... R !
His forehead is all bruised and he is
crying uncontrollably.
The young monk
asks the old abbot, 'What's wrong, father?'
With a choking voice, the old abbot replies,
THE WORD WAS.....
CELEBRATE
Why Ash, you've shown a flash of Samlike humor.
ReplyDeleteVery good, son.
Picking Kentucky Derby bets for the folks --
ReplyDeleteRufus -
$100 on Rousing Sermon to win
and
$100 on I'll Have Another to place
to cover the first action in the unlikely event prayer is not enough.
bobbo
I have no idea what horses are running. Just give me a C-Note on a couple of 50 - 1 Shots. The best bet in sports (only applies to the Kentucky Derby, and the Belmont, I think.)
DeleteMelody -
ReplyDelete$200 on Sabercat to win
Melody will be rich should this come through and will be able to buy a whole new wardrobe.
bobbo
Ash --
ReplyDelete$200 on Alpha to win
Ash is alpha everything
bobbo
Quirk --
ReplyDelete$600 on Union Rags to win
I'm hoping to cost Quirk a bundle, he deserves it, bagging out on Cartegena
bobbo
Deuce --
ReplyDelete$100 on Daddy Nose Best to win
$100 on Daddy Nose Best to place
This is just straight on advice, I read that Daddy Nose is better than that 30:1 odds
Trying to be nice to the host.
bobbo
Gag -
ReplyDelete$200 on Hansen to place
This too is an honest pick
(The Lord will be gracious to those unto whom he will be gracious)
bobbo
Maxine -
ReplyDelete$200 on Creative Cause to win
$200 on Creative Cause to place
$200 on Creative Cause to show
Again, the Lord will be gracious to those unto whom he will be gracious, but this maybe ought to at least break even.
bobbo
cont'......
Looks like the Christian/Jew Crusader Team might be winning.
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. Air Force is quietly assembling the world’s most powerful air-to-air fighting team at bases near Iran. Stealthy F-22 Raptors on their first front-line deployment have joined a potent mix of active-duty and Air National Guard F-15 Eagles, including some fitted with the latest advanced radars. The Raptor-Eagle team has been honing special tactics for clearing the air of Iranian fighters in the event of war.
The fighters join a growing naval armada that includes Navy carriers, submarines, cruisers and destroyers plus patrol boats and minesweepers enhanced with the latest close-in weaponry.
It’s been years since the Air Force has maintained a significant dogfighting . . . .
Aerial Armada Assembles Near Iran
F-22's
DeleteIf it's a bluff, it's a hell of a bluff.
while 85% of UK residents want more clean domestic energy, only 2% want more natural gas capacity! (Could it be the earthquakes?)
ReplyDelete“Two thirds of people want more of their electricity to come from our wind, sun and sea — which the UK has huge supplies of — and just 2% of people back more gas,” Friends of the Earth, which commissioned the poll, writes.
“The poll marks the launch of our Clean British Energy campaign, backed by Dragons’ Den star Deborah Meaden.”
Currently, 9.5% of British electricity comes from renewable resources.
Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1aaLX)
while 85% of UK residents want more clean domestic energy, only 2% want more natural gas capacity! (Could it be the earthquakes?)
“Two thirds of people want more of their electricity to come from our wind, sun and sea — which the UK has huge supplies of — and just 2% of people back more gas,” Friends of the Earth, which commissioned the poll, writes.
“The poll marks the launch of our Clean British Energy campaign, backed by Dragons’ Den star Deborah Meaden.”
Currently, 9.5% of British electricity comes from renewable resources.
Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1aaLX)
Source: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1aaLX)
ah shit
ReplyDeleteAh shit!
My wife calls me away to go to Wal-Mart and in the car I ask, what time are we going tomorrow? Tomorrow? she says, we're not going anywhere tomorrow.
(we're going to the CdA Resort for the Derby)
O well, what's a week on way or the other.
Was working on picks for WiO, Doug, Sam....
Will give me time to fine tune my picks.
I'm a little worried about that pick for Melody, though she would be rich.
heh, when my wife and I were in Nez Perce farming, where there isn't a place to bet within 200 miles, we both like Gato del Sol.
It won!
About the biggest long shot in Derby history.
bobbo
Sponsor and developer of the world’s largest marine tidal power project announced to date, Meygen’s contracted Norway’s Kongsberg Maritime (KM) to carry out underwater noise studies for its 400-MW project in Scotland’s Pentland Firth.
ReplyDeleteSource: Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1a9hd)
Scotland, on the road to 100% Renewable Electricity
From her living room in Alaska, from whence she can see Russia, Sarah pulls the strings in Indiana -
ReplyDeleteGrin. I do like that woman. Obama may have the stick, but she’s got the you know what’s.
Portia46 on April 27, 2012 at 4:10 PM
Go Sarah!
bob
What happened to the solar industry in Spain?
ReplyDeleteIn the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the Spanish government drastically cut its subsidies for solar power and capped future increases in capacity at 500 MW per year, with effects upon the industry worldwide. "The solar industry in 2009 has been undermined by [a] collapse in demand due to the decision by Spain," according to Henning Wicht, a solar-power analyst.[6] In 2010, the Spanish government went further, retroactively cutting subsidies for existing solar projects, aiming to save several billion euro it owed.[3][14] According to the Photovoltaic Industry Association, several hundred photovoltaic plant operators may face bankruptcy.[15] Phil Dominy of Ernst & Young, comparing the feed-in tariff reductions in Germany and Italy, said "Spain stands out as an example of how not to do it."[16] As a result, a Spanish association of solar power producers has announced its intention to go to court over the government’s plans to cap solar subsidies.
Link
Spain stands as a lesson to other aspiring green-energy nations, including China and the U.S., by showing how difficult it is to build an alternative energy industry even with billions of euros in subsidies, says Ramon de la Sota, a private investor in Spanish photovoltaic panels and a former General Electric Co. executive.
“The government totally overshot with the tariff,” de la Sota says. “Now they have a huge bill to pay -- but where’s the technology, where’s the know-how, where’s the value?”
Link
The only reason I am aware of Spain's problem is that the Mensa crowd @BC is constantly crowing about it. Constantly. The conviction is that a Romney presidency will resurrect a fossil fuels industry that is entering the next generation of extraction technologies, one that is both energy and water intensive - and tougher on land and water resources. Such problems are of course different from the renewable obstacles - one is good and the other being bad, by politically correct definition. I know. I asked the Imam. He told me.
Solar Maps:
ReplyDeleteEurope (Link)
Africa & ME (Link)
Max, the Europeans, not realizing how cheaply Solar Systems could be built in the future (and, actually, even then,) instituted HUGE FITs (feed-in tariffs,) and other subsidies. Now, they're cutting them back.
ReplyDeleteBut, the fact is, Solar, and especially Wind, are cheaper than Coal in many places, now; and as soon as nat gas gets back to the price level that's required for continued production from fraccing, both Wind, and Solar, will be cheaper than Nat Gas.
The thing is, being a real, honest-to-goodness, true mensa, the Mittster knows this.
As opposed to an "internet" mensa.
DeleteWilling to place a bet on the election Rufus??
ReplyDeleteOr an "armchair" Mensa ...
ReplyDeleteI'll roll it back just a smudge - about 15-20% are idiot-savants - Rainmen on steroids.
ReplyDelete(That was a roll-back wasn't it?)
I think you're being too kind by a trainload. :)
DeleteNo bets, Max. I know I ain't no Mensa.
But, I can make one hell of a stew. Pardon me while I get another bowl. Wish you all could join me. :)
DeleteI think it was when they sent the all-girl band out with their withering assault on my defense of Guernica as a significant work of art (ahah! finding points of common ground and making firends.)
Delete"What? I'm supposed to get that war is bad? Is that your only point?"
Whew. Really tough broads.
I was flabbergasted until Deuce explained the historical context awhile back. Had I understood that never would have opened my mouth.
Guernica marks the end of the long long human relationship with the horse.
ReplyDeleteTo look at it, it sucks, but it is packed with symblols.
Goddamn commie, Picasso.
bob
except for my daughter, of course, with the horse :)
DeleteGoddamn commie, Picasso.
ReplyDeleteIt was more than the politics of the Spanish Civil War. Abstract art had emerged as an avenue of ideological expression that favored the left over the right. Deuce said it better than I but the vibrant symbology of works like Guernica gave visual expression to war in an environment where war was the only way to fight communism. It wasn't just the politics of the Spanish Civil War but the new role of the artist. And he wasn't on the right side.
So elevating Guernica to "masterpiece" is offensive not only at the political level (Franco as the right-wing authoritarian opposed to communism), but at the personal level (Picasso) and the esthetic level (abstract art as ideological symbology).
However, what I do find surprising, and cannot help pausing a moment to remark, is the fact that in the tortured figures of Picasso's masterpiece what we are contemplating is a constellation of perfectly traditional mythological symbols, arranged in such a way as to bear to us in their silent speech a message still in perfect concord with the spirit and lore of the old Sumerian lunar bull: "That One," as we read in the Indian Shatapatha Brahmana, "who is the Death on whom our life depends....He is one as he is there, but many as he is in his children here."
ReplyDeleteCreative Mythology
J. Campbell
Picasso said the bull is just a bull and the horse is just a horse, but he was pulling our ear.
bob
Picasso was ... cantankerous.
DeletePicasso was...promiscuous.
Deleteb
Picasso was a cantankerous promiscuous commie.
Deleteb
Aren't they all?
Delete"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand," Ryan said during a 2005 event honoring Rand in Washington, D.C., the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in April 2009.
DeleteDuring the 2005 gathering, Ryan told the audience, "Almost every fight we are involved in here on Capitol Hill ... is a fight that usually comes down to one conflict -- individualism versus collectivism."
Ryan Shrugged (Link)
Ayn Rand??
DeleteAyn Rand??
Wasn't she Alan Greenspan's muse??
Name's so familiar......
In Figure 58 from his etching Minotauromachy the same monster appears from the watery abyss, shading his eyes from the light, in polar contrast to the figure of the sage at the left (Nietzche/Quirks's "Socratic Man"), climbing aloft to escape the reality of the Dionysian terror, while the Graces Three with their dove (the bird of Venus/Aphrodite) calmly regard the apparition: the youngest of them, innocent Thalia, holding in one hand the flowers of life-abundance and in the other the light of consciousness, which are here the foci of the composition, equidistant from the eye of the sage and left eye of the bull. The sword of the overcome matador is pointed not at the bull but at the eviscerated horse, and the matador is revealed as a woman. Clearly, the "Guernica" is a reorganization of the same mythological motifs, recognized as implicit in a monstrous act of war and rendered as a moment equally of rapture and pain (terror-joy) with the figure in flames at the right marvelously falling and rising at once, both from and toward the window at the upper right, which, like the end of Finnegan's Wake opens to the void.
ReplyDeleteCM
J. Campbell
So saith the learned Joe.
bob
Picasso's sin was specificity, allegory being older than god.
Deletehmmm......
DeleteWell, yes, perhaps.....
b
Biden to donors: 'You all look dull as hell. Pretend to like me!'
ReplyDeleteheh
b
Stonehenge On The Columbia River
ReplyDeleteb
*********************
ReplyDeleteIf the economy were a person, here's how I'd describe his travails in recent years.
For far too long, he binged on junk food, with no regard for the impact of such dietary habits on his system. He gorged on sub-prime cuts of real estate and paid for it with cheap credit whose price failed to reflect the damage he was doing to his internal organs.
He visited his doctor, a guy named Greenspan who'd studied medicine with Ayn Rand herself, but the doctor just slapped him on the back and told him he must be fine because he wasn't sick... yet.
Then, on September 15, 2008, he collapsed. He was rushed into intensive care, where eventually, his case was taken over by the medical teams of Obama and Bernanke. Dr. Obama, a cardiologist, applied stimulus to get his heart beating again, while Dr. Bernanke used angioplasty to clear the junk out of his veins so the credit blood could start circulating again.
His recovery was slow -- he'd really messed up his insides. But he was getting better. Then, in the 2010 midterms, the hospital elected a new board that was strongly against such medical interventions as those benefiting our client. They yanked out the stimulus tubes and discharged him.
He was out of the woods, but he wasn't better. His blood is circulating, but not that smoothly, and his heart beat is still below normal. If you watch him even today you see the symptoms of his incomplete treatment: every time he starts to climb the stairs or break into a run, he has to pull himself back and rest for awhile.
The hospital board remains intractable -- if anything, they're busy convincing themselves that it's all the Drs fault, especially that Obama guy (who they claim got his M.D. in Kenya). Dr. Bernanke, who has an independent practice, still sneaks in to see the patient now and again, but there's only so much he can do. It's hard to get the blood circulating if the heart's still beating too slowly.
Eventually, he'll get better, but at this rate it's going to take years. We could reform the health care system, but to do that, we'll need to replace the hospital board.
***********************
Jared Bernstein
Cavemen Loved To Sing, study shows
ReplyDeleteb
Frank Serpico retired on June 15, 1972, one month after receiving the New York City Police Department's highest honor, the Medal of Honor. He went to Switzerland to recuperate and spent almost a decade living there and on a farm in the Netherlands, as well as travelling and studying. When it was decided to make the movie about his life called Serpico, Al Pacino invited Serpico to stay with him at a house that Pacino had rented in Montauk, New York. When Pacino asked why he had stepped forward, Serpico replied:[8]
ReplyDelete“Well, Al, I don't know. I guess I would have to say it would be because ... if I didn't, who would I be when I listened to a piece of music?”
Apple Is Doomed
ReplyDeleteb
Finally --
ReplyDeleteTesticide/Testiclecide/Testicularcide?
What a way to go.
b
Does anyone care about the political views, drinking habits, philandering or the long list of other human foibles of the creator behind the art?
ReplyDeleteNo, of course not. And I don't see any politics in Guernica.
ReplyDeleteWhile the electromechanical vibrator was invented by Dr. Joseph Mortimer Granville in sometime in the late 1800s, a steam-powered vibrator, called “The Manipulator,” was invented in 1869 by American physician George Taylor. According to Dr. Maines, the patient-interface component was about the size of a dining room table, and had a cutout area for a vibrating sphere. And the steam engine that powered the reciprocating motion of the sphere was located in a separate room from the patient
Treating female hysteria in the old days.
Quirk, in the old days, you could have gotten an honest job shoveling coal for "The Manipulator", rather than trying to make it pushing fraudulent products of SoulsRUs
b
Dr. Granville’s electromechanical vibrator was portable but had a wet cell battery that weighed about 40 pounds, in addition to the vibrator itself and the Vibratodes. Still, these early vibrators reduced the time it took to achieve “paroxysm” in female patients from an hour to around five minutes.
DeleteYou see, that's how it goes, and we the same problem here in America right now, I have been reading.
A perfectly good, serviceable device like the coal fired steam generating vibrator, which actually employes at least two, is put out of business by a damnable 'electromagnetic' device that does the whole job in five minutes.
That's really 'souping' it up, but I wonder how the females really felt about the whole process.
They might, don't you know, actually prefer the older more relaxing method, the hour long coal fire desire.
b
.
Delete...the patient-interface component was about the size of a dining room table,...
I didn't bother reading further or checking out the link.
I've already had complaints that my interface component was too large.
.
You don't know what you missed!
DeleteMedical affairs, sexuality, 'hysteria', human inventiveness, the pushing out of good honorable coal shovelers by electricity, the joys and sorrows of our world.
b
I was talking about artists no con-artists.
DeleteBattery-powered vibrators were introduced as a household appliance as early as 1899, according to Dr. Maines, but doctors were still trying to convince patients it was worth $2-$3 a visit to be treated by gigantic “pelvic massage” machines, including The Chattanooga, a massage contraption on wheels that stood about 5 feet tall.
ReplyDeleteAlabama today is the only state in the U.S. to outlaw the sale of sex toys, including vibrators.
It seems parts of the south have regressed, sexually.
Say, if that Chattanooga had been coal fired steam driven, I guess it might have been called The Chattanooga Choo-Choo.
Someone needs to open a vibrator museum
b
Oh my, Picasso as nothing more than Equus?
ReplyDeleteJoseph Campbell, move over.
Speaking of rape -
ReplyDeleteOslo, Norway: 69 percent increase in rapes (76 rapes in 91 days). Share of non-Westerners among 'attack-rapists': 100 percent
b
And In Sweden
DeleteDeport them all now.
Or, at the least, arm all the women.
b
Report From The Therapy Room
DeleteThe answer is deportation.
b
***************************
ReplyDeleteThe banking industry is getting personal in its tireless fight against regulation.
Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase and the industry's regulation-basher in chief, has called for a sit-down next week between the heads of four of the nation's biggest banks -- JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley -- and Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo, the Wall Street Journal is reporting.
The purpose of this friendly get-together will be to express the banks' displeasure about financial regulation, particularly a Fed plan to limit the banks' exposure to derivatives tied to the credit of foreign governments and other banks.
According to the WSJ:
bankers will tell regulators that the rule is based on "unrealistic" standards and could foster "potentially destabilizing" market shifts, according to two draft letters reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
In other words: Nice economy you've got there. Shame if anything should happen to it.
.....
And most of the derivatives exposure at Wednesday's meeting is concentrated in just three banks: JPMorgan -- arguably the most important/dangerous bank in the world and the originator of the whole credit-derivative concept -- along with Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.
.....
Meanwhile, the industry has chipped away steadily at derivatives regulation in quieter ways, trying desperately to keep this massive business as far away from regulation and sunlight as possible.
**************************
Link
Pity there is no reset button for “Government”.
ReplyDeleteHow sweet is this? Edward screws a 101 year old woman so that he can fuck a younger one and a country to boot!
ReplyDeleteGreensboro, North Carolina (CNN) -- A former campaign aide for John Edwards said in court Friday that he had been intimidated in his dealings with the former senator and two high-priced donors.
"I was scared for my life," Andrew Young testified in U.S. District Court in Greensboro, North Carolina. "I was up against two billionaires and a millionaire. I was scared. It was bizarre."
Prosecutors have argued that Edwards broke federal law by accepting about $725,000 from now-101-year-old heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon and more than $200,000 from Fred Baron, a Texas lawyer who has since died.
Young is considered the government's star witness against Edwards, a former Democratic senator and presidential candidate from North Carolina who is accused of using hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to conceal his affair with a campaign videographer without reporting the money to federal authorities.
Edwards is facing six felony charges, including that he accepted illegal campaign donations. He also is charged with conspiracy and making false statements.
ah jeez, it is sweet. There was a Miami Vice episode I recall, with a politician who was exactly like Edwards. Opened with a scene in which they took down a train with a trainload of hookers and donors. heh, Don Johnson says, as the politician is pulling up his pants "Well, he's got my vote!"
Deleteb
300 rapes since 1945...
ReplyDeletehow about this diddie--
In Japan, some victims' support groups estimate that rape cases in Japan amounted to more than 10 times the National Police Agency's official figure of 1,948 last year.
Wow, maybe the Japanese should throw themselves out...
:)
Deleteb
Or the Rape of Nanking
DeleteI was thinking about the Japanese, and some of the Chinese, history when reading through that Danish (?) guy's psychological profile of Muslim immigrants.
DeleteThe Muslims are guilty of the age-old deceit of using religion to validate behavior.
There is also, as has been so throughout the course of human history, the problem of unrestrained male violence. Biology is destiny directly correlates with The Will of Allah/God. The Muslims have it in spades - young men coming out of the woodwork with literally no lives, nothing to embrace ... until the nobility of jihad is handed to them on a platter.
I argue, as does the Danish guy, that appealing to women is key/crucial to 'breaking the cycle of Muslim violence.' Wretchard's crew is scornful of the suggestion that the demographic at the lowest rung of Muslim society can somehow be empowered to constrain male behavior. They could be right. On the individual level, years of abuse are very difficult to counteract, if ever, success being almost fully dependent on an inner will to live free from fear. At the societal level when dealing with centuries of abuse, the suggestion seems almost naive. Beneficence seems more likely to emerge from a slow infiltration of western behavioral codes that speak directly to male compassion as a higher order of situational engagement.
I argue, as does the Danish guy, that appealing to women is key/crucial to 'breaking the cycle of Muslim violence.' Wretchard's crew is scornful of the suggestion that the demographic at the lowest rung of Muslim society can somehow be empowered to constrain male behavior. They could be right.
DeleteRest well, they are wrong and you are right. The first step is taking place in the Arab Spring in the ending of patriarical society. It took 40 years for a profound change in civil rights in the US. I doubt it will take that long in Arabia. The iphone and social media is having a huge impact and the islamic diaspora in the West will see to it.
Blacks in this country have historically been between 10% to 13% of the population and yet civil rights evolved. Credulity would be stretched to think that half of the third world population (slightly more than half world wide I think) can be abused in the absence of rebellion. But the "god's plan" or "will of allah" argument is very strong.
DeleteThere. I worked in a religious angle.
The "god's plan" people are dangerous.
Who the fuck are they to know?
One step at a time.
deuce Rest well, they are wrong and you are right. The first step is taking place in the Arab Spring in the ending of patriarical society. It took 40 years for a profound change in civil rights in the US. I doubt it will take that long in Arabia. The iphone and social media is having a huge impact and the islamic diaspora in the West will see to it.
Deletenonsense.
the islamic world is traveling back in time faster than you can say "cut your clit"
Mr. Deuce. Please provide me with your email in order that I attach to you my book's galley for review and hank you for your enlightening and informative comment - I am a Muslim/Arab feminist born and raised in the UK and I take Women's Rights seriously. I always knew Islam advocated Women's Rights fully and that these rights are indeed completely compatible with the 21st Century and particularly in the West- actually under Islamic Law Muslim women are granted more rights than their Western counterparts. I'm sure Islamic Feminism will go a long way in bringing back these rights that, unfortunately, have been taken away under a patriarchal society. Once again, thank you immensely for this article. May God reward you for your efforts and bless you very much.
DeleteOnly the death of its practitioners will kill the Muslim disease. That comes when the oil runs out.
ReplyDeletethat is a good start
DeleteThat "F-22's Near Iran" story has disappeared from the intertubes. hmmm
ReplyDeleteThings certainly don't sound good in Spain. Unemployment 24%+ and expected to rise.
ReplyDeleteIsn't there any Church land left they can expropriate?
b
DUDE!
ReplyDeleteThis is one of those times I can hardly believe what I am reading. Which seems to be becoming more frequent as time goes by. Who is to chaperone the chaperones?
ChastityRUs?
CelebacyRUs?
"Ethics classes will be conducted for agency employees next week."
EthicsRUs
Definitely should be a private company of some kind.
b
Our 'Leaders' are all coke heads
DeleteSimilar to baboons, wouldn't you know, the 'powerful' become unconcerned about risk, and, oddly enough, the 'intelligence' level is said to rise.
The Murdoch empire and its acolytes seem to have got carried away by the power they have wielded over the British political system and the unfettered power they have had - unconstrained by any democratic constraints - has led to the quite extraordinary behaviour and arrogance that has been corporately demonstrated.
God Bless the Constitution
Term limits now!
b
Ethics can be over-rated.
ReplyDeleteBut good judgment?
Priceless.
.
ReplyDeleteEthics are Over-Rated
.
Well, that was poor judgment on her part, wasn't it?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete.
DeletePerhaps not.
Poor judgment? The word 'poor' can be subjective. To those who find morals to be situational or relative or who sometimes find that ethics are overrated, her stance may appear to display excellent judgement.
The difference between the philosophy of Socrates and Nietzsche, 'virtue' versus 'power', really kind of depends on your world view.
.
I was being provocative on a Saturday night.
DeleteOTOH, institutionalizing a code of ethics almost guarantees a Leona Helmsley-like asymmetrical distribution.
As in the business cite above: "Nice economy you got there. Be a shame if something happened to it."
I understand that whole space now. Pure blackmail.
Then again my world view is hardly relevant.
.
DeleteAnd I like to argue.
However, there wasn't much here to argue about last night.
I knew what you meant from the beginning. That's why I tried to keep the comments 3rd person observation.
Not even a real argument really. Just observations on a theme.
.
You should try public office.
DeleteOr Belmont Club.
Totally insane but some of them can hit the ball pretty straight.
Beneficence seems more likely to emerge from a slow infiltration of western behavioral codes that speak directly to male compassion as a higher order of situational engagement.
ReplyDeleteAlas the guys article indicates that this is unlikely to be so, as a third or second generation moslem is easier to deal with than a first. The attitudes in his experience harden over time.
But, ethics can be over-rated, and good judgement is priceless.
Kick them out or lose your country.
The Netherlands is doomed, I fear.
A wise man is quoted:
"Only the death of its practitioners will kill the Muslim disease."
Death or deportation.
Perhaps they could partition the country.
All these options seemed precluded by this and that, so...a bleak future awaits The Netherlands.
b
Both Ms. Pelosi and House Whip Jim Clyburn indicated sympathy with the complaints, agreeing that the ethics office's operations had resulted in unintended consequences.
ReplyDelete:):)
Surely, this is priceless.
b
Quirk, got another job call, another inside job.
ReplyDeleteNeeded are chaperones for the Secret Service.
Quirk, ah....ah you're not interested. Involves foreign travel.
And a valid passport.
bobbo
Obama sends $192 million to Palestinian Authority against the wishes of Congress.
ReplyDeletePresident Barack Obama has signed a waiver to remove curbs on funding to the Palestinian Authority, declaring the aid to be “important to the security interests of the United States.”
A $192 million aid package was frozen by the US Congress after the Palestinians moved to gain statehood at the United Nations last September.
But in a memo sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, published by the White House, the president said it was appropriate to release funds to the authority, which administers the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
In signing the waiver, Obama instructed Clinton to inform Congress of the move, on the grounds that “waiving such prohibition is important to the national security interests of the United States."
Hot Air
Hamas rejoined PA in February, article says.
So, we are funding Hamas.
b
Alas the guys article indicates that this is unlikely to be so, as a third or second generation moslem is easier to deal with than a first. The attitudes in his experience harden over time.
ReplyDeleteThat should read 'harder to deal with', of course.
time to go to bed
b