Leviathan.Chaosx said: »
Random Politics & Religion #00
Random Politics & Religion #00
Not until I get my blackjack and hookers!
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Cerberus.Pleebo said: »
Leviathan.Chaosx said: »
Are you against the idea because you feel like an effort should be taken not to offend the public?
Personally I don't care.
I leaned against the pledge as to why the locals would be upset.
Do I care why or what gets them upset? No.
But I know that's how people in that area think.
Like I said, if I was in charge of diversity month, I would have 'played it safe' and have them do it in Chinese.
Do I personally feel this way? No.
Do I know how to control the masses and play with their feels? Perhaps.
This sounds like me:
fonewear said: »
This sounds like me:
So do you want to tell me and my partner here where the bodies are? We know they aren't under the floorboards.
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You see you don't want to kill a hooker but sometimes you have to !
Quote:
In Japan, you bow. You don’t try to shake hands, curtsey, lurch for a hug, and bow simultaneously, especially when you tower over the Emperor of Nihon. But hey, FLOTUS gonna do what FLOTUS gonna do:
Michelle Obama has had an awkward start to her visit to Japan as she was pictured towering over Emperor Akihito and stumbling as she tried to bow, shake his hand and curtsey at once.
The First Lady, dressed in a florid combination of a blazer and skirt, dwarfed the Emperor in her silver stilettos, while he maintained his composure and smiled politely. She then squatted slightly while shaking his hand, seemingly trying to disguise the difference of height between them.
Mrs Obama, who is 5ft 9in tall, also caused embarrassment earlier in the day when she grabbed Akie Abe, wife of Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in a hug-and-handshake combination while the Japanese First Lady was trying to bow.
Democrats seems to have an especially tough time in Asia, although let’s not forget the immortal moment when George H.W. Bush hurled on the Japanese prime minister during a state visit.
Excessive physical contact is frowned upon in Japan, and strict traditions govern the practice of bowing. Despite intensive etiquette coaching, successive U.S. officials have famously got it wrong. In 2009, President Barack Obama was was photographed bending to nearly a 90 degree angle when he greeted the Japanese Emperor at the Imperial Palace. His efforts were widely mocked. In another example of over-enthusiastic bowing, the President was pictured bowing to a robot in 2014 while the Japanese people around him remained upright.
In 1994, then-President Bill Clinton went to the other extreme, causing offence by inclining his head and shoulders forward and mysteriously pressing his hands together when he met the Emperor.
Awkwardness and tension underpins much of the First Lady’s visit. Her three-day trip is being described as a ‘makeup call’ after she ‘snubbed’ the Japanese by failing to accompany her husband during his state visit to Japan last year.
What an embarrassment to the United States of America the Obamas are. And to think there’s another two years of this ahead of us:
Michelle Obama has had an awkward start to her visit to Japan as she was pictured towering over Emperor Akihito and stumbling as she tried to bow, shake his hand and curtsey at once.
The First Lady, dressed in a florid combination of a blazer and skirt, dwarfed the Emperor in her silver stilettos, while he maintained his composure and smiled politely. She then squatted slightly while shaking his hand, seemingly trying to disguise the difference of height between them.
Mrs Obama, who is 5ft 9in tall, also caused embarrassment earlier in the day when she grabbed Akie Abe, wife of Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in a hug-and-handshake combination while the Japanese First Lady was trying to bow.
Democrats seems to have an especially tough time in Asia, although let’s not forget the immortal moment when George H.W. Bush hurled on the Japanese prime minister during a state visit.
Excessive physical contact is frowned upon in Japan, and strict traditions govern the practice of bowing. Despite intensive etiquette coaching, successive U.S. officials have famously got it wrong. In 2009, President Barack Obama was was photographed bending to nearly a 90 degree angle when he greeted the Japanese Emperor at the Imperial Palace. His efforts were widely mocked. In another example of over-enthusiastic bowing, the President was pictured bowing to a robot in 2014 while the Japanese people around him remained upright.
In 1994, then-President Bill Clinton went to the other extreme, causing offence by inclining his head and shoulders forward and mysteriously pressing his hands together when he met the Emperor.
Awkwardness and tension underpins much of the First Lady’s visit. Her three-day trip is being described as a ‘makeup call’ after she ‘snubbed’ the Japanese by failing to accompany her husband during his state visit to Japan last year.
What an embarrassment to the United States of America the Obamas are. And to think there’s another two years of this ahead of us:
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I'm picturing Michelle Obama taking a charge in basketball !
YouTube Video Placeholder
Quote:
A North Korean envoy says his country has developed nuclear missiles and is prepared to use them at any time.
North Korean Ambassador to Britain Hyun Hak Bong said in a recent interview with British broadcaster Sky News that his government would use the missiles in response to a nuclear attack by the United States.
Asked whether North Korea has the ability now to launch a nuclear missile, Hyun replied, "Any time. Any time. Yes."
"If the United States strike us we should strike back," he said.
Asked if North Korea would only fire nuclear missiles in retaliation, Hyun replied, "We are a peace-loving people you know. We don't want war but we are not afraid of war. This is our policy of the government."
North Korean Ambassador to Britain Hyun Hak Bong said in a recent interview with British broadcaster Sky News that his government would use the missiles in response to a nuclear attack by the United States.
Asked whether North Korea has the ability now to launch a nuclear missile, Hyun replied, "Any time. Any time. Yes."
"If the United States strike us we should strike back," he said.
Asked if North Korea would only fire nuclear missiles in retaliation, Hyun replied, "We are a peace-loving people you know. We don't want war but we are not afraid of war. This is our policy of the government."
Quote:
An organization for former U.S. prisoners of the Japanese and a Korean-American forum say Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should only be invited to address the U.S. Congress during an expected visit if he acknowledges Japan's World War Two past.
Abe is expected to visit the United States at the end of next month and early May, and Japanese media say he is eager to highlight his trip with an address to both houses of Congress, an honor never before afforded to a Japanese prime minister.
Any invitation is a matter for congressional leaders and Abe cuts a controversial figure, given what critics see as his attempts to water down past statements about the behavior of Japan's Imperial Army in World War Two.
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on a Kyodo news agency report that Abe would, in fact, address a joint session of Congress. The report cited a U.S. legislative source.
The president of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Society, which represents surviving U.S. prisoners of the Japanese, said an address to a joint session of Congress would be "a unique opportunity to acknowledge Japan's historical responsibilities."
However, writing to the Veterans' Committees of both houses on Wednesday, Jan Thompson said past statements by Abe rejecting the verdicts of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal that served as the foundation of the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan "trouble us."
"We want Congress to only extend the invitation to Prime Minister Abe to speak at the podium of Roosevelt and Churchill if they are assured that he will acknowledge that Japan’s defeat released the country from the venom of fascism and the inhuman goals of a criminal regime," his letter said.
A group of Korean Americans placed a full-page advertisement in The Hill, a newspaper covering Congress, on Wednesday saying that Abe should apologize for Japan's war crimes, including to so-called comfort women forced to work in military brothels - many of whom were Korean.
A Japanese foreign ministry spokeswoman declined to comment on the newspaper advertisement but said Abe's Cabinet "upholds the positions outlined by the previous administrations in their entirety," referring to past apologies by former prime ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Tomiichi Murayama as well as a 1993 apology by the then-top government spokesman to “comfort women.”
Representative Gerry Connolly, a Democrat who co-chairs the Korea caucus in Congress, said an invitation to speak does not imply approval of policies.
"I agree with those who have already asserted that the Japanese government led by Mr. Abe ought to recognize in clear definitive words the injustices done in the past," he said.
"But trying to pre-condition, or deny, the Prime Minister of Japan an opportunity to speak to a joint session of Congress, I don't think is the right way to achieve those ends."
Abe is expected to visit the United States at the end of next month and early May, and Japanese media say he is eager to highlight his trip with an address to both houses of Congress, an honor never before afforded to a Japanese prime minister.
Any invitation is a matter for congressional leaders and Abe cuts a controversial figure, given what critics see as his attempts to water down past statements about the behavior of Japan's Imperial Army in World War Two.
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on a Kyodo news agency report that Abe would, in fact, address a joint session of Congress. The report cited a U.S. legislative source.
The president of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Society, which represents surviving U.S. prisoners of the Japanese, said an address to a joint session of Congress would be "a unique opportunity to acknowledge Japan's historical responsibilities."
However, writing to the Veterans' Committees of both houses on Wednesday, Jan Thompson said past statements by Abe rejecting the verdicts of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal that served as the foundation of the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan "trouble us."
"We want Congress to only extend the invitation to Prime Minister Abe to speak at the podium of Roosevelt and Churchill if they are assured that he will acknowledge that Japan’s defeat released the country from the venom of fascism and the inhuman goals of a criminal regime," his letter said.
A group of Korean Americans placed a full-page advertisement in The Hill, a newspaper covering Congress, on Wednesday saying that Abe should apologize for Japan's war crimes, including to so-called comfort women forced to work in military brothels - many of whom were Korean.
A Japanese foreign ministry spokeswoman declined to comment on the newspaper advertisement but said Abe's Cabinet "upholds the positions outlined by the previous administrations in their entirety," referring to past apologies by former prime ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Tomiichi Murayama as well as a 1993 apology by the then-top government spokesman to “comfort women.”
Representative Gerry Connolly, a Democrat who co-chairs the Korea caucus in Congress, said an invitation to speak does not imply approval of policies.
"I agree with those who have already asserted that the Japanese government led by Mr. Abe ought to recognize in clear definitive words the injustices done in the past," he said.
"But trying to pre-condition, or deny, the Prime Minister of Japan an opportunity to speak to a joint session of Congress, I don't think is the right way to achieve those ends."
I've been to North Korea turns out a lot of people still play FFXI there.
fonewear said: »
I've been to North Korea turns out a lot of people still play FFXI there.
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Japan, Italy, & Germany should team up & wipe out ISIS.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/joe-biden-media-116240.html?hp=lc3_4#.VQyjNuGLVQI
TLDR: Joe Biden something something
Cause there aren't enough Joe Biden topics:
The perfect marker that the press doesn’t take Joe Biden seriously as a potential presidential candidate came earlier this month when he addressed members of the firefighters union, comparing labor’s foes to “blackshirts,” “intent on breaking” unions.
The blackshirts, for the historically challenged, were Benito Mussolini's fascist shock troops who, during El Duce’s climb to power, were dispatched against his many foes, including trade unionists, often with murderous results. Ordinarily, the press would slobber at the sound of a sitting vice president comparing his political opponents to armed violent fascists. Yet with the exception of coverage in Politico, a Washington Post blog, Commentary and in a CNN.com item, Biden’s political provocation drew slim attention. The near-universal newsroom response seems to have been, It’s only Uncle Joe going off again.
Biden gets a pass from reporters, but why? Vice President Dan Quayle, equally prone to the loopy comment and awkward gesture, and similarly a heartbeat away from the Oval Office, was punished for his gaffes. My colleague Timothy Noah grappled with this double standard three years ago, deciding that Biden gets the breaks Quayle didn’t because journalists understand that Biden is “not a stupid man. He’s a smart man who often says stupid things.”
Whatever the excuse for this benign neglect, the Biden zone deserves better reportage. He’s still closer to becoming our next president than Hillary Clinton is should death, incapacity or some weird political fate claim Barack Obama. He’s also closer to becoming the next Democratic Party presidential candidate than anybody else should something happen to Clinton (even if all it is is a change of heart about whether she wants to go through the grueling circus that her campaign will most assuredly be). In her news conference about her unorthodox email practices, Clinton did not wear the face of an invincible candidate but that of a dissembling adolescent. She probably can’t be denied the nomination, but if anything can happen in the next 600 days, one of those things could be Joe Biden. Despite not having completed any of the scut work required of a presidential campaign, he remains—by default—his party’s Plan B should Clinton crack up.
No matter what the odds are of a Clinton crackup, no party can afford to bank so completely on a single candidate this far out—especially a candidate who is not an incumbent, a candidate who hates campaigning and is terrible at it, a candidate who distinguished herself neither as a secretary of state nor as a U.S. senator, a candidate who makes Vladimir Putin look cuddly. The Hillary Clinton market could be a bubble, needing only a brush from a journalist’s lance to burst it, which would leave Biden the primary beneficiary.
And bursting the Clinton bubble is exactly what the press corps has set out to do. In a recent blog post, scholar Jonathan Ladd cites the work of John Zaller to explain how the natural laws that govern media are currently working against Clinton. The press obeys the “rule of anticipated importance” (to pinch Zaller’s phrase) in its campaign coverage, Ladd writes,
… in which a politician receives media scrutiny in proportion to his or her future importance in American politics. Thus, the fact that Clinton has no remotely threatening challenger for the Democratic nomination hurts her. There is little journalistic glory in uncovering wrongdoing by a presidential candidate who will lose the nomination regardless. More readership and professional accolades come from critiquing a candidate who is likely to win the nomination and maybe the general election.
Inside newsrooms, only minor glory awaits a reporter who dings a third- or fourth-tier presidential candidate. There’s probably not a reporter in Washington eagerly digging for the scandal that would sink Martin O’Malley’s presidential aspirations, nor is there likely any reporter staking out Rick Santorum’s meetings in the hopes of uncovering the next Watergate. Even a trained opposition researcher would yawn if word leaked out that George Pataki had run his own email server as governor of New York.
Editors want their reporters to chase big game, and long before the email battle was joined, Clinton’s overwhelming future importance made them desperate for her hide. The email server controversy and her stumbling response to it has only sharpened the collective press corps hunger. To collect the Clinton trophy, reporters need not uncover the sort of dirt that denies her the nomination, just the dirt that sours enough voters in the general election and denies her a majority in the Electoral College. What Hillary scandal could, for instance, turn 537 voters in Florida?
A slave to the rule of anticipated importance, the press corps has allowed its Clinton obsession to work to Biden’s advantage, keeping the media’s high-beam off his noncampaign and noncandidacy. Yet when the press talks about a Biden for President campaign, it’s usually presented as conjecture or as a way to sharpen the Clinton candidacy. At Slate, Jamelle Bouie takes the latter position, holding that Biden has an obligation to lace up his shoes and run for president because Clinton needs a pace-setter to guide her through the primaries and leave her fit enough to cross the November 2016 finish line as the victor.
I’m not suggesting that the press dismantle its Clinton hunting party, only prodding editors to peel off a few journalists to maintain a closer vigil on Uncle Joe. Remember, he has been running for president off and on since 1988. As Glenn Thrush noted in 2014, while Biden still longs to be elected president, he’s realistic enough to know that running against Clinton would be futile. But does anyone doubt that the second a real opening appeared, Biden would eagerly drive a Pontiac Trans Am right into the race? With the surplus of unemployed Democratic campaign talent out there, Biden could assemble a turnkey presidential campaign faster than any other candidate. Plus, the bully pulpit of the vice presidency is at his disposal. Who among Hillary Clinton’s prospective rivals in the Democratic Party enjoys Biden’s name recognition?
So a word of unsolicited advice to political editors everywhere: Cover Biden as if he’s running. In his mind, he never stopped.
TLDR: Joe Biden something something
Cause there aren't enough Joe Biden topics:
The perfect marker that the press doesn’t take Joe Biden seriously as a potential presidential candidate came earlier this month when he addressed members of the firefighters union, comparing labor’s foes to “blackshirts,” “intent on breaking” unions.
The blackshirts, for the historically challenged, were Benito Mussolini's fascist shock troops who, during El Duce’s climb to power, were dispatched against his many foes, including trade unionists, often with murderous results. Ordinarily, the press would slobber at the sound of a sitting vice president comparing his political opponents to armed violent fascists. Yet with the exception of coverage in Politico, a Washington Post blog, Commentary and in a CNN.com item, Biden’s political provocation drew slim attention. The near-universal newsroom response seems to have been, It’s only Uncle Joe going off again.
Biden gets a pass from reporters, but why? Vice President Dan Quayle, equally prone to the loopy comment and awkward gesture, and similarly a heartbeat away from the Oval Office, was punished for his gaffes. My colleague Timothy Noah grappled with this double standard three years ago, deciding that Biden gets the breaks Quayle didn’t because journalists understand that Biden is “not a stupid man. He’s a smart man who often says stupid things.”
Whatever the excuse for this benign neglect, the Biden zone deserves better reportage. He’s still closer to becoming our next president than Hillary Clinton is should death, incapacity or some weird political fate claim Barack Obama. He’s also closer to becoming the next Democratic Party presidential candidate than anybody else should something happen to Clinton (even if all it is is a change of heart about whether she wants to go through the grueling circus that her campaign will most assuredly be). In her news conference about her unorthodox email practices, Clinton did not wear the face of an invincible candidate but that of a dissembling adolescent. She probably can’t be denied the nomination, but if anything can happen in the next 600 days, one of those things could be Joe Biden. Despite not having completed any of the scut work required of a presidential campaign, he remains—by default—his party’s Plan B should Clinton crack up.
No matter what the odds are of a Clinton crackup, no party can afford to bank so completely on a single candidate this far out—especially a candidate who is not an incumbent, a candidate who hates campaigning and is terrible at it, a candidate who distinguished herself neither as a secretary of state nor as a U.S. senator, a candidate who makes Vladimir Putin look cuddly. The Hillary Clinton market could be a bubble, needing only a brush from a journalist’s lance to burst it, which would leave Biden the primary beneficiary.
And bursting the Clinton bubble is exactly what the press corps has set out to do. In a recent blog post, scholar Jonathan Ladd cites the work of John Zaller to explain how the natural laws that govern media are currently working against Clinton. The press obeys the “rule of anticipated importance” (to pinch Zaller’s phrase) in its campaign coverage, Ladd writes,
… in which a politician receives media scrutiny in proportion to his or her future importance in American politics. Thus, the fact that Clinton has no remotely threatening challenger for the Democratic nomination hurts her. There is little journalistic glory in uncovering wrongdoing by a presidential candidate who will lose the nomination regardless. More readership and professional accolades come from critiquing a candidate who is likely to win the nomination and maybe the general election.
Inside newsrooms, only minor glory awaits a reporter who dings a third- or fourth-tier presidential candidate. There’s probably not a reporter in Washington eagerly digging for the scandal that would sink Martin O’Malley’s presidential aspirations, nor is there likely any reporter staking out Rick Santorum’s meetings in the hopes of uncovering the next Watergate. Even a trained opposition researcher would yawn if word leaked out that George Pataki had run his own email server as governor of New York.
Editors want their reporters to chase big game, and long before the email battle was joined, Clinton’s overwhelming future importance made them desperate for her hide. The email server controversy and her stumbling response to it has only sharpened the collective press corps hunger. To collect the Clinton trophy, reporters need not uncover the sort of dirt that denies her the nomination, just the dirt that sours enough voters in the general election and denies her a majority in the Electoral College. What Hillary scandal could, for instance, turn 537 voters in Florida?
A slave to the rule of anticipated importance, the press corps has allowed its Clinton obsession to work to Biden’s advantage, keeping the media’s high-beam off his noncampaign and noncandidacy. Yet when the press talks about a Biden for President campaign, it’s usually presented as conjecture or as a way to sharpen the Clinton candidacy. At Slate, Jamelle Bouie takes the latter position, holding that Biden has an obligation to lace up his shoes and run for president because Clinton needs a pace-setter to guide her through the primaries and leave her fit enough to cross the November 2016 finish line as the victor.
I’m not suggesting that the press dismantle its Clinton hunting party, only prodding editors to peel off a few journalists to maintain a closer vigil on Uncle Joe. Remember, he has been running for president off and on since 1988. As Glenn Thrush noted in 2014, while Biden still longs to be elected president, he’s realistic enough to know that running against Clinton would be futile. But does anyone doubt that the second a real opening appeared, Biden would eagerly drive a Pontiac Trans Am right into the race? With the surplus of unemployed Democratic campaign talent out there, Biden could assemble a turnkey presidential campaign faster than any other candidate. Plus, the bully pulpit of the vice presidency is at his disposal. Who among Hillary Clinton’s prospective rivals in the Democratic Party enjoys Biden’s name recognition?
So a word of unsolicited advice to political editors everywhere: Cover Biden as if he’s running. In his mind, he never stopped.
Yea why anyone would write more than one sentence about Joe Biden...must be a slow news day !
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Siren.Mosin said: »
Japan, Italy, & Germany should team up & wipe out ISIS.
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Valefor.Sehachan said: »
That's cause you think we actually have a real army with real weapons. Liechtenstein could wage war tommorrow and we'd lose.
well get on it for god sakes. you'll never redeem yourselves at this rate.
Been a while since I've been a feminist so here goes:
fonewear said: »
Yea why anyone would write more than one sentence about Joe Biden...must be a slow news day !
I think I remember that Boe Jiden guy. Isn't he the dude that made a guest appearance in an episode of Parks & Rec?
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I'm happy to report that by standing in the snow I ended rape culture. It was a long day but it was worth it !
Biden is the name of that puppet Jeff Dunham uses, obviously.
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fonewear said: »
Been a while since I've been a feminist so here goes:
One of these things isn't like the others!
One of these things is a man!
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Bloodrose said: »
One of these things is a man!
I'd like to hope the set-up is enough to give it away, but just to be clear: women.
Curiously, the data on this goes back at least 20 years, too.
Shiva.Onorgul said: »
Bloodrose said: »
One of these things is a man!
I'd like to hope the set-up is enough to give it away, but just to be clear: women.
Curiously, the data on this goes back at least 20 years, too.
It's also interesting to know that women are only most often the victims of rape when you exclude prison rape. With those numbers included, men are far more likely to be raped, although, men are still the aggressor in that situation.
Siren.Mosin said: »
Japan, Italy, & Germany should team up & wipe out ISIS.
Crisis solved?
[+]
A rare weekend post from me! But I think this is worth sharing.
Princeton Study: U.S. No Longer An Actual Democracy
Princeton Study: U.S. No Longer An Actual Democracy
Quote:
A new study from Princeton spells bad news for American democracy—namely, that it no longer exists.
Asking "[w]ho really rules?" researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page argue that over the past few decades America's political system has slowly transformed from a democracy into an oligarchy, where wealthy elites wield most power.
Using data drawn from over 1,800 different policy initiatives from 1981 to 2002, the two conclude that rich, well-connected individuals on the political scene now steer the direction of the country, regardless of or even against the will of the majority of voters.
Asking "[w]ho really rules?" researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page argue that over the past few decades America's political system has slowly transformed from a democracy into an oligarchy, where wealthy elites wield most power.
Using data drawn from over 1,800 different policy initiatives from 1981 to 2002, the two conclude that rich, well-connected individuals on the political scene now steer the direction of the country, regardless of or even against the will of the majority of voters.
That should have been posted in the "This is News?!" thread.
I mean, shouldn't it be pretty obvious that policy is going to go to the direction with the loudest voice?
Name me one policy that the 50th percentile or lower can agree on. Besides the obvious "give me more money," which they already get (they receive more in refundable tax credits than they pay in, even in payroll taxes).
I mean, shouldn't it be pretty obvious that policy is going to go to the direction with the loudest voice?
Name me one policy that the 50th percentile or lower can agree on. Besides the obvious "give me more money," which they already get (they receive more in refundable tax credits than they pay in, even in payroll taxes).
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