Far East Cynic

And this is the present I really, really, want:

This should come as a shock to most men. (NOT!)

Stephen Walt explores how low the Cheney’s and those who support them have gone:

When I got out of the shower this morning, my wife was waking up to NPR. Her first comment to me was this: “I never thought I would hear an NPR reporter say those words.” What had she just heard?  A report that the Obama administration was “under fire” for defending the rights of terrorist suspects.

She wasn’t complaining about NPR’s coverage, mind you, she was commenting on the bizarre situation where anyone — let alone a president and his administration — could be “under fire” for defending a core principle of the American justice system. The Founding Fathers would be spinning in their graves, about as fast as a nuclear centrifuge. They understood the dangers of giving executives arbitrary authority to arrest, detain, coerce, and try suspects (i.e., those whom authorities think might have committed a crime but whose guilt has not yet been determined). So suspects — all suspects — are accorded certain legal rights.

If we can’t live by what we value as a nation-then we are no better than those we oppose.

Lex and others have taken a great deal of pride in flashing this picture around-and then with a certain amount of snarkiness proclaiming how great it was under George W. Bush. Sad to see how short peoples memories really are:

Let’s just say for argument’s sake-Barak Obama is really the worst President since Millard Filmore-which is not a premise I am willing to postulate just yet-it does not automatically follow that George W. Bush is somehow now a good President.

The better conclusion to come to is that because George W. Bush was such a bad President, and the average American voter so ignorant, that it enabled the conditions that led to the election of Barak Obama in 2008. And may, in turn, lead to the election of someone equally reprehensible in 2012.

The question voters should be asking is NOT “do you miss George Bush?”. No, the question we all should be asking ourselves is: what is so wrong with the American poltical system that really qualified candidates-smart people with real solutions, not stupid platitudes-cannot get nominated,  much less elected?

The only thing that might even make me even a little bit nostalgic for the Bush years was that I was not living in this country for them-I was on the right side of the International Date Line and not having to experience American craziness first hand. But for those who were here-they would be well advised to remember a few facts:

George Bush did two fundamental things-that when taken together-are practically unforgivable. He started the war in Iraq, while still fighting a war in Afghanistan, and he cut taxes at exactly the same time. Individually, the former remains reprehensible, while the latter might have been commendable-but not when the country is fighting a war with out end. Combined that with an economic policy that favored the wealthiest corporations over the average working man-perpetuating the policies that created the housing bust, and the 2008 economic implosion- its hard to call his term in office a rousing success. Even conservatives should be furious with him,  Bush did very little to advance  their agenda.

The number that matters to me though: 5000 dead, 30000+ wounded, in a totally avoidable war of choice, that did NOTHING-I repeat NOTHING-to advance the interests of the United States in the Middle East. In fact if anything,  it made our lives that much harder in that end of the world.  And as some really qualifed writers have pointed out-has bought us nothing that we intended for Iraq. ( Newsweek has it totally wrong, there has been no “victory” in Iraq-just more of the same old Arab stupidity).

 The Bush administration was defined by two things—ruthless partisanship and an iron commitment to presidential power. In his first term Mr Bush pushed through a conservative agenda of huge tax cuts and a war against Iraq despite the fact that he had the narrowest of mandates. In his re-election bid in 2004 he relied on supercharging the conservative base rather than reaching out to middle-of-the-road voters.

And that just about sums up old GWB. His incuriousity and anti intellectualism created a space in which the Sarah Palin’s of the world somehow managed to become credible party leaders. That certainly did the Republican party -or the country-no favors.

It is perfectly possible to loathe Bush without loving Obama-its very easy in fact. It is also not “hatred” to point that out. Sorry Lex.

A year ago The Economist ( a real newsmagazine) reminded it’s readers:

ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE was so enthralled by the nine months he spent in the United States in 1831 that he wrote two fat volumes about the country. He admired the vigour of its democratic institutions and the entrepreneurial spirit of its people, which was rapidly transforming a vast wilderness into a polished civilisation. And he approved of the way that the country’s potential vices were moderated by its commonplace virtues, particularly its civic pride and religious observance. The proud French aristocrat was happy to call himself “half Yankee”.

But in the 1840s and 1850s de Tocqueville’s views on America took a darker turn, as a new collection of his writings makes clear. (“Tocqueville on America After 1840: Letters and Other Writings”). Public life was dominated by people who lacked “moderation, sometimes probity, above all education”. America’s sense of “exaggerated pride in its strength” was promoting military adventurism. “Primitivism” stalked the land. “What is certain is that, for some years, you have strangely abused the advantages given to you by God,” he chided.

Sound familar?

If you want to miss something-how about grieving for the two words that best describe the first decade of  America’s 21’st century: Squandered Opportunity.

This blog is now I-phone friendly. (Should work on an Android too).

1) The show is too long-especially since the S.O. has to watch the “runway stuff”.

2) Speaking of the runway-no one ever obsesses over the tuxes the guys wear. Reason 456 why its great to be a guy. Then again-most actors at the awards don’t have a great rack to show off:

3) I have no idea what the “politics” were in Monique’s acceptance speech. The S.O. said, and I quote, something to with being ”ridiculously fat”. ( True story-she used those very words. Compassion is not her strong suit………….).

4) I know nothing about most of the movies nominated. With the exception of Up in the Air and UP-I have not seen any of them.  The fact that Ponyo was not nominated for best animated film is a disgrace-I liked Up a lot, but, after having watched it a couple of times, I think its a bit overrated. And Miyazaki’s films are always better in terms of overall animation. They are just spectacular. Ponyo was one of the best reviewed films of 2009. Does highly positive critical reception account for nothing? It would appear so.  I can only assume it either has to do with the fact that Miyazaki is Japanese and already has an Oscar-or it has to do with the fact that Ponyo is really  animated (100% hand drawn) and doesn’t have the CGI glitz that the Academy must be in love with. No matter what-not nominating Ponyo is real crime.

5) If you really want to know something about the Academy Awards-go ask Spike. He knows a lot more about movies than most people will ever hope too. His picks and reasoning behind them are pretty good.

6) Finally, we can’t even get to our own moon again. How the hell are we going to get to Pandora?

After a busy-but definitely interesting week!

Cleaning up the post-ex things now. Travel vouchers, reports, and otherwised justifying the expense of your tax dollars. Thanks to the American taxpayer for feeding my travel bug-I’ll be requesting another installment next week-thank you very much.

In the mean time-I think its important for you take a look at why it matters. Read the whole thing here:

As the fierce debate on President Obama’s plan for health care reform comes to a head, Americans should be thinking carefully about what happens if Congress fails to enact legislation. Are they really satisfied with the status quo? And is the status quo really sustainable?

HOW REFORM WOULD WORK: … Under the new system, all people would be required to have health insurance or pay a penalty. If you are poor or middle class you would also get significant help through Medicaid coverage or tax credits to pay the premiums.

The legislation would create exchanges on which small businesses and people who buy their own coverage directly from insurers could choose from an array of private plans that would compete for their business. It would also require insurance companies to accept all applicants, even those with a pre-existing condition. And it would make a start at reforming the medical care system to improve quality and lower costs.

46 MILLION AND RISING: If nothing is done, the number of uninsured people — 46 million in 2008 — is sure to spike upward as rising medical costs and soaring premiums make policies less affordable and employers continue to drop coverage to save money.
…

It should be no surprise that people without insurance often postpone needed care, and many get much sicker as a result. That is morally unsustainable. It is also fiscally unsustainable for safety net hospitals — which foist much of the cost on the American taxpayer when the uninsured end up in the emergency room. As the number of uninsured rises, that bill will rise.

The Senate’s reform bill would reduce the number of uninsured by an estimated 31 million in 2019. The Republicans’ paltry proposals would cut the number by only three million.

BUT I HAVE INSURANCE: While most Americans have insurance, many pay exorbitant rates because they have no bargaining power with insurers. That includes many of the tens of millions who buy their own insurance — the unemployed, the self-employed, and those whose employers do not offer insurance…
…

BUT I LIKE MY INSURANCE: Most Americans get their insurance through large companies, with large group bargaining power. While they complain about premiums and paperwork, most seem satisfied with their coverage…

For this group, the real advantage of reform is security. If they get laid off, decide to be self-employed or switch to a smaller employer that offers no insurance, they will still be guaranteed coverage — even if they are a cancer survivor or have heart trouble or any other pre-existing condition. And they will be able to buy insurance on the exchanges.

I’M JUST WORRIED ABOUT COSTS: You should be. The cost of medical care is rising far faster than wages or inflation… Many reforms that people instinctively believe should cut costs — computerization of medical records, paying doctors for quality not quantity of services, and prevention programs to promote healthy living and head off costly illnesses — cannot yet be shown to lower costs.

Pending reform legislation, specifically the Senate bill, would launch an array of pilot projects to test reforms in delivering and paying for care. It would also create a special board to accelerate the adoption of anything that seemed to work. That seems a reasonable way to go and a lot better than standing by as costs continue to spiral out of control. The Republicans’ proposals — including their call to cap malpractice awards — would make only a small dent in the problem.

WHAT ABOUT THE DEFICIT?: Republican critics of health care reform have done an especially good job of frightening Americans with their talk of bankrupting the Treasury. The truth of the matter is that the pending reform legislation has been designed to generate enough revenue and savings to more than offset the substantial cost of expanding Medicaid and providing subsidies to the middle class.
…

Any change as big as this is bound to cause anxiety. Republicans have happily fanned those fears with talk of “dangerous experiments” on the “best health care system in the world.” The fact is that the health care system is broken for far too many Americans. And the country cannot afford the status quo.

Too bad my shit-head stupid Congressional Representative cannot realize that as he caters to his teabagging friends. I’m wish them the joy of their stupidity while it lasts.

Parker I will be writing you another letter tonight-you won’t like it better than the first one. And, yes, I will use the F-word again.

This week has been busy-as mentioned before. When I get back to the room-not quite in the mood for anything but laying on the bed channel surfing. So I’m taking the easy way out and reposting a post I liked-especially in light of the recent budget annoucement. The President is making a huge mistake cutting NASA funding-hell we could fully fund NASA for just a fraction of what the Iraq war costs. Enjoy:
I watched 2010 on TV tonight. Seeing it on Turner Classic movies makes me feel old. Its a good movie in my opinion, especially the way they melded the story together and tried to stay true to Arthur C. Clarke’s work. The entire series is worth the read if you get the inclination. (2001 A Space Odyssey, 2010, 2061, 3001). However sitting here in 2006 knowing that manned spaceflight is stuck seemingly forever in near Earth orbit, makes watching the imagined tale of a joint US-Russian mission to Jupiter very frustrating.

If I were king of the world, the US would have gone back to the moon at least once a year, every year since 1969. We would have had a space station up long before now. There would by this time at least be the preparations in place for a manned mission to Mars. NASA would have a much larger budget, that is for sure.

What is that you say? We cannot afford a large space budget. Maybe.
However how is it we can afford 87 billion every six months or so to poor down a sinkhole in Iraq, but we cannot afford 20 or so billion to advance human knowledge and improve man’s technology? Just about all of the modern technology we now take for granted had its start in the space program. It gave the nation a sense of purpose, plus it was awesome to know that the US had planted an American flag on the moon……..and the Russians had not.

Instead we simply tinker with the ISS……and hear people complain about doing even that. Me I long for the days of yesteryear when Alan Shepard hit a 7 iron on the moon and Neil Armstrong was out taking big steps for mankind. If the world can afford to go to war again and again, it must be able to afford some dollars for space.

We now return you to the war in (Lebanon, Iraq, Sudan, ……fill in the blank).

What might have been………

My work here in Virginia has been very busy. Up at six-not back to the room till after dark. Dinner, phone calls and a combat nap-and the time just whisks by………….

So today-because it was so depressing, in the realization that for most people here, this is the only existence they dream of-I spent a lot of time thinking about the place I talked about in this post from 2007. I think its worth repeating:

And a lunch time restaurant recommendation for Spike!

On Saturday the S.O. and I sent out for Tokyo. She had tickets for an exhibition in Ginza. It was the perfect antidote for having 2 days rained out by the typhoon. I insisted though that we take the trains through Shibuya so we could walk around a bit, then change over to the Ginza subway line. After some negotiating-she agreed. Follow me!

Normally, the S.O. avoids Shibuya like the plague-she says its too crowded and the stores are too expensive. Now it is crowded all the time, but that is the fun part-for me. Oh the stories I could tell from my first couple of years over here!

So could the S.O. apparently. Now she denies it vehemently, but she has let it slip more than a couple of times that in younger days: her short skirt wrapped legs and pointy toed, high heel shoe wearing feet traversed Shibuya crossing and a few of the back streets to the good clubs………….

In one of God’s little ironies, I’ve never got to see the mini-skirt part-sigh. Here by the way is a picture of Shibuya crossing at night-I’m not kidding about the crowds. This scene, by the way,  is a familar one from the movie “Lost in Translation”:

What makes it so interesting is the people. All kinds of people. Walking through the station-riding on the train-moving through the streets. The girls: young and not so young are always a treat. Name a fashion trend in Japan and you will see it here. Shopping, shopping, and sending messages on their cell phones. On the train up I was lucky enough to get a seat, so while I was reading my book-I kept glancing over at the girl (woman really) wearing a blue silk dress. Not exactly young any more, but not over the hill either, she kept glancing pensively at her watch. Late for a date? A wedding? A one afternoon stand? Who knows-but there was a story there-if only I could have followed her to figure it out. That kind of thing is repeated in Shibuya 1000 fold.

We of course stopped at Hachiko’s statue. Hachiko as many know, was the Akita dog who waited faithfully for his master at Shibuay station for 9 years-even though his owner, one Professor Ueno has passed away in 1925. The statue is the pooch’s monument. Its also THE place to meet your date. Ergo, it too makes for some great girl people watching. Rumor has it that Richard Gere wants to make a movie about this story-I’m not sure how you turn it into a 90 minute screen play, but hey, if they can do it for a Disneyland ride-they can do it for the dog!

My tactic to get the S.O. down there was one of pure greed. The TV show she watched on Mondays always runs a bit about good inexpensive restaurants. She had seen the TV bit about Shibuya Dining pun-raku. ???? They a Japanese tabehodai ( or all you can eat for a set period of time-this case its 30 minutes) from 10:30-3:00pm. Last customer is seated at 2:30. Its only 980 yen-which is cheap for a place that gives you that much food. Considering Shibuya prices-its a good deal. The buffet is a mix of Japanese salads, soba, chiken, fish and curry-coupled with Miso soup. rice and Japanese pickles. All I can say is we got our money’s worth.

So Spike, ( or anyone else for that matter) if you want a good inexpensive lunch during your sojourn in Tokyo this week. Head across the street from Shibuya station, Hachiko exit, to the Tsutaya building. Its the one with the REALLY big Starbucks sign and Starbucks inside. Tsutaya is a book and CD/DVD store and to get to the restaurant you will need to meander through the first 6 floors by escalator then take the elevator up to the 8th floor and the restaurant. I suspect its like a casino, they designed it so you have to pass all the good stuff including all the books on the 6th floor. (There is an elevator that goes straight up on the back side of the store-but where is the fun in that?). You will probably have to wait a while-they have been having a lot of business since the TV program. That’s ok-lots of people to watch while you wait.

And if you are lucky you will get seated like we did, next to two guys with Sumo wanna be haircuts and by my count at least 11 studs in their ears and face. ( No lie, the one guy had four on each ear, one through his bottom lip, and one on his nose. I did not look to see if there was one on the tongue as well…..I don’t want to know.) On the other side were two young girls. One of them at the end of the meal, while straightening her skirt and tugging on her blouse, broke out the big mirror and the whole make up kit-right there at the table. After which she proceeding to type on her phone intently.

It was all downhill from there. Over in Ginza we went to an art exhibition in the Matsuya store-the S.O. got free tickets from her credit card company. It was a display of fabric art and dolls. I think I was literally the only man there. Which would have been nice-except its not young ladies who are at the things. It was Oba san central.

It was a day out though-and those are never bad. I can’t wait to go back!

Dilbert kind of sums up mine………

And now, its off to catch a plane! I have the kind of month I like for this next month anyway-week gone, one week home, one week gone, repeat for two more cycles. Too bad its all domestic travel however.

Later, let me tell you about “The hunt for Lady Gaga!”

Stay tuned.

Ole Miss says the force is with them:

Ole Miss is in the middle of a movement to replace their old mascot — Colonel Reb — after the school decided they wanted to update their image.

Several pro-Ackbar websites have recently emerged — making the Admiral the heavy favorite. The University tells us the decision on the mascot is entirely in the hands of the student mascot committee. The University will hold a vote in the near future — we’ll keep you updated.

Read more here.

The S.O. was watching the Ski aerials tonight. And bitching about how many Chinese competitors there were were. I have to admit I was more than a little annoyed when the Chinese women won the short track-on a technicality and the Americans were forced to finish third.

Of course the S.O. can’t stop talking about Mao-chan. I have to admit she did really well-but I still think the Korean girl is probably going to clean her clock tomorrow night. ( The video of her performance was the top ranked You Tube video in Japan).

Speaking of diversions, I finally got a look at Kirsten Dunst video shot in Akihabara last year. I’ve been to that very street and am dying to go back again. (Warning-NFSW anime!):

On days like today-I wish I was (re) turning Japanese!

UPDATE! The cocksuckers people at You Tube have taken down two different versions of this video. Bastards!

Naval leadership casts the last vestige of its manhood down the toilet. Unsurprising, but disgusting  nonetheless:

The Pentagon on Monday notified Congress that women will be able to join submarine crews within 30 legislative working days, making good on the wishes of top Navy commanders announced last fall.

As required by law, Defense Secretary Robert Gates sent a letter to legislative leaders announcing the Navy’s plan to lift its ban on female submariners, giving the House and Senate time to absorb the decision and, if members want, to take action. Congress can pass a law forbidding integration, requiring the Navy to wait or perform a study. If it does nothing, as expected, the ban will expire around the end of April.

Reason number 327 why I am glad I came of age when I did. Serving in all male units was an honor and a privilege-and a lot more fun. Sorry if that bothers some women readers-sue me. There is an order to the universe and women on subs is not in it.

Nonetheless, it will be interesting to watch this all play out. We have seen this script before:

1) First women in submarine training will not be allowed to flunk out.

2) Surface warfare LCDR’s will be persuaded, cajoled, and offered bonuses to change designators. They will be rushed through submarine training and then assigned as department heads on SSBN’s.  No such late transition opportunities will exist for male officers.

3) Three years later, to the day, these same women LCDR’s will make Commander and a couple of them will be screened for command. Great hoopla and fanfare will accompany this announcement. Hordes of VIP’s will show up for the change of command and it will cited as the greatest thing since sliced bread. The Navy diversity industry will kick into high gear-and have ads showing ( a nice looking) woman at the periscope and on the bridge of a submarine.

4) Well before then-several cases of fraternization and rampant sexual activity on and off the boat will make the pages of Navy Times.  The question in the editorial pages, “So its ok for a man to suck a man’s dick, but not to have sex with a woman?” will be buried by the editors.

5) Seven years after first women make Submarine CO, first female ( and hopefully African American and lesbian) woman submariner will be selected for flag. Several well deserving men who worked 24-27 years for the same chance will retire due to non-selection.

6) USS (Fill in the blank name of Virginia class submarine) runs aground entering Hampton Roads harbor. Woman CO is relieved for cause, then re-assigned to command (fill in the blank for out of the way Naval Station).  Male counterpart fired for failing an Operational Reactor Safeguards exam is forcibly retired 3 months after being fired.  “A great victory for equality”

Repeat.

Welcome to the brave new world. You can have it!

Today was simply a glorious day weather-wise. The day was beautiful and temperatures where in the high 50’s. As a result I persuaded the S.O. that golf was in order today. For both of us not having played in four months-we actually did pretty well.

However, to engineer that little feat-I had to pay the piper up front. ( Too bad she never seems to grasp that concept in reverse -e.g. if you want the nice earrings maybe some sexual yoga might be in order……). Accordingly, we had to get all errands done on Saturday and that included a stop at, where else but Costco.

We bought the foodstuffs we needed and re-stocked some basic wines ( a subsequent stop being the store where the good wines are sold) and then, as fate would have it, I cam across this little gem in the DVD section.

As I looked at the box-and quickly discovered that it had every issue of National Geographic on six CD-ROM’s all for the low price of 32 dollars-well, I said to heck with it and tossed in in the cart. The S.O. gave me the raised eyebrow treatment-as in “what do we need this for?”- to which I responded that this was not up for negotiation, unless she was paying for the purchases today or would otherwise find a way to make not buying it worth my while. Of course she was disinclined to the latter option    , so home with us it went.

Its worth every penny. Once you load that software that comes on disk one-here are a few of the things it will allow you to do. It allows you to search by year in a very easy graphical format:

It also allows you to look at the various covers-month by month:

Now I might add-that this particular edition of the National Geographic (February of 1965) probably set me off on going to the Navy-as I can remember reading it at my grandmother’s house, where she had stacks and stacks of National Geographics on the shelves of her book cases. When ever we went down there in the months of 1966 and 1967-as a young boy of nine and 10, I can recall reading with awe about Operation Sea Orbit:

It is fascinating history. The program is very easy to navigate-and lets you see the pages of the magazine full sized on your computer monitor just as they looked in the magazine:

It has very easy to use search functions-like this search I conducted on “US Navy”:

You can zoom in on particular pictures and look closer at details. Take a look at what Hong Kong looked like in 1965:

It even has the maps and illustrations-like this full page on from the June 1965 edition showing me the aircraft of the USAF. I can remember being all of 9 years old reading this in person on my grandmother’s floor:

I guess it makes me a geek-but I thought it’s pretty cool

The Weather Underground: An extreme group dedicated to overturning the US government.

The Tea Baggers: An extreme group dedicated to overturning the US government.

Rachel Maddow may have hit on something here. I’m not really a fan of hers-but she is clever and usually well armed with facts.

By their swag you shall know them:

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