Far East Cynic

No internet access for a day or so. We are off to check on the S.O.`s apartment. Picture posts tomorrow evening.

Dead at 74.  I have always been a fan of his. Spike has a pretty good piece on his life. He was a unique actor who brought a voice to many of us Boomers.

That`s what you say when you return home in Japan-coming in the door to let the S.O. know that you are home.

So I`m letting Japan know I`m back even if it is just for a week.

Trip over was OK. We flew out to LAX,  then the next day took Singapore Airlines to Japan. We were in the back in the cattle car-and the cattle car is the cattle car, no matter what airline you take-but Singapore makes the experience a lot more tolerable than most. Food was good, drinks were free-and each seat had lots of TV to watch. The girls working the economy section were working pretty hard-and they did not forget about us after dinner was done. The SQ-11 flight is a pretty good bargain if you book your tickets early enough-as we did (booked them two months ago).

Visiting the S.O.`s sister for a couple of days then branching out to see old friends-as  many as we can cram into eight days. They have a “guest room” ( apartment really)-that is located in their apartment building. Its pretty nice.

Woke up this AM and went for a run. Found the bike path by the river and ran down aways and back-all the while soaking in all the great things about Tokyo, the sights, the sounds, the buildings and most of all the people. Pix are coming.

God, its so good to be back! I miss this place!

Tomorrow begins the Memorial Day weekend. The S.O. and I are on the first leg of a pilgrimage to the correct side of the International Date Line. With the exception of one glorious week last year-this is my first time back to that location in two years. TWO YEARS!  That’s obscene. This will, hopefully, be a scouting trip of sorts.

And speaking of air travel,  Sky Trax announced their top ten best airlines this week. In what should be no surprise to anyone-there were no American air carriers on the list. I’m shocked.

Asiana Airlines was named winner of the Airline of the Year 2010 title, ahead of Singapore Airlines (2nd) and Qatar Airways in 3rd place.

The other airlines in the top ten?

The final top 10 places in the Airline of the Year were:

1.  Asiana Airlines
2.  Singapore Airlines
3.  Qatar Airways
4.  Cathay Pacific
5.  Air New Zealand
6.  Etihad Airways
7.  Qantas Airways
8.  Emirates
9.  Thai Airways
10. Malaysia Airlines

Notice a common theme here? No nickle and diming passengers with stupid fees, helpful cabin staff, cabin staff that represent the airline well, and a lot of little things that make traveling a little less of a chore. I am surprised ANA is not on the list-but not surprised JAL is not there.

What is really sad, to me, is that American air carriers could compete in this league-but they just won’t bother. They would rather treat passengers like sh*t and make assholes like Glenn Tilton rich, than to do what’s right. But that is for another rant that is coming. I have to sample one more data point tomorrow-when we fly Singapore Airlines back to “the old country”.

Seems Sarah Palin begrduges members of the press-the same freedoms she espouses elsewhere.

Can somebody explain to me how this isn’t a despicable thing for Palin to do? She describes McGinniss as the author of “the bizarre anti-Palin administration oil development pieces that resulted in my Department of Natural Resources announcing that his work is the most twisted energy-related yellow journalism they’d ever encountered.”

Another way of putting it would be that McGinniss is an investigative journalist who wrote his first best-seller at age 26 and was shopping a book about Alaska and the oil industry when Palin was named John McCain’s running mate. And another way of describing those “bizarre” pieces is that no one has ever challenged the facts in them.

Palin, who has an undergraduate degree in journalism, should understand that articles don’t become untrue when the subjects don’t agree with them.

She is lucky I did not move to Alaska. Then she would have something to moan about:

I don’t think she would dig REM and beer bottles thrown from the edge of the Jacuzzi at 2AM either.

(BTW-I love the original version of the Goodbye Girl with Marsha Mason and Richard Dreyfus. Its a chick flick to be sure-but a chick flick with class).

First you get down on your knees,
Fiddle with your rosaries,
Bow your head with great respect,
And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!

Do whatever steps you want, if
You have cleared them with the Pontiff.
Everybody say his own
Kyrie eleison,
Doin’ the Vatican Rag.

Follow the link to see pictures of the Vatican Museums.

Believe it or not-that’s a tapestry-not a painting!

When a Canadian understands the Constitution better than a lot of Arizonans or teabaggers do:

I haven’t objected to the new Arizona “papers please” law, SB 1070 (PDF), on the basis that its racist, although it probably is. I object to to it because it violates the Supremacy Clause (Article VI, Clause 2) of the United States Constitution, which clearly states that federal law is supreme and the states cannot override it.Whether SB 107o’s language exactly mirrors federal law or not – and it doesn’t – is immaterial. The fact is that the states cannot and should not be enforcing or prosecuting federal law.

Furthermore, whether the federal government is enforcing its own laws or not is also irrelevant. That is within the prerogative of the federal government under the Constitution. If the people don’t like the fact that administrations going back to Reagan’s haven’t been “protecting the borders,” they are free to elect a president who will. And that, my friends, is all.

Read the rest-he has Arizona State Senator Pearce pegged pretty well.

By the way, illegal immigrants are needed today. I’m just more willing to admit it than most craven Republicans. When all is said and done, illegal immigration is nothing more than the laws of supply and demand at work. American consumers want cheap goods, which forces American corporations to hire cheap labor. And it just so happens that you don’t get any cheaper than illegal. American politicians, being whorish cretins, will do whatever their Wall Street paymasters tell them to.What scumbag demagogues like Pearce are doing is scapegoating the only truly innocent people in the debate: the immigrants themselves. If their country was ravaged by corruption, poverty and a vicious drug war, I can only hope that most Americans would walk across a desert to feed their families on less than minimum wage. They’re not doing anything that you or I wouldn’t do, should the burrito turn.

I firmly believe that the GOP is pandering to their idiot base, but secretly know that no one is willing to pay thirty dollars for a strawberry. So they make the right noises, get everybody all stupid and excited and proceed to do exactly nothing. It’s cynical to the extreme, which is why it’s such good politics.At this point, the debate isn’t about illegal immigration anymore. It’s about the Constitution and how much of it an ignorant public is willing to sacrifice to the whims of the jackals in the political class.

We can get serious about enforcing our borders-other nations do after all-but that also means going after the incentives that drive people here in the first place.

I work with two other retired Navy guys. Because of where we work we have insight into a lot of current Navy news and events. Plus-all of us travel to Navy facilities. We have a saying when we read something particularly atrocious -and for some reason we are reading a lot of atrocious things these days.

We suck.

Here are two examples of how the US Navy is just not getting it:

A greaseless Herndon monument climb-why bother?

When I was in Naples as I walked around the base there-I counted no less than six different Naval Uniforms being worn for daily work. Phib’s right-TFU is only just FU.

We suck.

For a short while anyway. This week will be a busy one as we prepare to make the Haj-no, not that Haj-but a pilgrimage back to familiar and far better scenery.

For today however,  it is off to work. I tried an experiment of sorts uploading a whole lot of pictures-so if you want to see the ferry ride from Naples to Sorrento and a look around Sorrento, click here. You will notice that I have added a new page, Skippy-san’s Pix where over time I will be up a record of sorts of my photographic adventures such as they are.

My apologies for the dearth of posts-but my body clock is just out of kilter since getting back late Saturdau night. Somehow I don’t think its going to catch up till two weeks from now.

“Qualifications?”

“Stampeding cattle”.

“That does not sound like so much”

” Through the Vatican?”

For some reason this guy objected.

(Link to pix to follow when I get back home this weekend.)

But I did get to play with my Digital SLR today-and got some pix from the Sistine Chapel without a flash.  If you go to the Vatican Museums ( and you really should)-1) Buy your tickets online. Its a real time saver and 2) Allow 3-4 hours to see the whole thing. Its worth it. S.O. and I got a two-fer in today. St. Peters and the Vatican Museums.

Could not wangle the audience with the Pope though. Something about not enough time in Christendom to hear my confession.

Time for bed.

Greetings from Bella Napoli. Herbal wins the prize for correct guess. Rode the bus to near Bagnoli last night, but never came close to the location of its most infamous former denizen.

The remarkable thing about Naples is how little it really changes-even while it changes. The trams no long run down the Via Emmanuelle in front of the Maritime Terminal-but people still drive like crazy, scooters dart in and out of traffic and stoplights are only advisory in nature. Same old neighbors.

I’m told that some of the same low rent bars exist in the four block area near the castle-home of the famous “Naples One low level” from my days back on USS Coral Sea in the eighties. ( “Load up the lire machine gun and hit ripple fire as you stagger from buy me drink bar to buy me drink bar-when you run out of lire, its time to go back to the ship!”).

And the Piazza Garibaldi in front of the train station is still a combat zone at night. Same old Naples.

Yet they are making signs of progress. They are in work on a subway-given the rate of Italian construction I expect it to be complete sometime in 2050 or so.

And garbage service still seems to be optional down town.

But the food is good, the sun is out, and my meetings are done for the day. An expedition to Sorrento seems most appropriate.

Ciao!

Long day of travel, yesterday and today. Spent most of the afternoon sleeping.

Guess where?

This city the world’s 91st richest city by purchasing power, with a GDP of $43 billion.  The city is an important port,  one of the most important in Europe. Even though the city has had a remarkable economic growth, and unemployment levels in the city have decreased since 1999,  it is  is still characterized by political and economic corruption. and a thriving black market empire. Several  mega-companies,  are headquartered in the city.

I’m ready to go.

So kiss me and smile for me,
Tell me that you’ll wait for me,
Hold me like you’ll never let me go.
‘Cause I’m leaving on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again -
Oh Babe, I hate to go.

Ok-the last statement we know is a lie-I love to go. But hey, go with it.

There’s so many times I’ve let you down,
So many times I’ve played around,
I tell you now, they don’t mean a thing.
Every place I go, I’ll think of you,
Every song I sing, I’ll sing for you,
When I come back, I’ll wear your wedding ring.

Well, maybe. But they really did not mean anything.

Now the time has come to leave you,
One more time let me kiss you,
Then close your eyes, I’ll be on my way.
Dream about the days to come.
When I won’t have to leave alone,
About the times I won’t have to say …

” I can’t wait till I get to travel again!”  Oh, wait-you are not supposed to say that. How about “I’ll bring you omiyage!”.

Can’t say that either.  Keep coming back you will find out why.

She’s just a bonus!

Glenn Beck-explained:

Or blog. I’m tired tonight. Plus, I’m getting ready to go on a trip so it will soon be time for another round of “Where’s Waldo?”

So watch a Citadel Grad made good, lead the Blue Angels over a familiar place: