Far East Cynic

I miss hearing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at the 7th inning stretch.

Since this year is all about taking America back-can we take America back to the way baseball was supposed to be?

Go Giants!

4 Billion Dollars. That’s the amount of money spent on the midterm elections this year.

Its a staggering sum-especially when you consider that the supposed central theme of this election year is anger about money being wasted.

4 billion dollars. Thing what that money could have done put to a good use. It could be making a good dent on research for AIDS, cancer, and other scourges of our existence. For that kind of money we could fund new schools in a lot of places. We could build a high speed train system between Atlanta and Washington DC. We could do a lot of things.

Instead-as a whole- the country wasted it on this:

I am no political theorist. But here is a concept that seems obvious to me. If you populate government with ignorant people, or with people who avowedly disrespect government, or with people whose background and experience and public integrity in no way merit political office, sooner or later you will have worse governance. The same is true if you elect leaders following political campaigns that overflow with hysteria. Four billion dollars spent to scare voters. Four billion spent to preserve the lobbyists’ hold on Washington. Garbage in, garbage out. “Everything is amplified,” Jon Stewart said Saturday at his “Restore Sanity” rally, “so nothing gets heard.”

Unbelievable. And what is truly appalling is that people are putting up with it. In the case of the Tea Party-they are actively encouraging collective ignorance. AS Bloomberg noted recently-in this election cycle, barely 3-out 10 Americans know the true facts about the economy and what’s happened to it since 2008. (I’ll have more on this later).

4 billion dollars. Wasted. The Tea Bag nation must be so proud of themselves.

This is no way to run a railroad (or a country).

Indeed, the 2010 crop of campaign insanity, unleashed by Citizens United, explains precisely why the “Restore Sanity” rally with Stewart and Stephen Colbert has resonated so well. A great many people, and especially a great number of younger people, want adults in Washington who will act with foresight and selflessness. And this includes the media estalishment. The ralliers are skeptical of a politics-centric media they see in self-sustaining partnership with the engines of the political campaigns. These people want smart candidates. They want even smarter elected officials. And they don’t want to feel like they are being played by Establishment journalists. They don’t see the wisdom they know democracy needs in and around Washigton; instead, they see high comedy, a tragi-comedy really, unfolding on their watch.

Democracy demands wisdom. But this year, all democracy seems to have offered is Christine O’Donnell, with her proud ignorance, and Alvin Greene, with his own baffling riff, and dozens of other candidates unworthy of our respect, let alone our votes. It has given us a candidate, California’s Meg Whitman, who wants so desperately to be elected that she was willing to spend nearly $200 million of her own money to do so, a fact which ought to legally disqualify her from politics again. And it has given us Sarah Palin, the avatar of the naton’s latest know-nothing movement, looming in the wings. Friends, this is no way to run a democracy, much less a wise one.

Cause if they are-I might have to buy one. “By your command“.

AIST’s HRP-4C Cybernetic Human took the stage for “Dance Robot LIVE!” — a song-and-dance routine choreographed by Sam of the J-pop group TRF.

Caprica may be closer to reality than we care to admit.

A rally where people can speak with out frothing at the mouth.

Where irony is appreciated-not railed upon.

Where the signs are spelled correctly

And a large group of people, through satire, tell Saint Sarah and her fans to STFU.

What more can you ask for?

More interesting signs here-”The only person who was Hitler is Hitler!”

I was especially impressed with his comments on the media:

This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith or people of activism or to look down our noses at the heartland or passionate argument or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are and we do. But we live now in hard times — not end times. And we can have animus and not be enemies.

But unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke.

The country’s 24-hour political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen — or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected dangerous flaming ant epidemic.

If we amplify everything we hear nothing.

Which is nice to see. And in case you wondering why this is important-well, consider the alternative:

This pretty well sums it up-and reminds me why, after I vote on Tuesday-I’m going to get really hammered:

The only question is how-Tequila or Scotch?

Joe Manchin may be running away from the President like a screaming banshee-but he’s made some cool ads outlining the bleak future that awaits us.

What is it with freaking laser beams and WV anway?

Anyone who has read a lot at this blog knows that I have been fairly consistent in my opposition to the Iraq War. I was opposed to it from the run up to it in 2002-and I remain of the opinion that the war was a huge mistake. A human, a military and an economic disaster for the United States.

I have evolved to a similar conclusion about Afghanistan-although that’s a little bit different. We clearly had to extract vengance on someone after 9-11, and they were the most likely target. That we failed to massively inflict that vengance-and that we got side tracked by the war in Iraq is another matter. But now-from the perspective of 2010, it is clear to me that there is little more that can be done with a backwards minded people who cannot and will not help themselves. While we have fiddled in Central Asia-China has been on a roll. Of the two China is a bigger long term threat to US national interest.

For those reasons,  a lot of bloggers have been writing in praise of what Julian Assange did in releasing both the Afghanistan documents and the Iraq documents. I will not do so here. What he did was wrong. However wrong the Iraq war is and was-this action is unjustified and against the law. Many have tried to argue that there is some higher moral law that justifies his actions. I disagree.

For one thing-we already had on the table,  clear cut evidence that George W. Bush took the country to war under false pretenses-and used false information to goad our British allies into joining us. An action by the way at odds with their own public opinion.

 I am not happy about Wikileaks and I think what they did was and remains very wrong. I am REALLY disturbed about the fact that obviously military personnel on active duty are helping him. Those people should be tracked down and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Equally as reprenshible, is the current thread making its way through the milblog world that Julian Assange should be killed.  Comments like-”turn his name over to the Mossad”, “blow up his car”, “he should be poisioned” etc etc. This from the same people who then have the balls to turn around and lecture me-or anyone else about sexual morality. Whatever damage Assange has done-advocating the kind of “anything goes” and “exact retribution” ideas betrays our ideals as a nation and makes us absolutely no different than the enemies we are fighting. If the country wants to go down that road-well fine. But don’t try to stand on some moral high ground and talk about “shining lights” on a hill. Its still immoral-just because its being done by our side does not mitigate that.

So the bottom line for me is that, the active duty people who helped Assange broke the law. They should be prosecuted under that law. Perhaps Assange should be extradited and tried under the law too. But only under the law that is applicable-not some whacked out version of vigilante justice.

I’m not a rally kind of person-I don’t think they accomplish much save for a chance to get out and meet people. I especially am not a fan of rallies where people dress up in stupid tri-corner hats and tell each other lies about American history and government.

But if I could have been there this weekend I would have made an exception for Jon Stewart’s rally. I hope t hey have great weather and the crowd is three times that at Beck-a-palooza. I hope they make fun of Sarah Palin-a lot.

The creator of Rocky and Bullwinkle has passed away. Criticize us boomers all you want-but we had some great cartoons.

Also, on a another sad note, James McArthur-he of the phrase “Book ‘em Dano!” passed away today.

Man I feel old.

Bottom of the eighth and the Giants are kicking ass again!

Richard asked me a while back-what the S.O. thought about life in America. I promised a response.

To appreciate the way her little mind thinks-it is important to understand a couple of key background facts. Otherwise the ideas won’t make a lot of sense; or they will seem more hateful than they really are. I’ve been with her long enough, I understand most of it-the rest I just ignore. Its a great arrangement.

Item #1: The S.O.-because she is Japanese is part of a unique group. Key on that word unique and then add the word superior. She believes that the Japanese are the most unique species on the planet. And that their culture is superior to anyone else’s. That sounds racist on the surface-and probably is. But don’t tell her that, she will never believe it. To her its a statement of fact-kind of like saying “ I know the sun will come up tomorrow”. A statement of the laws of the physical universe. So that tends to color her view of anyone who is not Japanese ( including me). To her, it is just the order of the universe. Let me add that she is a kind soul and will do anything for just about anyone-once she overcomes her inherent selfishness.

Item #2: Cleanliness is not just next to Godliness to the S.O.  It IS Godliness. She is obssessed with cleaning. Anthing and everything-and people who don’t set that standard ( as most Americans don’t) are not quite up there in the acceptability rankings. Another reason to marvel that she likes me.  But it goes a long way to explaining a lot about her.

So what does she think about the USA?

Regarding item 2-she thinks our standards for levels of cleanliness in public places are appalling. When she sees litter on the side of the road it disgusts her. She also does not understand why we don’t have brigades of cleaning ladies out at shopping malls.

Like all Japanese, she marvels at the sheer size of the country. When we first got back here-it was always something of a chore to explain to her the realities of the geography here. E.G. a drive from state to state was not a short journey, except in Rhode Island and Deleware.

That said-she does not understand why we don’t have decent trains here. On that we are in total agreement. We miss the train system in Japan.

She thinks Americans are by and large, incredibly fat. And she does not understand in the least why we put up with it. Bear in mind, her definition of fat-includes a lot of people who are only slightly overweight. But when it comes to other women-she allows no grace pounds. No hour glass figure-you are a porkette.  Since I view the world through beer goggles, I am just a bit more forgiving over here. ( Fat women need loving too!).

She thinks American cuisine is “greasy” for the most part-and she truly can’t get why we love fried food so much.  She also can’t understand why our portions are so large or why we eat so much.

She despises the way we tip in this country. She has no qualms about using and abusing the serving class here-and thinks the overall level of service in restaurants, hotels, and on airlines is atrocious. Coming from a country where they don’t tip and waitresses are supposed to be happy and apologetic when they hear the word “Sumimasen”-it is not surprising. But the tipping thing really drives her nuts. Since I am a tip your barmaid well kind of guy, she gets frustrated. I’ve learned to just ignore it. When she actually gets a J-O-B, and starts buying dinners-then she can tip how she wants to. She and I have something in common in that we both can’t stand the way passengers are treated on airlines in this country. She also does not understand why we put up with lines-specifically why they don’t have more people working ( as at TSA lines) to make them shorter.

She believes the fact that America is a car society has made Americans lazy. To that end, I think she has a point. I lost weight when I was in Romania walking about a mile from the subway to work each day.

She loves the fact that American houses normally have yards. ( I hate it-because I hate yardwork). The idea of growing things at your house fascinates her. I think she has planted every available square inch of available space.  Of course she never lived in a house before we got here-so its a novelty to her. I’ve been there done that. If I want to see grass-I can go to a golf course.

Regarding politics-she is amazed that I get so passionate about the subject. To her-based on her Japanese frame of reference- she thinks most Americans are too serious about the subject. Since in Japan, the bureaucracy runs the government regardless of who is in power-it kind of astounds her that we Americans fight about it so much.

She absolutely does not get the Tea Party. ( Another thing we have in common). But its for different reasons. I don’t get them because I know they are wrong. She does not get them because she does not understand why anyone would bother to care. She was surprised when I told her how many people don’t vote here though. Coming from Japan-she thinks of it as a duty, something you have to do regardless of your personal desire.

She loves the fact that we have a throwaway society. That means lots of stuff ends up in second hand stores and garage sales. It bothers her not a whit to buy things at Goodwill and then try to pass it off as brand name if she can.

American sports drive her nuts. She has very little use for American football. ( Too many rules). Yakyu (Baseball) takes too long. She likes to watch tennis and golf though. She will watch a golf tournament on TV where I usually will not.

American reality shows both fascinate and repel her. She has become addicted to “America’s got talent”, Project Runway, Antique Road Show, and Dancing with the Stars. She also loves the travel and gardening shows on public TV. She is, on the whole oblivious to the news. She hates shows with violence. She won’t watch Sci fi or war movies.

She is very deficient in her knowledge of 20th century history. The period of World War II is a blank to her-I’ve had to explain a lot of things that are common knowledge even among the dumbest of Americans. She really does not understand why we  venerate the Civil War. As far as she is concerned we should just forget it ever happened. She HATES visiting Civil War battlefields. (Something I like).

Which also brings up an important point. White people and African Americans are all the same to her. Other Asians? Not so much. To her there is a hierarchy of how she looks down on them. She can’t stand (in order) Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Indians and Filipinos. She hates Mexicans-but only because they do construction and therefore she faults them for the noise they make building houses in the neighborhood. Again-its different than actual overt racism. She will talk to any of them-politely and help anyone. But don’t kid yourself, she knows in her heart who is the “chosen race”.

That is actually a misnomer. As it typed that-I realized that she does not view her own people as the Israelis do.  That they have a special place with the Almighty because of their suffering. That does not capture it. The Japanese don’t have a special advocate because of Kamisama-He just built them to be superior from the start.

And she doesn’t understand me very much-she can’t understand why I like parties and wild times-she thinks I need to mellow out and enjoy domesticity. When I tell her I hate that lifestyle -she just shakes her head.

Its a wonder we get along at all-but we do. Perhaps our mutual selfishness works.

Martin Wolf of the Financial Times has a pretty good diagnosis of why the folks have lost track of the context when it comes to the economy. Obama was just too damn cautious when he needed to be bold.

Unfortunately, the Republicans have succeeded in persuading a large enough portion of the American public that if the patient had been left entirely alone, he would be in perfect health today. This is surely a fairy story. But voters naturally pay little attention to calamities averted. They focus only on how far experience falls short of what they desire. Mr Obama gains no credit for the former and much blame for the latter. His aspirational rhetoric no doubt worsened the disappointment.

The president’s willingness to ask for too little was, it turns out, a huge strategic error. It allows his opponents to argue that the Democrats had what they wanted, which then failed. If the president had failed to get what he demanded, he could argue that the outcome was not his fault. With a political stalemate expected, further action will now be blocked. A lost decade seems quite likely. That would be a calamity for the US – and the world.

And in about five days, we are about to be raped by the same folks who put us in this position to begin with. Have some drinks and lie back and try not to think about it……………..

Sitting here watching the Giants kicking ass and taking names. Barry Bonds or no-I’m just going to have to root for them.

They play real baseball in the National League after all.

UPDATE: Here is how they do it. And in a note to my commenters-“most election law is state law”.

We’ll skip any discussion of “curb-stomping” and how its all the victim’s fault-so therefore the stomped should be doing the apologizing.

Original Post:

You know, if the teabaggers want to stop being compared to brownshirts, they might want to stop acting like them:

NPR received a bomb threat Monday, five days after its decision to fire news analyst Juan Williams sparked a hugely negative reaction.

Sources at the news organization said the threat was received via U.S. mail and was immediately turned over to local police and the FBI. The organization did not publicly disclose the threat or release details, on the advice of law enforcement officials.

The letter didn’t reference the Williams firing specifically, but people at NPR, who spoke about it on the condition of anonymity, said the timing and tone suggested it was sent after Williams’s widely publicized termination.

Or this:

Tea Party members have started challenging voter registration applications and have announced plans to question individual voters at the polls whom they suspect of being ineligible.

In response, liberal groups and voting rights advocates are sounding an alarm, claiming that such strategies are scare tactics intended to suppress minority and poor voters.

In St. Paul, organizers from the Tea Party and related groups announced this week that they were offering a $500 reward for anyone who turned in someone who was successfully prosecuted for voter fraud.

The group is also organizing volunteer “surveillance squads” to photograph and videotape what it suspects are irregularities, and in some cases to follow buses that take voters to the polls.

In Milwaukee last week, several community groups protested the posting of large billboards throughout the city that show pictures of people behind jail bars under the words “We Voted Illegally.” The protesters said the posters — it was not clear who paid for them — were intended to intimidate people from voting.

In Houston, a Tea Party group called the King Street Patriots recently accused a voter registration group, Houston Votes, of turning in voter registration applications with incorrect information.

By what authority can they do this? And how long till we have to hear the words-Black Panther again?

Cost of self financing your own campaign? 149 Million.

Cost of selling your soul to the Tea Bag nation? Pretty damn high.

Allow your opponent to hijack one of your own ads to make a point? Priceless.