Home…..

Which means it is time for a long overdue blog round-up.

Got back and back to work here today. A quick trip-and it was cold and miserable at my destination. Plus US Airways decided to jerk me around yet again. An explanation is in order.

When I arrived on Monday at Shopping Mall’s wonderous airport-I was politely informed that my flight had been cancelled. So they re-booked me on another flight. However, somehow-in US Airways computer system it cancelled out the entire reservation. This caused me to be reported to my company’s travel agent as a “no-show”. So the next day I get to answer a snide e-mail chastising me for not letting them know I was cancelling the trip. I pointed out to them that I was on the trip, and could they explain how they did not get that information?

And of course the cancellation meant that they did not have a reservation in the system for me on the return leg either. So it took some foot stomping at the country then as well.

GRRRR!!!!
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E @ L has an interesting post up-about the shakey foundation that globalization is built on. He’s got a review of a book called Listening to Grasshoppers. In the book are:

…essays, while specifically about how India’s various warring religions, sects and tribal/racial groups are able to commit atrocities and gloss them over afterwards with ‘an election’, thus soothing international concerns, speaks of lessons not learned that could be applicable pretty much everywhere in the developing world; don’t be corrupt, don’t hate those you falsely see as Others, don’t rape (gang-rape), pillage (historical sites) and burn (people), even if you can easily get away with these crimes against humanity, don’t think elections are the panacea they are promoted to be by the globalisation buffos.

He then goes on to elaborate on one of the dirty little secrets of what happens with unregulated markets-wealth gradually becomes ensconced in fewer and fewer people-while the majority of the people doing the actual work see nothing for their efforts. Globalization-especially in India and China are built on a premise that the nations are willing to write off a certain percentage of their populations to ensure that the elite have access to untold wealth.

Teabaggers whine about how they are getting robbed-however they have no clue about the real robbery that occurs elsewhere. And they refuse to acknowledge  just how lucky they really are. The problems highlighted in the book are real and make ours seem minimal by comparison. What is really interesting to me is that the United States will be prepared to spend billions and billions on nations that are not even as far a long as India, but turns a blind eye to what is happening in both China and India because they are our trading partners. All the while telling us about the “shining light” that we are. If we were so shining we would highlight these problems too-and push for change-but we don’t for a good reason-its not in our national interest. Neither is being in Iraq and Afghanistan for 10 years.

Now if I had my way India would still be ruled by a Viceroy answerable to the British King, so I am not one to talk-but it does highlight a real issue. This growing gap between the haves and have nots is a real problem which over time creates real instability around the world. Want to see where terrorism really begins-look here, not in some cave in Afghanistan.

Well worth a read.

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You are part of a winning World Series team. You get voted MVP for the series after going 8 for 13  with three homers and eight RBIs, tying a Series record by driving in six runs in Game 6. You have one of the best records of any Japanese player in the Major Leagues.

So how do the Yankees reward you for that effort?

They trade you.

Now it is true that Matsui was a free agent-and that he does have knee problems. It is also true that Yankee general manager Brian Cashman is on nobody’s Christmas list in Tokyo. The S.O pointed this out to me as she scanned her internet copy of the Asahi Shimbun. I cross checked it with the Japan Times:

Not only was he a star on the Yomiuri Giants and the Yankees, but he was also the World Series most valuable player last month. The sight of thousands of Americans screaming Matsui’s name as he rode in the Yankees’ victory parade was a source of national pride in Japan.

The Japanese can take this stuff personally. Brian Cashman, the Yankees’ general manager, offended many when he said after the World Series that Matsui was “only” a designated hitter. That might have been an honest assessment of Matsui’s fielding skills, but in the eyes of some Japanese, it was also an insult to Matsui, said Robert Whiting, author of “You Gotta Have Wa.” 

Baseball fans in Japan will continue to follow Matsui, of course, no matter where he plays. The Angels’ games are likely to be shown on Japanese television more often, and Japanese travel agents are surely going to add stops in Anaheim on their tour groups to Southern California.

Go Go Curry, a Japanese fast food restaurant in New York City opened by a businessman from Matsui’s hometown, is considering whether to open another shop in Los Angeles.

Personally, I’m not suprised. The Yankees are the most evil team in baseball, you know. Say it with me one more time: F*ck the f*cking Yankees!

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Speaking of not understanding the actual layout of the world,  James Fallows has been beating a great drum of his own lately:

According to the latest Pew poll on US attitudes on international affairs, 44% of Americans think that the world’s leading economic power is… China. Only 27% think it’s the United States.

 

Fallows then goes on to explain in some detail using something in short supply these days-facts. China may be growing and have a lot of US dollars-but its still a Communist country with real problems that it is just trying to cover up or wish away. Like its pollution and carbon emissions for one.

“China is big, fast-growing, important, and interesting. But the world’s leading economic power? Someday, perhaps. But now, no way”.

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And finally, courtesy of Big Lychee ( new home of Hemlock) can you find what is wrong with this picture?

I’ll give you a hint-The Swiss would not like it.