May 05, 2005
"No Japanese or Dogs Allowed"
A column in the JoongAng Daily by a fellow radical moderate reveals the fallacy of racist responses to Korean-Japanese conflict. If only everyone would realize how silly labeling is.
Posted by Ben at 05:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Wherefore Art Thou, Actual Conservatism
"Reagan and Gingrich wanted to cleanse the Augean stables. Bush, Frist, and DeLay merely demand that the patronage now go to their hacks." -Slate
I suspect this may be why my dad the lifelong Republican stopped voting for Republicans last year.
Posted by Ben at 12:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
May 03, 2005
The Galactic Prize for Extreme Cleverness Goes to...
Disney and Michael Moore, the latter for lying his way into a successful "documentary" and the former for sucking all the money out of it that they could. That's right, everyone wins! Except the American public and John Kerry.
Posted by Ben at 09:37 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 26, 2005
"The word... is Noggro!"
An article in Slate addresses a new version of the Swedish ice cream bar "Nogger," one that's covered in licorice and called "Nogger Black."
I suppose the entire point of this post is that people are morons, and also as an excuse to include the last line of the article:
"Maybe it's time to start a counteroffensive. The brother of a Slate colleague recommends that Ben & Jerry's test-market a new flavor called W.E.B. DuBoisenberry."
That floored me.
Posted by Ben at 02:20 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 22, 2005
Happy Earth Day from Clay Bennett
Posted by Ben at 02:35 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 20, 2005
Cartoons of the Day
And for some reason I thought this one was really funny...
Posted by Ben at 07:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 14, 2005
Cartoon of the Day
Posted by Ben at 07:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 09, 2005
Yep.
The trouble with the Democrats' public image. OK, they've got way more problems, but this is one of them.
Posted by Ben at 11:54 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 08, 2005
Bono for President!
...of the World Bank. As I think about it it could be a stroke of genius on the part of the Bush administration. It'd take quite a bit of the air out of the protest movement, at least regarding the Bank. Of course it helps that the World Bank is a lot better as an organization than the IMF and the WTO.
Posted by Ben at 12:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 03, 2005
SOTU
William Saletan is the smartest journalist on the Internet. This column was an "OUCH" for Bush, especially coming from someone as even-headed as Saletan.
Posted by Ben at 12:36 AM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2005
Mob Rule on Fox News
FOX News is running a discussion between civil rights lawyer David Lane and Congressman Bob Beauprez about Ward Churchill's incredibly stupid remarks about 9/11. Beauprez was on a video feed and Lane was heard over a phone. Fox packed a room with people sitting behind the interviewer who all applauded every time Beauprez said anything. It was stunning. To anyone who says Fox doesn't have credibility problems-- how can I take a network seriously that purports to have a "balanced" discussion between representatives of two sides of an issue when they stack the deck so blatantly in favor of one side?
Posted by Ben at 12:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 27, 2005
Chirac, you're such an old curmudgeon. Give us a hug!
"The democracy that hates you is less dangerous than the dictator that loves you."
-Natan Sharansky in Bush's "Favorite Book"
Posted by Ben at 08:19 AM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2004
Those Crazy Reporters
Just got back from the Ryukyu Shimpo office where I spoke to an editor (Hiromori Maedomari) about economic stuff, received a copy of his book and a few other useful pieces of prefectural- or newspaper-published material. His arguments mostly centered around practical matters -- he told me it's too late for the Free Trade Zone ("Now that the WTO is all over the place it'd be like subsidizing tuna bait for a fished-out lake") -- and we talked for a while about how deeply the bases are engrained in the economy and how removing them suddenly would be like "pulling your own spine out." With his metaphors it was like listening to a live editorial.
Also met, briefly, an executive vice president (Ken Miki), and they invited me to a party (Maedomari-san: "There will lots of Okinawan BIPPU [Japanese pronunciation of VIPs] there!") later on tonight. So now I'm trying to read this newspaper so I'll have something to talk about. Eesh.
Tomorrow I return to Kyoto after eight months away. I can't wait.
Posted by Ben at 01:41 AM | Comments (2)
December 20, 2004
Lift-off!
Today I finally met Tomon Mitsuko, a Shaminto representative from Okinawa in the Japanese House of Representatives.
We've been playing phone tag (which is hard when one side doesn't have a phone) since last week, but finally I got through to her secretary, Tomiyama-san, from Koza, where I'd gone to an English bookstore to pick up a copy of this, and it turned out Tomon-giin lived about eight blocks away and was going to drive into Naha about fifteen minutes later and would I mind talking to her in the car on the way? No, I wouldn't mind at all, of course, and I set about walking the longer-than-anticipated route and worrying about the fact that I wasn't prepared, didn't have a pencil and on top of that happened to be wearing this today. Yow.
Tomon-san didn't seem to care. She talked and talked and made me very happy to have my iPod voice recorder. She's very bright and incredibly kind. In Naha I joined her at the candlelight vigil against the Henoko relocation project. I even marched around the block with her, though it occurred to me people might be confused to see a gaijin marching behind the Socialist Party banner.
Anyway, Tomon-san is putting me in touch directly with loads of people (not only Gov. Ota, but also Profs. Nakachi and Shimabukuro at Ryukyu University and Yamashiro Sei, a prefectural official who should know quite a bit about my topic), so it's going to be a busy next few days. I also met Yamauchi-san, Gov. Ota's treasurer.
Everyone was so supportive. I only hope I can make an impact and give something back to them someday.
Posted by Ben at 08:50 AM | Comments (1)