GrouchyGaijin comments

In my opinion, the U.S.S. Amerika could learn from many other advanced civilizations, and have One Election for All Positions on Fixed Days Once every Four Years, and save us ALL the endless mindless blathering drama. Once the POTUS is no longer the most powerfully positive person in the world, like say 10 years ago, this whole process should have press blackout worldwide. Enough of this bellybutton gazing. Who the HECK do y'all think you ARE? Life is what happens when U.S.S. Amerika thinks it's voting!

And the Polizei DID something, unlike....

Ve arr NOTT amuzed!

I wonder does Ambassador "Crock"er have hand in preventing the extradition of these members of "Al Qaeda"? I thought they were "close to defeat?" http://prisonplanet.com/articles/may2008/052308_cia_protects.htm

Market forces: High demand with restricted supply.

It is most regrettable that the Ambassador's name is "Crock"er, and that he really has no idea who "Al Qaeda" is. Hey Ryan, peruse this: http://whatreallyhappened.com/fakealqaeda.html

On a Friday evening at the start of Memorial Day weekend, when most people are desperately in need of some down time at the lake. McCain, the old fart, may not be alive (Dear God?) by Tuesday! Is the Oval Office wheelchair accessible?

Usually crimes have a victim. I see many of these fashion victims every day!

The day that the "Black Van Men" are arrested is the day that Japan can legitimately claim it is a democracy.

We're waiting!

I arrived (this time for the long term) in Japan in September 2001, on the first flight after 9/11 allowed out of US airspace. Gasoline, in my local Esso station, cost Yen 69 a litre on that day. I checked today and it was Yen 169 a litre. Cui bono? FOLLOW THE MONEY!

Olmert is playing poker. Assad is playing chess!

A la many budget airlines worldwide. Remember the old adage: "Pack twice as much money and half as much clothes." Works for me: http://www.onebag.com/

I would have said that Israel is suffering through its own version of a George w Bush period. Absolute incompetence!

"“Olmert is trying to fool decent peace-seeking citizens,” said MP Shelly Yehimovicz of the center-left Labor party, a key coalition partner in Olmert’s government." Sadly, I agree with Ms. Yehimovicz. Olmert has been proven time and time again not to negotiate in good faith, even internally.

Should read "Wave of retirements further impairs police investigative ability." Motivation and skill, or lack thereof, is a primary factor.

From the horse's mouth: http://corporate.honda.com/press/article.aspx?id=4510

And if you think the White House was dissed at NBC, just wait until they read the editorial in today's New York Times. Some more "editing" may be requested. "May 20, 2008 Editorial: Mr. Bush’s Travels

President Bush’s visit to the Middle East last week offered a graphic primer on his failed policies — and the many dangers his successor will face.

The Peace Process: In Israel, President Bush spoke again about his vision of a two-state solution with Palestinians and Israelis living side by side in peace. But after ignoring the conflict for seven years, the negotiations he opened in Annapolis last November have made little apparent progress. And Mr. Bush did not use the trip to press either side to make even minimum concessions.

The Israelis need to halt all settlement activity. The Palestinians need to do more to end attacks on Israel. The United States needs to be ready to press compromise proposals, something Mr. Bush and his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, show little interest in doing.

After a three-day stay in Jerusalem, Mr. Bush met the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in Egypt — not Ramallah — a fact that was duly and angrily noted by Palestinians. The next president will have to make a much stronger, and earlier, commitment to the peace process, appoint a more skilled and creative team of advisers and resolve to be a more sensitive and honest broker than Mr. Bush.

Saudi Arabia: Two months after Vice President Dick Cheney went to Saudi Arabia to plead for increased oil production, President Bush was there making the same pitch. The Saudis were only slightly more accommodating, agreeing to a modest increase that will do nothing to lower prices at American gas pumps or America’s dependence on imported oil. Such special pleading is unseemly. The next president is going to have to do a lot more to reduce America’s consumption of fossil fuels, and its dependence on the Saudis.

Lebanon: While Mr. Bush traveled the region, Lebanon’s pro-Western government was losing ever more ground to Hezbollah. Mr. Bush offered little help to the prime minister, Fouad Siniora — once a poster boy for Mr. Bush’s claimed rising tide of democracy — beyond promising to speed delivery of American military aid and urging Arab leaders to rally to Mr. Siniora’s side.

Mr. Bush is still stubbornly refusing to talk with either of Hezbollah’s backers — Iran and Syria — and accused all those who urge direct negotiations of appeasement, a barely veiled attack on Senator Barack Obama.

Mr. Bush has strengthened the region’s radicals with his failed Iraq war. And his refusal to talk has also made it easier for Iran to pursue its nuclear ambitions. The next president is going to need a better approach.

Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan: In Egypt, President Bush also met with leaders of the three countries that will present his successor with the greatest challenges: planning and executing an orderly withdrawal from Iraq, defeating Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, and helping nuclear-armed Pakistan defeat those same extremists while not unraveling. He made no progress on any of these dangerous fronts.

Americans need to hear from the presidential candidates — now — about how they plan to reverse this disastrous legacy."

Sawatani may be hoping for the same punishment his former boss, Tsutsumi got. Not a groper, but found guilty of corruption, the judge in his sentencing said he'd brought disrepute and mistrust to the financial system itself. (That takes some doing!) Tsutsumi got a couple of years suspended sentence, and a term of house arrest. Seibu has a tradition of crime, it would seem. Sawatani was just following his superior's fine example.

Bush stooped to a new low by playing partisan politics on the floor of the Israeli Knesset. His jabs at Obama should have been at home. And this comment, “And when, you know, a leader of Iran says that they want to destroy Israel, you’ve got to take those words seriously,” is a complete fabrication. This was never said. (Take the time to read this all the way through, tediously technical that it is: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12790.htm) Bush, it would seem, believes what he reads at face value, kinda like “Slam Dunk!” And here is what one NSA whistleblower has to say about the sources they rely on. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=3311549 Not altogether that credible. To put it mildly. So, NBC, however you take them, probably did OK by editing out the Shrub.

I had a soon-to-retire client ask me with pleading eyes today, "What will we eat when they have concreted over the last rice field in Japan?" His words, not mine.

You mean "This" Al-Qaeda? http://whatreallyhappened.com/fakealqaeda.html

We don't have a supply problem. We have a demand problem, and a dollar that has so devalued that it has only a fraction of its long standing purchasing power. Hence, gasoline costs more. Add to the mix that we no longer have a petro-dollar, we have a petro-euro and a petro-yen, further diminishing the value of the greenback. Once upon a time America made products that the rest of the world wanted to buy. That situation has changed. Cheaper, and in some cases, better products are made cheaper and better elsewhere. America, it's time to draw on your ingenuity to reclaim your place in the world economy! And selling war and weapons doesn't count!

Helpless man seeking helpless woman with a view to a helpless marriage. We will produce equally helpless children, entrust them to a helpless educational system, and then have them graduate from helpless schools and colleges to work for helpless companies. Eating convenience store food because nobody can cook. Ahhhhh "WA", helpless Japan reigns helplessly supreme.

When immature children have children, this is what happens. They're supposed to be "kawaii, kireii and shizuka!" Undeveloped adult children can't deal with real life. 8 months old, what chance did she have? R.I.P aka-chan, I hope you're resting in peace.

Not supporting United States Government policies, does not make one, in any way, less of a friend of the American people and most certainly does not label one an anti-American. Just like criticizing the Mafia does not make one anti-Italian.

World's big enough for everyone.

If you see the "M.I.C." logo on the bottom, beware of electrical fires!

Or buy "Kei" cars, the only growing segment. At 47Km/litre, I won't go back to white plates!

"Super Size Me!", watch it and you'll never darken their doors again!

Went to Toyota today. EVERY Prius worldwide is fitted with a data recorder. Every oil change at a dealer, every hiccup, cough and spit is recorded and reported online (to the designers) in real time worldwide. Each new release of a vehicle has all the lessons learned incorporated. All I can say is "Wow!" Could we get Toyota to run the country?