sodesuka comments

We say God, Family, Country in the US. I think it is the same in Japan. Bushido, Kizuna, Kuni. I do not know if the guy is gay or she is a nasty person, but the bonds of love and commitment just were not there. There is a moral aspect to life, which is why in theory Japanese girls respect Catholic schooled boys (maybe because of the uniform). Having marriage as a sacrament really elevates the relationship and enforces commitment to a life together, ideally anyway. In most societies this is the case expressed through ritual.

But we are only human and in the LA Hollywood scene what do we have? Like on TV? I for one would high tail it back to Safe havens, which for her is Japan. Many Japanese girls are "people who never had an evil thought". A Beautiful friend, wife and mother she be... Loyal to the end. The modern acting out of "radical relativism" as portrayed by Hollywood can truly be a horror to people of honor and may look like a Hieronymus Bosch painting of Hell. Certainly a Tohoku focus is a greater life worth living. Just saying...

@Cheung: Very well said: '*basroil: Japan does have space to store the debris and that would be the exclusion zone established around the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. That place is highly irradiated and uninhabitable for many generations to come anyway. In fact it is closer than almost all other prefectures they are trying to send the debris to (saves transportation fee). What the government is doing right now doesn't make any sense. The exclusion zone is the perfect place to store (not burn) the radioactive debris.'

Not rocket science, perhaps someone knows why they are not doing as you suggest?

I would not risk the children. At least guarantee clean food. Perhaps clean food for everyone because that will help with peoples immune system. Let people live where they will but ensure clean food. Mixing contaminated rice seems to me to be a crime. All for money. "Eat and Support" effort is short sighted. How about stop growing food in contaminated soil and produce other industry for work? Internal contamination is the real issue now. We all know that the closer a radioactive atom is to our cells the more it messes with us, exponentially. Clean food is possible via imports and government support. The poor farmers can help in checking the imported food stuffs, thus having a job, giving clean food to their families (immune system) and they could live where they are. I love Japan and the people. Give them clean food please.

BTW. In researching radiation I found this in the USA, especially at Hanford WA. 'A long-deferred cleanup is now under way at 114 of the nation's nuclear facilities, which encompass an acreage equivalent to Rhode Island and Delaware combined.' Japan is not alone with this nuclear nightmare. http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/earth/inside-the-earth/nuclear-waste/

Children from conception should not be in contaminated areas eating contaminated food. Move them. Even have conception centers of Love hotels in clean environments. Bike paths, no cars, magnificent learning centers, clean air and water, playgrounds with everything...

I think the external sources of radiation we all can survive. It is the food that concerns me. But for those living in Japan - What can you do but enjoy it: 'Readers vent over 'Bread and becquerels'... http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120515hs.html'....As for me, each time I open the refrigerator I am happy I do not have to think of eating my dose of daily radiation. I certainly would make some jokes about it. Would make sure I stop at the 7/11 to help out those Fukushima farmers. Smile, the Earthquakes may get you before the radiation.

But for the children. No jokes. Get them to safe playgrounds, eating clean food and studying well, straight away. Do not use our choices that may destroy their futures. Do not experiment with them nor women who become pregnant. Get them to a clean environment for future generations.

Build factories in Fukushima and bury the crap with concrete. Raise families and grow food in a different clean place. Get the displaced farmers to help. A new community will form where they can open their refrigerators not worrying about it. Truly sad when one has children and you might be poisoning them. Maybe we all should start banging pots and pans together to save the children. Children from conception should not be in contaminated areas.

Cesium 137 causes heart problems in children. Do you people who live in Japan care about levels of cesium in your food? My wife says she will buy stuff from Fukushima prefecture because it is safe anyway to help the farmers. Japanese children are not eating radioactive food! Is this true?

Is there war in the air?

Or make Beat apologize as Manny Pacquiao: 'To the gay community, I apologize' had to in LA.

'"To the gay community, I apologize," Pacquiao said on the show, according to an "Extra" news release. "I'm against same-sex marriage, but I'm not condemning you. My favorite verse is 'Love one another as you love yourself. Love your neighbor.' So I love everybody!"' I think Manny actually held his ground but showed compassion because this issue is extremely sensitive and people get hot over it.

Oh well ... the gay community have a right to free speech as well and I will always respect that right. Please respect the right of others who hold opinions different from their own. In fact, many in the gay community spoke in defense of Manny to have the freedom of speech in spite of not agreeing with him. It was a very American response and I am proud of those folks for speaking up for the rights of all of us.

Beat is saying that this same-sex marriage push is a slippery slope. He is quite right. Also, all the logical arguments you all have will not move the Japanese sense of what is right. Sorry, they know the value of a family with a female mom and a male dad, especially for children. The Japanese will not be moved. And they are right. Don't you all have a family that you wouldn't trade for the world, as wacky as they are? Didn't each one of us have a Dad and a Mom? Seems quite sensible to me to keep a marriage between a man and a woman. Beat has it right. Bit crude but correct.

Jay-Z may be applauding President Obama’s decision to support gay marriage, but one other celebrity is less enthusiastic: Boxer Manny Pacquiao.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76316.html#ixzz1uwuh1D6m

Gay can mean clueless and happy as well:)

Man's inhumanity to man. I wish we would all live by the golden rule. Not the one that says "He who has the gold rules" but the one that says "Treat others as you would want to be treated".

History is not necessarily linearly progressive. It can go backwards into forms of slavery and cruelty. For example Slavery itself:

"After the end of the Roman Empire in 476 AD slavery did not disappear from Europe. It continued for centuries (although the Church disapproved). The Vikings and other nations kept slaves and there were slave markets in towns like London, Dublin and Rome. In Saxon England slaves were called thralls. They did the hardest and dirtiest work. At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 there were about 10,000 slaves in England.

Nevertheless slavery gradually declined and by the mid-12th century it had vanished from Western Europe." http://www.localhistories.org/slavery.html

However, we all know that when the USA started that there was indeed slavery and it took a civil war to get rid of it. Are we not all called to a chaste existence, meaning pure? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chastity

Thunderbird2 has it right. Those with the means have staked the deck in their favor and have created a "let them eat cake" mentality. Here in CA we have 12,000 plus people getting 100,000 USD pensions after 30 years. It is untouchable they say because the law says so. Most people are happy with a 50,000 USD a year just working. The greed is unimaginable. With a 16 Billion dollar deficit, the pensions should not be off limits, especially when government unions have given money to get elected individuals they must negotiate with. That is called staking the debt and borders on corruption.

Another point, I would like to emphasis is that It should be illegal to borrow on the backs of the next generation. This is what our federal and state have done. Brown in CA is threatening that the public school system be destroyed , prisoners let loose, a skeleton of police and firefighters, if he does not get his tax hike. Pensions and good old boy salaries are untouchable.

Yes, we can rule to lavish ourselves on the taxpayer expense and then tell the taxpayer to work harder. Yabits comment I like:

"If you whip a horse, it will run faster....

...for awhile."

Probably the best point on the thread is from Sailwind.

'Did a little looking into your discussion about the founding fathers Washington, Adams and Jefferson and Romney's statement that we were a nation founded on Judeo-Christian traditions, that they wouldn't agree with it.

Jefferson most likely would not he was more of the rationalist bent in his religious beliefs and thought God more in the abstract then any actual personal deity and really wasn't down with religion at all in the Governance of man.

Washington, he was steeped in it two quotes of his:

“It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.”

“Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”

John Adams he credits Judeo aspect and Jewish Hebrews with civilizing mankind his quote:

The Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations.”

Romney's not really that far off on any far ground here actually.'

Very presidential. I like Romney better after watching his speech. There is nothing wrong with tradition, honor, Mom and Dad and a moral life. Apple pie is good too. Here is a link to the Romney speech at Liberty University: "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZSIgAKL8Ms&feature=related". BTW most headlines were less dramatic then the above.

"Soylant Green" awaits us if we do not help our children. It may be exactly what we have become anyway.

Golly -

"Soyant Green" awaits us if we do not help our children. It may be exactly what we have become anyway.

Wolfpack - you make a good point and I will remember it for future discussions. But you know, next on the agenda is exactly that: treatment for those who deny that gay behavior is normal and acceptable. Wolfpack, your on the list. Kidding.

Also, as freedom can trump another's rights as in terminated pregnancies, so will this gay agenda for freedom trump many rights of religion, speech and assembly in the USA . How about the right to raise your children with your values? Not acceptable perhaps in a few years. Evangelicals and the Catholic Church in America will have to be oppressed... or contained for a more PC term.

The world will not go for it though. The West's attempts to export the termination of pregnancies in other countries in the UN before were blocked by the Evangelicals, Catholics, Hindus, Muslims, and Africans. They will do the same with the gay agenda. Defenders of marriage and traditional families are not alone. China may even be on board for this one.

But for the USA, Boy Scouts are evil and the Bible is hate literature. A bit scary for us all. What's next? Indoctrination of our children? If we try to protect our children will we be arrested? Starting to sound like Germany in the 1930s.

Our poor children. The two generation before them have terminated 25% of their peers, spent their future earnings to pay for their lavish lifestyle and pensions (public employees), burdened them with massive college loan debt, and they now have to steer our children toward same sex attractions through education and the media. I am sure they are saying thank you.

"Soyant Green" awaits us if we do help our children. It may be exactly what we have become anyway.

JAPAN should be OK. Thank God for the Japanese. A great people that questions any kind of change that differs from how things were done in the past. It is wise.

The people of North Carolina have spoken and so will we in November. Let's be tolerant but not rolled over. Obama miscalculated. And when we win no one will be bothering the gay community. Life will go on as usual.

I love the USA. There seems to be religious animosity growing because of this issue. A basic freedom of Religion may be lost. With it goes Speech, the Press and Assembly. Not a bright future should the churches be forced to silence because of "hate speech". Catholics will not be changing their position and neither will evangelicals because the bible is pretty clear on this subject. However, it is an issue that must be treated sensitively. A lot of gray here. Obama could have spoken with a little more wisdom.

I think, like Japan, underneath all the rhetoric is a kindhearted, tolerant and traditional people in the USA. Let us get out and vote and duplicate what the good Ladies and Gentlemen of the great state of North Carolina did. Let us fight for the next generation and leave them with the freedoms we have enjoyed. Also, treat all people with dignity and respect. God Bless everyone and I mean everyone. Obama and I probably agree on the last statement.

I spoke to a Dad yesterday of the traditional marriage type and he said it has been more than once that he as had to teach his children about how the world really was and not as taught in schools nor as portrayed by Hollywood. We have to teach God given values to our children and not allow the government and Hollywood to brainwash them. Obama is an opinion leader.

Obama means well and judgement should be reserved for God but marriage is a bit different from ... God made Adam and Eve and their love takes part in the creation of children. It is fruitful, naturally. Obama could have been traditional and compassionate by defining marriage as it is defined but shown compassion with civil unions (because it really is none of our business).

Did you check the ages out. Pretty healthy people. Should have carried some supplies. RIP.

The Question - "The new plan of most progressive economies is to eat their own young to sustain an aging population."

I really want France and the EU to succeed, fabulously.

Wolfpack - Very well written. What comes after a...The traditional family values are alive in both the USA and Japan. Probably more so in Japan because of their sense of knowing family as utmost important with a distrust of fancy logic. And their inability to speak English will keep the Japanese from being influenced by the thrust of the Western media values. We, traditional families, "have been doing it this way for thousands of years and will continue to do so for another thousand years". We shall prevail and defend our offspring.

yabits and smithinjapan...do as you like (beware STDs) but it does take a female and a male to have offspring to go into the future. I happen to like my children and grandchildren and so on. I would like it to continue through the ages. Japanese are also very keen on this and many do cry at the lack of children in Japan. Such a beautiful people who carry forward a beautiful culture. Same for the traditional families everywhere.

It is just candy. Sexuality is biological yes. It's expression can certainly be influenced by culture. This commercial is certainly quite innocent. I think all of us should treat each other with respect and purity.

One of my sons has a friend that seems to like to take things. He cannot help himself. We should all respect "who he is"? Yes and he should discipline himself not to take things that are not his.

ReikiZen - nice post. Say, here in the good old USA, my wife and I always laugh at her "Resident Alien" card. Gaijin just makes me laugh as well. Lighten up and help the guy next to you carry their burden, whomever they are.

The infinite light reflected in our souls and given expression in our culture is really something to be thankful for. There is a common source of this light or life. Our will, intellect and perception relies on this life/light for its own existence. I am a person and so are all the others. Why would the source of the light/life not have will, intellect and perception of infinite magnitude? The Japanese also sense our inter-connectedness in this global world of ours with the light/life given to them by their culture and ancestors, something to be thankful for. Not to the exclusion of Gaijin but as an affirmation of what makes them human. We also should be thankful for all that has been given to us by our own culture and ancestors and to the source of life itself.

I am really not confounded by the Japanese sense of high morals and high values, for I share the same. I am sometimes confounded when we cannot quite live up to those values and how we rationalize or respond to the realities of everyday living, for it is not quite a perfect world.

Certainly we all agree upon the concept that in spite of all the suffering and death we see around us that we are indeed our brothers' keeper. At least we all, Japanese included, give this lip service and perhaps make an effort to do something in our historical time and place.

Remember when the US constitution was written and put in place, slavery was not outlawed even though it was written that all men are created equal. Certainly, individuals saw this contradiction. Not everyone agrees with how things are done in reality and the Japanese people are no different. Many see their own flaws quite well. They strive as well as I to walk towards that source of light/life and to bring it into our own everyday world. I have great respect for the Japanese because they really are not that closed minded unless pushed into a corner. Perhaps we are not that different after all.