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 The utter nerve of President Obama.  The gall of this guy.  Scolding rank and file Democrats for being down and disgusted with the Administration, disgusted with the Democratic Party, when it was the Administration and Democratic Party that’s made rank and file Democrats so damn disgusted.

 Since taking the oath of office Obama’s time and time and time and time again bent over backwards, demonstrated all manner of contortions, to make nice with the very Republicans who have it in for him and have done all in their power, and then some, to undermine whatever tepid initiatives he’s put forth.  But when it comes to the Democratic base, the very ones who put him into office, we get:

. . . watered-down proposals (Single Payer off the table, the Public Option under the bus . . . all to appease Republicans who worked overtime to fuck-over America anyway); we get the same-ol’ same-ol’ when it comes to Justice (why hasn’t the Justice Dept dropped all charges against Don Siegelman and started seriously investigating the chicanery of the Bush BFF’s who persecuted him?); we get Rahm Emanuel calling liberals “fucking retarded”, apparently with Obama’s blessing (no public dressing-down, let alone firing); we get the just-as-petulant Robert Gibbs scolding “the professional left” (where’s my paycheck? I could damn well use one!); and on and on and on . . .

  And rather than taking his own advisers and other hangers-on to “the woodshed,” rather than even considering that we’re disappointed in his obsession with genuflecting to the Great God BiPartisanship (while sticking it to Americans in the process and refusing to FIGHT for the Middle Class), rather than declaring anything like:

 “I messed up.  For a year-and-a-half I actually believed that Capitol Hill Republicans also wanted what was best for America and Americans, just that they advocated a different way of getting there.  Now I realize that I was wrong and they want what’s best for the wealthiest and most mean-spirited of Americans.  I won’t make that mistake again.  Today, I fight them, and fight for the United States of America and her citizens.”

 

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 . . . or rather than saying, with crystal clarity:

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. . . rather than any of that, we get scolded.

Screw it.  Oh, and what Bartcop says.*

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* h/t to lotlizard; and h/t to nightprowlkitty

I’ve had better weeks.  But it’s about 4:40 on a Friday (Central Time) and I’m still breathing, so I’ll take what I can get.  To celebrate, after a fashion, I’m going to post this thing from my just-for-fun blog, LetsJapan.Wordpress.Com, something that I up and updated this morning.  It’s photo essay called . . .

                                                                          Signs

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No, it’s not a bunch of pictures of “funny English” signs, although there are some pretty funny ones in the group.  And, yes, I do have something of a collection of those.  These are just cool, or quirky, or weird, or uniquely Japanese.

 So pop open a beverage of choice, click on over to Signs, and enjoy.  I mean, after all, you’ve made it through another week.

 Note:  if you want to know what the hell it is with me and Japan (and to a lesser extend India and China), there’s an “About” page over at my site/blog.  Feel free to click away.

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 Well.  I was planning to do a pretty cool essay about the Big World Economic News today, to wit:  that China’s now passed Japan as the world’s second largest economy.  That’ll have to wait a day or three.  I don’t think that either China or Japan are going anywhere.  If you’re dying for a taste of that, though, earlier this afternoon I did work-up a Front Page post over at my blog, LetsJapan.Wordpress.Com on this:  China’s Econ Passes Japan’s. Let’s All Take a Deep Breath, Shall We?‘

                                                                        .   .   .

^.

  What pushed that timely Essay/Post aside was this headline:

 “Reid Against Plan to Build Mosque at Ground Zero.”

  Continued below the fold…

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 You may consider this either a humble invitation to contemplate the beauty that is spring and visit my website/blog which celebrates it, or a shameless site/blog promotion.  As you wish.

 The blog is LetsJapan.Wordpress.Com and the particular page that link takes you to . . . well, I won’t give it away, but it’s very, very Spring-like, photo-heavy and I hope you’ll enjoy it.  Here’s one of the photos (taking this morning) featured:

 There’s a pretty tune on there, too (a nice vid) that I invite you to watch/listen to, too.  You’ll enjoy it.  To be absolutely honest, if I had to choose, I’d choose autumn as my favorite season, whether in the U.S. or Japan or I suppose pretty much anywhere.  But this year I’m quite ready for spring and have been enjoying the past few days of it.  Today was particularly pretty. . .

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 I’ve taken a much needed break from politics and political blogging.  I haven’t been on Orange for of months, ever since it totally sold out with that PBS “skin” and then its founder went on a couple of tirades against the very people who built-up his little bloggy empire (and who’ve made him his pile over the past 5 years).  At this point, I’ve no intention of going back.

 Docudharma is the quieter, saner, version of Orange:  all the politics, half the freakyness (well, 1/10th of the freakyness).  So this is where I now come to lurk or very occasionally comment or diary.  But I haven’t come here very much lately.

 But today, this Sunday morning, in the full flush of last night’s walloping of Florida by Alabama (and humiliation of that sanctimonious twit, Tebow), I simply feel compelled to visit this Best Political Blog and (virtually) shout:  Roll Tide!

 In Alabama we have one of the top aerospace research and development cities in all the world (Huntsville), the thriving and tradition-steeped-yet-forward-thinking deep water port city of Mobile, one of the globe’s most innovated bio-tech and bio-med hubs in Birmingham and beautiful sites and scenery, from the pristine Cahaba River to the glorious Little River Canyon.  Yet, sadly, especially in the world of politics, Alabama is burdened with disappointments.  

 So that’s why it’s so damn nice when — even if it’s in the realm of college football and not in the realm of Senatorial elections — there’s something to celebrate here.  And celebrating we are!  Except for the Auburn people.  But they don’t really count.

 All the best – and, again, Roll Tide.

Mu . . .

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 As many of you know, I have this, uh, background with and in Japan.  I sort of talk about it here and there, but rarely shout about it.  I did a few weeks ago here, when I notified all that I’ve organized a group trip to Kyoto for this coming April and today, I’m doing it again by telling you about the new post/story I’ve put up on my blog, LetsJapan.Wordpress.Com

 It’s a spooky story of which I speak/blog, to wit Creepy Japan:  Happy Halloween Week:

^.

 

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 For the unacquainted, you’ll get a little background, a taste, of the bizarre and spooky that goes way back in Japanese history (theater and art, too).  And, if you like, you can see some old and new Uncanny Things I’ve stumbled upon there.

 Enjoy.

 Mu . . .

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 I don’t know if this (reported last Saturday) has already been covered here, but if so I dare say it’s worth taking another, sad look at:

 Florida Man Kills Fiance on Eve of Wedding

  WINTER SPRINGS, Fla. – A man who thought there was an intruder in his house shot and killed his fiancee the day before they were to be married, police said Friday.

“Right now everything points to a tragic accident,” Police Chief Kevin Brunelle told The Associated Press, adding investigators were awaiting forensic results.

John Tabutt, 62, told investigators he got his gun when he thought he heard an intruder, then fired at a figure in the hallway, according to Brunelle. It was Tabutt’s live-in fiancee, 62-year-old Nancy Dinsmore, who family members say he was going to marry Saturday. Tabutt told authorities he thought she was next to him in bed the whole time.

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 “Over three quarters (76.3 percent) of the homicide victims knew their assailant. Nearly one third (31.7 percent) of the homicides occurred during a family argument, 15.4 percent during a robbery, 4.1 percent during a drug deal, 0.2 percent during an abduction, and 44.1 percent for other unspecified reasons. In 4.5 percent of the homicides, multiple circumstances were reported. . . .”  

 From the American Journal of Epidemiology.

 Alas.

Mu . . .

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    O.K., there’s a confluence of a few things here.  First of all, it’s been a while, so I hope that y’all will be all “Prodigal Son” about me and such.  My fingers are crossed on that.  Second, many of you know, some of you don’t, Mu = BenGoshi (over at Orange) and BenGoshi = Mu (here).  Nothing scandalous.  Just when I signed up here a year and a half ago I wanted a sort of “clean slate” with my writings and opinions.  I still do.  So that’s “self-outing” No. 1.  Third, yesterday I put up a diary on Orange (which is pretty much re-done below for y’all, but this D’Dharma one’s better.  Really.) wherein I gave out an email address, but told all readers that I didn’t want to provide or link directly to personal information, as I wanted to keep some semblance of anonymity.  Well, some nimrod thought it’d be cute to google me up and post that info in the diary thread.  Eventually I think that Meteor Blades wiped all that, but I can still view the hidden threads so I’m not really sure.  Anyway, that’s all to say that I was “outed” on Orange yesterday, but am really, really sure no one here would do that, for which I thank you in advance.  

::

    Now for the fun stuff (again, many of you who do Orange saw this yesterday.  Consider it a “cross post” . . . with some minor updates).

     I’ve put together two (2) small group trips for Japan, for this coming spring and I’m inviting anyone interested in going to contact me via:   [email protected]

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     ^{Priests at Kurodani Temple, just after morning Sutras.  Kyoto.  2007.}

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     ^{Yasaka Pagoda.  Kyoto.  2008}

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 Please follow me below the fold and, note:  all photos are mine.

^.

(cross-posted at orange under my nom du orange)

Writes Scalia in District of Columbia v. Heller:

“We are aware of the problem of handgun violence in this country… [but, you see, as Right Wing fucktards, we really don’t give a shit.  In fact, not only are we going to strike-down DC’s ban on a kind of firearm technology that didn’t exist when the Bill of Rights was ratified, we’re going to strike down trigger-lock requirements!]”

Why?  What was Scalia’s and the majority’s reasoning and rationale?  I quote and paraphrase:

“The historical narrative [is that insane gun fanatics own the Republican Party, and the Republican Party owns me.  Besides, I simply don’t give a shit if Saturday Night Specials flow like a flooded Potomac into the lower elevations of the District of Columbia.  What’s it to me?”

Sorry for the short diary “essay”, but here we have, in a 5-4 decision, another legacy of Republican Presidents putting hacks and goons on our Supreme Court.

Mu . . .