By Here is open thread for anything else readers want to discuss during a week that was heavily devoted to earthquake and tsunami coverage. So what does everyone think about the gas prices? Surprisingly Bill Clinton is in solidarity with George W. Bush on oil and gas issues.
UPDATE: Oh by the way remember the ROK Drop is now up on Facebook, you can either “Like” the Fan Page or follow me on my Profile Page:
2:04 am on March 13th, 2011 1
For those of you who want an American girlfriend (Tom?) you can now get one…
…but it will cost you.
Their market value has been revealed.
http://failblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/epic-…
2:06 am on March 13th, 2011 2
You can find out what kind of syndrome Japan might soon have here:
http://koti.mbnet.fi/ojalesa/koe/opposite.html
2:24 am on March 13th, 2011 3
I saw that the Arab League is calling for a no fly zone in Libya rather than the US or NATO allies out right calling for it. I guess a US policy of stall while consensus is built that won't be built might be the M.O. to keep the US out of more conflicts. Unfortunately, it takes an earthquake in Japan, REALLY unfortunately, to get CNN reporters to stop cheering for an eventual conflict that they'll criticize and say NATO never should have gotten into right after the first collateral damage occurs.
2:33 am on March 13th, 2011 4
For should the enemy strengthen his van, he will weaken his rear; should he strengthen his rear, he will weaken his van; should he strengthen his left, he will weaken his right; should he strengthen his right, he will weaken his left. If he sends reinforcements everywhere, he will everywhere be weak.
-Sun Tzu, Chapter VI: Weak points and Strong Points
3:53 am on March 13th, 2011 5
1. Tsunami 'Swallows-up(집어삼키다)' Japan : YTN
2. Japan turns into 'Sea of Fire'(불바다) : SBS
3. Resembles a 'War Zone'(전쟁터 방불케 하는) : YNA
4. railroads 'bent like a piece of taffy' (엿가락처럼 휘어진) : Chungang Daily
5. Japan Coastal lines reduced to rubble ruin (초토화되다) : MBC
6. Car and Electronic Industries to receive 'reciprocal interests'(반사이익) : Chosun Biz
It sounds more like someone is gloating rather than writing a News article. To be fair these words are commonly used by the Korean media, but it still sounds insensitive because I think that those words are semantically too strong to be used for a news article, especially in a situation as grave as this disaster.
10:23 am on March 13th, 2011 6
The Social Security crisis gets attention from Paul Krugman.
10:52 am on March 13th, 2011 7
Raymond Davis, now in jail and accused of murder, was investigating Lashkar-e-Taiba. That brings out a conflict of interest between our CIA and Pakistan's ISI. Here's the story by Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times.
4:29 pm on March 13th, 2011 8
devmil wrote:
That's not the impression I get at all. It sounds like they're trying to put powerful words to evoke powerful images that no words can adequately describe.
Most of the SoKos I've talked to about this here and back in Seoul are sickened by all this horrible news. Sickened.
4:31 pm on March 13th, 2011 9
ChickenHead wrote:
I guess that's where "Fitty Cent" got his name: it's what his pops call his mama.
6:19 pm on March 13th, 2011 10
Seriously, 3-11 is worse than 9-11 in body count and property damage so it’s hard to really talk about other things right now.
7:53 pm on March 13th, 2011 11
Kushibo – "I guess that’s where “Fitty Cent” got his name: it’s what his pops call his mama."
You insensative prik! As someone who grew up in south-central L.A., I expected more from you. Shame Shame!
50 Cent received his nick-name via himself. He claims to have been shot somewhere around 10 times. Thus, his immortality is synonymous with the solid nature of a 50 cent piece. Who knew?
I feel "iron slab", "kevlar coin" or "a piece of depleted uranium" would have been much more suitable.
P.S. 50 cents for an American sista. I guess inflation has seriously hit the U.S.
8:45 pm on March 13th, 2011 12
Zilchy wrote:
For starters, I'm from Compton, not South Central.
Secondly, though I vaguely remember hearing something like that story as the reason for Fifty Cent's name, I have little use for remembering the details of some gangstah wannabe's stories aimed at glorifying violence in the 'hood as part of some tough-guy mentality.
9:22 pm on March 13th, 2011 13
"It sounds more like someone is gloating rather than writing a News article."
Angry expat population likes to see what they desperately want to see. Hey blind white man, have a look at this picture, if you are able to see. This appears in front page of one newspaper.
http://image.chosun.com/sitedata/www/section_imag…
9:53 pm on March 13th, 2011 14
#13 Tom, I've been reading your comments for a while now and it's kinda funny that you claim to be a Korean. What makes you think I'm white and an angry expat? Most of your comments I have read in this site are worthless piece of garbage trying to enforce the idea of the western world vs Asia. I am a Korean and I have never met a Korean who even remotely thinks like you. Maybe there is some Chinese ancestry in you or something. Maybe you are a member of the Democratic Labor Party of Korea… I can't figure it out. Anyway, I'm Korean and you are a idiot who thinks that anyone critical of Korea is a blind white man. Or do you have any other reason to call me out as a blind white man even though you have no knowledge of who I am? Read some Korean news articles today, even Korean news media are calling out themselves for using words like 'sunken'(침몰).
10:05 pm on March 13th, 2011 15
You ever notice that the girls displayed on the Koreancupid.com ads have not changed in like 5 years.
10:09 pm on March 13th, 2011 16
"Read some Korean news articles today, even Korean news media are calling out themselves for using words like ‘sunken’(침몰)."
If you're really Korean, my apologies. But you and those who are making a big fuss are still retarded. To me, I think Koreans sometimes try to be too much of a nice guy, trying too hard – it's making a controversy out of nothing, and foreign internet users pick up on them, and they themselves turn them into controversies, when nothing would have happened if Koreans left it alone in the first place. Go have a look at the Japanese sites, they're horrible places where majority of comments are full of hysterical anti Korean comments regarding the Korean aid workers – telling them to go f*ck themselves and don't bring foot and mouth diseases to Japan and so on.
For instance, what's the point of making a big fuss press job on that stupid old preacher who said Japan's calamity was due to God punishing Japan for not being Christians, when there are so many other comments from other important people who are genuinely concerned and trying to help?
10:32 pm on March 13th, 2011 17
Tom, I think you spend way too much time on the internet and now your whole world revolves around the comments of people on the internet which would vastly differ in real life. Go to a US forum where they bash practically every single country from Mexico, Canada to even their closest allies Britain. Go to a European board where they bash the PIIGS (Portugal, Iceland, Italy, Greece, Spain). Not to forget the bashing of religions. It's a source of concern but in real life it's another game. Don't lose sleep over it Tom.
10:55 pm on March 13th, 2011 18
#16 Regarding your comment about the preacher, everyone makes fuss about those kinds of things. Pastor Terry Jones who wanted to burn Korans was offensive to the Muslims but US media did the same thing. So what do you want the news media to do? Censor themselves about anything that is offensive to the neighboring countries? Try to be that 'Nice guy' you didn't want us to be?
8:31 am on March 14th, 2011 19
Yes Tom does like push the Korea vs the west narrative, but I've read cringeworthy posts on this blog from the western perspective as well, pushing the same narrative. I get the impression that Tom and some other posters are trading jabs trying to win some ancient argument that noone remembers how started.
Anyways, I don't see any indication, in any of the terms you quoted, of taking pleasure in the misfortune of the japanese. The accusation of gloating is therefore, in my opinion, entirely unwarranted.
I also don't think the Japanese base their opinion of Koreans on the attention seeking nonsense of some scumbag preacher. Tom, not everything has to be viewed as fodder for some neverending rhetorical feud between Korea and whomever. In fact, few people think in those terms.
8:31 am on March 14th, 2011 20
An interesting essay on North Korea:
"Around the world, authoritarian regimes have tried to keep their citizens from hearing news of the protests raging throughout the Middle East and in their own countries. Some have tried shutting down cellphone and Internet service, but that has only sparked new flames of anger and discontent.
…
But there is one country that has actually managed to keep the vast majority of its population in the dark: North Korea. Unlike its neighbor China, which has more than 450 million Internet users, the Internet in North Korea is banned for the average citizen. There's no need for the government to block threatening websites, because most North Koreans have never used a computer, let alone understand what a URL is."
Read it on the LA Times op-ed page.
9:07 am on March 14th, 2011 21
Kansas Republican state representative Virgil Peck says, shoot illegal immmigrants like feral hogs.
Hattip to TalkingPointsMemo
9:37 am on March 14th, 2011 22
Terrible News! Japanese AV Star Yui Hatano may have been a victim of the Tsunami while filming according to the venerable and family oriented daily Sports Seoul:
http://news.sportsseoul.com/read/entertain/924658…
3:56 pm on March 14th, 2011 23
Obama gets criticized — for, among other things, over-reliance on military force — by John Conyers.
10:26 pm on March 14th, 2011 24
#21, do they cause as much damage in Kansas? I can't remember much about that state except it being sorta like a giant wheat field…
7:48 am on March 15th, 2011 25
setnaffa 24, I don't know how much damage they do, but businesses large and small, not to mention householders, keep hiring them.
8:02 am on March 15th, 2011 26
Rick Santorum, a former Republican senator and possible presidential candidate, has come out against the separation of church and state.
He "decried what he called the growing secularization of American public life. He traced the problem to [John F. ] Kennedy's 1960 speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, in which Kennedy – then a candidate for president – sought to allay concerns about his Catholicism by declaring, 'I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.' Santorum, who is Catholic, said he was 'frankly appalled' by Kennedy's remark. 'That was a radical statement,' Santorum said, and it did 'great damage.'"
Read it at the Boston Globe.
Keep up with Republicans at "http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/santorum-kennedy-was-radical-for-believing-in-church-vs-state.php?ref=fpblg">TPM.
8:04 am on March 15th, 2011 27
Rick Santorum, a former Republican senator and possible presidential candidate, has come out against the separation of church and state.
He "decried what he called the growing secularization of American public life. He traced the problem to [John F. ] Kennedy's 1960 speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, in which Kennedy – then a candidate for president – sought to allay concerns about his Catholicism by declaring, 'I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.' Santorum, who is Catholic, said he was 'frankly appalled' by Kennedy's remark. 'That was a radical statement,' Santorum said, and it did 'great damage.'"
Read it here.
Keep up with Republicans at TPM.
8:57 am on March 15th, 2011 28
N. Korean Red Cross expresses sympathy for quake-ravaged Japan.
Tipping my hat to the Marmot's Hole.
9:01 am on March 15th, 2011 29
#27
Maybe Mr. Santorum missed the part about why Kennedy made that speech. After a long delay, he finally decided to respond to fears being generated by protestant fundamentalist that, as a Catholic, Kennedy would be obligated to follow the dictates of the Pope from the Vatican. Kennedy was basically saying, no, his commitment to the ideals of the Constitution would not be overridden by any allegiances to his church.
So, is Mr. Santorum saying that won't be true for him as a Catholic and his fealty to the Vatican would come first?
By the way, his contender for the nomination, Newt Gingrich, is also pandering for the religious right vote by offering ridiculous excuses for his affairs and multiple marriages.
9:08 am on March 15th, 2011 30
Speaking of pandering to religious fundamentalists, I mentioned elsewhere about blaming the Japanese disaster on and 'angry god.' I was sure that would come from a western religious demigog. Little did I know that it would first be done by our favorite Japanese xenophobe, Mr. Shintaro Ishihara.
9:26 am on March 15th, 2011 31
Before I'm corrected, demigog should have been demagogue.
1:02 pm on March 16th, 2011 32
Paul Krugman thinks we can have a fully renewable-based, nuclear-free economy by 2050, but it will be expensive.
3:32 pm on March 16th, 2011 33
Three-time heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali asks Iran's leader, Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei, to have mercy on the American hikers.