Japan in the Toilet

BBC News reports (link) that among Australia's "Top Ten Inventions" is the dual-flush toilet.

The backstory is appealing:  "In the world's driest inhabited continent, water-saving measures are religiously embraced. The dual flush loo has two buttons to dispatch different amounts of water from the cistern - a half-flush for liquid waste and a full one for more heavy-duty deposits.It was invented in the early 1980s by Bruce Thompson and is a ubiquitous feature in Australian bathrooms..." 

But dual-flush toilets were widely used in Japan since at least the 1970s (my introduction was as a homestay student there in 1979). Further, the Japanese designs were superior: in many versions, fresh water runs from a tap into a mini-basin before draining into the cistern -- allowing a rinse of hands or contact with a disinfecting / deodorizing agent. And Japanese home designers typically separate the toilet from the bath / shower into two adjoining rooms, so two people can easily freshen-up at the same time (both logical & an aesthetic improvement - it's gross & uninspiring to bathe looking at a toilet).

Anyhow, Wikipedia, the BBC, and Sydney's Powerhouse Museum must cleanup their reports -- the invention of the dual-flush toilet preceded 1980 and is probably not Australian.

 Choose 大 for big or 小 for smaller jobs... 「水を流すトイレのレバー」

 

Entitled to Swindle?

Much was said in this election about a part of our great nation (fully 47% of society according to Romney) who feel entitled to supports, beggars trying to scrounge other people's energies.

Parasites.

But I personally know more people who are wealthy, yet scrounge other people's energies. They claim to owe nothing to nobody. They believe their successes are wholly self-created. Family, friends & community are betrayed for narcissistic wealth. In the midst of their plenty they defraud, strike out & stab others. Too many Americans living in the midst of community angrily snap at suggestions they've not paid their way.

Parasites.

Perhaps two types of scum, like ticks & fleas, or rats & crows, are similar competitors?

Let's note the words of Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren (D-MA):

"There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along..."

Election... No Comment

Romney Ryan Revealed

They couldn't carry their own home states, where they're best known. Corporate charmers. Empty smiles.

Romney & Ryan, rich right-wing robots, would have recklessly ruined us all. Thank the Lord they lost.

Brown to Brooks Bros.

Scott Brown is out of work in January, after Massachusetts voted Elizabeth Warren into the Senate. Brown reportedly owns homes in Wrentham, Massachusetts & Rye, New Hampshire. He has a further three condominium units in Boston rented out; and is also part-owner of a timeshare on the Caribbean island of Aruba; he also has Washington DC lodgings -- which presumably he'll be leaving.

Anyhow, he's a fancy dude who can soon hitchhike over to the Wrentham Village Premium Outlets to work at Brooks Brothers Factory Store.  Good luck to ya Scottie !

Willard Burikko

Somebody told Mr. Willard "Mitt" Romney that round eyes and an empty face are appealing. This is the "burikko" look in Japan -- trying too hard to appear cute.

Rich Mitt reeks of insincerity. He's truly still a preppy bully.

Vote Hirono

Obedient Linda Lingle wants to be Hawaii's Senator. Vote for Senator Mazie Hirono.

Lingle is a Republican political operator. As Hawaii's Governor she vetoed Hawaii's civil unions bill, supporting the sanctity of marriage while herself twice divorced - selfishness over sanctity.

Lingle was enthusiastic for Sarah Palin leading the world into ignorance, aggressiveness & oblivion.

Avoid Lingle, a costly mistake. Senator Mazie Hirono will be hard-working for all families in Hawaii.

Rich Man Right

"There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody.

You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did.

Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along..."

--- US Senate candidate for Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren
(responding to Romney, Ryan & Scott Brown's Winner Deserves All narcissistic greed)

Romney Romney Corporate Zombie

Remember the story about "mean Mitt" leading a gang of prep school bullies that held down a gay student while Mitt pushed in and cut-off the kid's hair... (link)

Don't get flim-flammed by Romney infomercials: there's less to Mitt than meets the eye.

Candidate Mitt Romney's later response to criticism noted dumb pranks he couldn't remember...

Jackal preppie Mitt remains loose. Feed him, he'll bite your hand.

Romney Rents USA

Romney rents presidency to The North Face...
White House to become Kmart House.
Trademarking America...

Hurricane Profiteering

Being injured, buffeted by nature, losing property and grieving for beloved family members suddenly dead. Things seemingly could not be worse. But a small bottle of water selling for $9.50 or a simple dry white bread sandwich costing $23 add insult to injury. Expect such profiteering from bogus President Romney. 

Our remaining meals will all be overpriced. Disgustedly eating Sandy. Profiteering on our misery. The Big Business way is inhumane. Romney & Co. see us all as sheep to be fleeced - expect no mercy from them.

RichMitt Gambling Your Life

Rich twerp Mitt Romney (self-styled governor who's been out of the job for 5 years) is wholly willing to gamble your life for his selfish petulence.

Mitt plays with dishonor by wiping his ass on the flag, as he shits on the corpses of overseas Americans slaughtered in Benghazi.

Mitt don't know shit.

He probably cannot find Libya on a map. He's never been there. He's as far from an expert as can be. He's simply playing & bluffing when he don't know squat. And that's indicative of a dangerous -- even evil person, who'll smilingly force personal profit from other people's misery. As Mitt ASSerts his knowledge, recognize him for what he is -- a stupid ass.

Four Americans dead or four million Americans dead, it's all the same to bloody Mitt.

Everyone's a leech except for him - the financier hero. Right.

DOMA dead

The Defense of Marriage Act -- DOMA -- should have been named Discrimination over Marrying Anybody. The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit gaily struck down the hated law. Hallelujah! 

People living in conditions of near slavery in America have been taught to spit at loving neighbors in stable relationships. They'd better forge a strong community of citizens to protect themselves.

This was a straw horse from the outset - sow division, generate fear, convince the gullible their (already grim) way of life was threatened by -- married faggots! Meanwhile, local resources were plundered, jobs were exported, Bain Capitalism stripped all wealth and sucked the essence from American communities.

The art of hobbling Americans continued far too long. Scandals such as James Guckert / Jeff Gannon display a sinister government attitude to entrapment and press manipulation. Thanks to bigotry sowed by America's rulers, we all endure "Wer Jude ist, bestimme ich!" -- bribery, lack of transparency, communal hatred.

Mitt Romney's electoral strategy dictates he talk BIGOT. But he'll shake big money's sordid hand regardless of it's stink & what it fondled just before. The scuzzy Koch Brothers may be butt buddies to Lucifer -- Mitt bows down. Karl Rove channels homoerotic Nazi Göring -- Mitt don't care. 

DOMA is dead - Hallelujah!

Congrats Australia!

Congratulations to Australia on today's tough election to the United Nations Security Council.

Australia, Argentina, Rwanda, Luxembourg & South Korea will join the five non-elected "Grand Poobah" nations: China, France, Russia, UK & USA, as well as five members elected last year (Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Morocco, Pakistan & Togo) for two-year terms.

Let us hope the Ozzies - and their new mates - will wield independent thinking & rule of law
(and not cower as weak wallabies as with the Assange case)

Did You Know?

US-style corporate "democracy" suffered a black eye 16 Oct. when the Green Party ticket for President & Vice President of the USA, Dr. Jill Stein & Ms. Cheri Honkala, were arrested at Hofstra University (Hempstead, New York, USA) outside the globally-televised second US Presidential Debate.

The debates are managed by the Commission on Presidential Debates, a private corporation.

Only the Democratic Party & Republican Party nominees are allowed to debate, according to the aforementioned Commission on Presidential Debates (which itself was founded by representatives of those same two political parties).

The Green Party candidates are on the ballot in 38 states (including New York, where they were arrested), appearing as 'write-in' candidates for 5 more, and are still litigating for ballot access in 6 further states. The Green Party candidates have received over $100,000 Federal matching campaign funds (public funding from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund). This PECF backs up the corporate bias with federal funding bias for the chosen two "major" parties: "In 2012, each major party is entitled to $18.2 million in public funds for their conventions, and the parties' general election nominees are eligible to receive $91.2 million in public funds."

Read further discussion of the arrests (here)

Green Party  -  http://gp.org

Link to Open Debates

If you didn't know of these arrests,
Your nose too deep in da corporate butt.  Do something!

Disciplined Democracy: Russia USA

Just back from six days in Moscow. While I was there Russia held regional elections, including the first gubernatorial elections since 2005 (when President Putin abolished them). The huge winner, as expected, was Putin's "United Russia" party. They control the Kremlin, and have aggressively built their coalition. They actively intimidate any opposition (with propaganda, arrests, or violence). Many major opposition candidates withdrew prior to the election.

The US elections are similarly flawed. The two major parties monopolize domestic media reports, and keep a stranglehold on election logistics and the Presidential "debates" - where even intraparty candidates are pre-screened by unelected power brokers such as corporate MSNBC (link). We now see third-party candidates barred from all debate, an anti-democratic position bluntly endorsed by the major candidates. The guilty include Obama, Biden, Romney, Ryan, and Hillary Clinton, and behind-the-scenes supporters & party functionaries (link). 'Debate' ground rules (link) create a ludicrous exercise in theater -- in my view, a tragedy.

The Republican party wants to dismantle investments in commonwealth for the private gain of big industrialists (oh sorry, let's call it 'choice'). The "Democratic" party is not democratic. Yerbuttfucked either way.

Will Romney Nuke China?

In last night's important Presidential debate, Republican challenger Mitt Romney declared he would cut federal funding for PBS, the US Public Broadcasting Service.

PBS uses a very tiny fraction of one percent of the US Federal Budget.But the Presidential Debate Moderator, Jim Leher, is an Executive Editor at PBS, and a 40 year veteran of PBS news reporting.

At crux time, why piss-off the Moderator?

Maybe Karl Rove, etc. told Romney: "Jim Leher is old & exposed. Attack PBS & you'll throw him off-balance for the whole debate." Anyhow, that seems to be what happened - Leher, thinking of his possibly soon-to-be unemployed coworkers & colleagues, lost control of time & poorly coordinated the debate.

Romney had his back to the wall, and needed a strong attack strategy to succeed.

What will he do as President? His decisionmaking and character are both untrustworthy (in my opinion). Romney's record indicates he'll gamble on a unilateral surprise attack: slash & burn, kill & plunder, and hope for the best.
--------------------------------

Federal funding for PBS is well below 1/100th of 1% of the Federal Budget. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting gets a two year grant for $445 million. (link) Such funding is only 12% of the PBS budget.

Obama-Romney Debate

I watched only a few minutes excerpts of the debate via The Washington Post.

It was enough.

Cunning & glib, Romney's "answers" were memorized sound bites delivered too quickly. A weasel wishing to steer a dying federal monster to oblivion.

President Obama as typical, deferred to wealth;
referred to his opponent w/ courtesy title "Governor"...

PS- Drop the bullshit title Romney - you ain't guv'na no mo'

Deadly Problem In-deedy

At 3AM in a McDonald's restaurant in Waikiki, Christopher Deedy shot a man dead. The men were earlier reportedly drinking & arguing at a nearby bar.

Former US Dept. of State Special Agent Ed Lee raises a number of questions about the murder (link). Many in Hawaii watch warily. Should officers that Washington DC posts to colony Hawaii be liable for punishment when killing local folk?

Should Christopher Deedy go to trial? Deedy's lawyer, Honolulu attorney Brook Hart (link), claims his client should be immune from prosecution due to his work, because the U.S. Constitution discourages "frivolous or vindictive charges against federal officers."

 
















Was Christopher Deedy drunk? Was he on duty & drunk? Whatever the case, is he freely allowed to summarily execute someone he doesn't like in a McDonalds at 3AM?  I think not. 

Christopher Deedy, day job notwithstanding, absolutely should have been tested for drugs & drunkenness after a 3AM firearm discharge in the McDonalds. The Honolulu Police meekly deferred to his badge, and neglected the need to collect evidence & objective measurements at the murder scene. This colonial mentality is horrendous - "mainland bossman always right" -- bullshit!

Justice demands the surveillance tapes and details of the tragic sudden death of Kollin Elderts be made available for inspection. The tragedy continues.

Listen to Richard Hamasaki's song,"Cowardly Christopher Deedy" (link)

Justin Bieber Shock!

Pop star Justin Bieber was severely ill on stage last night in Glendale, Arizona USA, vomiting & sickened so badly he had to go offstage for two extended breaks.

The scuttlebutt is hard to believe, but could it be true...?  
Justin may be pregnant !?!
Just maybe an unusual case of immaculate conception?

Cunning Annoyance

Our media age has developed people who position themselves as professional irritants.

To be boot-licker or back-scratcher to the powerful is not a sustainable position. So much slicker to become a chronic annoyance to those who might threaten power. Our masters surely reward such people.

Annoyance as in Ann Coulter.

But annoyance and irritation arise only with ignorance. In the cases of Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Hannity, etc., when their method is recognized, it is pathetic. ...or distressing in a wholly different way.

These are flagrant whores to the powerful. They're talking heads who've sold their moral sense & scruples. They desecrate our communities. Their prostituted talents prolong your enslavement.

Storm Troopers USA

Many Americans are confused about why the USA is involved in Afghanistan, Pakistan, & Iraq, and earlier in Central & South America, Vietnam, etc.

The reasons are all bad. The US government became deeply involved in these punishing wars because the American people were too busy or lazy to question & challenge U.S. leadership.

Overseas military occupation is critically described variously as:
- deployment of storm troopers
- imperialism
- the American Raj
- protecting American civilians
- surge
- Coalition of the Willing
- illegal interference
- foreign occupying force
- invited guests
- helpers
- advisers

America can barely govern itself. The USA has no business dictating "How to Run a Country" to an army of foreign bureaucrats half a world away.

The invasion of Iraq was illegal and wrong. Millions of refugees continue to suffer. The war-makers should be held criminally responsible and punished severely.

Bush, Cheney, Powell, Rice, Blair, etc., should be in prison, not sipping mint juleps & awkwardy eating crudités in cozy retirement. These are murderous lying scum of the worst type.

Occupy Afghanistan should be shut down, and the US soldiers brought home. Occupy Iraq and our disruptive bases & facilities should also be shuttered. Use the resources in the USA.

Keep America Beautiful.
 

Drones Over America !

How will Americans react if foreign military drones patrol our own skies?  We'd not accept the devils spying on us!

When a foreign drone cruises overhead, surely a patriot with gun at hand will shoot at it...

Unwise...  But can we blame those protecting their homeland?

http://happening-here.blogspot.se/2012/07/drone-war-thoughts.html

  











Ooops !
 
 

Autumnal Equinox

Today is the Autumnal Equinox, the first day of autumn.

In Japan it's a national holiday, 秋分の日, Shūbun no Hi. Too bad it's Saturday -- an alternative Monday holiday is generally offered only when it falls on Sunday.

Here in Stockholm, the air is already crisp, and a few leaves have fallen.

This morning after some strong coffee and stone-oven baked apricot nut bread, we enjoyed a brisk walk through a tunnel of trees along Vallhallavägen. We met friends at an autumn Farmer's Market, where we bought a few bunches of organic vegetables, honey, some smoked eel, and salmon bits (areas around the fins trimmed before cutting filets, then warm smoked).  Then we had a tasty lunch together.

It's been quiet today. I can smell autumn outside on our verandah, high above the city.

But also I already can feel the approach of winter...

Courtesy Title Romney

Mitt Romney is often referred to as "Governor Romney" though he's not a Governor.

Mitt was Massachusetts governor from early 2003 for one four-year term. Terribly unpopular at term end (link), it's now over five-and-a-half years since he's been governor. Hallelujah !

Is Romney permanently entitled to use "Governor" while he lives as a rich man year after year on the income from his offshore investments, without working? I think not.

Call him ex-governor Romney if you must. Get rid of the courtesy title.
Romney's a bum.

Sinking Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal was a venerable newspaper. I seldom like the editorial slant (favoring trust fund "haves") but the paper was nonetheless a discerning read.

Now reading the below drivel: (link)
http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2012/09/14/the-broke-and-the-beautiful-digital-domain-edition

Bankruptcy has become a key part of America, but chortling over investment losses by sport star Dan Marino ("Ouch."), and highlighting a performing artist facing a clawback of pay (who "hasn't been accused of wrongdoing"), is simply vulgar. Reports about hapless “Octomom” and a bimbo in a birthday cake conclude the chronicle of smut.

WSJ, "The Daily Diary of the American Dream" is a scandal-mongering nightmare.

Murder on Mars?

An Open Letter to the Scientific Community:

NASA's recent "Curiosity" probe to Mars was improperly disinfected. The mission carries the potential to destroy the Martian environment, perhaps irrevocably changing & polluting that nearby world. (Any returning samples could also infect our Earth). Will the idiots be more careful in the future?

 The scientific community must penalize those responsible. Only accountability will promote proper behavior. 

Assorted strict decontamination & quarantine procedures for spacecraft have been agreed & supposedly implemented (link). The NASA Office of Planetary Protection is responsible for adhering to the United Nations Outer Space Treaty (1967), with oversight by the International Council for Science and its Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). Before the recent Mars Science Laboratory / Curiosity launch, NASA engineers admittedly & (reportedly) deliberately broke disinfection & quarantine rules involving a drilling system, and bypassed required consultations with Planetary Protection Officer Catharine Conley.

Past pandemics generated around Earth by crude introduction of pathogens should have been ample warning of danger. European contact with the "New World" at that time resulted in extinction of an unknown number of species, and perhaps a 95% mortality rate amongst indigenous peoples due to newly-introduced disease & illnesses.

Such overreaching efforts by engineers must be stopped. NASA should be fined US$1 billion for their transgression, with penalty monies transferred to provide better funding for planetary protection, cautionary education, and independent oversight. I believe a short prison sentence and individual fines for the involved engineers & supervisors will also help avoid future cross-contamination (NASA supervisor David Lavery has defended this breach of procedure). Any next time easily could cause death to us all.

Links:
NASA Office of Planetary Protection
COSPAR
COSPAR Scientific Assembly website
COSPAR Panel on Planetary Protection
The Guardians project (educating schoolkids)
Leonard David space.com article about the incident

10 Heroes for 2012

Here are 10 Heroes for 2012. (unranked list, many names are links) Not yet complete? It'll be full by year end...

--->  Chris Kluwe
Minnesota Vikings punter (American football) who's publicly agitated against discrimination

--->  Bernie Sanders
Vermont Senator fighting for the little guy in Washington (and too often, fighting alone)

--->  Ray McGovern
Former US Government official, now critically analyzing government

--->  Desmond Tutu
Archbishop & Nobel Peace Prizewinner who shunned Tony Blair for lying about Iraq. Tutu also demanded those responsible for illegally invading Iraq be tried at the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

--->  Bradley Manning
Accused whistleblower to Wikileaks (and through them The New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, etc.), Manning is in military prison for Embarrassing the Empire. The human interest sideshow now hounding Manning, Adrian Lamo (the FBI informer who fingered him) and Julian Assange (Wikileaks) are as nothing to the widespread death & destruction generated through illegal US overseas covert & military operations.

--->  Donna Smith
Activist for a more reasoned US healthcare system.

--->   Robert Fisk
The Independent newspaper's Middle East correspondent. A true independent, not a mouthpiece for corporate & special interest, who consistently rocks the boat.

--->  James Anaya
Giving enslaved & colonized people new hope as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples

Republican Heartbreak

When we elect Republican presidents, most Americans suffer...

Don't Get Fooled Again!

Showtrials USA?

The US military decided accused murderer Nidal Hasan will be forcibly shaved prior to his trial. Six times already, his growing beard has led the government to declare him in contempt of court.

Forcing people into a pretrial government-mandated makeover is disturbing.

What is next? That accused individuals submit to government makeup artists to look suitable as defendants?

We can envision depravity: dark rings under the eyes, hollow cheeks, perhaps even flecks of fake blood on the lips & chin. Hollywood-styled justice.

The US government already has devalued law & justice with indefinite detention of people at Guantanamo & elsewhere. People held without charge or trial are intubated & forcefed. One day, these horrific government practices will be recognized along with torture as ridiculous & bad, preempting a proper course of justice. That certainty is scant comfort for unfortunates caught-up in the showtrials, unjust imprisonment, and executions.