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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
Lascoden ... from Missouri, USA Since: Nov, 2012
...
#50602: Mar 4th 2013 at 10:07:59 AM

[up]How much of a hold, or how much power do they actually have, though? I mean, aren't there extremists everywhere?

boop
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#50603: Mar 4th 2013 at 10:10:20 AM

One of them is the current Japanese Prime Minister; I'd say they have a fair amount of power. And, yes, there are quite a few extremists, some used as a Front Organisation by the Yakuza.

Here we are: Japanese Political System.

edited 4th Mar '13 10:19:52 AM by Greenmantle

Keep Rolling On
Karkadinn Karkadinn from New Orleans, Louisiana Since: Jul, 2009
Karkadinn
#50604: Mar 4th 2013 at 10:20:05 AM

Uh, they don't sound particularly 'extreme' to me - just typically militarily pragmatic and a little jingoistically self-centered.

They sound like average Republicans, to be honest, back before the party started drinking the Tea Party koolaid.

Furthermore, I think Guantanamo must be destroyed.
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#50605: Mar 4th 2013 at 10:21:09 AM

Then again, by the rest of the world's standards, American Extremists are extreme.

Keep Rolling On
Karkadinn Karkadinn from New Orleans, Louisiana Since: Jul, 2009
Karkadinn
#50606: Mar 4th 2013 at 10:36:33 AM

Well, if you're concerned about our reputation in global politics, then I would think you'd want to place a little more emphasis on avoiding transparently self-serving hypocrisy?

That is not to say I wouldn't be nervous if a wild card like North Korea got their hands on something dangerous. But with respect to the prospective aggressive capabilities of thoroughly industrialized nations tightly intertwined in the codependent global economy web, I simply can't muster up the energy to care. Such speculations look increasingly like zombie apocalypse scenarios to justify the loonies hoarding piles of rifles and ammo, waiting gleefully for the day when their paranoia will be proven right.

edited 4th Mar '13 10:37:42 AM by Karkadinn

Furthermore, I think Guantanamo must be destroyed.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#50607: Mar 4th 2013 at 11:09:49 AM

I think we need to get over the myth that neocons want to nuke the rest of the world. They no more wish to see their cities burned to the ground than anyone else. Criminals especially don't want to destroy the societies upon which they prey; the Yakuza would have far more to lose than to gain from a nuclear war.

Now, I do worry about countries building nukes as a way to wave their dicks around on the world stage. That is a problem, if only because it clearly demonstrates that the lessons of World War II (you know, the only time that nukes have actually been used in warfare) are wearing off.

Is it just a thing about human history that we need a major disaster every few decades to remind people that water is wet and people die when they are killed?

edited 4th Mar '13 11:18:02 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#50608: Mar 4th 2013 at 11:15:39 AM

Is it just a thing about human history that we need a major disaster every few decades just to remind people that water is wet and people die when they are killed?

People forget if they haven't experienced it themselves.

Keep Rolling On
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#50609: Mar 4th 2013 at 11:18:33 AM

Some people are worried about what will happen when the last of the WWII veterans die of old age.

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#50610: Mar 4th 2013 at 2:57:33 PM

[up]I'm trying to think of a Deutsches Reich joke in response to that, but I only got really bad ones

"You can reply to this Message!"
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#50611: Mar 4th 2013 at 3:15:41 PM

One of my friends is complaining about Obama giving weapons to Yemeni rebels, or something. Factcheck?

Discar Since: Jun, 2009
DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#50614: Mar 4th 2013 at 4:01:24 PM

[up]

She was one of the alleged underage prostitutes.

Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin: CPAC 2013 will determine America's future

Palin/Cruz 2016 - "What could possibly go wrong?"

edited 4th Mar '13 4:42:19 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
shimaspawn from Here and Now Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: In your bunk
#50615: Mar 4th 2013 at 4:06:45 PM

[up] Yeah, which does cast doubt on the whole story.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#50616: Mar 4th 2013 at 4:19:16 PM

The thing is that it can go either way. Her original story was false and now she's recanting, or her original story was true and she's being induced to recant. That's what police are supposed to determine. The court of public opinion has a nasty habit of convicting (or exonerating) people in ignorance of the facts.

edited 4th Mar '13 4:19:27 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
DrunkGirlfriend from Castle Geekhaven Since: Jan, 2011
#50617: Mar 4th 2013 at 4:28:39 PM

Yeah, I kind of wish the media would stay out of investigations and stop offering speculation on court cases. It really messes stuff up.

"I don't know how I do it. I'm like the Mr. Bean of sex." -Drunkscriblerian
DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#50618: Mar 4th 2013 at 4:38:01 PM

[up] That's like wishing flies would stay away from garbage

Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe vetoed legislation banning most abortions 12 weeks into pregnancy

GOP warns health law could tax smartphones, apps as medical devices

edited 4th Mar '13 4:47:04 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#50621: Mar 4th 2013 at 6:37:21 PM

Well, no, but they have them already, so we can't exactly undo that. We'd like to prevent Pakistans and North Koreas, not get more of them.

edited 4th Mar '13 7:56:59 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#50622: Mar 4th 2013 at 6:57:07 PM

Fair enough. I suppose that means that we should probably cluck admonishingly at Israel if they decide to bomb suspicious sites in Iran.

With that in mind, the security treaty with Japan is probably beneficial, simply because Japan is one of the countries in the world that actually has a legitimate security interest in a nuclear deterrent (even though they don't want to actually maintain their own), and yet we'd rather not see them armed with one (if for no other reason than that South Korea would have every reason to flip their shit about it).

I'd suggest that Japan should pay a certain amount of tribute to the Pentagon, too, but that's simply not how it's done in the modern world (and more to the point, it'd set a really ugly precedent).

Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#50624: Mar 4th 2013 at 7:15:05 PM

...didn't the markets collectively laugh at the last downgrade?

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#50625: Mar 4th 2013 at 7:57:45 PM

Rating agencies are still yammering about the deficit?! Weren't they talking about Republican obstructionism the last time this came up?

[up] The thing is that the bond markets know what the idiots in Congress and on the talk show circuit don't — Federal debt is the only investment game in town; as long as the government decides to keep paying its bills, it is literally impossible for it to default.

Sequestration will only affect the creditworthiness of the United States to the degree that any austerity measure does, by putting people out of work and thereby reducing both present and future revenues .

edited 4th Mar '13 8:01:27 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

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