No-mentum
Jon Stewart and Samantha Bee rip Joe Lieberman a new one,
the Raw Story has the video

Would you believe...the Jesus edition

• Holy hammerlocks
• I don't believe that this group exists
• He wants you to bang your head for Him, in the name of the father, the son and the holy shredding guitar solo
• Apparently these folks mean the programming language, not coffee, though Christ could probably use a cup.
• This guy's page reminds me of a famous story "Our Lady's Juggler" by Anatole France. Is it Satan's fault when he drops the balls?
• Do these guys have holy hawgs?
• The blue and grey way to salvation
• Jesus really wants you
• Riding point on the great herd in the sky with these Texans, might be interesting as long as they don't brand new converts

World's greatest small town police blotter

It would be worth the drive to Ponoka, Alta. just to meet the guy that writes these. Thanks to Cowboys for Social Responsibility (see blogroll) for bringing this red-coated ray of light into the darkness of our journalistic dreariness. Somebody get the officer a book deal, now!

How messed up is Japan?
If you go by what these three guys say, pretty messed up. While Znet is a scurrilous left-wing rag (and more power to them) and these guys are clearly very liberal westerners (which as Japanese will tell you, means that they cannot possibly understand Japan), they are also completely correct in almost everything they say.

Japan's conservative business, intellectual and political leaders are herding the rest of the country back toward nationalism and even militarism. Most Japanese today don't know much about World War Two that they didn't get out of a heavily censored revisionist school textbook. Hence you get reference to the "alleged Nanjing incident" and certain major newspapers denying the existence of so-called "comfort women".

The mass media in Japan engages in a shocking degree of self-censorship and selective coverage by Western standards, panders to popular prejudices and the notion of investigative journalism as we think of it in the West doesn't really exist here.

My point? It's not just a case of "don't believe everything you read" when reading about Japan in the mass media, it's more a case of "don't believe ANYTHING you read" about Japan in the mass media.

Still and all, it is a pretty safe, comfortable place to raise a family and should n't turn into a 21st century Wiemar too soon despite the best efforts of some of those steering the ship of state.

Kobi's Sakura

Long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away....well, okay it was Port Dover, Ontario in 1989 or '90 when I was just starting out in the newspaper trade, I interviewed a very old Japanese-Canadian gentleman by the name of Kobi Kobiyashi, who was one of the town's leading citizen. The occasion was a gift he was presenting to the muncipal government of a couple of dozen Japanese sakura cherry blossom trees. At the time it seemed to me to be a bit of an odd gift, though now that I live in Tokyo I realize what a big deal sakura are to the Japanese. They bloom magnificently in spring for about ten days, turning whole parks bright pink before the blossoms wither and fall. In Japanese culture, they are said to symbolize the transitory nature of life. Once I learned that Kobi's story made a lot more sense.

See, he paid for the trees with some money he got from the Canadian government. Shipping a couple of dozen trees from Japan is not a cheap proposition, but he had a few extra grand to spare. The federal government had just cut him a cheque for $21,000. Why? Because they had locked him up for four years, stolen his house, his business and everything else he owned, threatened to send him back to a country he had left 15 years earlier and treated him like a slave and a criminal --all because of the government of the country he had come from all those years ago had attacked Pearl Harbour.

I never liked Brian Mulroney, but the one thing he did do right was pay compensation to the Japanese interned in Canada during the Second World War. Those of you who have read David Neiwert's Strawberry Days know that Japanese internees in the United States often lost their homes, land and most of their belongings when they were sent to the internment camps. In Canada, the internees lost everything--all their property was forfeited to the Government. In the US, internees were provided with food and shelter in the camps, albeit meagre. In Canada, the internees were expected to pay for their own food and shelter, either out of their savings or out of the money raised by the government auctioning off their homes, businesses and personal property. In most cases families were split up with the men being sent to work as virtual slaves in road camps in the interior of British Columbia.

Kobi had come to California in the 1920s as a teenager after his family in Kyushu disowned him when he converted to Christianity. He eventually found work as a gardener and chauffeur for a wealthy widow that had a vacation home in Port Dover on the shores of Lake Erie --a popular summer spot at the time, Al Capone was another summer resident. When the old lady died, she left him a few dollars and he settled in Port Dover, opening a little grocery store on the main street of the small town.

The newspaper there, The Port Dover Maple Leaf, was (and still is) run by the Morris family. The editor had lost a leg in WWI and was as patriotic as the name of the paper implies. When Canada and Japan went to war after Pearl Harbour, he refused to let Kobi advertise in the newspaper, a measure he later felt ashamed of, according to his son - my boss at the paper. When Kobi was arrested a few weeks later, his store and his home and all his belongings were auctioned off and he was sent off to a road camp where he stayed for the duration. In 1946, about 6,000 of the 20,000 Japanese-Canadians internees, many of whom had become naturalized citizens or had been born in Canada, were shipped back to Japan.

Kobi was not among them. Despite the shabby treatment he had received in Port Dover at the outbreak of the Pacific War, he returned to the shores of Lake Erie, worked as deckhand on fishing boats and as a hired farmhand until he saved enough to buy a fishing boat of his own and eventually bought back his grocery store. He raised a family in town and, in time, became one of the village's leading citizens. But he never forgot the camp. When I spoke to him, he was in his 80s and shed bitter tears when he described the brutal conditions there. Inadequate clothing and shelter and sub-zero weather, working from dawn to dark, eating lousy food and not nearly enough of it -- and having to pay for it all out of his own pocket.

And yet....in time he was able to forgive. That's what the trees were all about. He told me that when they bloomed in spring they reminded him of Kyushu and his childhood, but also that no hardship lasts forever, nor does any good fortune and they we should all be thankful for what we have while we have it. Most of all, he hoped the trees would stand as monument to peace and as a reminder to to what had been done to so many people, so many years ago, in the hope that such a thing would never happen again.


You can read more about the internment in Canada here or listen to David Suzuki (from "the Nature of Things") talk about his terrible experiences as a child during the internment. To learn more about the effect of the internment in the US, there is no better book than Dave Neiwert's Strawberry Days.

(cross-posted at Firedoglake, where we will be discussing Strawberry Days on Sunday at 5 pm EST)

Blogstardom beckons
I'll be blogging up a storm on Sunday night (5 pm EST/ 2pm Pacific/ way too damn early Monday morning Tokyo time) over at the heavy hitting Firedoglake blog (see blogroll). The lovely, gracious and hyperintelligent Jane Hamsher has invited me to post, host and otherwise sound off as part of a discussion of "Strawberry Days" during Firedoglake's weekly Sunday book salon. Author David Niewert will also be taking part in the discussion as we look at the internment of Japanese in North America during WWII. Longtime readers (hi Mom!) will remember that I reviewed the book last fall and interviewed the author, who also runs the fantastic Orcinus blog (again, see the blogroll) that tracks the extreme and not-so-extreme right in the U.S. - that and orcas. If you haven't read it, you obviously just don't read blogs enough.

For those of you too damn lazy to click the links and read the review, Strawberry Days is an extreme close up of the effect the internment had on the Bellevue, Washington area, David journalistic home turf more or less. He started out interviewing internees and their descendants back when he was in the newspaper biz and the book grew out of that. It is insightful, exceptionally well sourced and researched and damn compelling read. Go buy it through my amazon ad down below and join us on Sunday.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain
Tom's Dispatch has a classic example of the Republican government in action. Apparently, while it's completely okay for the U.S. government to listen to anyone's phone conversation they want to, the names and positions of the people who work for Dick Cheney are a state secret. Given that the Vice President's office is not supposed to be a clandestine organization and that it is the taxpayers (not the oil companies) that pay their salaries, shouldn't these names be a matter of public record?

Pirates swash has not buckled
Kevin Wood / Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
4 stars out of five
Dir: Gore Verbinski
Cast: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley


It may not be the greatest swashbuckling pirate film of all time or the greatest supernatural thriller of all time, but it's definitely the best film in its genre.

Admittedly, it is a small subcategory to dominate, but 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is by far the best film ever made based on a Disney amusement park attraction.

Its sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, has replaced it at the top of a slightly larger genre--the best pirate movie of the last 20 years, possibly the best since 1950's Treasure Island and the best film combining pirates, horror and comedy ever made. Dead Man's Chest also has the additional distinction of featuring the best film performance ever by a man with an octopus for a head.

Dead Man's Chest picks up where The Curse of the Black Pearl left off. Freedom-and-rum loving Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is at sea in The Black Pearl, and poor-but-honest blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) is about to marry Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), the spirited daughter of the governor of Jamaica. Enter the bad guys and before you can say, "Ahrr, matey" a complicated interlocking set of problems is set in motion.

Thirteen years ago, Sparrow sold his soul to become captain of the Pearl, and now his debt has come due, with the collection notice served by Will's not-quite-dead pirate father (Stellan Skarsgard), appropriately, in the spirit locker of the Pearl. Unless he can cut a new deal, Sparrow must join the crew of the damned sailing the supernatural Flying Dutchman under the command of the dreaded cephalopod-headed Davy Jones (the one with the famous locker, not the lead singer of the Monkees).

Meanwhile back in Kingston, Will and Elizabeth's wedding has been interrupted and the not-so-happy couple clapped in irons by Lord Beckett of the East India Trading Company. It seems Sparrow has something the company wants and Beckett will happily hang Elizabeth unless Will hunts down the pirate and brings him back.

Things get more and more complicated as Sparrow's nemesis, ex-Commodore Norrington (Jack Davenport) turns up in an unexpected way and Elizabeth escapes and goes after Will and Sparrow. The numerous plot twists make the story tough to follow at times, but Dead Man's Chest makes wonderfully inventive use of a wide variety of seagoing folklore and legends, twisting archetypes and cliches to suit its purpose. There are jailbreaks, cannibal cults, double-dealing, sea monsters, narrow escapes, tavern brawls, ghosts, voodoo sorceresses and action aplenty.

The action set pieces, such as a three-way swordfight inside and on top of a rolling waterwheel and a battle with the gigantic ship-crushing kraken (best performance by a giant squid since 1954's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) provide the adrenaline that keeps Dead Man's Chest moving at a breakneck pace. The special effects are top-notch and the score, cinematography and set design all add polish to a gem of an adventure film.

At the heart of any good action franchise are good characters, and Pirates is no different. Depp delights as the lovable scoundrel Sparrow, a performance he reportedly based on Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Bloom and Knightly are solid as the truehearted hero and heroine.

Special credit should go to Bill Nighy, who is marvelously menacing as Davy Jones, though how he manages to perform with such subtlety through so much makeup is a mystery.

As the disgraced Commodore Norrington, Davenport puts an admirable amount of meat on the bones of a character who was little more than a cardboard cutout in the first film. Other minor characters returning from the first film include the buccaneer Laurel-and-Hardy duo of Mackenzie Crook and Lee Arenberg, who add plenty of additional laughs.
While the sequel lacks some of the chemistry of the original, it doesn't lack humor. The biggest laughs tend to be throwaway lines like Jonathan Pryce's "I am still the governor you know! Why do you think I'm wearing this wig?" or Sparrow's inebriated Grouchoesque attempt at seducing Elizabeth when she comes aboard the Pearl in men's clothing: "My dear, those clothes don't flatter you at all. For a lady such as yourself, it should be a dress or nothing. Fortunately, I happen to have no dress in my cabin."

While the story has some stumbling points (Why do Davy Jones and his cursed crew continue to sail? Why is the East India Trading Company made out to be villainous while the colonialist British Empire is not? Why didn't the cannibals eat the pirates straight away?) and the pace is relentless, the only real problem with Dead Man's Chest is the lack of a satisfying ending. After 2-1/2 hours, the movie does not so much end as just stop after setting the stage for a third Pirates of the Caribbean film (already filmed and due out next spring).


Addendum
I don't generally hold with the opinions of professional assassins when it comes to movies, and I disagree with his overall opinion, the ninja has a very funny review of this movie

You have to be carefully taught
Peace in the Middle East is not going to happen because of a treaty or because of a wall or because one group largely exterminates another. It is going to happen when the number of people on each side who consider those on the other side to be just as human as themselves outnumber those who hate and dehumanize their opponents. A lot of those who side with Israel like to criticize the Palestinians for "raising a generation of terrorists" in the refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank. They love to post pictures of Palestinian toddlers waving toy guns and "death to Israel" signs to prove their point. Corrente, with a very graphic selection of photos, shows the Palestinians are not only ones teaching their children to hate.

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear
You've got to be taught
From year to Year
It's got to be drummed
in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught

You've got to be taught
To be Afraid
Of people whose eyes
are oddly made
And people whose skin
Is a different shade
You've got to be carefully taught

You've got to be taught
Before it's too late
Before you are 6 or 7 or 8
To hate all the people
your relatives hate
You've got to be carefully taught
-Rogers and Hammerstien

Geography lesson
Remember when the U.S. precision bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade and blamed inaccurate maps for mistargetting? We keep seeing surveys about how a lot of people in the U.S. lack a knowledge of the world outside the U.S. and seem, like their president, to be more than a little trigger happy when it comes to going to war, but I've never really believed that there are Americans aside from the small minority who eat paint chips and call talk radio shows who truely can't find Iran on a map and think their country should go to war with France. This clip from Australian Television shows how wrong I am.

Deja vu all over again
This is every argument you've ever read online and every discussion you've ever had with a "rock-ribbed" Republican, Reform Party member or Fox News fan.

(thanks to Canadian Cynic for pointing the way)

RIP Roger "Syd" Barrett
One of the prime movers of the musical side of the psychedelic movement and co-founder of Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, died of complication of diabetes after many years of mental illness. Shine on you crazy diamond. "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" is still one of the best albums of the 60s

the shaggs

This one is for Jesse Glass and outsider music fans everywhere. I recently read a great book on outsider music, which featured the Shaggs, titled "Songs in the key of Z" by Irwin Chusid. Other outsider musicians featured in the book include Syd Barrett, Captain Beefheart, Daniel Johnson, Tiny Tim and more....

My own private Monkey Tuesday
I'm sure this story will make it on to the Penn Jillette radio show. How could he possibly turn down a story about monkeys paying for sex?
(with thanks to the Galloping Beaver)

Surfing on the wave of the apocalypse

While waiting for defective North Korean missiles to come raining down on us, I used the time to do a little surfing and found a few prime examples of the republican zeitgiest

First we have the Prairie Muffin Manifesto on how to become the Church Lady version of a Stepford Wife. Some highlights:

"3) Prairie Muffins are aware that God is in control of their ability to conceive and bear children, and they are content to allow Him to bless them as He chooses in this area."

"17) Prairie Muffins place their husbands' needs and desires above other obligations, arranging their schedules and responsibilities so that they do not neglect the one who provides for and protects them and their children."

"18) Prairie Muffins are fiercely submissive to God and to their husbands."

"19) Prairie Muffins appreciate godly role models, such as Anne Bradstreet, Elizabeth Prentiss and Elisabeth Elliot. They do not idolize Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House on the Prairie) or Louisa May Alcott (Little Women); while they may enjoy aspects of home life presented in their books, PMs understand that the latent humanism and feminism in these stories and in the lives of these women is not worthy of emulation."

"Fiercely submissive" Whisky-Tango-Foxtrot? is that like jumbo shrimp or Progressive Conservative? If it weren't for the wholly crappy page design and the super-earnest tone, I'd suspect the `Prairie Muffin Manifesto' was a parody site. Check it out for yourself.

Next we have this boot-polishing, racist, cop fetishist who seems to have a beef with anyone from New Orleans
When will the good people of this country stand up and be heard, and tell the Katrina parasites from Louisiana to go home? Mr. Nagin, you owe the rest of the country more than you can ever repay. You’ve got what you wanted, a subservient welfare culture, and you had them all bussed back to vote your dumbass back into office. Now, why don’t you send those busses back to where your voters now live, and make them come back home? You and your state’s Democratic policies are what have fostered this welfare, “gimme” mentality, and the rest of us are paying a very dear price for it.

A possible new candidate for King of the Dumbasses - Sen. Ted Stevens, explains the internet:

I just the other day got, an internet was sent by my staff at 10 o'clock in the morning on Friday and I just got it yesterday. Why?

Because it got tangled up with all these things going on the internet commercially. So you want to talk about the consumer? Let's talk about you and me. We use this internet to communicate and we aren't using it for commercial purposes

You go girl!
Heather Mallick bitch-slaps (no pun intended) REAL women into a quivering mess over their decidedly anti-equality (what the "ladies" would call counter-feminist) agenda. Hit'em with the chair Heather!

Groups like this that formed back the last neocon heyday of the Mulroney-Reagan-Thatcher years are now rearing their ugly little heads again, now that Harper is playing to them, first to win power and now in pursuit of a majority. Mulroney famously said "give us five years and you won't recognize this country." We (and by we I mean all you morons who voted for the Chin-that-walked-like-a-man, I sure as hell didn't vote for him. I campaigned against him in high school.) gave him nearly twice that and some things still won't ever be the same. It took a dozen years just to undo the worst of the damage and we still have the GST, NAFTA and western separatism. At least Martin balanced the budget.

Souvenir of Canada Teaser

Happy Canada day everyone.

God's favorite band
is coming to Japan

The Asylum Street Spankers will be making their triumphant return to the land of the rising sun in September. Quick, somebody call Kirin Breweries and tell them to start an extra couple of batches and book me a suite at the Betty Ford Clinic for October.

9.9.06 Saturday Sayama, Japan Hyde Park Music Festival
9.11.06 Monday Kanazawa, Japan Mokkiriya Jazz Bar
9.12.06 Tuesday Osaka, Japan Shinsaibashi Club Quattro
9.13.06 Wednesday Hiroshima, Japan Club Quattro
9.14.06 Thursday Kyoto, Japan Taku Taku
9.15.06 Friday Nagoya, Japan Tokuzo
9.17.06 Sunday Tokyo, Japan Shibuya Club Quattro
9.18.06 Monday Yokohama, Japan Thumbs Up

the perfect podcast
One part goofiness
One part cocktail recipies
One part luscious LaLa
Visit the Tiki Bar

It's not the heat, it's the stupidity



The results of the Konservative home-skooling movement?