Japan's gaffe-prone prime minister is in trouble again -- this time for a remark criticizing the elderly as a tax burden for racking up medical expenses.Read the rest of this post...
"They're hobbling around and constantly going to the doctor," Prime Minister Taro Aso was quoted as saying in a transcript of a Nov. 20 meeting of ministers on economic policies.
Aso also said the elderly should be faulted for not exercising enough.
The transcript was released overnight, drawing immediate criticism in the Japanese media and forcing an apology from the prime minister Thursday.
"I apologize if the remarks offended people who are suffering illnesses," Aso said on nationally televised news.
He told reporters that he intended to talk about the value of preventive medicine and merely highlight the gap between people who take care of their health and those who do not.
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Thursday, November 27, 2008
Compassionate conservatism in Japan?
Sounds like it.
Political debates with family over the holidays?
How is it possible *not* to have these discussions when families get together? My family had a mix of Democrats and Republicans and it wasn't possible to avoid drifting into politics. Even last year during a visit we had a good old fashioned barn burner related to the Hillary campaign, who my sister supported. It's part of what you do when you get together and nobody holds a grudge. Well, not too much, anyway.
As families gather around the dinner table this holiday season, some members will do their best to keep one particular item off the menu: politics.How about at your holiday gatherings? Debates or no debates? Read the rest of this post...
It's a touchy topic to raise in a family of various political stripes. With the divisive presidential election fresh in the minds of Americans, bipartisan families will have to tolerate their differences under one roof for several hours during the holidays. Throw in alcohol and spirited support for a political candidate, and tensions are bound to burst.
How to deep fry a turkey
We did this a few years ago, surprisingly worked well, and didn't kill anyone.
Read the rest of this post...
Read the rest of this post...
A little Thanksgiving trivia
I was familiar with a few, but others were new. The last slide (about the name "turkey") conflicts with the story that I've always heard which had something to do with a shipment of the birds arriving in port and local confusion over what the birds were and where they originated. According to that story, the ship had originated in the country of Turkey though the birds joined at a previous US port. In France they are called "d'inde" (from India) for similar reasons, according to the story.
Who knows the real story, but it's worth a discussion at the table when you need to change the subject. More trivia from Time. Read the rest of this post...
Who knows the real story, but it's worth a discussion at the table when you need to change the subject. More trivia from Time. Read the rest of this post...
Nothing says Hanukkah quite like a Christmas tree
Is there anything they haven't bungled in the last eight years? Stupid is sooooo out this season. Read the rest of this post...
Chandler's Worst Thanksgiving
Okay, that was your one minute of bad news, now back to the holiday. And we'll be back at the top of the hour, each hour, all day long, with a new Thanksgiving post, including lots of great YouTubes.
Read the rest of this post...
Read the rest of this post...
In other non-holiday news...
Lots of horrible news today. I told Chris we were going to try to keep the news "nice" for the holidays, but outside of the US the news is just horrible. And important. So it's difficult not to update you. Here goes, all at once:
- Afghan police: 4 dead in blast near US Embassy
- Thai leader declares emergency to clear airports
- Indian troops raid hotels to free hostages
- China's economic downturn deepens
- And CNN reports an Air New Zealand plane just crashed into the Mediterranean off of France - thankfully only 7 people were reportedly on board. Read the rest of this post...
- Afghan police: 4 dead in blast near US Embassy
- Thai leader declares emergency to clear airports
- Indian troops raid hotels to free hostages
- China's economic downturn deepens
- And CNN reports an Air New Zealand plane just crashed into the Mediterranean off of France - thankfully only 7 people were reportedly on board. Read the rest of this post...
Le Grande Thanksgiving
From Art Buchwald, decades ago. I'll excerpt the first part, but do read the rest:
This confidential column was leaked to me by a high government official in the Plymouth colony on the condition that I not reveal his name.Read the rest of this post...
One of our most important holidays is Thanksgiving Day, known in France as le Jour de Merci Donnant .
Le Jour de Merci Donnant was first started by a group of Pilgrims ( Pelerins ) who fled from l'Angleterre before the McCarran Act to found a colony in the New World ( le Nouveau Monde ) where they could shoot Indians ( les Peaux-Rouges ) and eat turkey ( dinde ) to their hearts' content.
They landed at a place called Plymouth (now a famous voiture Americaine ) in a wooden sailing ship called the Mayflower (or Fleur de Mai ) in 1620. But while the Pelerins were killing the dindes, the Peaux-Rouges were killing the Pelerins, and there were several hard winters ahead for both of them. The only way the Peaux-Rouges helped the Pelerins was when they taught them to grow corn ( mais ). The reason they did this was because they liked corn with their Pelerins.
In 1623, after another harsh year, the Pelerins' crops were so good that they decided to have a celebration and give thanks because more mais was raised by the Pelerins than Pelerins were killed by Peaux-Rouges.
Every year on the Jour de Merci Donnant, parents tell their children an amusing story about the first celebration.
It concerns a brave capitaine named Miles Standish (known in France as Kilometres Deboutish) and a young, shy lieutenant named Jean Alden. Both of them were in love with a flower of Plymouth called Priscilla Mullens (no translation). The vieux capitaine said to the jeune lieutenant :
"Go to the damsel Priscilla ( allez tres vite chez Priscilla), the loveliest maiden of Plymouth ( la plus jolie demoiselle de Plymouth). Say that a blunt old captain, a man not of words but of action ( un vieux Fanfan la Tulipe ), offers his hand and his heart, the hand and heart of a soldier. Not in these words, you know, but this, in short, is my meaning....
Thanksgiving Morning Open Thread
A very happy Thanksgiving to all you Americans out there. We're doing the dinner at mom's at 3pm, so I might go to my sister's (Carmela the wonderdog's mom) a bit early to help with the potatoes. I was going to make the cool, and ridiculously fattening, sweet potato casserole Chris had posted yesterday (basically cream, butter, ginger and shredded sweet potatoes), but mom nixed it, claiming that most of our family doesn't like sweet potatoes. I've since found out that mom wasn't exactly telling the truth. We have a theory that mom didn't like the cream and butter in the recipe and this was her way of "saving" us. Ah, mothers...
Anyway, we're going to try to keep the news light and airy today, unless there's a less-than-light story we just have to write about. I'm not sure we do "light" very often at AMERICAblog, so we'll consider this our little experiment. Read the rest of this post...
Anyway, we're going to try to keep the news light and airy today, unless there's a less-than-light story we just have to write about. I'm not sure we do "light" very often at AMERICAblog, so we'll consider this our little experiment. Read the rest of this post...
Maybe GPS still needs some fine tuning
These Norwegians are lucky they made it out alive. Years ago I hired a driver (a taxi, but not a marked taxi) to drive me up to Corcovado to see the beautiful "Christ the Redeemer" by Paul Landowski, who also did the lovely Sainte Geneviève along the Seine in Paris. On the drive up some of the roads were blocked by chains though kids would unlock the chains and wave drivers in. The driver just grumbled and I had the distinct impression it was a scam of some sorts based on stories from friends who used to live in Rio. Rio is not a town where you can afford to make a wrong turn.
Three Norwegian tourists came under fire and one was shot after the satellite navigation system in their car guided them straight into one of Rio de Janeiro's most dangerous slums.Uncles here in France recently set their GPS to meet at a family house down south and were doing fairly well until they reached the general vicinity of the village. There are no cars in the village (only walking paths which are listed as streets) though there are streets, so the closest the GPS could do was to direct them to the cemetery above the village which is sort of close but not the ideal area for accessing the village. Since it's on a steep hill, to actually drive to the parking on the edge of town they had to wind around for a few kilometers and use - gasp! - traditional maps. There's nothing quite like new technology even when it's not so new. Read the rest of this post...
The three men cut short their vacation in Brazil and headed home Monday after Trygve Killingtveit, 24, was shot in the shoulder by suspected drug traffickers from one of the gangs that control hundreds of shantytowns in Rio.
The tourists were returning from the beach resort of Buzios about three hours north of Rio Saturday when they got lost, Brazil's Globo TV and several newspapers reported.
They reportedly told police their Global Positioning System (GPS) system recommended they turn off a main highway as the quickest route back to the airport to drop off the rental car. But the suggested route took them deep into the Mare slum complex, where their rented car quickly came under fire.
Mumbai attack strikes at least 10 locations around city
CNN Live has coverage online of this horrible attack. Operations to locate all of the attackers are ongoing. From CNN.com
The morning after teams of gunmen carried out a brazen series of attacks across southern Mumbai -- killing scores of people and taking hostages in multiple locations -- the situation remained chaotic.Read the rest of this post...
The death toll from the series of coordinated attacks was at 101 by midday Thursday authorities said. The number of people wounded in the attacks have also been raised to 314, said Pradeep Indulkar, deputy secretary for Maharashtra, the state where Mumbai is located.
At least six foreigners were killed in the series of attacks across southern Mumbai late Wednesday and early Thursday, according to a state official.
A British citizen and another from Australia were among the dead, said Pradeep Indulkar, deputy secretary for Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is located. A Japanese businessman was also killed, the country's foreign ministry confirmed.
Miami Judge Rules Against Florida Gay-Adoption Ban
WSJ:
A judge on Tuesday overturned a Florida law that blocks gay people from adopting children, saying there was no legal or scientific reason for sexual orientation alone to prohibit anyone from adopting.Read the rest of this post...
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman said the 31-year-old law violates equal protection rights for the children and their prospective gay parents, rejecting the state's arguments that there is "a supposed dark cloud hovering over homes of homosexuals and their children."
She noted that gay people are allowed to be foster parents in Florida. "There is no rational basis to prohibit gay parents from adopting," she wrote in a 53-page ruling.
Florida is the only state with an outright ban on gay adoption. Arkansas voters last month approved a measure similar to a law in Utah that bans any unmarried straight or gay couples from adopting or fostering children. Mississippi bans gay couples, but not single gays, from adopting.
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