UPI A 7N DA fj.life.in-japan, Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:28:51 +0900 (UPI)... THREE
SHOTS WERE FIRED AT CL'S MOTORCADE TODAY IN DOWNTOWN fj.life.in-japan... JT 1234
PCS

>The 2-Belo wrote:
>> We have a report from the fj.life.in-japan Dynamics Officer that CL has
>> exploded. Flight director confirms that:
>> 
>>> The 2-Belo wrote:
>>>> We have a report from the fj.life.in-japan Dynamics Officer that CL has
>>>> exploded. Flight director confirms that:
>>>>
>>>>> The 2-Belo wrote:
>>>>>> In which I follow Seiko Noda around all day on her last campaign swing through
>>>>>> Gifu, attending two downtown rallies:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://the2belo.livejournal.com/497290.html
>>>>> Nice photies. 
>>>> Thanks! I had a great time freaking everyone out ("who the hell *is* this white
>>>> dude and why is the Ministeress of State shaking his hand? Three times? WTF?").
>>> And, if someone actually asks, you waggle your eyebrows and say 
>>> "Sometimes she visits my house in the evening."
>> 
>> And the thing is, she *has*. Twice. (NO, NOT THAT WAY. It was a community
>> meeting house visit, and it was mom-in-law's idea, not mine, and there were too
>> many old ladies present (as well as young ones such as my wife) so I couldn't
>> Put the Moves on a member of Parliament 10 years my senior even if I wanted to.
>> So I just smiled a lot and took eleventy billion pictures.)
>
>Guess you're not conversant with Groucho Marx ... or Richard Pryor. 
>Yeah, that _is_ true.  You've told us all before.  You don't have to 
>explain it all to Taro and Sachi, though.  Let 'em stew.  Rumors can be 
>fun to start and watch.  It is part of the fun you don't get to have 
>otherwise.

Excuse me while I slip out of these wet clothes and into a dry martini.

>>>>> Shame about the outcome, in a way, but she had the chance
>>>>> to cross over to the Bright Side and didn't. Now she's a Proportional.
>>>> She still has a solid conservative base of support in this town, so I don't see
>>>> her changing her affiliations at all. Besides, this wasn't an anti-Noda result,
>>>> it's an anti-LDP result. *Everyone* got 0wn3d.
>>> I think it was a LOT MORE than that.  Seiko didn't get spanked in 2005, 
>>> but she did this time.  There is a message there that isn't getting heard.
>> 
>> Maybe it takes getting spanked once to wake a good politician up. Such setbacks
>> have been known to streamline people...
>
>Maybe.  Hard to say from here and with little study whether that spank 
>is for the Party, for her, or for her believing and following the Party. 
>   But, someone should figure it out for her soon as some people are 
>saying there will be another election within 18 months.

Maybe the Party will be a bit more pliable by the time that rolls around, now
that some of the major dusty chestnuts like Toshiki Kaifu are going to the war
horse pasture.

[...]

>>> Sato Yukari, the "hit bitch" they sent to knock Seiko off in 
>>> 2005, and failed, was dumped by the voters in her new district, too. 
>> 
>> Man, don't remind me. That entire episode just smacked too damned much of
>> backroom yakuza whateverism for comfort. I was glad to see Sato was sent
>> packing, both times.
>
>Koizumi played dirty.  Now it is all coming back to haunt the Party.  A 
>lot of what he set in motion is stuff that doesn't work, never did work, 
>and should never have been passed.  

The post office thing is a whole 'nother thread but I had a Very Bad Feeling
About This from the start for many reasons, not the least of reasons being a
privatized company will start killing rural offices and services to maximize
profits, which is what you don't want to do if you're trying to make society
more elderly-friendly, etc.

I didn't object to breaking up that monstrous entity in principle but that guy
left no option to debate its details or anything. He wanted a trophy.

>Sato sold her soul (well, what 
>little she possessed of one ... she was ex-Merrill-Lynch, after all) for 
>the chance to be a big hero and she eventually paid the ultimate price.

Hey, my aunt in the US works for Merrill-Lynch. But you can please excuse her
because she is not going to become a politician.

[...]

>> The term actually used is "resurrected". Some of those guys look like they came
>> back from the grave, too.
>
>Sometimes I am surprised that more of them don't open a coffin lid and 
>step out from their campaign van on to the speakers platform.  I have 
>seen a few that had to be helped up and wondered how they could campaign.

Didn't one of the old guys in Tokyo get woozy from the heat and sort of melt
right there on his truck? The foreign media were *all* over that one.



-- 
The 2-Belo                           [the2beloATmsdDOTbiglobeDOTneDOTjp]
alt.flame  alt.fan.karl-malden.nose  alt.alien.vampire.flonk.flonk.flonk
meowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeowmeow

"I kept hearing this 'untz... untz... untz... untz...' sound in the 
background of all the music. Fun time, though; lots of young kids with 
dilated pupils." -- Bob Dylan, after a visit to a rave party