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hontogaijin

Listed below are comments made by hontogaijin between Wednesday, 19th November 2008 and Thursday, 30th April 2009.

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100 days in 100 words 09:07am on 30 Apr 2009 [i]Too much is made of the hundred days - it's an arbitrary figure and a re-evaluation would be better considered after the first year.[/i]

this.
Republican Obama? 05:56am on 04 Feb 2009 ref #127:

say sam,

good advice! alas, what's your take on guys that wear earrings, but take them out at the appropriate times (ie: before work)?

my choice to wear earrings is not of shakespearean influence; i went bald at a fairly young age and decided to shave my head (curly hair does nothing in concealing "patches" of scalp). furthermore, i have a baby face and cannot grow facial hair to save my life.

please, don't deny me the only sort of "style" my cranium can provide!
Republican Obama? 08:44am on 03 Feb 2009 #8 As you may know, it is adult stem cell research that by far shows the most promise, has no rejection issues that embryonic stem cells have, and does not require harvesting human children.

the stem cell article provided by our fine mr. webb states otherwise about adult stem cells...

Others who stayed behind but lacked private funding shifted their attention from embryos to the less versatile adult stem cells.

then again, i'm no expert on this topic and i'm not positive what "less versatile" is exactly. what i do know is that the decision (well, "law") to not allow fetal embryos prompted other very talented scientists to leave the us in order to continue their research. i'd say that's a pretty good indicator that the research was being hindered to a great extent.
Health care heartbreak 12:52pm on 05 Jan 2009 [i]As a parent I am sorry that your child is ill, but your complaint about American health care is that you had to pay something? Well food is much more essential to life than health care, so you must really be chagrined when you have to pay for groceries, especially for your hungry children.[/i]

...hm, that's... not that relevant.

justin: sorry to hear about your situation. i wish your son well.
The durable American brand 03:38am on 15 Dec 2008 #18

this post is spot-on. i bought my first car back in 1999 at the age of 15 (a month before turning 16), and it was a 1975 monte carlo. it was a florida car, it had been stored for many years, but it needed a lot of work. my dad and i replaced nearly everything... except the brake pads. finally, one day, my brake pad had caught up on my rotor and ground the pad down, so i was forced to buy new brake pads. the pads were the original pads from 1975! talk about an amazing product (they were also made of asbestos)! the car ran wonderfully, and i was sad when i eventually had to let it go.

how this relates? my friends purchased many newer model cavaliers and such. they constantly had issues with what was a brand new car; transmission, brakes, computer chips. one of my friends brake lines actually burst, and another had his mustang catch on fire while it idled in the driveway, warming up for a winter drive.

what's sad is that i would love to support the american car companies, the problem is that they haven't given me a reason to. why should i support a company going through tough times if my purchase is going to cause me anguish and constant headaches? it's not like a car is a normal purchase either; so why should i spent that much money to bring more problems in my life?

i bought a 1993 honda accord after my monte carlo (college car). it didn't look pretty, but the engine was hardy and the parts were quality. the only times i truly had issues with the car was when my drunken "friend" backed into my car and demolished the front-end. even then the repairs were minor (albeit unnecessarily costly [thanks pal]).

my last car was a 2003 honda civic si. simply an amazing car. while i loved my monte carlo (an understatement), my civic was an absolute dream on the road.
Change we can believe in? 03:52am on 08 Dec 2008 i like the idea. the only thing i would like more would be a better national transit system; but i'm not ignorant to the fact that it's quite impossible to implement such a system effectively. the united states is simply too big and spaced-out between the larger cities to have it work in the same way it does here in japan.

"kawai-so desu...ne?"
Obama aftershocks 04:27am on 26 Nov 2008 #30

nothing is mentioned about pro-gay and pro-abortion because, at this point in time, no one should care about those particular issues (not that anyone should ever care about them, imo). there are vastly more important things at hand over feeling the need to dictate how other people should live their lives; which is, face it, exactly what those two issues do. the fact that you made that remark is actually borderline humor if i thought for a second you were being facetious.
Obama aftershocks 02:05am on 26 Nov 2008 @#6 proles:

are not we jumping the gun a bit? the man hasn't even gotten into office yet.

@american car companies:

i'm divided on throwing them a bone.

"In the district, people feel that this is clearly Congress caring more about people who wear Guccis than people who wear Levi's," said Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R., Mich.). Rep. Candice Miller, another Michigan Republican, accused the government of "hand-delivering" money to Citigroup. "We're all sitting here going, 'Look, they don't even blink about rushing into save the financial markets all the time,'" she said. "We feel there is such a double standard."

the double standard is that other economies are affected by the united states economy (at least here in japan they are) so when the US does well, other countries do well, and the opposite occurs when the US does poorly; however, while american car companies have been doing poorly, japanese car companies have either done well, or have responded and invested for the future. while time and time again the brass at the big 3 made terrible decision after terrible decision in their designs and planning for the future (of which spans back since the oil crisis of the 1970's) japanese companies have continually adapted and evolved.

i didn't approve the rushed bail-out for wallstreet either, but there's nothing i can do about that now other than watch the money go to different companies and hope that they adjust. the big 3 should be forced to show some initiative and actually *gasp* have a long-term business model rather than a short-term "let's appease the investors" attitude.

living and dying by the suv, and volatile oil prices, for so many years has finally caught up with them.

where i'm divided is that i know that there are thousands of jobs on the line that i really don't want to see go. not that the big 3 would mind given that they've already cut thousands or sent them to other countries already to cut costs. regardless, the long-term effects of losing such an industry would be devastating to the united states. if the big 3 really want that money, then they need to grow up, stop pretending that people will buy american simply because it's american, and produce a quality product.
Confirming our prejudices 03:56am on 21 Nov 2008 robloop:

for having been so involved with jouranlism you certainly haven't learned much in being civil or unscathing.

wow.
The Mormon backlash 04:31am on 19 Nov 2008 why is it that people think it's ok to have a vote to decide how someone else wants to live their life? then when the outcome goes to their favor, and people negatively react, all the sudden there's a "wow-factor"? shouldn't the law not have even been considered to be one in the first place?

here's another fun story:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/17977308/detail.html

feel free to read the responses! there's a treasure trove of beautiful quotes ripe for the copying and pasting! regardless, there are multitudes of christian-related billboards throughout america, and there's no backlash that ever occurs; however, an atheist group wants to put up a billboard, and it makes the cnn news.

i've read on justin's forum, as well as other online forums, from certain christian individuals that they are getting upset at the idea that it's ok to point jokes at them. however, if certain religious groups/individuals don't/didn't want rebuke, maybe they shouldn't involve themselves in other people's lives.

just a thought.

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