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Sunday, March 2, 2008

US Presidential Election and Canada Alberta's election

Not really in the mood to compose a toy list today and I thought I injected a bit of freshness into my blog. Yes, I am going to talk about politics.


Why do people even care after years of years if not centuries of failed promises or deliveries of prospects, better life, social improvements , etc whatever fancy words, politically correctness, euthemisms people are using today????


I can only think of one thing: HOPE, even a false hope.


On the US side, we have basically three candidates running for the top job. The fourth one is, in my opinion, wasting his money and time just to make a point.


The truth is that none of the candidates offers any type of real solutions. They just keep repeating what any  intelligent people would know already, they  re-iterate the problems and repackage them so that what comes out of their mouths sound like a solution. Very often, presidents are helpless without the help from various aides and so called advisors; they are really the one running the country and no one elected them. Frankly, most Americans vote on image and charisma. Unfortunately, they get influenced by TV and the media, special interest groups and the campaign managers for various candidates know it. Candidates promise to solve people's problems but these are not really new problems. Economy, health care and the wars. Wars are good for business (sorry if I sound callous), at least for the companies that manufacture weapons. Aggressive foreign policy is not going to help them avoiding wars. Will forcing democracy on other countries really work? Do the Americans have trillions of trillions of dollars hidden somewhere to sustain numerous wars for many years? By the way, democracy is not really democratic but it is certainly "more free" or in American English "free-er" than some other countries. I would like to see someone throw a cream pie at a president and get away with it........


One of the problems with their health care systems is "affordability". Obviously, the rich people have no problems, they can even buy organs if they have to (illegal or not).  Medicine is expensive and WHY is it so expensive?? The health care system problem can partly be solved by going after the pharmaceutical companies and their overly-compensated CEOs, what have these CEOs done anyway?? They are certainly not the one who invented the cures or semi-cures. Have they even used a microscope or bunsen burner?? Do most medicine come from some "blossom-only-once-in-a-thousand-year" flowers in the Amazon, that's why they are so expensive?


Efficiency of the system is another lengthy topic...........


Do you know that some pharmaceutical companies didn't want to make a cure for some diseases because only a few hundred people have those diseases in the world, therefore it is not profitable for these companies to make the cures?? Yes, that's life for you, new borns.


The other problem they have in the health care system is the lack of real , passionate doctors, the only incentive they have, attending med school is.......you guessed it......MONEY!


Also, only if people can take care of themselves by not injecting themselves with crappy junk food. The reason why the Americans need big cars is that no smaller transportations can pull their football-field sized butts off the roads. Someone pointed guns at them forcing them to take drugs,  smoke cigarettes and swallow tons of bacons?? Don't you miss those cars in the Flintstone's , definitely a healthier life style driving those cars.


Economy..... just imagine those behind the scene in the trading markets manipulating the situation to their advantage, so that they can profit from it.......it is not that far-fetched. It is happening everyday. Don't be surprised that your life time saving is gone in one night.................


Wars are always bad news to the country, except for, as I mentioned previously, those that design and manufacture weapons; war means big big spending by the government, not that they won't spend it on some golden toilet seats/renting streetwalkers during peace time. One example would be, spending millions on setting up a committee just to ask baseball players if they had taken drugs. Right, those who took drugs  would really tell those on the bench pretending to have contributed to the society that they had taken performance enhancers...........AND why do people care?? Can millions dollars be spent on social programs and by the way, how are those cures for AIDS, Alzheimer's , Pakinson's coming?? Millions of dollars can help some under-previleged kids go to schools/universities, build some decent houses for people to live in, get homeless off the streets. I think baseball players should take drugs. Have you ever seen any baseball games with balls flying at 300 km/h??? Take drugs and make that happen. Not that I am promoting harmful drugs, but spending millions on some crappy committee hearing is a complete waste of money, electricity, air (those on the committe should be deprived of air, they are certainly not using the oxygen in the blood to their brains) and TV time broadcasting it.


So, back to the candidates:


Hillary: She obviously needs more delegates to be nominated and she has the signs of fatigue. My Jedi power senses no solutions from her speeches or debates. It is unlikely that Bill the ex-president can fool around in the White House again.


Obama: Wonderful, wonderful beauitful, high spirited, energising speeches....................but hello, shall we walk out from the forest in some fable story books and talk about real practical solutions? When Dr. King said "I  have a dream.........." , he didn't really mean dreaming up some solutions!


Most African Americans would just vote for Obama to put the first African American President on the pages of the American history book, even for female African Americans, instead of voting for a female or a person who can solve their problems, they will vote for Obama because of the race. Prove me wrong.......



McCain: Sorry you spent painful  time in Viet-nam (and why were the Americans in Viet-nam???) but it is mentioned so much that the name Viet-nam becomes a verb. Are you going to expand the US military???



Huckabee: hmmmm..................why are you still in the race??? I think gay people know it already when you said you didn't hate them any more, especially when it was said while you are still running for president. Doesn't "often-at-the-third place-in-the-race" tell you anything about your chances in getting the nomination?? Ok, you said the numbers were not counted properly............well, I didn't know you were the governor of FLORIDA!!



 


Canada: Hmmmm not much happening except for the Alberta's premier election. I would be surprised if it is not going to be the conservatives again. Green party and the communist party, why are you guys on the ballot, what is the point???? Not that other parties got any real chances either. Green party can withdraw from the ballot so that no paper is wasted printing your name, so it is good for the trees!!  Most Albertans are conservatives (in the name of ethics and integrity), but these are the same people who rub-albow with special interest groups/big oil businesses and being hypocratic in their personal and public lives.


I forgot to mention that there are more people from other provinces moving to Alberta to take advantage of the economy, If these newcomers are liberals (from Ontario or British Columbia, etc) and they can vote this year, they might close the gap between the Conservatives and Liberals who has been struggle to put the first liberal primier in power the past 30 or more years. Then again, the newcomers might be conservatives trying to escape the liberal majority in some other provinces.


Hong Kong: Election??? WHAT ELECTION!?  The central "Communist" government in Beijing is on holiday??? It was said that the first real democratic election for 特首 would happen in 2012. Great, according to some prophets, the world ends in the same year!!


My list of complaints continues.............


SOLUTIONS to the US election process.


After all the whining I wrote above, I propose this to the US election process. Have each of the candidate do hours of written tests on social/international issues and problems. They will answer these questions with their solutions in some details allowable by the testing time (if they are running for president, they better know something!).  Publish their answers publically and let the people decide who to vote based on their answers. This might not be the best solution but it is still a much better way to evaluate candidate than choosing candidate based on their PRE-written (by someone else - so called speech writers) speeches or endless hours of debates, or charisma or looks or colour of their teeth, hair style or fashion statements.


Instead of spending millions if not trillions on campaignes, false advertisements, the money can be spent on social programmes, medical research , etc. If one cares about their country that much and run for president, one should be able to donate their money to these causes.


 


 


玩具新聞 TOY NEWS 2008 - 2ND MARCH

2008年3月下旬


IN ACTION !! OFF SHOOT サザーランド(一般機) (完成品), Bandai, 2,415円




Rose O Neil, Cuebie キュージョン Mazinga Z, 33mm, ラナ , 525円



Rose O Neil, Cuebie キュージョン Devilman, 33mm, ラナ , 525円



 


2008年5


Rose O Neil, Cuebie キュージョン ケンシロウ , 50mm, ラナ , 609円




POSTED PREVIOUSLY, REPOST WITH A NEWER PICTURE


群雄【動】Macross Plus,  


#001 YF-19 バトロイド
#002 YF-21 バトロイド
#003 VF-11B バトロイド


3150円 EACH



POSTED PREVIOUSLY, JUST DIFFERENT PICTURE


Excellent Model, Pop,  One piece, NEO-4, Megahouse


ナミ, version2, 4200円


赤髪のシャンクス, 4725円


サンジ, 4200円



一騎当千 呂蒙子明 , DVD box 版 China Dress  version , PVC塗装済完成品, Griffon Enterprise, 6825円



ディスガイア2 ロザリンド PVC塗装済完成品,  Griffon Enterprise, 5880円



2008年5月下旬


Rose O Neil, Cuebie キュージョン , Riderman , 50mm, ラナ , 609円



2008年6月


Rose O Neil, Cuebie キュージョン , Pooh the bear, 33mm, ラナ , 525



Rose O Neil, Cuebie キュージョン ,Disney  イーヨー, 33mm, ラナ , 525



Rose O Neil, Cuebie キュージョン ,Disney チシャネコ, 33mm, ラナ , 525



 


 


Cult Classic  Hall of Fame,  マーダーライドショー Captain Spalding, NECA, 3,000円



2008年7月


SMILE800 V.I.P trading figures,  V.I.P AQUAPLUS EDITION BOX , 6,400円



2008年8月


MLB collectors limited 版 , McFarlan Toys,. 3,675円



Elvis, Aloha from hawaii, Sideshow, 2,940円


2008年9月


John Wayne, flying Tigers pilot, Sideshow, 38,000円