1
Oct
Well I guess the New Yorker pulled no punches with the cover but Palins video below should seal the deal:
29
Sep
No BS in this response! Go Jack!
Obama said that his staff is working on the joint statement and that this is the exactly the time that the American people NEED to hear from presidential candidates in order to describe how they plan on leading the United States especially during times of crisis.
He believes that he and McCain should continue to have the debate! Obama says that Presidents must be able to deal with various things at one time!
Here are two points that Obama made on the bailout package:
- US citizens should be treated like investors if the bailout package passes the Senate.
- The bailout package is not a welfare program for CEOs and others on Wall Street.
Obama said, “It’s my belief that this is exactly the time when theAmerican people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess.”
Leon Panetta said that this is America’s Economic 9-11 but I think that McCain came out of left field with his announcement (much like picking the Palin) in order to save his sinking campaign.
Here is the latest video:
25
Sep
At 0830 Obama called McCain to ask him to jointly issue a statement on the US financial crisis. Hours later, McCain calls Obama to inform him that he can issue a joint statement but also will need to delay the debate.
Suddenly, John “I don’t know much about economics” McCain wants an abrupt stop to his presidential campaign in order to return to Washington, D.C. and work on the financial crisis?! Now McCain has a plan?! Everyone in America is waiting for the debate this Friday. Why the sudden move for McCain to call for a cancellation of the debate? What a way to set “politics” aside. By the way, McCain said that he will also suspend his television advertisements. Read the rest of this entry »
TOKYO (AFP) - - Japan for the first time has a chance of a female prime minister in Yuriko Koike, but feminists are sceptical on whether she would do the country’s women any good.
Koike has hinted she may run in the September 22 race within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to replace unpopular Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who abruptly resigned on Monday.
The former TV anchorwoman would be the first woman to seek the premier’s post in male-dominated Japan, which has some of the world’s lowest rates of female representation in politics and business.
“I welcome a female candidate running in the election — generally speaking,” said Mitsuko Shimomura, a journalist and one of the founders of Win Win, a lobby for female politicians similar to the US Emily’s List.
“But her bid to become the first woman prime minister would do nothing to increase the social standing of Japanese women,” she said. “Many women around me feel sick to their back teeth.” Read the rest of this entry »
The secrets out! Joe Biden was critical of Obama at the beginning, stating: “Obama is not ready!” Joe Biden voted for the war in Iraq. Will John McCain focus on these statements. Of course he will. But hey, game on!
Late Friday, CNN reported that Sen. Hillary Clinton had been told she is not the vice presidential choice, Joe Biden will fill the role and the US Secret Service has been dispatched to Senator Biden’s home.
Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Joe Biden has extensive foreign policy experience and would help beef up Obama’s relatively light resume on matters of national security. Biden recently returned from Georgia where he met with leaders to discuss the Russian invasion and the volatile region.
Hillary Clinton was not vetted for the VP spot since she is considered not a good match for the VP ticket and Bill Clinton still carries some negative political baggage. Although Obama calls for Change, Biden is a long time Washington insider but Biden brings experience and know-how (someone who can vouch for Obama) plus the all-important foreign policy experience that McCain claims Obama lacks.
Click here to see Joe Biden’s stance on Civil Rights, Defense, and other issues.
Click here to view Joe Biden’s home page.
BTW, Biden’s son serves in the US Army JAG Corps and is about to deploy to Iraq.
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I would like to say ARIGATO for the emails and posts submitted by the various bloggers from around the world (thank goodness for Google Translate). Needless to say, I was happy to see that CNN ran the story on my post questioning whether eMobile’s CM was considered racist: ”Obama is a Monkey in Japan?” It would have been nice for the CNN Japan reporter to acknowledge the website though. Speaking of acknowledgments, I would like to give a big shout out to Ms. Vaughn for voicing her concern on Metropolis Magazine’s MetPod. Also, kudos to the concerned citizens that appeared in the CNN Tokyo interview.
Here is a rehash on what I posted:
“Obama is a Monkey in Japan[?] (Notice the question mark) Well it SEEMS like the ugly head of racism has reared its big head again on Japanese television. E Mobile’s new cell phone commercial SEEMS to depict a presidential campaign with “red” supporters (red is E Mobile’s corporate color and not representative of the Democratic Party (blue) in this case) in the background holding signs the say “Change.” While change is good, having the CANDIDATE depicted as a monkey is not!”
I posed the question:
“Am I crazy to think that the monkey is supposed to represent Barack Obama?”
Then a statement:
“Given the track record for COMPANIES in Japan that used monkeys and blacks or monkeys as blacks in advertisements…maybe not!”
Now the responses from the blogosphere were very interesting, if not sometimes ignorant. Ignorant because some bloggers found it funny to correlate monkeys to Blacks while others felt that the Japanese would not understand the “Western” concept of things related to race and racist imagery. Many bloggers believe that my remarks stemmed from cultural baggage, whatever the hell that means.
The most telltale sign that some people were micturating in atmospheric equations of motion stemmed from the numerous claims of Blacks “screaming” of racism. I would like to believe that the voice on Black Tokyo has been reasonable, measured, and raised in a consciousness that reflects the spirit of those that do not need others to validate or approve of what is deemed racist in depiction or culturally insensitive.
The Guardian and other newspapers have reported that the E-Mobile CM showing a monkey in a suit addressing an election rally was pulled. E-Mobile denies accusations of racism but has decided to pull the advertisement.
E-Mobile stressed it had used the macaque mascot in several other adverts and never intended to insult Obama but had decided to pull the “Change” ad in response to criticism in the blogosphere.
We at Black Tokyo applaud E-Mobile’s decision to remove the culturally insensitive advertisement. No matter what others think, this is not only a Japan issue nor is it an issue that is only important to Black Americans.
Some bloggers strongly disagreed with Black Tokyo’s decision to question E-Mobile’s advertisement. Sites such as Japan Probe believed that the average Japanese viewer could not make a connection between the E-Mobile CM and Senator Barack Obama’s campaign for Change. Instead, it was felt that the Japanese would draw a parallel to the Japanese television drama, Change, starring Kimura Takuya (Kimutaku).
According to UPI Asia Online, “83 percent [of the Japanese] were closely following the election coverage – slightly more than the 80 percent of Americans who took the same survey. Japan’s expat community on a popular blog mirrored the poll’s results: “Interesting how Americans could care less about who’s running for Japanese offices, but Japan is all over American candidates,” wrote one blogger. “America is the focus of attention quite frequently.”
E-Mobile’s chief executive, Sachio Semmoto, told Reuters: ”We had no bad intentions, but this is a cross-cultural gap issue and we have to accept it. There are African-Americans in Japan, so we decided to take prompt action and shut down the ad.”
19
Jun
Hello BT’ers!
Well it seems like the ugly head of racism has reared its big head again on Japanese television. E Mobile’s new cell phone commercial seems to depict a presidential campaign with “red” supporters (red is E Mobile’s corporate color and not representative of the Democratic Party (blue) in this case) in the background holding signs the say “Change.” While change is good, having the candidate depicted as a monkey is not!
Am I crazy to think that the monkey is supposed to represent Barack Obama? Given the track record for companies in Japan that use monkeys and blacks or monkeys as blacks in advertisements…maybe not!
I am sure that many of the BT’ers remember the Mandom advertisement and television commercial that had African and African-American males playing the role of Rastafarians and a monkey playing the role of…. well a black man! The tag line for the product was, “strong enough to even clean “their” skin!” Thanks to The Community and the power of protest via email along with my interview with the Asahi Shimbun, Mandom issued a public (newspaper and television) apology.
Click here to see the EM Mobile video. Be sure to send the Chairman and CEO, Sachio Semmoto, and President and COO, Eric Gan, a message! It seems like E Mobile would have used better judgment in producing such a commercial since one of their outside directors is Peter Cowhey, Dean of the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California San Diego. Cowhey formerly served as Chief of the International Bureau, Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
To end on a positive note, I previously posted that it seems like the majority of Japanese believe in change and in Obama. Hopefully other people will also believe and change. Be sure to let me know what you think!
It seems that most people around the world widely expect the next POTUS (President of the United States) to better U.S. policies toward the rest of the world, especially if Barack Obama is elected.
The chart shows global views on economics and the U.S. presidential race. Here are a few facts:
- 77% of the Japanese surveyed have more confidence in Barak Obama to handle world affairs properly.
- 83% of the Japanese are closely following the U.S. presidential election.
- Many in Japan, Turkey, Russia, South Korea and Mexico said the election would change little.
- Hillary Rodham Clinton, who lost the Democratic nomination to Obama, generally was rated higher than McCain overseas but lower than Obama!
Don’t forget to vote! You can read the article here.
