In order to keep the ongoing (and boy is it ever ongoing) Democratic primary race from clogging the other threads, here is a special zone just for that subject. HRC beat BHO by 10% in Pennsylvania today (which is yesterday today in Korea….)
To warm things up, here is my vote for quote of the day:
Sphere: Related ContentIs [Obama] skittish around [Clinton] because he knows that she detests him and he’s used to charming everyone? Or does he feel guilty that he cut in line ahead of her? As the husband of Michelle, does he know better than to defy the will of a strong woman? Or is he simply scared of Hillary because she’s scary?
He is frantic to get away from her because he can’t keep carbo-loading to relate to the common people…
But this is clearly a man who can’t wait to get back to his organic scrambled egg whites.
68 Comments
Winner of PA primary: John McCain.
He got 74%.
Ron Paul got 16% of the vote.
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/20...../state/#PA
Could I make a suggestion instead? That we leave American politics to an American political blog?
Since this is an open thread, and I missed the last one, can someone do some digging into what happened with California Fitness? All I know for sure is that my lifetime membership is now worthless. Rumors say the owner absconded with all the money. There was a short, uninformative article in the KT, but does anyone know anything else?
@ #4:
I think it might be acceptable to have occasional references to the American presidential race here on the Marmot. Many people in Korea are interested in the lives of the candidates, especially Obama. Hopefully, this neverending story will end soon. Even my native coworker is getting election fatigue.
He’ll come back, beat her in a close race in Indiana and wipe her out in N Carolina, erasing any delegate gain. Then We can say Sayonara to Billary.
And hello to future Pres, John McCain… this in-fighting isn’t good for the Dems.
#4,
I agree completely, which is why I set up this post.
American politics does creep in here from time to time. With the PA primary being big news, I figured this would be a way to channel such talk onto a specific thread rather than have it injected via comment into a topic that had little or nothing to do with it.
if he can not win PA in the general election the dems have no chance which is a good thing!
Ladron — When you join a fitness club and purchase a “lifetime membership” you’re essentially becoming an unsecured creditor of the business. The membership has value only so long as the company is solvent and operating.
Unsecured creditors generally get hosed completely. My experience is that a recovery of 1-2% is a great outcome.
Continuing to sell memberships in an effort to save the business is not fraud so long as the managers reasonably believe they can rescue the business. There is no special article in the Bankruptcy Act concerning penalties for “trading while insolvent”. But make no mistake — the Criminal Code offense of fraud is appropriate for cases where the managers know that the parties purchasing memberships will not be able to take benefit of the membership.
The place to file that complaint is the police station where the California Wow Experience has its headquarters, or the district where the Representative Director’s registered residence is located.
Not to blame the victim or anything, but I remember a health club set up in my home town and quite a few chicas in my high school fell for it as they had great incentives to sign up friends to one-year memberships. Then one fine dewy morning after a couple of months–chains on the doors. Whoa, did that get ugly.
Anyway, learning from somone else’s mistakes is the best type of learning.
Once I came into my conversation classes playing the devil’s advocate, arguing that the entire world should have a partial say in elections in the twenty-five countries with the largest economies/militaries/populations, especially these days, where the decisions they make affect everybody in the world.
I argued, why should ONLY americans/chinese/english/germans/russians be allowed to vote in the US/Chinese/English/German/Russian elections, when those countries’ leaders’ decisions affect the lives of people all around the world?
I suggested that a “rest of the world” vote should hold a five or ten percent say in the elections of the 25 most influential countries — for example, in ‘04, the “rest of the world” vote would have tipped the scales against GWB. It’d force more globally-minded policies from world leaders, and deal a death-blow to xenophobic, nationalism-baiting political ploys.
Don’t know if it’d be feasible, but it was an interesting topic to discuss in purely hypothetical terms. Being allowed to vote in the election would also justify the reams of coverage the candidate races have had in every major paper in the world.
hoju its called an open thread for a reason get over it or dont read it
Wedge — Everybody (well, apparently not) knows the parlous track record of the fitness club industry. Only a fool would sign up for a “lifetime” membership at a gym. And a fool and his money, blah blah blah.
ok about PA, this campaign is getting disgusting. I thought us dems were above this negative bs but i was wrong. hilary ran some of the nastiest ads i’ve seen in a long time.
the dems are going to blow this golden op
next post will be about calif, i got some info from sources
OK here is what i posted on daves about calif fitness:
i got an interesting story about the whole mess from somebody who was in training to teach bikram yoga. it has everything you want, mobsters, typical korean mismanagement and koreans obsessed by where they work out.
The main guy in Bangkok who started the Calif business in asia sold out to 3 koreans who paid him for the naming rights about 18 months ago. well one of them was mafia, this guy owned the land/building where the apu club was. apparently he wanted to force the other guys out by raising the rent to sky high amounts (which is illegal under korean law) well the other 2 bozos decided not to pay rent for 6 months and try to take him to court over the illegal rent increase (mistake #1 when in a landlord-tenant dispute you need to keep paying the rent) well the courts ruled in favor of the mobster so the mobster owner evicted his own company from the building in apu
then the other 2 co-owners decided to move the apu club to hak-dong, down the road a couple of blocks. this got the members who wanted to work out in apu upset because now their health club wasnt in a “chic” location and started demanding their money back (bozo’s #2) well that started a cash flow crisis causing what you’ve read about people not getting paid and “lifetime” memberships going for 800k in the final days.
well when the writing was on the wall and the whole house of cards was about to collapse guess who takes off with all the cash? Yup the mobster owner.
when it was owned by the big company hqed in bangkok it was one of the best run facilities in korea despite the used car salesman quality of the salespeople. the korean management ran it into the ground, combine this with a fickle to say the least customer base it was all ready for the big collapse we saw last week
#13 - Chinese people don’t vote — and lately that has come to look like a smart arrangement.
Perhaps. It would also be a death-blow to national sovereignty.
I might also argue that we have plenty of historical evidence suggesting that allowing foreigners to interfere in the internal affairs of a nation leads to more nationalism, not less.
Which is why if you’re to do something like that, you need to go about it like the EU — progressively strip away national sovereignty, and when those racist xenophobes do something outrageous like vote “no” in referendums to pass a supranational constitution, you repackage it but this time, don’t ask the voters.
“Perhaps. It would also be a death-blow to national sovereignty. . .
allowing foreigners to interfere in the internal affairs of a nation leads to more nationalism, not less.”
It depends, I suppose, on how it was handled — if there were foreigners IN the country sticking their thumbs in pies, it would cause more nationalism, of course; however, if politicians all knew that an enlightened and collaborative foreign policy was the final key to getting and keeping power, they’d focus more on finding ways to balance international interests with local ones — that 5% could swing a close vote, but you’d still have to have enough home-grown voters to make it close.
Re: the end to national sovereignty. . . to some degree, but you know, I bet that’s going to be the next big step in geopolitics anyway — especially if the European Union continues doing well, I wouldn’t be a whit surprised to see some kind of South American Union; the Southeast Asian countries seem like prime candidates (other than Buddhist/Muslim clashes) to form another union of countries with similar interests, and if the west keeps gumming things up in the middle-east, I wouldn’t be surprised to find an Association of Muslim Nations pop up there and in North Africa as well.
You’re bang on that they’d have to follow the EU model of creating the illusion of independence and national self-determination, especially during the transition period, but I don’t see the eventual end of xenophobic ultra-nationalism as a bad thing.
My brother-in-law pointed out the annoyance that would come of having election campaigns that span the planet — state-by-state primaries have been bad enough — and the idea needs polish, but it’s fun to speculate.
Another goofy speculation I enjoy: which Hollywood star working today would make the best President? (I submit Robert Redford and, Denzel Washington)
or
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DOM4hTgrF8o
#18: ah. I knew there were holes in this one. Drat. Back to the drawing board for me and my save-the-world plans.
SOOOOOOOOO tired of the dirty tactics of Hillary.
But I’ll take either Obama or Hillary over John McCain. Till the Dem. nomination is over…..GO OBAMA!!!
As a Pennsylvania resident, I am happy to see this hubbub come to a close. I switched from Independent to Democrat just so I could vote in the primaries, and now I am changing back to cleanse the stench of political factionalism from my soul.
And the only real winner of the PA Democrat primaries is John McCain.
Only the Democrat party could manage to screw up this election…
#23 - It certainly does seem like the Democratic Party’s main focus these days is to find new and exciting ways to blow elections. I just wish I could have been there to slap the everloving shit out of the person who piped up and said, “Hey, I know… superdelegates!”
At this rate of the Democratic primaries, McCain and his former drug-taking, embezzling wife will be in the White House in January.
@2 - Yes, I saw that, but what I meant was that the lack of a conclusion to the Democratic race (which could have ended if Obama had won by a decent margin) is nothing but good news for McCain.
@13 - Worst idea in the history of the world, ever.
@25 - The cheapest of cheap shots. What does his wife have to do with anything?
Ideally, Obama will defeat Hillary at the next major primary. The two will make up and Hillary will agree to be Obama’s running-mate as VP.
“The two will make up and Hillary will agree to be Obama’s running-mate as VP.”
Wouldn’t Clinton prefer to wait 4 or 8 years and then run? She’s not that old… I think.
Oh, yeah, almost forgot. Also in my ideal political dream world, McCain gets Condi Rice as running-mate. That should ensure some lively and fascinating debates in the months leading to the general election.
@26: Uh….she wants to be First Lady and the rock that President McCain would supposedly lean on?
If First Ladies didn’t matter then why so much media coverage of Hillary when her husband, Bubba, was in the White House? She DID matter to the country….both when she did good things and not-so-good things.
#30 - Yeah, just like you couldn’t replace Laura Bush with a potato without someone noticing…
…after a few months…
Yes, a fool and his money, but I used it for 2+ years, got my money’s worth, and apparently there’s some 40,000 ex-member lawsuit going on, from which I doubt even ship won will end up in my pocket. I was just wondering if anyone knew what REALLY happened in this case, seeing how it was such an established brand here. Also, this is the SECOND gym I’ve belonged to here in Seoul that has folded b/c the owner allegedly disappeared with all the money.
Hillary was an exception in a tradition of mostly low-key, unremarkable first ladies.
There were pretty cool ones in the 18th & early 19th century, but yeah… snore-fest for most part except Hillary.
@#18:
If I could vote in a Chinese election, I’d choose General Tso. Victory would be sweet. And sour.
Ladron — This is the second time you’ve been burned by a fitness center the same way? You’re a real optimist.
In general, the “lifetime membership” is always a reckless promise by the gym, or a scam at worst. They have relentless operating costs (rent and salaries, for example), and once your pre-paid balance is used up you start to cost them money. If a lifetime membership is not accompanied by a running expense as well, steer clear.
At the very least, make inquiries of members about the price history of their lifetime memberships. If the price has gone down over time, as has apparently been the case with California Wow, that’s a clear danger sign.
Robert, #19
“Which is why if you’re to do something like that, you need to go about it like the EU — progressively strip away national sovereignty, and when those racist xenophobes do something outrageous like vote “no” in referendums to pass a supranational constitution, you repackage it but this time, don’t ask the voters.”
My superficial analysis with the Denmark “no” votes is that you have two blocks voting “no”, it’s not just the “racist xenophobes”. One block, mainly composed of ultra-left wingers, voting “no” because they feel that the EU is creating a fortress to keep out foreign immigrants, stop imports from third world countries through trade barriers and argricultural subsidies and is too dominated by “big business” and another block, mainly composed of right-wingers, who think that the EU is too liberal on immigration, cross-border criminality, too bureaucratic and too focussed towards “socialism”. I’ve heard both groups arguing very vociferously that the EU represents their particular bogeyman.
In Denmark, I’d say the two blocks are roughly equal sized. There are also some central-minded naysayers, who however, are not represented at the National Parliament level. Basically you have two blocks, pulling in two different directions, but when they both vote “no” its enough to turn the vote.
#32, read my story in #17, thats what happened according to a number of people
Oh and btw, the ny times ran a scathing editorial about hilary’s tactics in pa, came thissssssssss close to pulling their endorsement
Go Obama! Go Obama! Go Obama!
Hillary has a docket filled with dead skeletons sitting in FBI headquarters - White water, Foster thing, Stock manipulation, etc.
And, Monica Lewinsky will be on TV every night detailing what she and Bill did together and how Hillary treated them. She knew!
Obama is the only candidate for Democratic nomination. Choosing Hillary can end the chance for this presidential election.
And, about McCain choosing Condi for a vice-prez.
Wake up, man. Mac is an old dog from Arizona. He is over seventy years old.
He may sound like a new leader but his head is filled with old stuff. Full of old-time R and WS.
It is hard to teach an old dog a new trick.
I was astounded what he said on national TV to Simon Cowell of American Idol show. “We will kick you out of country”. I know he and other Republicans consider national immigration policy to be the first issue (scapegoatting Mexicans for all the bad things in America). But, say that to Simon Cowell’s face? Either Mac is obtuse or he has inferiority complex to an English gentleman.
Or, just plain old.
Or, you’ve merely confirmed what everyone knows: Koreans don’t understand humor beyond slapstick — certainly not sarcasm or satire. That was a self-deprecating joke by John McCain and everyone other than you got it.
You’ve lived in America how long and still don’t get it? Actually, I can’t blame you: I first came to Korea 18 years ago and I still find nothing amusing about any Korean “comedy” programs. But I don’t get worked up about them either.
Condi will be gone after this administration and nobody will remember her except a few writers who will write damning books about her - how she was chosen and how bad she was at her job.
Even Bush may spread Iraq war blame to Condi. She is at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Eujin — I wasn’t actually calling “no” voters racist xenophobes. Actually, I tend to sympathize with them.
r.rac:
It’s about time. I mean, I was sick of how Hillary was circulating unsubstantiated, hackjob stories based on sexual innuendo in a bid to tar her political opponents.
Oh, wait, that was the NYT…
Bill Clinton’s been out selling political influence as a former President and husband of a sitting Senator, making $20 million a year doing some really unsavory deals.
Barack Obama’s family somehow reported $4.5 million in earnings (his wife makes $300,000) for 2007 while he’s a sitting Senator, albeit one not really doing his job. His book advance must have really been something.
But the Los Angeles Times is on to the real scandal: John McCain, crippled after being tortured by the Commies for years in a North Vietnamese prison — Ever notice the odd way he waves at people? It’s because he can’t raise his arms — that crooked bastard McCain gets a tax-favored military disability pension of some $60,000 a year. That’s something we should really investigate and consider carefully.
Brendon Carr,
Self-deprecating joke? He is deprecating Simon. Not funny at all. Not Ha-Ha, just “funny”. Rather odd.
I saw it when Mac said it. And, it was not funny. Nobody was laughing.
Brendon Carr,
Next time a Korean adjussi says “Get out of my country you f***ing waeguk”, understand it to be a self-deprecating joke.
Nice touch in quickly identifying as a Korean who cannot get American joke.
Who is using nationalism here?
I didn’t see it, because I think American Idol is a huge waste of time.
But let’s go to the tape. I hear a big laugh, and applause in praise of the joke, at 1:04. Apparently many more people in the audience than you did get the joke.
Also, I think you maybe misquoting McCain — he said “As for me, it’s back to work on my new immigration plan. Watch your back, Simon.” No “We will kick you out of the country” (that’s the implicit message, but jokes work best when something is not expressly said).
It was obviously a joke, and McCain signalled the joke by the intonation of his voice and the way he narrowed his eyes as he said “my new immigration plan.” He was mocking the perception that the Republicans’ new immigration plan is anti-foreigner. That’s the very definition of a self-deprecating in-joke.
No f-word in there, either.
I still maintain that Koreans don’t get our humor. This is exhibit #1,557,421 in that case.
Wait, someone is accusing McCain of being anti immigrant? John McAmnesty?
Not McCain — the Republican party. That’s why he has to come up with a (wink wink) new immigration plan.
Anyway, baduk is a retard.
Regarding the ‘retard’:
Google advanced search of this site for the following phrases reveals:
baduk is right: 14
I agree with baduk: 17
I love baduk: 4
Total: 35
Brendon is right: 5
Carr is right: 5
I agree with Brendon: 6
I agree with Carr: 4
I love (Brendon/Carr): 0
Total: 20
Case closed, I would say.
I’ve been the author of some of those statements that baduk is right. When he’s right, I’m glad to say it. But he’s still a retard.
However, hats off to his greater powers of persuasion!
Just being cheeky. I’m sure there’s lots of unexpressed love out there for you, too.
“Anyway, baduk is a retard.”
I knew when you lose an argument you will start name-calling. Korean adjussis do that all the time.
Just imagine LMB making such a under-the-belt comment about a foreigner. Brendon will hit the ceiling with his “Koreans are nationalistic bastards” speech.
What goes around comes around.
So, you think that I’ve “lost an argument” with you over the John McCain joke on Idol?
Anyone else besides me find it pathetic that Hillary is using her time as FLOTUS to count toward experience that qualifies her to run the country? I mean, Hillary is a bright and well-educated person and all, but damn does she come across as power hungry. I mean, obviously you have to be to a certain extent to want to be president. But she stuck by Bill for years knowing that he was plowing every fat chick he could get his hands on. Why? Because she knew that Bill had talent, charisma, and potential and he was going places. I totally believe Hillary stuck with him because she wanted some of that power. As for experience as First Lady, if we follow Hillary’s logic then Maria Shriver is qualified enough to run for President. After all, she is a Kennedy and her husband is the gov. of California, which would be the 5th or 6th largest economy in the world if it were an independent country. Shriver 2012??
http://english.chosun.com/w21d.....80018.html
interesting article
In a recent survey on brand nationalities, 57.8 percent of American college students said they think Samsung is a Japanese company. Some 41.9 percent of the respondents said that LG is a U.S. company and 26 percent said it’s Japanese. Hyundai was known as a Japanese business by 55.7 percent of the respondents. It is not surprising then that most of them also thought Finland’s Nokia and Denmark’s Lego are also American companies, while America’s Motorola was thought to be Japanese.
these are probably the same 57 percent who think obama would be a good president
our future is bright!!!
http://english.chosun.com/w21d.....80018.html
interesting article
In a recent survey on brand nationalities, 57.8 percent of American college students said they think Samsung is a Japanese company. Some 41.9 percent of the respondents said that LG is a U.S. company and 26 percent said it’s Japanese. Hyundai was known as a Japanese business by 55.7 percent of the respondents. It is not surprising then that most of them also thought Finland’s Nokia and Denmark’s Lego are also American companies, while America’s Motorola was thought to be Japanese.
these are probably the same 57 percent who think obama would be a good president
our future is bright!!!
Every open thread has a post asking why KoreanCupid doesn’t have an attractive Korean woman in its advert banner.
The company’s based in Australia. That’s where we ship the ugly ones.
I was torn between Obama and Clinton for the primary, but in the end, I went with Hillary because Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing. He has these plans that sound great, but they don’t actually DO anything.
For example, it sounds GREAT to hear him say that he will make it illegal for health insurance companies to deny people coverage with pre-existing conditions. Guess what? It already is illegal! They’ll insure you, you just won’t be able to afford it. And if he “makes it illegal,” all the insurance companies will do is raise the premiums again to save their profit margins. Great solution. Way to think outside of the box.
Most of his economic plans have no basis in reality. But he does sound nice when he talks.
I’m waiting for the day when we’ll just hear a candidate’s plans and ideas and go about our business based on that instead of who had less mud and blood on their hands.
Does it really matter whether someone knows Nokia is based in Finland? Or that LG is Korean? Should our schools teach “corporate geography”?
What if someone knows POSCO is a Korean firm, but doesn’t know that the majority of its shares are not held by Koreans?
And baduk, you still didn’t get McCain’s joke, though granted, he has the delivery and comic timing of an autistic monkey.
Not sure if this is worth posting about on the Hole, but apparently South Korea is going to start using cloned dogs for drug-sniffing duty:
Chosunilbo link:
http://english.chosun.com/w21d.....80023.html
Associated Press link:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap.....d-Dogs.php
Hmm. Any idea of how the “Defector Dog Training Center” in Incheon got its name?
“California, which would be the 5th or 6th largest economy in the world if it were an independent country.”
Out of interest would the US still rank as number 1, if California were an independent country?
Baduk/Brendon,
If you force us to take back Simon Cowell we may have to retaliate by sending Madonna back to the US.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24335263
Did anyone in Seoul see anything today regarding this?
If you force us to take back Simon Cowell we may have to retaliate by sending Madonna back to the US.
Wouldn’t make much difference. She’s still in the news here. This month she ‘graces’ the covers of two magazines.
#68 Likewise, we thought we’d cleverly dumped Cowell on the unsuspecting US public only to have the American version of the show sold back to the UK.