Just Noticing: Observations Of A Blogger
Posted by Michelle Moquin on September 30th, 2012
Good morning!
Just noticing…
…Big U.S. Fleet Nears Disputed Islands, But What For?
TOKYO – It’s probably just a coincidence; no need to worry yet. But the U.S. has quietly assembled a powerful air, land and sea armada not far from where Japan and China are squaring off over disputed islands in the East China Sea.
Two Navy aircraft carrier battle groups and a Marine Corps air-ground task force have begun operating in the Western Pacific, within easy reach of the Senkaku Islands. That’s where Japanese and Chinese patrol boats are engaged in an increasingly tense standoff.
Chinese vessels have repeatedly entered territorial waters around the small islands in recent weeks and Coast Guard vessels from Japan and Taiwan fired water cannons at each other last week. The islands are controlled and administered by Japan, but claimed by both China and Taiwan.
No warships have been directly involved in the confrontations, so far. But China has vowed to continue sending patrol vessels into territorial waters and Japan has assembled scores of Coast Guard vessels to “defend” the islands.
The U.S. hasn’t taken sides in the ownership dispute, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called for “cooler heads” to prevail. Nonetheless, U.S. officials have stated clearly that the Senkakus fall under the U.S.-Japan security treaty, which would require the U.S. to come to Japan’s aid in case of attack.
Navy officials confirmed Sunday that the USS George Washington carrier strike group has begun operating in the East China Sea, near the disputed islands. The USS John C. Stennis group is only slightly further away in the South China Sea. Each carrier is armed with more than 80 warplanes, and strike groups typically include guided-missile cruisers and destroyers, submarines and supply ships.
In the nearby Philippine Sea, some 2,200 Marines are embarked aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard and two escorts. The Marines are equipped with amphibious assault vehicles, light armored vehicles, artillery, helicopters and Harrier fighter jets.
Carrier groups and Marine task forces often operate alone, so the convergence of the three groups in a relatively small part of the Pacific represents an unusual concentration of firepower. All three are fresh from training exercises in and around Guam. Those exercises included live-fire with missiles and joint beach landings by U.S. Marines and Japanese ground troops.
A spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Command says the training missions and carrier deployments are not necessarily related to the Senkaku tensions. The islands are called Diaoyu in China, and Tiaoyutai in Taiwan.
“These operations are not tied to any specific event,” said Capt. Darryn James, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Command in Honolulu. “As part of the U.S. commitment to regional security, two of the Navy’s 11 global force carrier strike groups are operating in the Western Pacific to help safeguard stability and peace.”
In truth, the carrier and Marine deployments may have as much to do with the “re-balancing” of U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific region, and with an unrelated crisis in the Middle East, as with the squabble in the East China Sea.
The George Washington battle group and the Marine task force, both based in Japan, were scheduled to conduct separate but overlapping exercises in the Guam region well before the Senkaku dispute heated up. Guam and nearby Tinian Island have been tabbed as a hub for the “re-balancing” of U.S. forces in the region — a hedge against China’s growing military power and ambitions in the region.
The Stennis is being sent from its homeport in Washington state to the Persian Gulf, four months ahead of schedule in response to the escalating crisis over Iran’s nuclear program. The Guam exercises allowed the Stennis to grab a few days of extra training with the George Washington group en route. The Senkakus are situated close to the major sea routes from Pacific to Mideast; it is unclear if the Stennis group is simply passing, by or will remain awhile.
The Marines, meanwhile, were expected to move from Guam to the Philippines for previously scheduled training with the Philippines military.
Navy spokesman James said he could not comment on future ship movements.
Although significant oil and gas deposits may exist within the islands’ territorial waters or exclusive economic zone, the Senkaku dispute has centered largely on old grievances and resurgent nationalism. U.S. officials have privately expressed frustration with the lack of diplomatic progress in resolving the dispute. China placed two-page ads in major U.S. newspapers this weekend, accusing Japan of “stealing” the islands and citing claims that date back hundreds of years.
The Senkakus are located about 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Taiwan and about 200 miles (320 km) east of the Chinese mainland.
While the big U.S. fleet might have been intended as a warning to China not to escalate the islands dispute, it may have been intended to focus Japan’s attention, as well.
Or, it could have been a coincidence.
*****
Readers: I see the right wing is trying to occupy my blog…as if having a larger presence here will say something or do something. It means nothing. Romney is going down big time. Your 15 minutes is almost over. Revel in it Romney because that’s all you’re gonna get.
Blog me.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog.If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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September 30th, 2012 at 3:51 pm
This campaign is getting down to its very last days, and fast. Tonight is one of the last big fundraising deadlines. Barack needs you with him now more than ever.
Make a donation of $75 or more before the midnight deadline:
https://contribute.barackobama.com/donation/ten-million-donations/09/ofa.html?source=banner-20120929-hp
Let him know that you’re right there with him.
Thanks,
Michelle
P.S. — We’re incredibly close to something historic: 10 million grassroots donations this year. Can we do it before midnight?
September 30th, 2012 at 6:56 pm
Anon#5. your answer is the reason the country is in the situation it is in. White boys like you feel entitled to special treatment. Why should OTW(Other than white) in this country have to do anything to “satisfy” white america?
This is as much the country of the OTW american as it is the white american. No one is asking for special treatment but the white boy. And the days of the OTW silently accepting white americans being the Affirmative Action Beneficiaries of the economic and justice system in the US is over.
It is interesting that you would object to “quotas” when it didn’t bother you when you whites were exercising the quota of 100% of all the governmental jobs on every level of government from local to state to federal.
It is interesting that it didn’t bother you when your race used that control of government to enact laws to give you total control of the economic, social, judicial, and medical benefits that the United States of America had to offer.
Suddenly when a new “quota” is needed to give a small parity to the huge advantage you have because of Affirmative Action on the part of our government to give it to your race.
It is hypocritical for you to act as if the OTW is asking for something from you that your race earned. It did not. And that is what angers you. That is what you want the OTW to shut up talking about. You want to maintain the lie that white american earned the place it has in this country.
You didn’t earn it. It was given to you as an Affirmative Action making your race the illegal Beneficiaries of rights and privileges you did not earn.
Yes, it is apropos that you would sign in anonymous. But you and your kind will not be able to remain anonymous because we will voice our dissatisfaction with your attempts maintain your sense of entitlement.
Paul
September 30th, 2012 at 7:20 pm
This is great news for Obama:
===================
Obama is in the Green on Job Creation
Today brought some unexpected good news from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the government agency that tracks all things jobs-related.
During a scheduled review of its data, it determined that the economy had added hundreds of thousands more jobs than previously thought.
While getting overly fixated on individual jobs reports is unwise, this finding carries a special significance. This means that President Obama has now replaced all of the jobs lost early in his presidency — 800,000 jobs a month were being lost when he came into office — and is now in overall positive job creation territory.
His leadership and policies have created a total of 868,000 new private sector jobs, which makes for 125,000 net new jobs once the loss of state and local government jobs killed by the Republican austerity is figured in.
ThinkProgress’ Pat Garafalo explains:
According to new revisions released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the economy created 386,000 more jobs between March 2011 and March 2012 than shown by previous estimates.
As economist Justin Wolfers noted, this means that President Obama is now net positivefor job creation over his term in office, even taking into account the massive losses in January 2009:
The BLS benchmark revisions means that there has been a net jobs gain since Jan ’09. Romney can no longer talk about job losses under Obama.
— Justin Wolfers (@justinwolfers) September 27, 2012
BLS Benchmark revisions mean that over the year to March 2012, the economy was adding 194k jobs per month, not 162k as previously thought.
— Justin Wolfers (@justinwolfers) September 27, 2012
The Economist’s Greg Ip noted that the revisions mean that Obama’s net job creation number is now 125,000:
Incorporating today’s BLS revision, net payroll growth over Obama’s term would move from -261K to +125K.
— Greg Ip (@greg_ip) September 27, 2012
The new numbers — which are based off of unemployment insurance reports that employers submit to the federal government — show that 453,000 more private sector jobs were created than shown by previous estimates, meaning Obama’s net private sector job creation total is now 868,000. Government jobs, meanwhile, shrank by an additional 67,000.
It’s also worth noting that Obama has already produced more new private sector jobs than his predecessor, George W. Bush. Bush ended both his first and second terms in the hole in terms of private sector job creation.
Only significant increases in government employment allowed him to eek out a small overall net gain by the end of his two terms in office.
BOTTOM LINE:
Ahead of next week’s critical first presidential debate, today’s news deprives Mitt Romney of one of his most frequently used talking points: that Obama has created no new jobs. While that talking point was always highly misleading at best, it is now a lie by any measure.
September 30th, 2012 at 7:33 pm
This is a very good ad version of the 47% ad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=B9xCCaseop4#!
September 30th, 2012 at 7:35 pm
Poor Willard, he’s losing the election by having his own words used against him. The man is the biggest premature ejaculation in politics.
Enjoy that stint as a private citizen Willard, you’re guaranteeing you’ll never hold another political office as long as you live.
It’s been entertaining but it’s starting to get old. No worries though, come November 6th you can finally fade back to irrelevance.
September 30th, 2012 at 8:04 pm
Oh I think the Obama campaign can run at least 2 more ads…maybe even three. There are other things Romney said I’d like to see in the ads–including Mitt’s lust for a China-style American labor force and how he feels he wouldn’t actually have do anything to improve the economy.
Before the foreign policy debate they can talk about how Mitt wouldn’t do anything at all to promote peace in the middle east.
September 30th, 2012 at 8:06 pm
Howie, what is the story? Is there an alien connection? To the US presence in the shenkaku islands?
September 30th, 2012 at 8:10 pm
Howie I saw this about Mars and I thought of you. Where are you?
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/09/27/161896238/streams-of-water-once-flowed-on-mars-nasa-says-photos-prove-it?utm_source=NPR&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20120927
Streams Of Water Once Flowed On Mars; NASA Says Photos Prove It
September 30th, 2012 at 8:13 pm
I hope that someday we find evidence of an ancient civilization on Mars. And I want their final recorded message to be: “Due to global warming, we’re moving to the 3rd planet.”
September 30th, 2012 at 8:51 pm
I hope the dems don’t get to complacent. The Right is using every dirty trick it can to steal this election. This is one of them being employed in New Hampshire.
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The Tea Party speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, William O’Brien (R-Mont Vernon), is asking a state court to force the state attorney general to accept his interpretation of a new voter registration law relating to college students.
Legislators passed the law — over the veto of Gov. John Lynch (D) — earlier this year to require those registering to vote to obtain residency in the state, including a driver’s license and car registration. The previous law said that living in the state — including living in a dorm room — was sufficient to vote.
——————————
Considering the only proven voter fraud going on is being perpetuated by the republican party, it is obvious that they are passing these laws to restrict the vote to those who will vote republican.
Whatever you can do to prevent these bastards from stealing votes will be greatly appreciated nation.
Alycedale
September 30th, 2012 at 8:55 pm
Members of an Ohio tea party group are taking it upon themselves to individually police alleged voter fraud, launching challenges to a targeted list of voters that includes hundreds of college students, trailer park residents, homeless people and African Americans in counties President Obama won in 2008.
In all, the group has sought to remove from the voter rolls at least 2,100 registrations in 13 Ohio counties, nine of which Obama won in 2008, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The alleged perpetrators of this voter fraud include Lori Monroe, a 40-year-old recovering from cancer, whose apartment for the past seven years was allegedly listed as a commercial property; and eight members of an African American family, whose four-bedroom home where the family has lived since the 1980s was allegedly listed as a vacant lot.
The group has also focused on challenging college students for failure to specify a dorm room number, a claim that every election board has thus far found invalid.
The group behind this crusade has dubbed itself the Ohio Voter Integrity Project, an offshoot of Texas-based True the Vote, which champions voter purges and voter ID laws and has been building a “poll watcher” network, an effort documented by Colorlines’ Brentin Mock:
[True the Vote National Elections Coordinator Bill] Ouren and Americans for Prosperity gathered these recruits in Boca Raton in July to instruct them on how they could become “empowered” vessels for True the Vote’s poll watcher program.
True the Vote is most widely known for its advocacy of restrictive photo voter ID laws. But while that might garner headlines, the group’s real focus is on policing the act of voting itself. As Ouren declared during the group’s national summit in April, and repeated again in Boca Raton, his recruits’ job is chiefly to make voters feel like they’re “driving and seeing the police following you.” He aims to recruit one million poll watchers around the country. […]
True the Vote encourages recruits to “build relationships with election administrators” because “they control the access to the vote,” as Ouren told a gathering in Houston. In 2010, the group was able to get a list of voter registration data from Republican Harris County registrar Leo Vasquez, who reportedly refused the same to the Democratic Party, for which the party sued. When the King Street Patriots submitted to him their list of fraudulent actions they claimed to see at the polls, Vasquez accepted them without verification and held a press conference with Engelbrecht asserting Harris County polls were “under a systemic and organized attack.”
Of course, these phony charges of voter fraud – a wildly exaggerated phenomenon — do more than harass legally registered voters; they provide an artificial justification for the real and considerable threats to disfranchisement that come from new restrictive voter suppression laws, such as the move to limit early voting in Ohio, now embroiled in litigation.
September 30th, 2012 at 8:56 pm
I think a lot of people are finally waking up to what these Tea Baggers really are…the American Taliban…the most un-American bunch of yahoos I have ever come across…and the sad thing is that they don’t even realize it…
September 30th, 2012 at 8:57 pm
Never in my life had I seen this desperate effort to prevent people from voting. It’s to put it mildly, disgraceful and nasty to try to win an election by undercutting the constitutional right to vote.
The tea party and everything that is related to them is simply a plague that has been taking over our country. We can’t let those extreme nasty so called patriots destroy our country.
The tea party is cancer to our way of living. Cheaters, liars, dishonest cowards who instead of policy, want to steal the elections with corruption.
September 30th, 2012 at 8:58 pm
How more overt can the ‘Baggers in New Hampshire have to be to show the World that they believe in Voter Suppression at All costs?
September 30th, 2012 at 8:59 pm
Gotta love the GOP. They’re gonna do everything to steal this election. Great day for America.
September 30th, 2012 at 8:59 pm
So, if I am a college student of voting age and i am away at school, how do I vote? Do I have to go to my home state to vote? Talk about an undue burden. Totally unfair to students. Just more and more voter suppression.
September 30th, 2012 at 9:00 pm
I just realized that the GOP and disgusting Tea party want to have this election decided by white males. That’s why they are trying to disenfranchise blacks, Hispanics, and college students..
They pretty much want white male hillbillies to decide who our president will be based on their racist retrograde ideologies. I will teach my kids to get along and respect blacks, Hispanics, etc…
To me a person is defined by his/her actions and not by color. And so far Romney’s actions throughout his entire life are those of a coward and greedy sociopath.
September 30th, 2012 at 9:03 pm
There is a WAR going on RIGHT HERE in America Today. When the New-on-the -Scene TEA PARTY won (?) the MID-TERM Elections by a Landslide in 2010, the PEOPLE BEHIND that Victory were KARL Rove & the BIllionaire JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY Libertarian KOCH BROS.
When Republican Governors MET in Jan 2011, ALEC–the BRAINCHILD of Rove & the KOCH Bros GAVE OUT ORDERS as to WHAT LEGISLATION they WANTED PASSED & Republicans Governors then went home & IMPLEMENTED THEM>Gov.
WALKER in Wisconsin, Gov Rick Perry in TEXAS, Gov SCOTT in Florida, etc. Americans NEED to realize that this is a CONCERTED EFFORT & is AN ACTUALWAR on 99% of the American People by that SUPER RICH 1% who want to make themselves RICHER at the EXPENSE of the American People.
Witness the WAR on Women, Trying to Eliminate Unions, MInimum Wage, Worker Protections & Rights, Eliminate Social Security & Medicare–all that they Propose will have a DEVASTATING EFFECT on America’s 99% while the 1% Flourish MIGHTILY. All this is PLANNED & is NOT BY CHANCE.
September 30th, 2012 at 9:26 pm
By now it should be clear to all americans, that the GOP party (Gods Of Poverty) are trying to limit the vote of anyone that doesn’t agree with them.
As we are all american’s it should not be a problem, and all americans once 18 should be issued a voter id card with their picture, provided free by the government and it should be popular vote (thus not mattering what state you are in) and no more electoral college.
These people backed by ALEC are trying very hard to institute corporate theocracy government and are intent on controlling our country by limiting who can vote.
Please everyone let these ‘gop’ know that we are tired of there antics and we would like ‘adult and sane’ people in our government
September 30th, 2012 at 9:27 pm
College students have been allowed to vote in the towns where they attend school. It is like that in Kentucky and other states. NOW the baggers want to suppress those voters.
These are the people who scream that Obama is “taking their freedom” and at the same time, trying to suppress the voting rights of others. What a desperate bunch of stupid hypocrites!
September 30th, 2012 at 9:28 pm
Has anyone noticed that the only proven voter fraud going on is being perpetrated by the republican party? They haven’t found anyone actually illegally trying to vote, but they have caught republican orgaizations manipulating the rolls and registrations.
September 30th, 2012 at 9:29 pm
I would call what the Republicans are doing electoral fraud, and yes, they’re doing it in spades.
September 30th, 2012 at 9:33 pm
I think there is a little more to it than that, I think that the reason for all the voter suppresion lies in another area. The republican party see’s the writing on the wall for them.
Most of their voting block is old white guys. They are dying off. That’s the reason for all the anti-abortion laws that are passed. They want to make sure that someone replaces them in the future.
Their biggest fear? Obama will replace at least one supreme court justice, which will make it impossible to reverse anything that Obama accomplishes.
September 30th, 2012 at 9:34 pm
“GOP party (Gods Of Poverty) ” I like it! Can I use it?
September 30th, 2012 at 9:56 pm
Michelle, when it was reported on your blog that my country Japan had discovered something alien on the Senkaku Islands, I was a little skeptical. I have been reading your blog for about two years so I am aware of Howie.
The fact that he didn’t check in with his usual clarification on the issue convinced me it was a non issue. But something is happening.
Your post has assured me of that.
September 30th, 2012 at 9:59 pm
I read this in Huff post. It is riveting.
———————————
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright criticized Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney Sunday, calling him “two-dimensional.”
“He is so two-dimensional. I mean, up close and personal, there’s just nothing going on,” Albright told the crowd at a Women for Obama rally in Columbus, Ohio, according to NBC News.
Albright went on to say “it’s unclear” what Romney “really believes in,” and noted she was not impressed with his remarks during the recent Clinton Global Initiative in New York.
She also raised questions over Romney’s now-infamous “47 percent” remarks, saying they “diminish us in many different ways.” Voters seem to share Albright’s stance — a recent wave of polls suggests voters viewed Romney less favorably as a result of the video.
Albright previously criticized Romney in early September for his stance on women’s issues.
“Frankly, I don’t understand — I mean, I’m obviously a card-carrying Democrat — but I can’t understand why any woman would want to vote for Mitt Romney, except maybe Mrs. Romney,” Albright told HuffPost’s Sam Stein during the 2012 Democratic National Convention.
September 30th, 2012 at 10:06 pm
OBAMA has done nothing for our country, why have him in for another 4 years. Instead of giving, we (America) need to be earning. You can be a hero giving away but no one will benefit from this, give them a fish, they can eat but give them a fishing pole they will learn how to feed themselves.
Everyone has a gripe about the taxes the rich pay, my gripe is the ones that don’t pay taxes and sit on their butts collecting a check, food and free cell phones. Get to work America, your self worth is better when you earn your paycheck.
September 30th, 2012 at 10:11 pm
Wish Madeleine would come over to our house… I could put her in our back yard so she can scare the crows away from our garden.
September 30th, 2012 at 10:12 pm
Shallowness is just what the rank-and-file Right understands, and there are lots of them. Reason and rationality will prevail if reasonable and rational Americans get out and vote.
Mitt and Paul are not fit to helm this nation, but they could find themselves there if not vigorously voted against. Smote these two pretenders.
September 30th, 2012 at 10:13 pm
Eric, Your wife will probably do just fine.
October 1st, 2012 at 5:29 am
All-Season Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup
You don’t have to wait for winter to enjoy this delicious soup. It can be served chilled or at room temperature during the summer.
3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced (8 ounces each)
3 cups water
2 ounces ginger, grated
Salt to taste
Put the grated ginger in your hand, and squeeze the juice out over a bowl. Discard pulp. In a medium pot over medium heat, add the sweet potatoes, water, ginger juice and salt. Cook until the sweet potatoes are tender.
Working in batches, transfer the potatoes and cooking water to a blender or food processor and process to a smooth consistency.
Source: Corinne Trang, award-winning author of several cookbooks, including her most recent, Asian Flavors Diabetes Cookbook: Simple, Fresh Meals Perfect for Every Day (American Diabetes Association), in which this recipe appears. http://www.CorinneTrang.com
October 1st, 2012 at 6:48 am
Jerry, perfect answer. Thank you. – Zen Lill
October 1st, 2012 at 7:39 am
Zen Lill:
I have been following your comments for 4 years. I am 72 and I live in Pasadena. My wife of 51 years passed away last night. I can’t wait to move closer to you in the hope of accidentally running into you. I took of running three years ago to prepare for this day. She wanted so desperately to out live me, but my poison worked better.
I look very young for my age and I am still sexually active, my wife’s female relatives saw to that( they hoped to get into my will $millions will make you do unbelievable things). But now I am free of all of them.
They seem to be satisfied with what Grace left them, so I am free to move on. LA here I come.
Kenneth
October 1st, 2012 at 7:47 am
Look for STARK to eliminate the Affirmative Act that enables OTWs to get seats in colleges. The Right wants to keep their educational advantage on OTWs, especially since they feel whites could lose their voting advantage in the near future.
Mike,TM