I know I should leave politics and ethics out of this site, I really do. But there are just some things that I find very wrong with the world right now, and it's come to the point where I can't simply ignore them anymore. For some reason, foreigners seem to think that the United States blindly supports its government....let me explain what it's really like over here. Please read this! I heard that Amemiya, a Japanese lolita who wrote, as far as I know, one of the only study books on Gothic Lolita in Japan, actually went over toIraq and helped to form a human wall....which I'm sure did nothing (laughs)...but still. Lolita don't always have to be non-political. They should be well read and educated I think. So maybe you'll learn something from this.

A few days ago a small airplane crashed into an apartment building in New York, killing the pilot and 2 passengers inside (one of whom was a baseball pitcher). Everyone's immediate reaction at my office was "Oh Noes! Terrorism!", but when we turned on the radio, they were interviewing a pilot who'd seen the whole thing, and who said that it was beyond a doubt a mechanical malfunction. Does anyone remember how many people died on Sept 11th? One of them was my classmate's father, and a family aquaintance. Still, it wasn't the death toll that shocked America, but the fact that they had, for the first time since long before even the Industrial Revolution, been attacked on their own soil.

Now speaking of deaths, I don't know if anyone still follows the Iraq War. Probably not. But recently the non-politically affiliated UK Peer-review Medical Journal, The Lancet, published a statistical survey on the death toll in Iraq(you'll need to sign up, but it's free). Bush had been saying it was around 35,000 people, a number which had been estimated from half-assed body counts. The actual death toll, however, is more like 20 times that number. "We estimate that between March 18, 2003, and June, 2006, an additional 654,965 Iraqis have died above what would have been expected on the basis of the pre-invasion crude mortality rate as a consequence of the coalition invasion" (The Lancet, 10/12/06). When this was brought to Bush's attention, he claimed that the data was false, biased, based on information given by the Iraqi government...now let me ask you. What kind of government would admit to having such a high death toll? Could they honestly tell their public that and not expect reprocussions? And what kind of medical researcher is worse at statistics than Bush? The UK is a strong ally of the US, and the medical community is a strong ally of scientific research and fact. Neither has any reason to lie or misrepresent data.

In all fairity, the cause of death was not always known (though death certificates were present in over 90% of cases). It could be that deaths were caused by fighting between Iraqi parties, and many were caused by secondary health related issues. However you look at it though, it's our fault, and our government has been lying to us. Either that, or they do not value the lives of civilians.

But their disrespect for life goes even further. Bush and many others do not support stem cell research, which could save millions and millions of lives in the future, because it goes against their Christian morality.
Watch a Video?
Thankfully the United States is, as its name suggests, a group of States united under one government. And thus we often have a tendency to override the government and do whatever it is we feel best, especially Massachusetts and California, and expecially when the government is being a loser. (^_^)/ *woots* So they've been investing in their own, non-federally funded research programs.
Here are the Formalities
As stated in the video, "who are they to chose who lives and dies?" Meanwhile, US exports aren't that great (laughs). So we've got to keep up technologically/medically, I feel...even the recording industry's going to pot too now (Walmart rejected them XD), and Hollywood's not been wonderful either. I haven't seen anything in the theater since Silent Hill out of completely disinterest.

Next is the Social Security System. It was set up to help retired people out, and is about 7% of our paychecks. Meanwhile, our employers match it, making it a total of 15% of what could have gone to us. Some of this money actually does go into SSS, but some of it simply vanishes....the system is set to collapse in 2014 I believe. So I'd like my sneaker money right now, thank you very much, and to fend for myself when I get older. But there's no way to opt out of it.
On an interesting note, federal employees do not pay Social Security tax.

And then, last, and least, with all of our moral, ethical, national security, foreign reputation, financial, and economic issues, Bush seems to be as worried about gays as he is about all of this. He also seems to like arresting those who say mean things about him in public and on blogs. But that's a pretty silly thing to get political over. I wonder what he'd do if someone farted at him during a debate, like what happened with the Polish semi-dictatorship. Oh well. If I ever want to marry a woman I can just stay in Mass or go to Canada, though I don't expect that'll be a problem.
In summary, Bush can have his tantrums if he pleases. He'd best stop trying to subvert the constitution and law system though.

You can imagine that it bothers me when I go to a foreign country and people hold me a representative of my government. Because obviously, I'm not a supporter of the way things are being run at the moment. Now, there are people who say "then do something about it"....but may I ask you what? American politics is centered around 2 parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, with an occasional Libral or whatnot thrown in. And a surprisingly large number of voters will vote for the same party each time, regardless of ability. Meanwhile, the actual party candidates are not chosen on ability anymore!!!!

In the United States, presidential candidates are probably chosen on the basis of...
1) Connections in the government and business industry
2) Personal finances (they've got to have enough to pay for advertisements and campaigns~)
3) Family reputation
4) Army experience (unless they were war dodgers, and then we ignore that part)

And then, every 4 years, the public is presented with these people and told to vote for the lesser of the two evils. I was thinking I might like, as a test, to start an email campaign to vote for Cartman during the next election to boycott against the current method of chosing candidates. But that would become a game of chicken, with people going "oh, but if I do vote for Cartman, then others won't, and we'll end up with the worse of the two candidates. I'd better vote normally." And thus does everybody lose. Besides, I'm a female who somehow still looks about 18 years old (though I'm not); no one takes me seriously. I mean, a couple of days ago someone at told me it was funny how I like showing off my chest because I wear....not low cut but....squarish shaped stuff...? And it's really just because I like the designs. But since I'm a woman, it's seen as such and I can't anymore. Stuff like that.

So I do what I can at the moment, and that is write for the public on my own web site. If you read this and like it or agree with it, please link it on your own blogs.

But to bring this back to lolita and Japan...of course the Japanese have always been anti-war and anti-Bush, but that's just because they don't have an army, and can thus say whatever they want to on the matter without consequence. Perhaps this time they're actually right though.

And speaking of Japan and war and homosexuality, one of my favorite units, Soft Ballet, wrote a collection of songs about the Kuwait War. I decided it would be a good occasion to translate one of them here. Enjoy ^^

VIRTUAL WAR
(music: Maki Fujii, lyrics: Ryouichi Endo)

 

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