My Serious Commentary on Today's Japan Elections (And Some Hot Babes!)

"You're talkin' a lot, but you're not sayin' anything... Say something once, why say it again?" - Lyrics from Talking Head's hit song, "Psycho Killer"

Here's my very serious Japan election political analysis report.... This is some serious stuff, so pay attention!

Japan's politicians are the same as any other politician the world over... Perhaps even more so.

They never really say anything. All their speeches and words are merely jingoism and platitudes: they talk a lot but they don't say anything. 

Their political posters are even worse! You know posters that say stuff like what all politicians say, "We can change," "Change we can believe in," or "For a better America," "Hope,"  "Believe!"... And ones Ronald Reagan used are pretty much standard fare the world over: "Make (your countries name here) great again!" 

Well, you get the picture... Lots of words but they say absolutely nothing.... Japan is the same... Only more so...

Today there is a big political election going on in Japan (look for the Nikkei 225 to start dropping after today's election is over!) This side of the powers that be say that we must stay the course and keep with the successful program. That side says that the course we're on is a failure and we can do better....

No one, except a few (who can't win), actually make any concrete statements. 

Today, for you dear reader, and regular dear reader, Axel, I thought I'd make my comments on the election and tell you who I'd vote for.... I mean, if I voted. Which I do not. 

I believe in the saying, "If voting could change anything, it would be illegal."

Anyway, I took a stroll down to the local grocer where there is a billboard full of posters for the poseurs, er, I mean, politicians who are running for office and gunning for your vote. Let's take a gander at the menu, shall we?

The poster billboard for all the folks running in the elections. Only 13 posters out of 19 slots? Hmmm? Perhaps the missing politicians took surveys and realized they didn't have a snowcone's chance in hell of winning in that area and they've given up without a fight... Or perhaps they figure that printing posters with useless platitudes is a waste of money. I vote for that.

This is the current clown ruining the nation. He's been in power for more than six months or so, yet his poster says "Let's take back Japan!" Take it back from whom, I wonder? I hadn't noticed it missing! Did it go somewhere (besides the sh*tcan) since he's been in office? I don't know. Anyway, I'd never vote for this guy.

I've never seen this guy before. His phrase is "To a future you can believe in!" Guffaw! Really? Is that kind of like Buzz Lightyear's, "To infinity and beyond"? Anyway, I'd never vote for this guy as his name is "Roland." What the hell kind of a name is "Roland" for a Japanese guy? What? Maybe he's half-Japanese like me? If so, I'd never vote for him. Can't trust these foreigners, ya know!

This lady says she wants to "Fix up and reform." Nope. Can't vote for her. Anything a politicians says, "Reform" you know that means, "Raise taxes."

Can't vote for this guy. This is the guy who used to be on TV but was dumb enough to start blasting the biggest and most powerful energy company in all of Asia publicly so he lost his job. Sure, it's good to speak your mind, but when you do it, make sure the people working with you don't lose their jobs too... Never heard the saying, "Don't bite the hand that feeds you?" I was wondering what happened to him... Now we know. He can't get a real job so he's now joining forces with the very same people he was fired for criticizing... Well, who said the quote, "Actors and actresses are to be seen and not heard"? His little catch copy is interesting and sounds a bit like Al Gore; "What's inconvenient about telling the truth?" Nope. Can't vote for this guy.

OK. The field is starting to look better now, and I mean that literally. Think about it, would you want to see the old guys on TV or this girl? Her platform is pretty "girlish" as it says, "Let's help mom's" and "Let's protect the future of our children!!" Well, OK. How can you argue with that? One vote.

Wow! Hot chick alert! I think I've seen this lady before somewhere! I have! She used to be a TV Asahi announcer! Her name is Tamayo Marukawa (see her photos here) Woo-Hoo! I'd vote for her in a second! She's hot! Not only that, her poster says, "Proud to work, smiling Japan!" Well, what does that mean? I don't know but she gets at least one vote for being HOT!!!!

Woah! Hold the presses! This chick is Hot! Hot! Hot! She already gets all my votes without even thinking.... (I don't need to think, I've proven all these politicians have nothing to say!) Wow! What a face! And look how she's holding that microphone! Kinda reminds me of something.... What could it be? If girls like her were all running for office, then the Japanese would have a good reason to screw up their L's and R's in the upcoming erection... ELECTION!!!! Sorry about that!

Anyway, besides being the Japanese version of Babe-raham Lincoln, her platform is good too. She says, "Protect Japan" (Hoo hum... Got it, babe. Whatever you say!) Then she says, "No Sales tax increases" (What? Serious? OK, you could look like Imelda Marcos's ugly older sister and I'd still vote for you with that platform!) And she says, "No retirement society" (Wow! I'm in love!).... 

Like the old retired navy guys at the office used to say when they saw a hot babe, "I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers!" I wouldn't kick this girl out of bed for voting communist! So, she'll never win... 

Well, that's it, folks. I think it's pretty simple to see who I'd vote for... But, she'll never win with a common sense platform like that. People don't want to face reality. They'd rather have "Hope" and "Change" over facts. Which means, I probably shall never see her again.... Alas...

And that concludes today's political analysis report.

Mike Rogers signing out 

American Voters Decide Decisively: "I'm Sick of it All!"

Just a short laugh I got this morning from Yahoo! I always check the Yahoo! Financial page every morning first thing. Not because the information there is so precise or detailed or anything... It's far from that and just a page full of sound-bites, but I can see all the stocks and financial reports I want to see in one page.

Everyday, they have some sort of silly survey on what Americans think. Today being election day, of course, you'd imagine they'd have an "election themed" survey; something along the lines of "Who will be the next US president?" or "How will the next US president make the country better?"

Well they do have a survey about the election but it wasn't what I expected at all. The question was:

"It's election day. The best thing about a result is...."

The answers were:

"More certainty for markets"

"Leaders can refocus on solving the fiscal cliff" or;

"No more campaign ads"

The clear winner? "No more campaign ads"...

What that actually means is that "I'm sick of seeing so many ads on TV ruining my TV shows like Honey Boo-Boo!"

We're doomed! No matter who wins, the public loses....

Citi's Chief Economist: "Greece Will Be Forced Out of Euro" - The Greek Elections Don't Matter!

Got gold?

Citi's Buiter: Greece will be forced out of the euro regardless of who wins the Sunday elections

New Democracy. Syriza. Doesn't matter. According to Citi's senior political analyst Tina Fordham, chief economist Willem Buiter, and global economist Ebrahim Rahbari, "any new Greek government, regardless of its composition, will struggle with implementation challenges related to the imposition of further austerity measures demanded by the Troika in exchange for further assistance," and as a result, they "consider it likely that a new troika deal would ultimately fall apart and lead to Grexit."

Citi notes that there is growing sense among European leaders that "promotion of economic growth can no longer be subordinated completely, even in fiscally unsustainable euro area member states, to the requirements of fiscal austerity," but no one has any idea what that means.

This seems to be the current thinking, according to Citi:

"The only operational, practical consensus on growth is that austerity policies should not be unnecessarily pro-cyclical. If a deficit target is overshot because of bad luck (economic activity and government revenues are weaker than expected despite full adherence to all conditionality) rather than bad faith (there has been a failure to implement agreed measures or policies), the shortfall will not have to be made up immediately – in the original time frame. More time will be given to achieve the original objectives without the need for deeper and faster austerity than originally envisaged. Bad faith (non-compliance) will, for incentive-compatibility or moral hazard reasons, continue to be punished with demand for enhanced and faster austerity."

Warning. Also, reminder: "And of course, reduced austerity does not mean no austerity, let alone the reversal of austerity...fiscal policy will remain contractionary overall – just less contractionary."

Citi's doesn't think Greece is able to handle any more austerity, and its rapidly deteriorating fiscal condition is hastening a day of reckoning.

Read more.

There was another article that caught my eye at Zerohedge:

As Greek Banks Run Out Of Safe Deposit Boxes, An Eerie Calm Takes Over The Country 24 Hours Before D-Day

...the most ironic moment in the Greek denouement will come when fractional reserve lending collapses onto itself:

Stavropoulos and her friends have a new strategy to deal with their daily expenses. "We charge everything to our credit cards," she says. If the Greek banks fail, they won't be able to collect the outstanding debts, she argues. "If they want to mess me around, I will do the same to them."

In other words, Greece is now America, where the vast majority of people also live on credit alone, and have taken up the following motto when dealing with banks: "you pretend to be solvent, we pretend to have money."

At the end of the day, it is all just one big global monetary circle jerk, only this time in reverse, as the snake of fractional reserve banking has finally started to eat its own tail. With people spending money they don't have, and in debt to their eyeballs to a banking system that itself is just as insolvent, is there any wonder that nobody really panics any more over daily threats the grand reset is finally coming?

And on that note, 


I've found the best place to buy gold and silver in Tokyo. The place is called Ishifuku Metals and it is located in several locations around Japan. In Tokyo, it is just a 20 second walk from Kanda station on the JR line.

I went there the other day and found that Ishifuku's price on a 20 gram gold bar was a full ¥2,000 yen lower than the price on the place I usually go to in Okachimachi (I won't go there anymore!). 


Ishifuku Metals is not a just wholesale metals dealer, they are a metals factory that provides materials for medical uses and dentistry as well as for product manufacturers. Since they are a factory, buying from Ishifuku gives you rock bottom prices since there is no middle man. And, of course, they also sell to the public just like a regular gold or precious metals dealer.

From Kitco


Ishifuku Metals has been in business since 1930 so you know they are a reputable company and the service is excellent..


Address in Tokyo is:


Ishifuku Metals
Uchi Kanda 3-20-7, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo, 101-8654


Tel: 03-3252-3131

Other locations? Here.

America Doesn't Have Free Elections Anymore - Ron Paul Can't Win as a Republican

Ron Paul came in second in the exit polls for South Carolina. Some say that projected him into a possible second place upset. Nevertheless, in spite of that, he finished fourth for the state in the Republican primary.


I think this is really damaging to the Ron Paul campaign.

As always, way before the votes are tallied, the results are projected. I wonder how, with only a percent or two counted, they can project winners? The actual projections for these primaries shouldn't be about Ron Paul or who is going to win that state. The actual projections should be for the health of the United States of America for the next 5 years. I project that within five years the US government will be bankrupt and this entire mess will come crumbling down like a house of cards. Within twenty years the entire edifice of the American Dream will have rotted from the vine and there will be tens of millions of Americans who are going to be starving and out of work.

There will be no hope for these people and the government that currently runs that country. The military industrial complex and Wall Street bankers will have sucked the last bits dry. The American worker and the American economy will be wheezing for breath like a heavy cigarette smoker after years of choking, coughing, spitting, spittle, blood marbled phlegm and emphysema.

People who read this blog know I like Ron Paul. I think the readers of this blog do too. But the media and the powers that be will never allow him to win. That today, with South Carolina's black box voting machines that leave no paper trail could still be in use in the United Sates after the fiasco of the 2000 election, shows that the people behind the curtain have no intention of allowing free elections for the American people.

That Ron Paul could be consistently polling at the top or second in all primaries until today, and consistently come in third or forth smells really bad. To think that something fishy isn't going on here is the height of naivety.

With results like this, why even vote? Someday, "they" will even make voting more automated by arranging it so that the people do not even have to vote for the results to be tabulated the way "they" want them to be and the predetermined winner to be chosen. Then they'll call that "progress."

Perhaps Ron Paul will be allowed to use his few delegates at the Republican convention to make a speech or negotiate a point. But it won't matter. It will be merely throwing a bone to the dog... The powers that be are betting that the people will not rise up and fight. Considering the recent past record, they are making a pretty safe bet.

The people after all do not bark. Even if they do, why bark if they've nothing to say?

The powers that be are happy with an Obama or a Romney or Gingrich. They are all the same. The best way to defang Ron Paul is to marginalize him and keep him in the race and pacify him at the Republican convention. After all, what difference does it make to our real masters who is president as long as they follow orders and keep the game going? That's the plan here folks.

Everyone knows that Gingrich is the same as Romney, who is the same as Santorum, who is the same as Obama, who is the same as Bush, who is the same as Clinton (Bill or Hillary). They are all the same.   

Anyone who isn't asleep knows that we aren't getting actual news on the TV or from the big networks. We haven't gotten any real news from the networks since who knows when. Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, all the major newspapers, etc. etc. are all completely biased and they don't even try to hide it anymore.

Why bother hiding it? 90% of America is watching the latest reality TV show.

The major networks are part of the elite who don't care about America or you or me. They only care about profits and their bonuses. And, when they can't get those bonuses anymore from the United States, they will move somewhere else to continue the rape and pillage. 

These people do not care about the country. They certainly do not care about you or me or our children.

But even with total control of the government and the economy and the police state, what is going to get better for them or us? The economy? Our lives? Food? Jobs? Hope? No. Nothing, my friends. Nothing is going to get better for them, you or me, our children or our children's children. 

The way things are going now, and this includes the USA and Japan, the only thing keeping society from collapsing will be McDonald's, Citibank branches, Playstation 3, chronic food shortages, lack of jobs, alcohol, reality TV and professional sports.

And, it's not just here at home where every which way is bad. No matter what they do or which way they turn, Iran can't win. The west, with the USA in the lead, is heading us headlong into a war with that nation that will bring us into total war with China and Russia. This war has nothing to do with Iranian nuclear weapons but has everything to do with controlling the world's oil supply. We are so close to the shooting starting that it's a miracle that it hasn't started already. 

What's stopped the war in Iran? Well, when the shooting starts and oil prices climb to over $250 a barrel, that would get rid of Obama's chances of re-election. It would be, once again, a Ron Paul prophesy coming true. They can't have that! Someday soon this entire facade is going to crumble. The powers that be just don't want that someday to be before election day 2012.  

Murdering John F. Kennedy or Martin Luther King did nothing to stop their ideas. Arresting Ghandi and putting him in prison didn't prevent his ideas from capturing the hearts of the entire world. 

The plan is to cheat Ron Paul. He can win, and would, in a free election. But America doesn't have free elections anymore. Ron Paul won't be allowed to win. We will have to witness and endure the 2012 election being stolen right out from under our noses. The only way that this isn't going to happen is if the American people wake up from their slumber. Sure, many have awakened, but there are still far, far too many Americans who are deep into the depths of dreamworld.

But, never fear, Ron Paul's ideas are immortal as is the immortal spirit of men. The spirit of man will rise. The stolen elections will not put out the fire, but they will only help to make the fire started burn even brighter in the hearts of men. The dark days are coming, but after that, the dawn.

As Charlie Chaplin said in the film "the Great Dictator":

"The soul of man has been given wings, and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow, into the light of hope, into the future, that glorious future that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up. Look up."

They can steal the election from us. They've done it before... But this cannot, it must not, be a fight between them and sunny day patriots. Like Ron Paul said, "This is the beginning of a long hard slog..."

Are you in it for the long haul? I expect that Ron Paul will keep up the fight in order to attempt to change the Republican platform.


I now hope for one of two things (or both):


1) It may sound like I am contradicting myself, but I am not. I hope Ron Paul keeps fighting for Republican nomination until the last minute then goes third party. If he does, I believe he has a chance to win outright. And why not go third party? The Republican party is dead with a Gingrich or Romney anyway. Like I said, there's no difference between either of them or Obama, so why not take them on?

2) Also, Rand Paul in 2016! 




UPDATE: It seems that I am not the only one bringing this subject up. I wrote this last night and now, this morning, I see others thinking the same thing. This is a MUST READ: There’s something very odd about GOP primary pre-polling and vote: http://www.infowars.com/theres-something-very-odd-about-gop-primary-pre-polling-and-vote/

Japanese Politicians Bizarre? Nah! Unbelievable But True Hilarious TV Speeches!

Readers of this blog know that I am a solid Ron Paul fan and have been writing for Lew Rockwell (LRC) since 2004. I remember years ago, when my book was released, I was savaged by some critics in Japan because of being a columnist for LRC. One woman wrote something along the lines of, "Mike writing for Lew Rockwell proves that he is amongst the lunatic fringe."


Ha! That's a laugh. (But, seriously, if you need a laugh, read on and watch these videos. They are hilarious.)

Zero Income Tax - Zero Wars - Zero Federal Reserve. Who could possibly have a problem with that?

Getting those negative comments was in 2005. I don't think people consider us the lunatic fringe anymore. Freedom, no taxation, no wars is now mainstream thinking (and just plain common sense - We've been doing it the opposite way all these years and how has that worked out?) 


Gee, I wonder what is so lunatic about being against wars, foreign entanglements and being for freedom and pro-constitution and anti-police state. If that is lunatic, then I am it.


Yesterday, I was inspired to write to Lew and sent him these great videos of some real Japanese who ran for political office. I think these guys are funny crazy. Are these guys really lunatics? You be the judge.... Frankly speaking compared to any US politician running for the US presidency, excepting Dr. Ron Paul, these guys are probably much saner than the rest. 


Here's what I wrote to Lew:


Dear Lew,


Happy Holidays to you and your readers. 

I think you'll be happy to watch these videos of some Japanese politicians. You guys only have Ron Paul to tell the truth.

We have several.... The problem with ours is that, as opposed to Dr. Paul, these Japanese politicians have nothing positive nor constructive to offer.

First up, Rock and Roller, Uchida Yuya as described by Keith Cahoon (extremely well known and regarded music industry beast):

"Yuya Uchida, who long aspired to be a rock'n'roller, decided to run for mayor of Tokyo in 1991.

This is his official alloted TV campaign speech. In 2011 he wrote a book about himself (including recent nude photos) and of course, rock 'n' roll. He was also arrested for various charges related to stalking a former girlfriend."

Yuya Uchida lost the election but still received over 54,000 votes.

And, please witness the glorious wisdom of Toyama Koichi. Scary like Hitler at first, this guy starts to make more and more sense as he goes along (actually when he says that nothing will be changed by elections, I find myself agreeing with him):

The best part is that he got over 15,000 votes. Who says that there's no hope for politics? (The middle finger at the end of the speech is awesome.)

And, now, going from a pissed off revolutionary to a really nice guy, who could forget Mack Akasaka? Mack always smiles and he founded and ran the "Smile Party" whose basic platform only held that people need to smile more to fix all the nations problems. This guy really does seem like a nice guy. He's pretty nutty though. Probably would make a great next door neighbor. 

Even though he lost in this election, he got 6,408 votes.

And, finally, what political and social commentary about Japan could be complete without a word from Yoko Ono? And I do mean, "Without a word." 

Japan has the best politicians (though they never get elected). In America, you have all these scum and liars, at least these Japanese people are sincere in their beliefs.... Perhaps Ron Paul can change the idea that good honest and sincere men cannot get elected in today's America.

Happy New Year's to you all!

NOTE: You can read my archives at Lew Rockwell here.


Thanks to Keith Cahoon, Lew Rockwell