(UPDATE 9/7/2012) It looks like Hosono flip-flopped. Now he says he is not running. What a surprise. His reason, according to Yomiuri, is just incredible: 2 weeks of campaigning for the DPJ leadership election will distract him from important tasks for the recovery of Fukushima. That recovery hasn't really happened after one year and 6 months, and he wants us to believe this particular 2-week period in September is too critical. (As I said, incredible.)
(H/T anon reader)
===============================
Oh what a surprise. (Not.)
These DPJ politicians are indeed from outer space, if they think propping up this man will win them the election. But then, more than half the country's population still rely on newspapers and TV who have started touting him as "Prime Minister-in-waiting".
Goshi Hosono is the one who, as the personal assistant to then-Prime Minister Naoto Kan, admitted in April last year they knew it was a core melt but just didn't feel like telling that to people.
He's also the one who whipped out a craft piece made of disaster debris in front of an angry crowd at the Kyoto JR Station in March this year and said, "Do you think this is contaminated? Do you?"
From Yomiuri Shinbun (9/6/2012):
細野氏、民主党代表選に出馬の意向
Mr. Hosono will enter the leadership election of the Democratic Party of Japan
野田首相（５５）の党代表任期満了に伴う民主党代表選（１０日告示、２１日投開票）をめぐり、これまで出馬に慎重な姿勢を取ってきた細野豪志環境・原発相（４１）が、出馬する方向となった。
Goshi Hosono (age 41), Minister of the Environment and minister in charge of the nuclear accident, has been treading cautiously so far on whether he will enter the race to elect the president of DPJ to be held (notification on September 10, voting on September 21) on the expiration of term of office of Prime Minister Noda (age 55).
複数の細野氏周辺が５日、明らかにした。党内には、次期衆院選の顔として若い細野氏の出馬を期待する声が広がっている。出馬すれば、再選を目指す首相への有力な対抗馬となるのは確実で、事実上の一騎打ちとなる。
Multiple sources close to Mr. Hosono revealed on September 5. An increasing number of people within the party are hoping for the young Hosono to enter the race, as the "face" of the DPJ in the coming Lower House election. If he enters the race, he is likely to be the single major contender against the prime minster who is seeking reelection.
これまで細野氏は、記者会見などで「代表選は考えていない」と繰り返してきた。しかし、５日夜には「民主党が生まれ変わった姿を見せるべきだ」と語り、最終的に出馬要請に応じざるを得ないとの意向を固めた模様だ。
Mr. Hosono has repeatedly said that he is not considering entering the leadership election. However, he said on the evening of September 5, "We should show that the Democratic Party of Japan has been reborn", indicating he would have no choice but eventually agree to running for the position.
細野氏は６日未明、出馬を求める若手議員らの働きかけについて「重く受け止めなければいけない。民主党を何とかしなければいけないという思いもある」と周辺に語った。細野氏周辺は「出馬の方向で止まらないだろう」と述べた。
In the early hours of September 6, Mr. Hosono told his people that the approach from the younger politicians [urging him to run] should be "considered gravely. I do think I have to do something to [save] the Democratic Party of Japan." His people said, "There's no stopping now."
It's quite remarkable to read the Japanese mainstream media reporting on this news, whether it is Yomiuri or Mainichi or someone else. They completely ignore what he has done (or rather, not done) in the past year and a half, and there's not a single mention of his handling of the wide-area disaster debris, decontamination effort, or disaster relief.
An earlier Yomiuri article (9/5/2012) captures the thinking of some of the supporters of Goshi Hosono. The anonymous politician in the article quite openly says,
「細野氏が首相になれば支持率は５０％まで上がるかもしれない。国会答弁などでボロが出ないうちに、臨時国会冒頭で解散だ」
"If Mr. Hosono becomes the prime minister, the approval rate may shoot up to 50%. Before he makes a fool of himself in the Q&A sessions in the National Diet, we will dissolve the Diet at the beginning of an extraordinary session of the Diet [and call for an election]."
Well that's about right.
Mr. Hosono has a book recently published by the way, titled "Testimony - 500 Days of Nuclear Crisis". It's not that he wrote it himself, but he was interviewed by a journalist who compiled the interview into a book. Get it while you can, the book from the Prime Minister-in-waiting.
30-Day free trial by following the link.
Tokyo Time
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15 comments:
Sounds like Japanese politicians are doing the same to the environment that European politicians are doing to the economy, and American politicians recently did for world peace.
They're not just screwing up though. They're living in complete denial of the fact that they're screwing it up and as a result, are only able to screw things up even more... they're so convinced of their absolute right to rule, yet behind the arrogance they're sclerotic and out of it, like Andropov-era Soviets or Marie Antoinette-era French aristocrats. Something's going on in the world... wish you all the best of luck in Japan, like I said we face different problems here in Europe, but they have the same source - incompetent, arrogant idiots running everything.
Unfortunately they are no idiots... everthing else I believe is spot on.
Angel Of Fukushima
They are not idiots they are sociopaths / psycopaths and have nothing but contempt for the masses, they pump their own egos and in their arrogance ram suicidal policies down our throats, wide area debris burning, promotion of Fukushima food with all the little guilt trips added, etc etc..the Japanese being extremely gullible swallow it all and drink the kool aid sadly.
I'm convinced we don't elect politicians to tell us the truth we elect them to lie to us. A majority of the population can't handle the truth, case in point. Back in 1980's Walter Mondale vowed to rise taxes he said, "Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I but He won't tell you." As a result of this he lost the 1984 election by a landslide. People didn't want to hear the government was on the verge of bankruptcy. When Regan got into office he raised taxes under the guise of users fees because every moron knows a fee isn't a "tax" and he got away with it because people as a whole are a dumb as a box of hammers.
"How well did Reagan succeed in cutting government spending, surely a critical ingredient in any plan to reduce the role of government in everyone's life? In 1980, the last year of free-spending Jimmy Carter the federal government spent $591 billion. In 1986, the last recorded year of the Reagan administration, the federal government spent $990 billion, an increase of 68%. Whatever this is, it is emphatically not reducing government expenditures."
"In addition to closing loopholes, the White House is nudging Congress to expand the usual definition of a "user fee," not a tax because it is supposed to be a fee for those who use a government service, say national parks or waterways. But apparently the Reagan administration is now expanding the definition of "user fee" to include excise taxes, on the assumption, apparently, that every time we purchase a product or service we must pay government for its permission."
The myth of Reaganomics
http://mises.org/daily/1544
Greece doesn't want to hear that their pension system is unworkable and they are going to riot until they find someone who tells them they are right regardless of the global impact.
my stomach hurts
Dunno how anyone seriously thinks politicians in any other country would react differently to a disaster like Fukushima. Venezuela, maybe... because Hugo Chavez seems to actually care about people (OMG!).
That's not to say that Hosono isn't a batshit insane sociopatch. Because he is.
That everybody wants to believe that their countries are better is the exact same thinking why the Japanese are accepting the good news and denying the bad news of their situation - people just want to feel safe and secure and believe in their country and its politicians.
The U.S. has a wealth of disasters that they're still sitting on... Hurricane Katrina (people still living in trailers, I hear), the Gulf Oil spill (lied about the extent of damage to the ocean, supposedly still leaking, and more), etc. There's probably even more we don't know about.
The French has been covering up reports from around ten years ago about how they test-nuked an island so much that it's going to collapse and spew radioactive waste into the ocean.
Australia forgot they buried radioactive waste on the spot after a road accident in 1980, accidentally dug it up during construction and people got sick both times. The list probably goes on and on. I know that Cracked.com has several articles detailing other terrible radioactive screwups.
Do you think that his book is contaminated?
Do you?
What is even worse is the US political situation, which was bought and paid for by Israel back when they bribed Harry Truman (Mr. A Bomber) to recognize Izrayhell. Americans can't even see that a foreign state running their country is a little wacky.
On another small matter...
Doomed Planet For A Failed Species?
Fukushima’s Tragic Nuclear Consequences
http://rense.com/general95/dooomed.html
Admittedly the people are just as bad. Koch-sucking right wing "libertarian" sado-monetarists, Greek-bashing Euro-imperialists and anti-semitic nutters infest the political landscape. It's as if they've internalised, perhaps not the particular policies of the ruling class, but certainly the ideology. Bad Craziness is loose in the world.
@Anon 6:19AM.
That's a lot of buzz word labels.
Which election laws would need to be changed in order for the people to make more informed decisions in Japan?
Is there anything that internet sites and users OUTSIDE Japan can do to help inform Japanese people about their choices in the next election?
It seems Hosono doesn't want to run for the position:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/politics/news/20120907-OYT1T00305.htm?from=top
>He's also the one who whipped out a craft piece made of disaster debris in front of an angry crowd at the Kyoto JR Station in March this year and said, "Do you think this is contaminated? Do you?"
That's badass. It was time for someone from the government to start calling the Debris-crowd on their bullshit.
Yes, trusting the government is always the best course of action, especially where atomic safety is concerned. Your fearless leaders always know best!
One answer may be overly simplistic, yet effective if a 'critical mass' of people can simply stop using the monetary denominations our dishonest, dishonorable, disloyal governments unashamedly distribute.
Start bartering, refuse the government 'toilet paper' which enslaves us all! When no money changes hands, what effect taxation? Use the laws to your advantage. They are big, unwieldy & slow to move. We have numbers & the element of surprise in our hands. Let us lawfully use our strengths against their weaknesses and expose 'them' for the psychotic 1% that they are.
quoted from MaidenHeaven
http://enenews.com/afp-tens-of-thousands-protest-at-prime-ministers-residence-the-battle-has-only-just-begun-100000-expected-next-friday-for-hydrangea-revolution-video/comment-page-1#comment-264073
"Thank you for Standing up & Speaking out~!~
The Masque of Anarchy
"Let a great assembly be, of the fearless, of the free".
"Stand ye calm and resolute,
Like a forest close and mute,
With folded arms and looks which are
Weapons of unvanquished war.
And if then the tyrants dare,
Let them ride among you there,
Slash, and stab, and maim and hew,
What they like, that let them do.
With folded arms and steady eyes,
And little fear, and less surprise
Look upon them as they slay
Till their rage has died away
Then they will return with shame
To the place from which they came,
And the blood thus shed will speak
In hot blushes on their cheek.
Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you-
Ye are many — they are few"
written in 1819 by Percy Bysshe Shelley"
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