"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have"
Thomas Jefferson

Monday, November 16, 2009

O-Bow-Ma

43 American Presidents and 220 years, they have never bowed to Monarchs. Until.....





34 comments:

Anonymous said...

{yawn}

Anonymous said...

Very telling. It seems the intent is to have America be the bitch of the rest of the world instead of the powerful leaders we have been.

Prosegrrl said...

Yes...and our "we bow to no one" philosophy has helped us win friends and influence people so far. It might be a foreign concept to some Americans, but what Obama did was out of respect for the culture. Our American culture is NOT the end all be all on this planet. In fact, our Country is still one of the newest, yet we still think we know best and ARE the best. Kind of like that teenager that likes to tell older people how much they know.....

Anonymous said...

OR, finally America is showing some respect to the rest of the world and maybe we will finally get some respect back...

Danny M. Francis (Eyepublius) said...

It is very respectful to bow in Japan, Korea or China and then to ALSO shake hands ... nothing weird going on there. People should stop trying to make it into something it is not.

It is very polite to bow in Asian countries, especially to elders, but also to close friends and relatives. I have very old friends in Korea and Japan and I bow to them and shake hands and hug, too, when we meet. That used to include my wife's great uncle, the 3rd President of Korea (Yun, Po-sun) who passed away a few years ago ... and I always bowed to my Father-in-Law, especially when I arrived at his home. It is polite.

If a Asian leader comes here, I assure you that they know our customs, culture, and traditions (better than we mostly know theirs).

I am not the president, but his bowing was a sign of respect for an elder leader in Asia... It DOES NOT degrade us or him or the office

A NON-ISSUE.

Anonymous said...

yer right IV, Obama shoulda kicked that little foreigner in the nuts, handed him Obama's coat, and asked to see the Man in Charge. Just like we've always done. We are soooo macho, aren't we?

Danny M. Francis (Eyepublius) said...

PP: true and good post...

Lots of kids realize that "they get smarter as their parents get older.

Danny M. Francis (Eyepublius) said...

Hey, Mr. and Mrs. GOP:

You all can't hide from the truth or facts, no matter how hard yoiu try.

Obama bows and you go nuts ... but how about Nixon in 1971 and Ike in 1959 - their bows don't count? LOL LOL

FACTS, THOSE PESKY FACTS

Anonymous said...

If OBowma looked closely while he was bending over, he could see the bones of people who the Japanese starved to death and raped while prisoners during WWII. Read about it, PP. You never want to forget a society that gave so much to the world, and NEVER admitted any wrongdoing.

NO APOLOGY.

Danny M. Francis (Eyepublius) said...

5:12 - you sure do not know much history, do you?

Japan War Apologies

But, keep whipping that dead horse, it may rise like the Phoenix anytime now.

Anonymous said...

It's a nice little collection of nothing, Dannie, and what I would expect from an Education major. But your linked article supports my assertion. There has been a lasting controvery with Japan's failure to issue an apology and to offer financial support to the survivors of the mass rapes and war crimes they were responsible for during WWII. Now Mr War Hero, I realize you have your bias to support, but are you now wishing to go on record as denying that the Japanese were responsible for no war crimes? Mr Ed Major, are you? Let's git it, Dannie. This will really help your next effort to be accepted as a reasonable human being.

Let the profanity begin.

Danny M. Francis (Eyepublius) said...

7:41 - I no longer respond to insults or libelous posts directed towards me from anyone at this trough.

Thank you anyway.

Anonymous said...

Peace Poet, take a history class. We are the good guys.

Tong

Prosegrrl said...

Tong,
Nice try as history is my chosen course of study. Read a little outside what the public schools give you to read and you will see that our hands are not clean of atrosities and missteps.

Anonymous said...

I am not a product of the public school system. Got a private Catholic education, and an MS in transportation to boot. No attrocities here, just more liberal BS.

Tong

Anonymous said...

Really 5:12?.....WE DROPPED A NUKE ON THEM!!...I have no more to say on that subject...

NorthCountryLiberal said...

two nukes.

Anonymous said...

PP, I find it impossible that you studied history. One cannot do so without picking up at least some basic foundation in logic. Your beliefs are based on two repeated ideas. One, our country is bad and two, variable ethics. You are all over the place. I like you, but you're nuts.

Anonymous said...

Actually, they were atom bombs, not nukes.

See how silly we can be, NCLib?

Anonymous said...

I didn't say you were, like, a liar, I said you hated your own country and you were like, nuts.

I also said I, like, liked you.

It's ok. Thinking as you do has become very fashionable. And that is, like, very important.

Anonymous said...

Conservative Republicans like Freedom.

Tong

Anonymous said...

Yeah PP, "walking into foreign countries without regard to their people or culture." That's just what we did in Normandy in 1944. Tell the men who are buried there that if they had walked a little faster, they might have had the opportunity to live their lives like, like people like you. I'm sure the French didn't want us just walking in there like that.

Sometimes I wonder why our soldiers sacrificed as they did, so people like you can be so foolish. Dither on, PP.

Anonymous said...

8:45, what about the native americans, iraq, lebanon, vietnam, mexico, haiti, etc?

Anonymous said...

If you would like to debate positives and negatives of this nation's past decisions, go ahead and get it started. If that one sentence reply is your best shot, it really doesn't deserve a response. Absolutely, let's compare Haiti with freeing the concentration camps. Let's talk about rebuilding Western Europe, then leaving vs our history in Lebanon.

Go ahead. After you, Sir.
Talk. PP, with your knowledge of history, jump right in whenever you feel coooomfortable.

Prosegrrl said...

Ummm...the one line comment wasn't mine so try again. What I don't post anonymously because I am not ashamed of my views.
I find offense that someone would try to tell me to tell the ones who stormed Normandy to walk faster. My comment on the American tendency to disrespect other cultures is completely different to any valid war that we have fought. My grandfather was a WWII vet and the greatest man I ever knew. I wish I could have talked to him about his experience in WWII, but the man shut down that part of himself because it was too painful. It was only near the end of his life that he started to talk about it to his wife.
So if you want to cloud this discussion with bullshit comments, then I will no longer bite.

Anonymous said...

One cultural nore: bowing and shaking hands at the same time - awkward and not in any protocol book that I know of.

Bow, then stand up and shake hands.

Anonymous said...

10:32, Haiti and Lebanon are minor.
But the massive destruction of the Native Americans and taking of their land under the guise of "Manifest Destiny" and spreading Christianity was a holocaust. Except unlike Hitler's Holocaust it is still seen by some as justified and is deemphasised in public schools for fear of offending conservatives.

Anonymous said...

Well rest assurred PP. That grandfather you respected so much was really a guy who wanted to rape and pillage. He only went to war to get away from his family and get some free ammunition from his government. He was likely unemployed, or underemployed at the time, and this was perfect time to do some killing without having to worry about the culture he was rolling over. I don't know why you think so highly of him. People like you pretty much have it all figured out. You grandfather wasn't nearly the great man you thought he was. He was likely insensive, violent, anti-women, responsible for domestic violence, and badly in need of counseling. If he needed assistance for mental health conditions that resulted from his experiences, he should have been smart enought to cash in on free stuff. If he's still around, hook him up with Dannie Francis. He will know how to get him signed up for every free service he is entitled to. And if the guy is dead, be happy he didn't get to hear your divel about bad his own country was, in your view.

Prosegrrl said...

11:48....go fuck yourself. Apparently you don't know how to have a civilized discussion without turning into something it's not.
For your information, my grandfather is dead, but HE was the one who taught me to be myself and never be afraid to stand up for myself and express my views. Who knows...he and I may not have agreed on some issues, but he was always proud of me.

And that is what matters...not what you think and not your bullshit drivel and unfair attacks simply because you do not agree with me.

All you have done is prove how mean-spirited and heartless some "Conservatives" can be.

Anonymous said...

I'm soooo sorry PP. I just thought I was bowing to the prepatterned format that folks like you had already accepted as truth. It seems to be easy for people like you to group think about blaming their country first, but when the same patterns are brought to a more personal level they have problems with it. Our country was one big war criminal, but your grandfather, who fought for the great goals of the war criminal country, was a great guy who always had culture and goodness in mind. Got it. The individuals were good but the nation was bad. Got it.

Well, I may be bad bad person but at least I'm consistant. I think your grandfather was ok and I think the country was ok too.

I commend you on your profanity. Real Dannie type behavior there, PP.

Anonymous said...

whats wrong with respect?

Anonymous said...

Nothing. War is not fought with a social worker's perspective. I believe many of us, you and PP and like, have been never had their security really threatened. Therefore, they view the conduct of WWII from 60 years away. You have no idea what it might have been like. When millions of people are in ovens, sometimes you don't do a perfect job thinking about culture. You think about pounding on somebody. It ain't pretty, but I'll bet it's true.

I don't know either. But I do not, as you do, jump to conclusions about the how my country is evil. I can fully understand, PP, why your grandfather didn't talk much with you about these matters. You had read so many books, he couldn't fool you any more. I'd blame in on trauma as well. It couldn't have been isolation from his own granddaughter.

Prosegrrl said...

12:40...you are out of line and have NO IDEA what kind of relationship I had with my grandfather. He raised me, he was like a father to me, and I never isolated him, nor he me.

You DO NOT know how to debate and you DO NOT know anything more than personal attacks so you can get a rise out of people all while hiding behind anonymity.
You speak of me and other not having our security threatened? I am sure you haven't either...shit you can't even face a comment page without being anonymous.

But seriously...why am I wasting my time? All you will do is come up with what you think is a BRILLIANT response full of personal attacks and condescension because you don't have anything better to argue with...it's typical Conservative "debate"....all attacks and no real debate.

Maybe you should give your boy Hoffman a call....you seem like someone right up his alley.

Anonymous said...

Hey 11:08 something about civilian targets comes to mind here.

Live Blogging