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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 69 to 93 of 117. Go back in thread:
Posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 18:42:23
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 18:09:42
> > For a US visa they ask 'Are you a terrorist?'
>
> There is a reason for that. My understanding of US law is fairly limited...
>
> It has something to do with them being able to detain you / charge you / deport you for good reason to believe you LIED on that form...
>
> Apparently there are problems with the legality of those things, otherwise.
>
> I don't understand more than that.Actually, I think the form may ask if you are a terrorist... But also, whether you associate with known terrorists and whether you are planning on engaging in terrorist activity while you are in the US.
Then if you are found to be associating with known terrorists / people under suspiction and so on the fact you lied about the later means you may rightly be... Feared?? to have lied about the former.
It is something legal like that.
Posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 19:13:35
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by alexandra_k on November 8, 2018, at 18:42:23
There is a lot of resistence to people identifying as 'New Zealander'.
But 'Australian' is considered a perfectly good / acceptable ethnic category.
In New Zealand, people would need to pass over 'NZ Maaori' 'NZ European' and a few other listings in order to check 'Other' and then they would need to write in the slot 'New Zealander'.
And quite a few did.
And ethnicity coders, in some instances, *reclassified* them as 'New Zealand European'. Because ethnicity coders know better than the individual does, of course.
They said that (though I don't know that any actual study was done) that people who regarded themselves to be 'New Zealanders' were (all?) New Zealand European males from southland who were trying to... Undermine... An attempt to compile Maaori vs non-Maaori statistics.
Which doesn't make sense to me. Becuase I... And a number of my friends (since I was a teenager in the North Island) regarded ourselves to be 'New Zealanders'. And some of them were New Zealand European (ancestrally) and some of them had Maaori ancestry.
I think the reason why there is a... Refusal to accept 'New Zealander' as an ethnic group is because then we could start to consider how oppressed (or otherwise) New Zealanders are - on the world stage.
New Zealanders are a people, in other words.
Only we simply refuse to be. Preferring to engage in localised warring / petty squabbles Maaori vs European or Northland Maaori vs Waikato Maaori. Or whatever. Keeping the focus on local squabbles and preventing (people with often very little brain) from seeing the bigger picture...
Who profits?
?
The people I knew who thought of themself as New Zealanders were of the opinion that we are all in this together and need to figure a way to work together into the future. Immigrants are particularly fond of regarding tehmselves to be New Zealanders esepcialy when they are new and bright eyed and still believing that here mgiht give them a better life. Pacific Islanders (who on all stats are doign worse in New Zealand than Maaori are in New Zealand) are likely to prefer to be regarded as New Zealander. Not least because being identified as Pacific Islander means they are a target for Maaori opression.
Posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 19:35:19
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 15:44:23
>that they find comfort in history.
It's a desperate sort of comfort. Today I watched Russian films with English subtitles from the past on youtube for a bit.
The comfort is not that things will be right. It's more that they have always been difficult.
Posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 19:43:16
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by sigismund on November 8, 2018, at 19:35:19
> The comfort is not that things will be right. It's more that they have always been difficult.
Ah. That's interesting. Good point. Yes, oddly, I find watching older footage and history interesting that way, and yes, it is comforting. Maybe familiar. Good for long thoughts.
Posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 19:46:15
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 15:48:22
Was Cromwell's gun inscribed "God is Love"?
CA has the strictest gun laws in the US. The shooter (as we say) had an illegal large capacity magazine for his Glock.
Posted by sigismund on November 9, 2018, at 4:17:52
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by beckett2 on November 8, 2018, at 19:46:15
I have seen weapons used in the US army with some Biblical reference on them. Well, the Bible is a big book and God approved some genocide and ethnic cleansing which is useful, and then there is the Flood, which I often think of myself.
What about 'The Troika of Tyranny' for food vans? Though you would have to have three. Paella? Ceviche? Lima has good food. Cusco doesn't.
"On November 2 Americas Grim Reaper, the National Security Adviser John Bolton, announced imposition of further sanctions to those already in force in the Caribbean and South America. He declared that Under this administration, we will no longer appease dictators and despots near our shores. We will not reward firing squads, torturers and murderers. We will champion the independence and liberty of our neighbors. And this President, and his entire administration, will stand with the freedom fighters. The troika of tyranny in this hemisphere Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua has finally met its match." It's a wonder he didn't include Honduras.
There is this thing about the number 3. This sounds like a ridiculous idea, but sometimes people and nations just cannot stand what they see in the mirror, the idea of some responsibility for the blowback. Important to keep them away from books. I haven't watched the MSM for some time but I doubt there is much to learn very there. It's not as if we know too much.
Posted by beckett2 on November 9, 2018, at 10:42:34
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by sigismund on November 9, 2018, at 4:17:52
>"On November 2 Americas Grim Reaper, the National Security Adviser John Bolton, announced imposition of further sanctions to those already in force in the Caribbean and South America. He declared that Under this administration, we will no longer appease dictators and despots near our shores. We will not reward firing squads, torturers and murderers. We will champion the independence and liberty of our neighbors. And this President, and his entire administration, will stand with the freedom fighters. The troika of tyranny in this hemisphere Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua has finally met its match."
Venezuela = oil. Immediately upon taking office, trump pondered sending troops to Venezuela. What misery is inflicted on the Venezuelans while they dictator-president eats and sleeps well.
True about three. The Trinity etc. There is a school song I still rather like https://youtu.be/9Rzt5-3uKrM
The Ellsberg interview series is very good. I have his book, but like many books, I won't get to it. I'm a slow, distracted reader.
Posted by sigismund on November 9, 2018, at 19:20:32
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on November 9, 2018, at 10:42:34
Just to give you something else you can worry about not reading
The best written history of Germany I have read is by Golo Mann.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golo_Mann
To avoid Amazon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golo_Mann
In parts it is a work of art.
Posted by sigismund on November 10, 2018, at 5:41:06
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » beckett2, posted by sigismund on November 9, 2018, at 19:20:32
So 1,500,000 former felons in Florida will have the right to vote.
That seems like a lot of people to have locked up.
"We all have enough strength to endure the misfortunes of others."
"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a socialist.Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist.Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew.Then they came for meand there was no one left to speak for me."
Posted by sigismund on November 10, 2018, at 8:07:51
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by sigismund on November 9, 2018, at 4:17:52
I wouldn't want to overstate the virtues of the ALP. But the way it handled the Thatcherite capitalist necessities of the late 70s and early 80s in Australia really softened the outcome for us.
Posted by beckett2 on November 10, 2018, at 13:33:02
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by sigismund on November 10, 2018, at 5:41:06
> So 1,500,000 former felons in Florida will have the right to vote.
>
> That seems like a lot of people to have locked up.
>
> "We all have enough strength to endure the misfortunes of others."
>
>
> "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out
> Because I was not a socialist.
>
> Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out
> Because I was not a trade unionist.
>
> Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out
> Because I was not a Jew.
>
> Then they came for meand there was no one left to speak for me."
>That's just Florida.
The smoke is awful.. It's pretty scary.
I don't know enough about Thatcher and the 80's, but the US has taken some wrong turns.
There is possible movement on gun control. I sense it in the press and people.
Posted by sigismund on November 10, 2018, at 16:47:40
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on November 10, 2018, at 13:33:02
Well, you had Reagan, and what was less excusable, Clinton.
Once the guns are in the community the argument for no gun control makes more sense, since the bad guys already have them. Montana will be different to New York etc.
But......
Completely exposing the NRA
Holding Citizens United in open contempt (I suppose it is.)
Ending the wars
(Goodness me, what's the strategy? 9/11 was a Saudi intelligence branch operation known about by the FBI, cover for the invasion of the Middle East up to and including Iran. Why? It's something to do with the Anglosphere. The US, Israel and Saudi Arabia united in the war on terror. Wonderful. The wheels fell off that cart ages ago.)
And using that money to care for people in the US. That seems the hardest. It is so much more acceptable to kill (the best part of?) a million people for nothing more than to indulge a sense of righteousness than it is to have free health care and education. I don' know why this is. No one ever asks of military spending 'How will we pay for this?'But everybody knows this. Although sometimes I see the Fox alternative reality on clips on the Majority Report, so I dunno. They hate the poor. There's the mirror again. They want total impunity, including from reality.
You remember those words of Roy Harper....
The dream is righteous grandeur fit to flood the universe.
Narcissism as politics?
Posted by sigismund on November 10, 2018, at 17:02:38
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on November 10, 2018, at 13:33:02
Oh, I understand what you meant about the smoke now.
It was horrible how those Palestinian kids had the temerity to light fires and throw rocks, giving the world the impression they had something to complain about. They should have been grateful. Same thinking as this.......
There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!
Just Like Puerto Rico.
Posted by alexandra_k on November 10, 2018, at 22:44:15
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by sigismund on November 10, 2018, at 17:02:38
I know I've been ranting about how people in these parts don't know what informed consent is...
But it turns out that recently (this year) there was an article in a journal and also newspaper about how significant numbers of medical students had been performing intimate procedures on patients without obtaining consent.
the point is... they have started speaking out about it. and saying that it isn't acceptable.
last year... the law camp came under fire in these parts. apparently this year... the auckland law camp is similarly coming under fire. the camps are basically... there is a lot of drinking (because our drinking age is so low) and then a lot of nudity and so on... some people say it's all in good fun... but other people say they feel pressured into participating in things they do not feel good about...
there is a bully / sleazy aspect to law in NZ that I noticed (e.g., with my young public defender lawyer in the conversation she was trying to stike up with people in the court room before the judge came in). It was in fact that lack of professionalism in her that really was something significant in my knowing that law was not for me.
anyway... the medical people are saying that the law people have started to acknowledge abuses in the system... the law camp coming under fire was after a law firm came under fire when female interns complained about sexual harrassment there...
anyway...
point is...
that people are speaking out about these things and they are slowly starting to change. don't get me wrong, best to minimise time spent if you want to make it any kind of likely you can come out the other end without being ruined by bullies and abusers...
but i'm glad they have spoken out about this... before i got there.
before i got failed for not partaking in it.
Posted by beckett2 on November 10, 2018, at 22:45:15
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by sigismund on November 10, 2018, at 17:02:38
> Oh, I understand what you meant about the smoke now.
>
> It was horrible how those Palestinian kids had the temerity to light fires and throw rocks, giving the world the impression they had something to complain about. They should have been grateful. Same thinking as this.......
>
> There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!
>
> Just Like Puerto Rico.The area north, where the town of Paradise burned through in a day, is home to many trump supporters, and with comments (tweets!) like that, he certainly lost support.
I hope not like Puerto Rico, but if he had his way, then yes. What he cannot control, he devalues. Losers!
sigi, I don't know what will be left of my state :(
Posted by alexandra_k on November 10, 2018, at 22:53:07
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by alexandra_k on November 10, 2018, at 22:44:15
though apparently the person who has decided now is the time to speak up about the numbers of essays she's reading from students saying they feel bad about performing these procedures without consent...
well... apparently she's been reading essays about this for the last 8 years.
but now is a good time to speak up.
i wonder if it's because all our essays / university stuff is submitted online and so that gives overseas people a chance to read it (and actually see what people are passed for and failed for and actually read it for meaning).
it was these people speaking up about how they managed to buy NZ citizenship for themselves at x price and how they spend less than y days in the country.
they are helping us by speaking up about what they have done.
kim.com funded a whole highest court of appeal decision in this country. and thank f*ck*ng god we made the right decision (to extradite him so he could be held accountable for his actions by his home country)...
because if we really were prepared to let people buy a place here no matter their foreign crimes...
well... we really were prepared to do that.
i don't feel that i owe this country anything, anymore. i have in fact contributed significantly to it's development and it barely returned enough to me for my basic needs to be met. i would have contributed more to it's development and it wouldn't even provide me with the minimal resources (largely to do with non-interference) so I could read and write and study.
just awful people taking what they could get because they could get it. awful awful people ruining things for us all.
Posted by alexandra_k on November 10, 2018, at 23:08:26
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on November 10, 2018, at 22:45:15
it's because nz decided not to bother investing in me.
when the inspectors came around when i was in primary and thought i was better off there, in the poor community...
when the high school teachers allowed me to drop maths and economics and accounting and science and everything... except for english...
when they laughed at me for saying i wanted to do med...
just every step of the way, really.when i come back here and say i want to finish my thesis, if i can find a quiet place to live...
but i don't get enough money to have a quiet place to live
when i try and find a job...
but they want to hold out on that until i'll accept a job doing something obviously immoral
when they won't enrol me in what i want to learn (secondary level science)
when they enrol me in other stuff and then fail me for stuff i'm good at -- becuae they think they can get away with that.
when they wont' enrol me in graduate level research...
when they lose my enrolment...i mean really.
what has nz ever done for me?
Posted by sigismund on November 11, 2018, at 3:54:40
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on November 10, 2018, at 22:45:15
>sigi, I don't know what will be left of my state :(
The same problem I read on Counterpunch extends up to Washington State (to say nothing of the glaciers). But Oregon has a reputation for being wet? And then down to California.
The indigenous in Australia practiced many kinds of burning, mainly cool weather burning. The knowledge was largely lost, so Australia 150 years after their dispersal (that was the word) was more wooded with thinner taller trees. Like California, vulnerable to fire. Not the rainforest but the sclerophyll (which doesn't explain much but includes eucalypts) and then there is the heath that needs to burn to reproduce. But that has been Ausralia's pattern, not yours. In Wellington I saw many big west coast American trees, I can't recall their names.
What a self absorbed idiot he is.
Posted by sigismund on November 11, 2018, at 4:34:58
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » beckett2, posted by sigismund on November 11, 2018, at 3:54:40
From Andrew Levine's latest column.........
Remember too that while there is morbidity and mortality, there is hope.
Being notoriously fickle, the gods might just find it amusing to stop afflicting the world with the Donald, and instead, at long last, to turn on that vile creature himself.
If and when that happens, I, for one, would be especially pleased were cholesterol to be their instrument of choice. Thus, when I see that noxious Trump punimon my TV screen, I often find myself recalling the demise of Mr. Creosote in Monty Pythons The Meaning of Life. There is some consolation to be found in imagining Hispanic restaurant workers in one or another of Trumps gaudy golf resorts bringing the Commander-in-Chief his final cheeseburger and a bucket.
That is at least as likely a scenario as any involving the Democratic Party.
Posted by sigismund on November 11, 2018, at 5:18:41
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by sigismund on November 11, 2018, at 4:34:58
There has just been an earthquake! I have never been in a real one. It was like something was going wild in the base of the building. I didn't have my pants on! What will I do if the building starts falling apart? Look for my pants first and the keys? Birds started flying around unusually. Then it stopped. I was reading this which seems appropriate.......
Posted by beckett2 on November 11, 2018, at 18:53:16
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by sigismund on November 11, 2018, at 5:18:41
> There has just been an earthquake! I have never been in a real one. It was like something was going wild in the base of the building. I didn't have my pants on! What will I do if the building starts falling apart? Look for my pants first and the keys? Birds started flying around unusually. Then it stopped. I was reading this which seems appropriate.......
>
> https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/11/09/when-it-comes-to-stone-throwing-democrats-live-in-a-glass-house/It's quite a rush, isn't it? I would think pants maybe? Once while driving, my car started bucking and I thought I had engine trouble until I noticed the street poles were swaying. I didn't realize you guys had earthquakes. But aren't you far from the epicenter?
Posted by beckett2 on November 11, 2018, at 18:54:50
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » beckett2, posted by sigismund on November 11, 2018, at 3:54:40
> >sigi, I don't know what will be left of my state :(
>
> The same problem I read on Counterpunch extends up to Washington State (to say nothing of the glaciers). But Oregon has a reputation for being wet? And then down to California.
>
> The indigenous in Australia practiced many kinds of burning, mainly cool weather burning. The knowledge was largely lost, so Australia 150 years after their dispersal (that was the word) was more wooded with thinner taller trees. Like California, vulnerable to fire. Not the rainforest but the sclerophyll (which doesn't explain much but includes eucalypts) and then there is the heath that needs to burn to reproduce. But that has been Ausralia's pattern, not yours. In Wellington I saw many big west coast American trees, I can't recall their names.
>
> What a self absorbed idiot he is.What happens to your displaced farmers? All our assets are in our house.
Posted by alexandra_k on November 11, 2018, at 23:29:44
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on November 11, 2018, at 18:54:50
I didn't think Australia had earthquakes either. People laughed at me when I didn't want to put things, unsecured, on high shelves.
Are you sure it isn't the bombs going off?
Posted by beckett2 on November 12, 2018, at 1:48:45
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM, posted by alexandra_k on November 11, 2018, at 23:29:44
> I didn't think Australia had earthquakes either. People laughed at me when I didn't want to put things, unsecured, on high shelves.
>
> Are you sure it isn't the bombs going off?Do you have them in NZ? Yeah, we never store things over the heads of the bed, etc. When I was on the east coast, I looked in awe at the fearlessly stocked bookcases towering overhead in home and schools.
Posted by alexandra_k on November 12, 2018, at 3:07:59
In reply to Re: one of my favorite FDOTM » alexandra_k, posted by beckett2 on November 12, 2018, at 1:48:45
> Do you have them in NZ?
Yes, indeed. The country lies along a fault line and I was trained to secure things overhead in case of earthquake.
I was not taught spider and snake avoidance strategies, however. It was hard for me to remember to be careful of where you put your hands in the wild (e.g., under wood) because of spiders. And to make a noise when tramping to try and scare off snakes.
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