J. M. Verville

우리 사회의 텔리비 쇼하고 영화가 다 가치없으면 우리 배우도 가치없다. 우리는 그냥 미녀와 미남을 사랑하면 모든 사람이 아름다움만 위해 삽니다.

오노는 일본 최대 엔터테인먼트회사 자니스사무소의 인기그룹 ‘아라시’의 리더다. 한국드라마를 리메이크 한 TBS TV ‘마왕’에 주연으로 출연 중이다. 8월 방송예정인 니혼TV 예능프로그램 ‘24시간 TV’의 MC로도 낙점된 상태다. 아시아 투어 도중 한국 콘서트도 준비하고 있었다. 이 모든 것이 무산될 가능성이 커지고 있다.

오노가 대마초를 피웠다는 것은 28일 발매된 현지 ‘주간현대’가 폭로했다. 오노와 현장에 함께 있던 여성 2명의 증언을 옮겼다. 잡지에 따르면, 두 여성 중 한 명은 2005년 아는 사람의 소개로 오노를 만났다. 이 여성은 “가라오케에서 술에 취한 사토시가 여성의 팬티 속으로 손을 넣는 듯 파렴치한 행위를 했고, 동석자가 꺼낸 대마를 웃으면서 들이마셨다”고 전했다.

또 “사토시와 사귀는 관계는 아니지만 이따금 연락을 해 노는 사이였다”면서 “그날 사토시는 여자 두 명과 맨션으로 이동해 새벽 4시까지 놀았다. 세 사람이 전라 상태로 이불 속으로 들어갔다”며 난잡한 성관계를 암시하기도 했다.

조선일보

놀라지말라. 앞으로 한국에도 그럴까. 모든 사회가 계속 쇠미로 가고 있다. 우리가 결국으로 로마처럼 생기고 새로운 시대를 대기해야한다.

난 웃다.

물론 많은 사람이 중국을 보면 왜 시위 있는지 알지만 장쯔이가 이해할 수 없다:

중국 출신 스타 배우 장쯔이(章子怡)가 베이징 올림픽을 앞두고 벌어진 반중 시위로 곤혹스러워하고 있다고 AP통신이 29일 보도했다.

시위자들은 티베트 문제와 수단 다르푸르 사태에 대한 중국 정부의 태도에 항의하는 시위를 벌이고 올림픽 성화 봉송 저지 운동을 벌이기도 했는데 장쯔이가 바로 성화 봉송 주자 가운데 한 명이었던 것.

장쯔이는 최근 패션지 보그와의 인터뷰에서 “사람들이 왜 그렇게 부정적인지 이해할 수 없다”며 “올림픽은 우정을 위한 행사”라고 주장했다.

이어 장쯔이는 “나는 중국인이며 조국이 자랑스럽다”고 강조했다.

조선일보

티베트문제는 물론 아주 어려워죠 — 역사적으로 보면 중국이 왜 투입했는지 이해할 수 있고 단순한 문제 아닙니다. 수백년동안 티베트 중국땅 이여서 영국의 영향때문에 티베트 독립운동은 시작했습니다. 영국 그때는 중국이랑 어려운 무역문제 토론하고 있었고 중국을 앞력해 주기위해 티베트 독립운동을 후원했습니다. (more…)

If you do not know that much about the entire Dokdo island (read: collection of rocks) controversy you ought to read a bit more. It is important to some degree due to fishing rights and the likes but overall the Koreans have managed to blow it out of proportion.

미국 국무부가 독도의 주권문제에 대한 입장을 표명한 바 없다고 밝혔다.

The American State Department has come out to say that it will not be entering the debate over the sovereignty of Dokdo.

미국 국무부는 28일(현지시간) 美 지명위원회(BGN)가 웹사이트를 통해 독도의 영토 표기를 ‘주권 미지정 지역(Undesignated Sovereignty)’으로 변경한 것과 관련, 표기 변경이 미국 정부의 정책변화를 뜻하는 것은 아니라고 밝혔다.

The State Departments Board of Geographic Names on the 28th on its website changed Dokdo’s status to ‘undesignated sovereignty’ and made note that the change in status does not reflect a change in the overall American position on the issue. (more…)

It is quite strange to see something so profoundly pro-Bush in the media these days:

There seems to me no question that the Batman film “The Dark Knight,” currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.

And like W, Batman understands that there is no moral equivalence between a free society — in which people sometimes make the wrong choices — and a criminal sect bent on destruction. The former must be cherished even in its moments of folly; the latter must be hounded to the gates of Hell. (more…)

General Petraeus has paid Obama the ultimate compliment amidst quiet criticisms… He recognizes Obama is capable of describing what has actually happened during the last 18 months:

Obama told ABC News’ Terry Moran in an exclusive “Nightline” interview that in his meeting with Petraeus, the general discussed his “deep concerns” about “a timetable that doesn’t take into account what they anticipate might be a change in conditions.”

Petraeus declined to comment about his meeting with the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, beyond saying that in their private talks, Obama conceded that progress had been made in Iraq.

“We felt we had good exchanges, we felt we were able to describe what has taken place over the last 18 months,” Petraeus said.

ABC News

I wonder how much hand holding and quiet guidance from Petraeus Obama needed to get to the point where he was able to grasp the concept of progress having occurred due to the surge. I am sure Obama fought against the reality as much as he could and perhaps even had to scrub his website of references to his opposition to the surge but it is becoming painfully obvious for Barack “the Messiah” Obama: the Iraq of 2008 is not the Iraq of 2005. 

Now perhaps we can have hope that one day Obama will be able to describe what happened in his family during WWII (he seems to confuse his uncle for his grandfather and Buchenwald for Auschwitz). Maybe he will also be able to describe his position in the Senate or perhaps even now he will be able to articulate a position in Iraq (without flip flopping this may be a particular challenge; now that he understands what happened during the last 18 months he will find it incredibly difficult to ‘refine’ his approach as his approach was similar to that of an overweight 12 year old tomboy taking a ballet class). (more…)

… And I do not see why he wouldn’t:

President Bush on Monday approved the execution of an Army private, the first time in over a half-century that a president has affirmed a death sentence for a member of the U.S. military.

With his signature from the Oval Office, Bush said yes to the military’s request to execute Ronald A. Gray, the White House confirmed. Gray had had been convicted in connection with a spree of four murders and eight rapes in the Fayetteville, N.C., area over eight months in the late 1980s while stationed at Fort Bragg. (more…)

Obama is trying harder than ever to look like JFK:

On Thursday, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the White House used a speech in Berlin — the German city that once symbolized Cold War division — to warn about the dangers of allowing new walls to come between the United States and its allies.

Obama highlighted what he sees as common transatlantic goals while also accepting the differences of the Bush years.

He is on the latest leg of an international trip intended to bolster his foreign policy credentials at home and set out his vision for a new era of transatlantic cooperation.

CNN

I think it is really intriguing to think of our transatlantic relationship issues to be comparable to the Berlin wall. One was a physical barrier and a direct symbol of the total repression that embodied Communism.

And what are these new walls? Figments of Obama’s imagination — he thinks we are somehow still living in the 1960s and waiting for another Martin Luther King to change our lives…

I think all we are waiting for is more dead terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan, thank you very much. (more…)

You know there is something wrong with your country when all the people are scrambling to get jobs that in other parts of the world are not considered ideal or dream work.

But that’s what happens in socialism:

Generous pay, stability, and often easy hours will attract applications from as many as 10 million people this year for civil service jobs. Brazilians often refer to getting a government job as catching the “train of happiness.”

…

The problem is that Brazil’s bloated public sector is a burden on business and the economy, leaving little money to invest in education or infrastructure.

Business leaders frequently complain about excessive red tape and the complex maze of requirements they face in getting environmental licenses of even filing their taxes. Rather than slashing jobs, the government is adding more. (more…)

France’s first lady has a new hit in her record which was released on July 11th… Check this out:

In another song, she seems to dismiss criticism from some of her left-wing friends who were bewildered by her romance with the right-leaning Sarkozy.

“It’s not correct, but it’s good nonetheless. Let them curse me and I don’t give a damn. I couldn’t care less, I take all the blame, you need to know, you need to understand, you are my lord, you are my love, you are my orgy,” she sings.

Reuters

I enjoy those lyrics and may never look quite at our Sarkozy the same again.

McCain spoke with some harsh words against Obama that hit the nail on the head quite recently:

John McCain returned to his second home of New Hampshire today, holding his trademark campaign event, a town hall. The crowd was very enthusiastic breaking into a standing ovation when he walked on stage. He quickly went after his rival making a pointed attack on Barack Obama’s stance against the troop surge in Iraq compared to his own initial support, “This is a clear choice that the American people have. I had the courage and the judgment to say I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.”

Fox

And what a better summary of the views of many of the Left?

They claim that they could not give anymore money to an unjust war when guys like Obama voted against bills to fund the war effort, refusing to fund our military when it was most needed in order to make their strange political points concerning withdrawal timetables. (more…)