[whiteperil] Sean: (a new post at The White Peril 白禍)

[whiteperil at lists.powerblogs.com]

Posted by Sean:

http://whiteperil.com/posts/1120974202.shtml


   Topic 2 for discussion among talking heads this weekend:
   Japan Post privatization, [1]naturally:

     Asked Wednesday whether he would dissolve the lower house and call
     a general election if the upper house votes down the bills, the
     prime minister said he would.
     "The focal point of the campaign would be postal privatization,"
     Koizumi said in Gleneagles, commenting on his strategy if a lower
     house election were to be held.
     Firing a warning shot across the bows of antiprivitization [sic]
     forces within the Liberal Democratic Party, of which he is
     president, Koizumi said the LDP would not provide party tickets for
     lawmakers who opposed the bills.
     Asked if he would regard an upper house rejection as tantamount to
     a no-confidence motion, the prime minister said, "Of course."

   LDP Secretary General Takebe was on NHK today repeating a point that's
   been made a lot of late: the Koizumi administration has not explained,
   in language the public will warm to, why Japan Post privatization is
   such a good idea it's worth causing this amount of controversy for.
   (That's a problem he shares with his buddy President Bush--think of,
   say, Social Security reform.) Everyone--supporters, opponents,
   hangers-on--is holding to the line that his group will not waver when
   the upper house vote comes up. We'll see.

References

   1. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20050709TDY01002.htm