The Omnipotent Poobah Speaks! » Japan http://omnipotentpoobah.com Better morning read? Corn flakes box or shampoo bottle? Compare and contrast. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:51:21 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Randomness: Believe It or Not Style http://omnipotentpoobah.com/2011/05/28/randomness-believe-it-or-not-style/ http://omnipotentpoobah.com/2011/05/28/randomness-believe-it-or-not-style/#comments Sat, 28 May 2011 16:01:57 +0000 Omnipotent Poobah http://omnipotentpoobah.com/?p=4870


A Tip of the Hat (Dave Away From Home)

Poobahs’ Believe It or Not

Everything I Know About Business I Learned at Trump Univ.



Dangly Bits

Jesus Rose, Then Went Back to Bed

Say Hello to the Sperminator 5000

Japan, Still Crazy After All These Years

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]]> http://omnipotentpoobah.com/2011/05/28/randomness-believe-it-or-not-style/feed/ 2 Randomness: Osama bin Layin’ Style http://omnipotentpoobah.com/2011/05/15/randomness-osama-bin-layin-style/ http://omnipotentpoobah.com/2011/05/15/randomness-osama-bin-layin-style/#comments Sun, 15 May 2011 17:00:50 +0000 Omnipotent Poobah http://omnipotentpoobah.com/?p=4750
Mammoth Boobs

CHARMING CHELSEY CHARMS - Great googly mogglies! Click photo for more >>

In Memorial to Osama bin Laden’s Porn Collection

Clearly Not the Sharpest Tools in the Knife Block

The Politics of the Insane

Oh God!

One Man’s Odd is Another Man’s Hilarity

Your Online Carny Experience

Glow in the Dark Japanalia

Robotopalooza

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]]> http://omnipotentpoobah.com/2011/05/15/randomness-osama-bin-layin-style/feed/ 0 Randomness: Capitalism Fail Style http://omnipotentpoobah.com/2011/05/05/randomness-capitalism-fail-style/ http://omnipotentpoobah.com/2011/05/05/randomness-capitalism-fail-style/#comments Thu, 05 May 2011 14:26:36 +0000 Omnipotent Poobah http://omnipotentpoobah.com/?p=4692

People Who Buy Crap and the People Who Make It

Hmm…That’s…Umm…Interesting

How’s That Workin’ Out for Ya?

Those Darn Royals

You Can’t Swing a Dead Cat Without Hitting Jesus

Japan’s Getting Back to What It Does Best…Being Weird

Who Doesn’t Love a Good Robot?

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]]> http://omnipotentpoobah.com/2011/05/05/randomness-capitalism-fail-style/feed/ 2 Randomness: Cheer Up Japan Style http://omnipotentpoobah.com/2011/04/17/randomness-cheer-up-japan-style/ http://omnipotentpoobah.com/2011/04/17/randomness-cheer-up-japan-style/#comments Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:29:51 +0000 Omnipotent Poobah http://omnipotentpoobah.com/?p=4583

A Brief Respite from Nuclear Armageddon

Those Tireless Workers of the Exploited Mechanical Class

Click photo for more

A Sucker’s Born Every 59.63 Seconds

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time


Sexual Healing

Really? The Hell You Say!

Surfing the Crime Wave

Damn! He Really is Everywhere

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]]> http://omnipotentpoobah.com/2011/04/17/randomness-cheer-up-japan-style/feed/ 0 Common Corporate Sense http://omnipotentpoobah.com/2011/03/17/common-corporate-sense/ http://omnipotentpoobah.com/2011/03/17/common-corporate-sense/#comments Thu, 17 Mar 2011 22:58:22 +0000 Omnipotent Poobah http://omnipotentpoobah.com/?p=4422
Common Sense

Sad, But True

Half a world away, a tiny band of workers is trying to save their country from a nuclear meltdown. Closer to home, 11 people died and tens of thousands more lost their livelihoods when an oil rig caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico. Even closer, my local news carries daily accounts of how a gas line explosion that left 8 dead, 50 injured, and 40 families homeless could have been prevented.

All of these events have two things in common – they’re accidents. No one got out of bed one morning and said, “Gee, I think I’ll go out and kill someone today.”

The other is that with some common sense and honesty, all of them could have been prevented or at least their risk mitigated by prudent action – even when a tsunami rolls ashore.

Cutting Corners to Keep the Dividends
For years, all the companies involved told their governments and the public things were just peachy. “Safety is our top priority. We’re responsible citizens” as if by top priority you mean cutting corners so the dividends keep on rolling in. Their inability to follow the rules is ample proof.

It’s de rigueur these days to lament the crushing weight of regulations on business, a not wholly inaccurate charge. The popular refrain is that unnecessary regulations kill jobs and stymie innovation, progress, and plenty. However, fewer point out that a job isn’t much good if you, your family, or your neighbors end up in the morgue waiting to be identified by their dental work or the ash pile that is their DNA.

All of these events, like thousands before them, will generate new regulations. The throngs don’t take kindly to being blown up while watching American Idol and they’ll push their government to do something and do something now.

Score 1 for K St.
The gears of government will turn. There will be a cacophony over just how far the regulations should go. In the end, lobbyists will win out and the resulting regulations will, more often than not, benefit the companies and not control their stupidity. Score 1 for K St.

That doesn’t matter much anyway. Government won’t enforce the laws and will cut back on the agencies that are responsible for that because someone needs a tax cut. The companies will continue to have accidents and all will be right with the world until the next tiny band of workers is irradiated or killed for simply going to work at ones of those nifty jobs that were generated by the cutting of corners and ignoring of regulations – the same regulations that tried to legislate common sense into people who have none of their own.

In the end, these events aren’t about small government or big government. They aren’t about deregulation or over-regulation. They aren’t about the gulf between the haves and have nots. They are about the ultimate failure of holding companies responsible for what they do.

Just as CEO’s don’t get out of bed in the morning plotting on who to kill today, regulations don’t come about needlessly. They come about as the result of someone not doing something that should have.

Unfortunately, you can’t legislate common sense into a thick corporate skull. And, we’re all the worse off for it.

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