Right Of The Star

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Quick Thoughts From An Ill Mind - Too Much to Hope For, or Not

During my recent relapse I had many quick thoughts - some I was actually able to save as drafts in the Blogger system - I will post some of these over the next few days - but most were lost as my mind fluttered.

The two that I kept alive with handwritten notes and daily repetition must have been what I considered top priority. They both involve the Valerie Plame situation.

First - I can't help but feel that somehow Joe Wilson and his wife will be indicted by Fitzgerald either for perjury or for disclosing classified information. I know this seems like too much to hope for but it just seems that there are too many inconsistencies in their story and to me it is wrong for any CIA employee (and spouse) to attempt to undermine an administration (covertly using lies about classified information), how could that be legal. I could be way off on this but wasn't this a crime or was it just morally reprehensible (the left is quite good at the ends justify means thing)?

Second - I am amazed at the MSM's arrogance! I am shocked that some want to provide them with "special rights" via a shield law. They are people, no better no worse then the rest of us! They don't have an absolute right to know anything and they don't have an absolute right to break the law or to shield those who break the law from prosecution! (You think gay rights are special rights - journalism is just a profession and we are trying to give them extra rights!)

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

There indignation is very telling, it is clear they hold themselves to be in a class by themselves, some type of extra-citizen, protected by some clause in the constitution that the rest of us aren't covered by! In reality we are all covered by the first amendment! The press isn't even given it's own amendment - they are lumped in with religion, speech, assembly and petition!

It truly is chilling how they believe themselves to be this type of extra-citizen!
DKK

Atomic Weapons, The Humanitarian Peace Weapon!

This is a retread of a post I made August 9, 2004. Today is the 60th anniversary of the use of the first atomic weapon and I am amazed at the handwringing that we are doing over it's use.

Yes, it had devistating effects - but most things in war do!

Like police who killed the man who used his child as a human shield our main crime is doing what it took to win a war and save ourselves and others.

This wasn't debated on American streets when I was a child - it was simply a fact!

WE DROPPED THE ATOMIC BOMB BECAUSE WE WERE AT WAR AND WANTED TO WIN!

Now too bad we can't still want to win - a blog I read recently said it would be a lot easier to win this war if we didn't have our left hands tied behind our backs!

During WWII we used both hands and feet!

Victor Davis Hanson has this great post on NRO.

Now on to the post:
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Yes, I proudly say Thank God! Yes, America is the only nation to ever use atomic weapons! And you should thank your God as well - no matter where you are from! (Yes I mean you - you EU weenie!)

Although there are many on the left who claim that the use of this weapon was not necessary (let alone developing Atomic weapons in the first place) looking at the truth in the history will show that it's use was not only justified, warranted, but was a humanitarian move on the part of the United States.

The death toll from both weapons is estimated at about 260,000. Hardly sounds like a humanitarian move but lets look at just a few facts -

Hardly ever mentioned are the bombings of Tokyo which took the lives of over 83,000 during the fire bombings in March of 1945. This is more killed then were killed at Nagasaki. (American involvement in WWII)

The Battle of Okinawa is distinguished among battles, yet often unrecognized when referring to the great battles of the Second World War. Over 250,000 people lost their lives. Approximately 150,000 Okinawans, about a third of the population, perished.(1) At the battle's end, somewhere between a third and half of all surviving civilians were wounded.(2) No battle during the Second World War, except Stalingrad, had as massive a loss of civilian life. The stakes were high. The Japanese, determined to fight to the last man, almost achieved their objective, but in defeat 100,000 Japanese combatants died rather than surrender.(3) In the end, fewer than 10,000 of General Mitsuri Ushijimas's Thirty-Second Army were taken prisoner.(4) (Military History Online)

Justified? Well:

From the invasion of China in 1937 to the end of World War II, the Japanese military regime murdered near 3,000,000 to over 10,000,000 people, most probably almost 6,000,000 Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos, and Indochinese, among others, including Western prisoners of war. This democide was due to a morally bankrupt political and military strategy, military expediency and custom, and national culture (such as the view that those enemy soldiers who surrender while still able to resist were criminals). (Freedom,Democracy, Peace; Power, Democide, and War)

Other Options:

Casualties were expected to be extremely heavy. Admiral William Leahy estimated more than 250,00 killed or wounded on Kyushu alone. General Charles Willoughby, Chief of Intelligence for General Douglas MacArthur, estimated American casualties from the entire operation would be one million men by the fall of 1946. This was considered, by many, to be a very conservative estimate. (The End of WWII by Haile H. Jaekel )

Keep in mind that the Japanese were determined to fight to the last man - person more accurately. Civilians, men, women, and children were all preparing and training to repel the invaders.

Harry Truman said in defense of, WHY I DROPPED THE ATOMIC BOMB. "It was a question of saving hundreds of thousands of American lives. You don't feel normal when you have to plan hundreds of thousands of deaths of American boys who are alive and joking and having fun while your doing your planning. You break your heart and your head trying to figure out a way to save one life. I made the only decision I knew how to make. I did what I thought was right. I still think that". (The End of WWIIby Haile H. Jaekel )

Another option would have been accepting a conditional surrender from the Japanese. The allies had early on decided that a conditional surrender was unacceptable for many reasons. Throughout history conditional surrenders are rarely successful in the long term - take the recent Gulf War and Saddam's 12 years of failing to live up to his agreement. With the millions killed by the Japanese and German bankrupt societies over the course of less then 15 years these governments could not be allowed to remain in power.

Result -

Short and long term results were very impressive.

In the short term Millions of Japanese were saved, more then a million American and Allied servicemen were saved, and millions of innocent civilians were saved from the Japanese death camps (something China still hasn't forgiven the Japanese for - see this story about Japanese/Chinese soccer match this month.)

Long term, prior to 1945 humans had managed to build up quite a track record of death! We had an ever increasing death toll in war that had built up year after year to a historic high of approximately 10 million people per year ! Let me repeat that - estimates are that nearly 60 million people died in World War Two with nearly half of these being civilian! (Western/World Civ. Surveys; Modern Irish History;Anglo-Irish relations; Modern Europe)

Just one more time for the record - NEARLY 60 MILLION PEOPLE DIED IN WWII, THAT IS NEARLY 10 MILLION PER YEAR!

Following the end of WWII the annual world death toll dropped dramatically, averaging about 1 million per year - in ALL wars, civil, ethnic cleansing, etc. One of the major reason for this drop and stagnation were atomic weapons and the policies that were implemented by the nations that controlled these weapons. (Death Toll from Disasters, War & Accidents)

So the next time someone cries out that the US is the only country to ever use atomic weapons - proudly tell them they are right and they should thank God we did. FYI the population in 1935 was about 2.1 billion @ 10 Million per year for the past 65 years is 650 million (650,000,000) people -- just under a third of the entire population of the world in 1935! There are just about 6 billion people alive today! In my mind these lives were well worth the cost of the cold war, wouldn't your favorite liberal agree?

DKK

Friday, August 05, 2005

Gone but not out - Yet!

Wow, what a very bad couple of months! (More on that in later posts)

For those who don't know I am disabled with a chronic illness similar to Lupus and MS.

One of the worst parts is seeing my mental capabilities slip a bit each day. Simple spelling abilities vanish along with the ability to remember words and definitions. The last two months I worked (Spring/Summer 2002) I was often unable to finish sentences, thoughts, and concepts when I was meeting with clients.

Each day over the past two months I attempted to restart writing but each day, just like today, I was either too exhausted or it was too difficult to form a coherent thought. (For example, how many ways can you spell "hoping" - and have none of them look correct?)

I haven't even been able to comment on other blog's posts.

This simple post has taken me 46 minutes to type so far - that is about 20 seconds per word!

During this time I kept updated by reading the blogs in my blogroll and I wanted to thank them for being there and helping news junkies like me get through some very hard times, though most of them will never know it they were there when I needed them!

I also wanted to compliment the new Tucker Carlson show on MSNBC - I am really shocked that show hasn't been noticed by more bloggers because it is set up like my favorite blogs! It covers many subjects in brief but thorough reporting and gives opinion - the only improvement would be if there were some way for comments to be included.

Over the next few days I hope to be able to put together some thoughts on events that happened during my missing months - including here in my life and thoughts on one year of blogging.

Oh, and I know it's a little late, but I too am switching this from a blog to an online magazine.

Until then thank you to the blogs, Fox News, Tucker Carlson's Situation, and especially to all who stopped in and asked about me!
DKK