Ruminations 05/02/08
* The Rev. Jeremiah Wright cited Hiroshima and Nagasaki as examples of how evil America is.
If Wright knows how to Wiki, he might have looked up a few figures.
Estimated casualties of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima:
Immediate casualties, around 70,000 killed. Post-attack figures rise to around 90-100,000. Delayed deaths from radiation effects may have risen to 200,000 by 1950.
Nagaskai:
Immediate casualties, 40-75,000. By 1945 they may have risen as high as 80,000.
Number of Chinese civilians killed by Japanese forces in the Rape of Nanking: est. 200,000 over six weeks. Iris Chang gives the figure of 300,000 and some US government estimates for Nanking and the surrounding area in the battle and the six-week looting are as high as 500,000.
Has anyone noticed that figure exceeds the combined casualties for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that the Japanese Army did it up close and personal by shooting, bludgeoning, bayoneting, burying alive and raping to death?
Gosh, it must have been America's fault.
* About the foofraw about Miley Cyrus' Vanity Fair pics, I think Annie Leibowitz did a great job. Beautiful, tasteful and sensual at the same time.
Just three observations:
1) Though Miley's figure is mature, her face is that of a child, lacking any trace of experience or character. And don't bring up her age (15.) My great-grandfather, or even grandfather would have said she was husband-high. And I suspect he'd have added that we'd better get her one.
2) Once you realize that the guy in those pics is her father, they go from artistic to creepy in a split-second.
3) Everybody is talking about whether they damn pictures set a bad example for kids, when the character she plays on 'Hannah Montana' is vain, self-absorbed, cruel and obsessed with trivialities. Some example.
* And also from the indispensable Wikipedia.
Ronald Reagan, age at his inauguration: 69 (he turned 70 within a month.)
John McCain (assuming): 72.
Two years gets to be a big difference around that age - and Reagan didn't have the North Vietnamese working him over on a regular basis for 5 1/2 years either.
Maybe our best hope is that McCain chooses a decent running mate.
How about John Bolton?
If Wright knows how to Wiki, he might have looked up a few figures.
Estimated casualties of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima:
Immediate casualties, around 70,000 killed. Post-attack figures rise to around 90-100,000. Delayed deaths from radiation effects may have risen to 200,000 by 1950.
Nagaskai:
Immediate casualties, 40-75,000. By 1945 they may have risen as high as 80,000.
Number of Chinese civilians killed by Japanese forces in the Rape of Nanking: est. 200,000 over six weeks. Iris Chang gives the figure of 300,000 and some US government estimates for Nanking and the surrounding area in the battle and the six-week looting are as high as 500,000.
Has anyone noticed that figure exceeds the combined casualties for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that the Japanese Army did it up close and personal by shooting, bludgeoning, bayoneting, burying alive and raping to death?
Gosh, it must have been America's fault.
* About the foofraw about Miley Cyrus' Vanity Fair pics, I think Annie Leibowitz did a great job. Beautiful, tasteful and sensual at the same time.
Just three observations:
1) Though Miley's figure is mature, her face is that of a child, lacking any trace of experience or character. And don't bring up her age (15.) My great-grandfather, or even grandfather would have said she was husband-high. And I suspect he'd have added that we'd better get her one.
2) Once you realize that the guy in those pics is her father, they go from artistic to creepy in a split-second.
3) Everybody is talking about whether they damn pictures set a bad example for kids, when the character she plays on 'Hannah Montana' is vain, self-absorbed, cruel and obsessed with trivialities. Some example.
* And also from the indispensable Wikipedia.
Ronald Reagan, age at his inauguration: 69 (he turned 70 within a month.)
John McCain (assuming): 72.
Two years gets to be a big difference around that age - and Reagan didn't have the North Vietnamese working him over on a regular basis for 5 1/2 years either.
Maybe our best hope is that McCain chooses a decent running mate.
How about John Bolton?
posted by Steve @ 11:48 AM
3 Comments:
At 9:09 PM,
Joseph Sixpack said…
I like the idea of a politician who is tired. I wish that all politicians would just stay home and not get out of bed. 70 should be the minimum age, with 95 being preferred.
At 9:35 PM,
Steve said…
That's why I miss Fred Thompson. He was so remarkably unenthusiastic about his candidacy to the point that he was actually honest from time to time.
Remember his response to the mortgage "crisis"?
He said, "There's a good case for doing nothing."
And about religion, "Church going isn't my thing."
At 6:15 PM,
TheWayfarer said…
Amen on John Bolton for VeeP, but Bob Dole was younger and had fewer skeletons in his closet (to say nothing of "pigs in his parlor") and the mere Donk chant of "Dead man walking" knocked him out.
We need a President who looks good, gives inspiring speeches, proposes and passes an Amendment to the Constitution expanding Congress to a rep for every 10,000 constituents, but forbids the newbies from leaving their districts, and does absolutely nothing else but veto Congressional spending bills for 4-8 years.
What we're most likely to get is 4-8 years of that damned fingernails-on-blackboard-voiced shrike Bill was screwing around on, and her HateAmerica/Blame U.S. for everything a/k/a NPR agenda.
Atleast Fred Thompson could have done the acting part!
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