death penalty

[Rhiannon]

Just a quick point about the Hiroshima/Nagasaki thing: the reason two bombs were dropped was because the Japanese still refused to surrender after the first one.

That's what they teach schools in the US. I also learned the same thing, but thought to myself, wow....that was a big bomb, and to not surrender after that?......doesnt make sense. Besides, the Japanse were willing to surrender back in May, and even Eisenhower himself said that the dropping of the bomb wasnt necessary. Truman ignored everyone since he wanted to test the bomb out. Years later, the British wrote that it wasnt necessary to bomb Japan, because they were already willing to surrender, and were looking for acceptable terms, back in May of 1945. Already in September 1944, Japan was feeling the pressure of the Naval blockade that was preventing them from recieving supplies for war. Almost all of their industrial posts had been bombed, the Germans had surrendered in May of 1945, leaving the Allies free to focus on Japan, and they were agreeing to a surrender on one condition, which was to keep their emperor, since they believed him to be a god, and this was an important part of their culture (not like the US really gives a horse's ass about other people's culture). Anyways, the US basically told the Japanese "FU, we're taking your emperor cuz he's commited war crimes and misled the Japanese and yadda yadda". Again, to the Japanese, the figure of the emperor was very important, and something that the US govt didnt understand because they thought it was wrong, even though there were experts that advised Truman to let them keep their throne. Truman was a bonehead and listened to other people instead of the experts. This was in July. Note the Japanese were willing, just wanted one condition met.....but nooooo. The US wanted unconditional surrender to not appear soft to the public. The Japanese even tried to negotiate thru the USSR, who at the time was neutral, with seven messages throughout the month of July. They were looking to end the war. But not the US. Cant end the war till we test our Abombs. So, the US got Fat Man and Little Boy and bombed Japan in Aug 1945. Even Churchhill thought the idea of unconditional surrender was unnecessary. Funny thing is, after the war was over, Japan kept the emperor anyways.

Had the US (and the Allies) used honey instead of vinegar to coax the Japanese into an acceptable surrender for both sides, the war would have ended a lot sooner, and the lives of soldiers and civilians alike would have been spared. Not like the US cares anyways.

what would be great is if we could have a real vote, and just eliminate the electoral college. We dont need those momos.

I found this amusing in light of what Adosorken just said about 95% of the US being stupid; if I remember correctly, the reason the electoral college was established in the first place was because the founding fathers realized this would be inevitable.

The populance is ingnorant, the politicians are corrupt.

God bless America.

He knows we need it.

As if the electoral colleges were any better than the people just voting. How do you know they are voting according to what the people want, and not because they were paid off or promised a good position in the govt following the elections? Only the Goddess knows what goes on inside the heads of those idiots. And beside, if there had been no electoral college (and no Jeb Bush fucking up the votes in florida) then Al Gore would have been elected. Not exactly a top-notch candidate, but at least we wouldnt be scrambling all over the world like a bunch of idiotic cowboys.