Truth hatched

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Last updated on May 20th, 2017 at 07:08 am

Behold, the Truth-to-Power Hatchback:

image

Read further chapters of this fascinating Ford Chomsky – spotted by Dave G. in the mean streets of Woollahra – here, here, here and here.

Posted by Tim B. on 04/28/2008 at 01:15 PM
    1. Ya know, I’m thinking he’s just angry because he’s driving a POS Ford.

      God knows I would be.

      Posted by joe bagadonuts on 2008 04 28 at 01:36 PM • permalink

 

    1. I know it’s only a Ford, but doesn’t it have rights not to be abused this way?!

      Posted by Ash_ on 2008 04 28 at 01:48 PM • permalink

 

    1. Bloke and Sheila driving behind this moron on the highway

      Sheila: Look at that car! It’s got writing all over it. What’s it say?

      Bloke: Huh? Oh, just some leftard, I’ll venture. I can’t make out the words from here. Listen, you’re suppose to be helping me look for a gas station or a rest stop; I’m really beginning to feel that third cup of coffee.

      Sheila (reading out loud): “The U.S. makes more…capons?” Is that what that says? The U.S. makes more capons than any other country in the world?

      Bloke: I believe it’s “Weapons”, luv, not “capons”. C’mon, c’mon! Where’s a gas station? Y’know, sometimes I feel like my main purpose in life is to serve as a middle man between coffee producers and the urinal.

      Sheila: Well, you shouldn’t drink so much. Now, what’s that other line say…”It is the only country…to use atomic…boobs?” Is that what it says?

      Bloke (head swings from left to right): What? What about boobs? Where?

      Sheila: Watch out! The guy’s hitting his brakes!!

      A few moments later, a police car pulls over onto the shoulder of the highway to investigate a burning Ford Escort, and a barely scratched Chevrolet Suburban. A large man is pissing on the prostrate form of a rather wimpy-looking, and slightly singed, academic type.

      Officer: What’s all this?

      Bloke: Fella’s car caught fire when we collided, officer; I pulled him out and…er…put him out, as it were.

      Sheila: Saved his life, is more like it, officer. But that’s my Charlie, for yer: always using his head. After a manner of speakin’, I mean…

      Officer (takes fire extinguisher out of his vehicle and puts out the car fire; walks around the car, reading the comments; helps Escort driver to his feet; turns to big bloke): Well, now. How fast was this guy going when he backed into you?

      Posted by paco on 2008 04 28 at 01:50 PM • permalink

 

    1. Unlike Paco, I regret to have to say that words fail me.

      All I can say is “fuck you and the Ford you rode in on”.

      What a scumbucket, dickwad, dorkmeister, poofter pervert.

      Posted by jlc on 2008 04 28 at 01:56 PM • permalink

 

    1. A Ford Laser-guided-bomb, with a Carbon-Monoxide leak, by the looks …

      Posted by egg_ on 2008 04 28 at 01:58 PM • permalink

 

    1. That rear window..Such a tempting target

      Posted by El Cid on 2008 04 28 at 02:07 PM • permalink

 

    1. Because, as we all know, arms are bad and evil, and the way to make world peace is to not sell them to the good people of the world.

      Then peace would descend on the entire world, as the aggressor overruns the disarmed.

      (Oddly, the nation selling arms to Zimbabwe to keep it people down is not the horrible United States Warmonger, but the People’s Republic of China.

      And why is the US highest on the list in dollars? Because we sell our peaceful allies very expensive weapons, like non-aggressive Patriot missiles. While China and Russia sell boatloads of RPGs and Kalashnikov rifles and heavy machineguns.

      Massed data here at SIPRI.

      Look, the USA sold that inveterate imperialist aggressor Australia 400 AMRAAM missiles nd a huge pile of other weapons. Doubtless postponing world peace for decades and promoting endless terrorism at the hands of the Roo Menace, right?)

      Posted by Sigivald on 2008 04 28 at 02:15 PM • permalink

 

    1. To reiterate, almost all the US arms exports in dollars are to Western Democracies (and South Korea, which while a Democracy is not Western as such); the next big purchasers are friendly Arab states like the UAE.

      The person with the Ford is an idiot on multiple levels.

      Posted by Sigivald on 2008 04 28 at 02:17 PM • permalink

 

    1. Do we haveta read everything some brain-dead lefty scrawls on his rusted-out shit-box?

      Posted by mojo on 2008 04 28 at 02:31 PM • permalink

 

    1. Add #3 to the “Best of Paco” collection.
      I was merely going to say something about stupidity on wheels.

      Posted by Latino on 2008 04 28 at 02:41 PM • permalink

 

    1. Looks like a car I see some mornings commuting to the office.

      Except this one is a bit more legible.

      And a bit less… um… emphatic.

      Posted by steveH on 2008 04 28 at 02:47 PM • permalink

 

    1. “Then, on Saturday morning, Bruce woke up and realized he’d spent the entire previous booze-fueled evening writing drivel on his car with a Sharpie.”

      Posted by RebeccaH on 2008 04 28 at 02:56 PM • permalink

 

    1. That looks to be the poor man version of this.

      Including, of course, that it’s far less entertaining, and far more stupid.

      Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2008 04 28 at 03:18 PM • permalink

 

    1. Pretty good penmanship though.

      Posted by wronwright on 2008 04 28 at 03:18 PM • permalink

 

    1. What – no bumper stickers?

      Where’s the “Arms are for hugging” or the symbol-laden “Co-exist” or even the pointless “Free Tibet”?

      Posted by Merlin on 2008 04 28 at 03:19 PM • permalink

 

    1. LMAO–“Ford Chomsky”!

      That’s why I read this site.

      Posted by JDBagain on 2008 04 28 at 04:44 PM • permalink

 

    1. #7, #8 Sigivald

      And why is the US highest on the list in dollars? Because we sell our peaceful allies very expensive weapons, like non-aggressive Patriot missiles. While China and Russia sell boatloads of RPGs and Kalashnikov rifles and heavy machineguns.

      Apparently, Russia and China selling boatloads of arms to anyone with the cash is perfectly OK, since they’re supporting La Revolución!

      Posted by Spiny Norman on 2008 04 28 at 04:50 PM • permalink

 

    1. My car does not have a bumper sticker on it.  My political views are my business.  And of course, what I really hate about bumper stickers is that they are really about them.  It’s often a way to express the driver’s belief in their moral superiority – nobody can seriously believe it would compel someone to change their mind – perhaps even change their vote, surely.  Imagine the thought processes if that were possible:
      “ Ohh, look at that neat bumper sticker! I think I will go and vote for Obama now, when all along I had planned to vote for that POW McCain.”

      Posted by entropy on 2008 04 28 at 05:19 PM • permalink

 

    1. Ford Chomsky

      Looks more like a Ford Leunig to me…what’s the difference?

      Posted by DaneF on 2008 04 28 at 05:32 PM • permalink

 

    1. Looks like a Hatchet job to me.

      Posted by brian_smaller on 2008 04 28 at 05:39 PM • permalink

 

    1. What profound and incisive insights into the modern world.  And yes so modern.  Verily, verily I say unto you, “The writing on the car is a veritable 21st century version of this.

      “Well done, thy good and faithful servant!”

      Posted by Wand on 2008 04 28 at 05:41 PM • permalink

 

    1. Bryla’s Taxi.

      Posted by Pogria on 2008 04 28 at 06:04 PM • permalink

 

    1. Somebody needs more drugs.

      After trying to read all that, I think it’s me.

      Posted by Nilknarf Arbed on 2008 04 28 at 06:08 PM • permalink

 

    1. And, of course, the genius gets the source wrong for the “Mandella” passage.  I think Mandella used it but he did not write it.  He did, however, credit the original writer which is something few others seem capable of.

      Posted by Director on 2008 04 28 at 06:23 PM • permalink

 

    1. Well, reading those insightful pennings had a positive impact on me!

      I’m positive the POS that did it, is nothing but flotsam in the gene pool!

      Posted by rinardman on 2008 04 28 at 06:27 PM • permalink

 

    1. #3
      Paco, very good. Bloke and Sheila.One or two minor corrections, we don’t have “gas” stations. Bloke would be looking for a “servo”.
      Oh, and he wouldn’t say a “rest stop”, he’d say a “dunny” or a toilet. (We have toilets here and we aren’t afraid to call them that! We even GO to the toilet here!)Chevrolet Suburban? That’s a bloody truck, man! Do we have them in Aus?

      You really need to do a field trip to improve your ‘straylian idiom.

      Though if you spoke with the owner of the little Laser, you’d probably learn more about the ‘straylian idiot.

      Posted by kae on 2008 04 28 at 06:30 PM • permalink

 

    1. #26 Hi Kae,

      yes we do have Suburbans in Oz. They’re tagged Holden Suburbans.

      Mighty big cars!!! One of the mothers at school has one.

      Posted by Pogria on 2008 04 28 at 06:41 PM • permalink

 

    1. Definition of Blair purgatory: being made to drive one of these. Only passenger: Tim Flannery.

      Posted by C.L. on 2008 04 28 at 06:44 PM • permalink

 

    1. #27 Hi Pogs!
      Oh, I couldn’t recall ever seeing one. It’s a big bugger, isn’t it!

      Posted by kae on 2008 04 28 at 06:46 PM • permalink

 

    1. #15, Merlin, the picture merely proves that the driver is unemployed and can’t afford bumper stickers.

      Posted by RebeccaH on 2008 04 28 at 07:17 PM • permalink

 

    1. How come he spared the bonnet (hood)?

      Posted by Bonmot on 2008 04 28 at 07:18 PM • permalink

 

    1. The sight of that car disgusts me.  I am incandescent with rage!  How dare they put Holden wheel trims on a Ford POS!!  Otherwise, the philosophy only improves it.  Facts don’t seem to play a large part in it, though.

      Posted by SezaGeoff on 2008 04 28 at 07:19 PM • permalink

 

    1. This is the most convincing argement against expanding public transport Ive ever seen. Can you imagine being stuck in a bus with this self rightous squeezer for a couple of hours?
      The smug cloud it produces must be huge.

      Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2008 04 28 at 07:26 PM • permalink

 

    1. #3, #26 Big Gotcha there, Pacou!!!  Kae’s dead right, sport, ya needa field trip, Cate, Joan, Phil and Bazza told me at the bunfight last week how much they’d missed ya.
      Wait till it gets a bit bloody warmer, but!!BTW what’s this Chevy Suburban -some sorta house on wheels, or Toorak tractor?

      Posted by Rod C on 2008 04 28 at 07:30 PM • permalink

 

    1. #34: Listen, mates, I was typin’ on the wing, as it were, with a tight deadline. The plot’s the thing.

      Posted by paco on 2008 04 28 at 07:32 PM • permalink

 

    1. And, um, who was responsible for sending that shipload of weapons to Zimbabwe, of all places, recently?
      Not to mention the weaponry that’s killed the 300,000, mostly civilian, Africans in Sudan!

      Posted by Brian on 2008 04 28 at 07:42 PM • permalink

 

    1. A Margomobile?

      Posted by Nic on 2008 04 28 at 07:43 PM • permalink

 

    1. And if the bad ol’ USA hadn’t won all the major wars of the 1900s, he’d be driving the Ford Tojo, or the Chrysler Bushido, or maybe even peddling the Moskva Leonid..

      Posted by Barrie on 2008 04 28 at 07:44 PM • permalink

 

    1. #29 Kae,

      the beauty of the Suburban is that it makes no apologies or excuses for being a monster car.

      It is NOT a four wheel drive. It’s just a bloody big car!

      I love ‘em.

      Posted by Pogria on 2008 04 28 at 07:45 PM • permalink

 

    1. #34: Dude, you’re kiddin’ me, right? This is a Chevy Suburban. Me and the missus drive one (a 1987). Mrs. Paco was sideswiped by a Mustang a few years ago. Result? A few minor scratches on the Suburban; last I heard, the Mustang had been sold for parts.

      Posted by paco on 2008 04 28 at 07:46 PM • permalink

 

    1. #40: Well, I’m not sure that link works too well. Try this one on for size.

      Posted by paco on 2008 04 28 at 07:50 PM • permalink

 

    1. #37
      Impossible.
      Not nearly plain enough.

      Posted by kae on 2008 04 28 at 07:54 PM • permalink

 

    1. I’d wager the passenger seats never been used.

      Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2008 04 28 at 08:01 PM • permalink

 

    1. Once you own a Suburban, you just can’t understand what the heck people without one do to get by. Seriously. I plan to leave mine to my daughter in my will. I wont give it up before then. Besides, there is nothing more satisfying that parellel parking it in a tight spot while other cars wait for that spot assuming you’ll never be able to make it.

      My father, rest his soul, asked to be transported to the cemetary in one. It was his one request for his funeral arrangements.

      House on wheels, indeed. Though it is that too, if that is what you need. That’s why I love it.

      Posted by moptop on 2008 04 28 at 08:26 PM • permalink

 

    1. Whose Holden Ford now?

      Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 04 28 at 08:47 PM • permalink

 

    1. Someone needs to go over it with a marking pen, Wikipedia style, and write [citation needed].

      Posted by monaro on 2008 04 28 at 09:09 PM • permalink

 

    1. re; image 3, I believe they prefer to be called ‘Native Americans.’

      Posted by monaro on 2008 04 28 at 09:19 PM • permalink

 

    1. Hey!  What a great idea.  The word on the street.

      And the best part is that no-one with a “suburban” is going to do it.

      As for “facts”, maybe someone here wants to tell me who else has used nuclear weapons on a civilian population?

      Posted by Bryla on 2008 04 28 at 09:21 PM • permalink

 

    1. PA: “Would the owner of a white Ford Laser YQT 223 please return to your vehicle, you have left your moral vanity on display.”

      Posted by fidens on 2008 04 28 at 09:30 PM • permalink

 

    1. even without the writing, the coat-hanger aerial tells you everything you need to know

      Posted by KK on 2008 04 28 at 09:34 PM • permalink

 

    1. #48 Chernobyl.

      Posted by stackja1945 on 2008 04 28 at 09:45 PM • permalink

 

    1. “The mean streets of Woollahra”????

      Having lived there, amongst the grey-rinsed luvvies and the stock broking yuppies and the ladies that do vodka at lunch in very expensive restaurants (prior to a shopping marathon in Double Bay), I can only assume that this is an art installation, paid for by the taxpayer of course.

      There is probably a small plaque on a lamp post nearby that reads:

      Jeremy Thistlewaite: 1957 –

      Jeremy has envisaged an avant-garde expression of holistic neo-colonialisiam as an adaption of imperliastic cubism in a planar form.  The analogue of reactionary thought in a stable space is set as a counterpoint to amorphism in secular dialogue.  Envisaging rectilinear norms in non-intrusiveness encapsulates the organic whole.

      Purchased by Woollahra Council for $17 million.

      Posted by mr creosote on 2008 04 28 at 09:59 PM • permalink

 

    1. Oh, I forgot to add:

      “Medium – pen and ink on bucket of shite”.

      Posted by mr creosote on 2008 04 28 at 10:02 PM • permalink

 

    1. At least since the Spanish-American war, at the beginning of the C20th, the US has been killing … …in pursuit of its national interests.

      Give or take the odd Mongol or Turkish invasion, the Ruskies have been doing that for a thousand years, the Arab states for one-and-a-half thousand years, the Iranians for two-and-a-half thousand years and the Chinese for ‘five thousand years.’

      This guy needs to cut the Sepos some slack.  I know which tyrannical empire I’d rather live under.

      At least since the Spanish-American war…

      He doesn’t sound to sure about his history.

      I’d like to be the mechanic who overcharges him on his rego check and then fails him.  Or we could just report this dumped car to the council and they’ll tow it away.

      Posted by monaro on 2008 04 28 at 10:11 PM • permalink

 

    1. Peace of shit car c/- Adam Sandler

      Very NSFW

      Posted by egg_ on 2008 04 28 at 10:20 PM • permalink

 

    1. Wow she moves with the elites – Indian philosphers, Mandela ho hum. I wonder how many more lives would have been lost if the aggressive Japanese hadn’t been nuked. The US responded to invitations in WWII, helped keep the Korean south free from the commies and would have served a better purpose in Vietnam if it wasn’t for idiots like her in the thousands supported by the liberal press.

      I hope she’s freezing her arse off.

      Posted by mehaul on 2008 04 28 at 10:51 PM • permalink

 

    1. #48 Bryla

      Perhaps if you weren’t so far in rectal defilade, you would have read a bit about WWII.  Casualty estimates for the necessary invasion of the Japanese Islands was 1 million + US soldiers and 12 -20 million or so Japanese.  For the death of 200,000 +/- people in 2 cities, this was averted.  People like you can’t see the forest trees, and would presumably condone massive death counts to not use scary weapons.  Those of us born because our fathers didn’t die will gladly come kick your lard ass around until you get a grip on reality.

      Posted by scatcat on 2008 04 28 at 11:30 PM • permalink

 

    1. Note how it has not (well, not yet) been vandalised.  I wonder how long a car daubed with right-wing mutterings would last…
      Shows how lucky the leftoids are.  We just take the piss, we don’t silence them.

      Posted by Sholto on 2008 04 28 at 11:55 PM • permalink

 

    1. I would have thought there was enough paper produced daily for him to write on.

      What a nutcase.

      Posted by The Best Infidel on 2008 04 28 at 11:56 PM • permalink

 

    1. And the best part is that no-one with a “suburban” is going to do it.

      That’s because most people—Suburban owners or not—don’t display their cognitive dissonance in such a public and embarrassing fashion.

      And it should go without saying that you are the exception, Bryla.

      But then, there’s your own cognitive dissonance to consider, so it should be said.

      Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2008 04 28 at 11:59 PM • permalink

 

    1. #48
      Hydrocarbons consumed by your Big Oil polar-bear-drowning taxi in a year?#57
      Not to forget the threat to the Japs from the Ruskis to the North and the sum of all cities fire bombed grossly outweighed the nukes and it still took the Jap War Cabinet 3 days to meet afterwards; the Jerries were thought to have capitulated sooner under similar circumstances.
      Bryla forgets who the aggressor was and what they brought onto their own people.

      Posted by egg_ on 2008 04 29 at 12:00 AM • permalink

 

    1. And there’s no denyin, they worked a treat..

      Posted by Pickles on 2008 04 29 at 12:05 AM • permalink

 

    1. Does anyone else note the irony of scrawling anti-capitalist soundbites all over a car made by a company started by a man who pioneered mass production and had zero tolerance for unions?

      Posted by hayesy on 2008 04 29 at 12:16 AM • permalink

 

    1. #63
      Hayesy, yes. I didn’t want to be picky.

      Posted by kae on 2008 04 29 at 12:19 AM • permalink

 

    1. Bryla forgets who the aggressor was and what they brought onto their own people.

      egg, I’d bet on “selective memory”, myself.

      Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2008 04 29 at 12:28 AM • permalink

 

    1. Leafy.

      Posted by Tony.T.Teacher on 2008 04 29 at 01:46 AM • permalink

 

    1. Bumper sticker/T-shirt combo around in 1995
      “No more Hiroshimas?…EASY…no more Pearl Harbours!!And for the imbecile Bryla -Pearl Harbour is a naval base in Hawaii, United States of America, attacked without warning in December 1941 by naval forces of the Japanese Empire, such action being in contravention of international law and custom as recognised at the time. This lead, immediately, to the Pacific War segment of World War II*, which had been started 2 years earlier when Germany invaded Poland
      * Not a rock bandContrary to what you may believe, international conflict is not an invention of BushhitlerSSKKKcheneyhoWARd, but is actually (and unfortunately, for those of us who have experienced it) a very common state of the wider human condition.
      Have a nice day!!

      Posted by Rod C on 2008 04 29 at 04:01 AM • permalink

 

    1. First, atomic weapons are not nuclear weapons. America has not used nuclear weapons against anyone. Let’s not let another lie start propagating. Yes, they’re both big and nasty and deadly, but then so are daisycutters, which are a “conventional” bomb.

      Second, the atomic bombings (not nuclear) were a long time ago in extraordinary circumstances.  Whether they were right or wrong is irrelevant today. It has no bearing on the question “Who threatens world peace”.

      Third, if America withdrew all its forces from the trouble-spots of the world, such as south Korea, and then proceeded to disband its military, there would be quite a lot less “world peace” than there is now.

      Posted by daddy dave on 2008 04 29 at 07:06 AM • permalink

 

    1. Bryla you’re redefining stupidity. It’s one thing you do really well. Take a bow.

      Posted by mehaul on 2008 04 29 at 07:13 AM • permalink

 

    1. Hey, I have put deep political thoughts on my Suburban. I lived in Palm Beach County, Florida, you may have heard of it. I had a bumper sticker “Honk if you voted for Gore, It’s the big button in the middle of the steering wheel.”

      Posted by moptop on 2008 04 29 at 08:34 AM • permalink

 

    1. A man’s mind travels not far who displays his wit on the back of his car.

      Posted by surfmaster on 2008 04 29 at 08:46 AM • permalink

 

    1. There’s money to be made with an Enola Gay stencil, it seems to me.

      Posted by rhhardin on 2008 04 29 at 09:29 AM • permalink

 

    1. the beauty of the Suburban is that it makes no apologies or excuses for being a monster car.

      It is NOT a four wheel drive. It’s just a bloody big car!

      Mine is.  They are actually some of the best rated off road vehicles.  I have the off road package and when the unpaved road that leads to my house is all muddy or covered in a foot or so of snow, my Suburban gets me where I need to go.  It also carries my 4 large dogs and pulls a large horse trailer.

      Posted by AnnNY on 2008 04 29 at 09:45 AM • permalink

 

    1. According to a recent report from Human Rights First, China is Sudan’s largest supplier of small arms—the weapons the Sudanese military and its Janjaweed militia allies use to slaughter residents of Darfur’s villages.

      China provided 90 percent of Sudan’s small arms in 2004 and 94 percent in 2005.

      Sudan’s air force includes only thirteen US made aircraft (x3 Hercules transports and x10 Bell 212 transport helicopters) while their combat aircraft is exclusively Chinese and Russian:

      x12 MiG-29 fighters
      x22 Chengdu f-7 fighters
      x10 Shenyang F-5 fighters
      x12+ Mi-24 helicopter gunships
      x15+ Nanchang A-5 ground attack aircraftt
      x3 MiG-23 fighters

      Posted by monaro on 2008 04 29 at 11:00 AM • permalink

 

    1. It must speak the truth – those exclamation marks go all the way up to eleven.

      Posted by exit ramp on 2008 04 29 at 11:20 AM • permalink


  • Zimbabwe:

    x2+ MiG-29 fighters
    x20+ Chengdu F-7 fighters
    x6 Mi-24 assault helicopters
    x12 Chengdu JF-17 fighters ordered

    Burma:

    x40 Chengdu F-7 fighters
    x12+ MiG-29 fighters
    x16 Shenyang J-6 fighter-ground attack aircraft
    x48 Nanchang A-5 fighter-ground attack aircraft

    And North Korea…

    Posted by monaro on 2008 04 29 at 11:27 AM • permalink

 

  • #48 Bryla:

    Perhaps, instead of asking a pointless rhetorical question about the US dropping an atomic bomb on a civilian population (which contained military targets, btw), in order to stop a war we didn’t start, maybe you are to start asking yourself how long it will be before one of your beloved nutball dictators sets off a nuclear bomb in a civilian area in order to start a war.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2008 04 29 at 01:19 PM • permalink

 

  • Definition of Blair purgatory: being made to drive one of [SmartCar].

    Saw one the other day on my way to Salinas airport to go flying.

    It was red and black, and parked on the shoulder by the northbound lane. The driver being addressed by a CHP (California Highway Patrol) officer.

    Don’t know if he was dealing with a speeder, or giving the driver a safety lecture for being out in traffic with real motor vehicles.

    Posted by steveH on 2008 04 29 at 03:19 PM • permalink

 

  • Bryla;

    As for “facts”, maybe someone here wants to tell me who else has used nuclear weapons on a civilian population?

    I suppose you had something resembling a point to make?

    Let me help a bit:

    1) Imperial Japan didn’t separate military facilities from civilian populations.

    2) War material production was distributed throughout civilian areas, much of it by using home workshops.

    3) Hiroshima, which it had not previously been attacked, happened to be the 2nd Army headquarters, a communications center, a storage point, and an assembly area for troops. It’s harbor was a major shipping point for outbound troops and logistics.

    4) Nagasaki was one of the largest sea ports in southern Japan and included factories making ordnance, military equipment, and other war materials. Nagasaki was also a major shipbuilding center for the IJN.

    5) The invasion of the home islands, judging from the results of the Okinawa operations, were projected to result in upwards of a million allied casualties, and more Japanese casualties were expected.

    6) Meanwhile, civilian deaths in parts of asia still occupied by Japanese forces were running roughly 20,000 per day. This had been ongoing, to a greater or lesser degree, since at least 1937.

    Yet you seem to have a problem with ending the war as quickly as possible.

    Posted by steveH on 2008 04 29 at 03:37 PM • permalink

 

  • #68 DD;

    Actually, yes, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs were nuclear weapons. Fission type, rather than fusion (H-bombs), but most definitely nuclear.

    Posted by steveH on 2008 04 29 at 03:43 PM • permalink

 

  • steveH:
    Would this be a useful set of definitions:
    atomic: fission
    nuclear: fission or fusion
    thermonuclear: fusion?

    Posted by Patrick Chester on 2008 04 29 at 05:27 PM • permalink

 

  • #79 SteveH….VERY surprised if the imbecile Bryla understands “IJN”

    Posted by Rod C on 2008 04 29 at 06:47 PM • permalink

 

  • Maybe the leftards should ask Muslims this qustion: If you consider that to be a good and devout Muslim you believe in every word of the Koran.  Then to kill infidels is your God (Allah) given duty.  Come on you so-called moderate Muslims show your true colours.

    Posted by Howzat on 2008 04 29 at 07:00 PM • permalink

 

 

  • When the US dropped atomic bombs on Japan, the Japanese had been attempting to surrender for some time.

    The so-called sticking point was a desire by the Japanese to retain the Emporer’s immunity from prosecution as opposed to “unconditional” surrender.  Politics.

    McArthur extended immunity and continuity to the Emporer anyway.

    Cynics suggest the two different weapons were tested on cities relatively untouched until 1945 in order to accurately test the effects of those weapons.  Everyone acknowledges it was also done as a warning to the Soviets concerning thier ambitions in Asia.  More politics.

    I think the message on that hatchback is both pretty accurate, and a great use for old car panels.

    Posted by Bryla on 2008 04 29 at 07:17 PM • permalink

 

  • See “Downfall” by Richard Frank for a good account of the end of the Japanese war. The Japanese still clung to the idea of a negotiated surrender in which they would not be occupied, which was a non-starter. The Japanese plan was to make the invasion of Japan expensive enough to extract favorable terms.

    The Japanese had correctly anticipated the US invasion plan and had heavily fortified the beaches. About 100,000 Chinese per month were dying under Japanese occupation.

    Even after the Japanese agreed to surrender there was an attempted coup against the person of the Emperor by elements of the Japanese armed forces in order to continue the war.

    “The centerpiece of the book is an exacting and dispassionate examination both of the American decision to use the atomic bomb and of whether Japan would have surrendered absent the bomb. Frank marshals an impressive and complex array of evidence to support his contention that surrender by Japan was by no means imminent in August 1945, and that alternatives to the bomb, such as incendiary bombing, carried no certainty of causing less suffering and fewer deaths than the atomic bomb. “

    Posted by Ernst Blofeld on 2008 04 29 at 07:40 PM • permalink

 

  • Die, italics, die die die!

    Ahem.

    The quotation often attributed to Nelson Mandela is actually by Marianne Williamson, in her book “A Return to Love”.  See this link for the citation, as well as links to the text of Mr Mandela’s actual inauguration speech.  (He did not quote Ms Williamson.)

    This has been a pedantic moment from Mary in LA.  Thank you.

    Posted by Mary in LA on 2008 04 29 at 08:08 PM • permalink


 

    1. Die, italics, die die die!

      Well, that sure didn’t work…

      Posted by Mary in LA on 2008 04 29 at 08:10 PM • permalink

 

    1. Oh, wait!  Maybe it did work, after all.

      Posted by Mary in LA on 2008 04 29 at 08:11 PM • permalink

 

    1. When the US dropped atomic bombs on Japan, the Japanese had been attempting to surrender for some time.

      That’s pure history revision, flavored with selective quoting, Bryla.  Not to mention apologizing for Imperial Japan racism and brutality.

      But then, should we expect anything different from someone who hates America, and all things good that comes it?

      Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2008 04 29 at 10:40 PM • permalink

 

    1. Bryla
      When you lose a war, its fairly traditional not to be able to set the terms of your own surrender.
      Both Germany and Japan were under no illusions the allies (Including the USSR in Germanys case) were all out for unconditional surrender.
      One of the biggest criticisms of the Donitz government (Hitlers successor) was that he spent quite a while trying to negotiate a surrender while troops on all sides bled and died.
      Germany still has missing territory from WW2 as does Japan. Again this is fairly normal.
      Its only a fairly modern concept to defeat a nation, then leave its borders largely intact.

      Posted by thefrollickingmole on 2008 04 30 at 02:47 AM • permalink

 

    1. Bolta seems to be getting closer to giving Barry Bones the flick.

      Maybe Andrea could consider telling Bryla to find another blog where he could continue developing friendships. He could also share his unique perspective on how to feel bad about oneself and share it with others.

      He’ll miss us. Never before and maybe never again have so many people tried to enrich a more less deserving twit.

      Posted by mehaul on 2008 04 30 at 07:54 AM • permalink

 

    1. As a lad, I used to own a white Ford Laser of the same vintage.  Vandalizing bastard!

      Posted by ekb87 on 2008 04 30 at 10:37 AM • permalink

 

    1. #81 PC…um…sorry, Patrick;

      Would this be a useful set of definitions:
      atomic: fission
      nuclear: fission or fusion
      thermonuclear: fusion

      atomic; since fission and fusion both involve process inside the atom, probably too restrictive. atomic would address both fusion of nuclei and fission of nuclei.

      nuclear; yep.

      Hey, it’s been about 40 years since I had The Biological Effects of Nuclear Processes in school. I’m lucky I remember any of it.

      thermonuclear; yep.

      Posted by steveH on 2008 04 30 at 05:26 PM • permalink

 

    1. When the US dropped atomic bombs on Japan, the Japanese had been attempting to surrender for some time.

      Sort of, kinda, not really.

      There were feelers out to other parties, such as the Soviet Union, to broker a deal with the Allies, and some attempts to set conditions (which wasn’t going to happen) for a halt to hostilities.

      But they weren’t being tendered by parties inside the Japanese government who actually had any say in the matter.

      The military factions, particularly the Army, weren’t about to give up, and at least one faction in the Army was planning to take and hold the Emperor hostage, which if you know anything at all about their beliefs, says a lot.

      The Emperor stepped in instead and stopped everything.
      After both bombs had been dropped.

      Posted by steveH on 2008 04 30 at 05:47 PM • permalink

 

    1. The Sudanese Airforce are also painting their Antonov transport aircraft in UN colours, I saw a photo in a military aviation magazine some months ago but funnily enough no big outraged stories in the press or on TV.

      Posted by phillip on 2008 05 02 at 12:49 PM • permalink

 

  1. You know what the lefties would say if we didnt use the atomic bomb dont you?.

    The US had it within its power to end the war quickly with a single nuclear bomb but didnt because they wanted the war to last longer so big business could make more war profits. And the military industrial complex could extend its reach and power within the country, even at the expense of a million US casualties and tens of millions of japanese.

    taken from the book

    ‘Why not the Bomb’, written by professor Noam chomsky, 1965

    Posted by phillip on 2008 05 02 at 01:05 PM • permalink