Leftist extremist, Blame America First, Christians like Wright will only feel more emboldened with all the excuses that will erupt.
The election behind us, Trinity Church in Chicago welcomed Jeremiah Wright back to the pulpit. The church banned reporters from the service, but somehow the Prince of Darkness managed to get a video clip. Here’s the best part (from the automatically generated transcript, which hilariously captures Wright’s cadence):
“Today. Is December 7. The day that this government killed over 80000 Japanese civilians at Hiroshima in 1941. Two days before killing an additional 64000 Japanese civilians at Nagasaki by dropping nuclear bombs on innocent people.”
Whats the story here? That Obama spent twenty years in the pulpit in front of a man who is so ill-informed about history? Or that rather than point out that the bombs ended the war and GREATER bloodshed, called Japanese innocent on the day they attacked the United States.
I think this is pretty common from the minds of leftist radicals like this man. History is a Howard Zinn litany of “everything that happened was something evil America did”. December 7 only stands as a date. It cant possibly represent anything done to America, except if its a self inflicted conspiracy, Like September 11, 2001.
LOL, That is pretty lame of Jeremiah Wright. You’re right, this is an example of taking “Blame America First” to a ridiculous extreme and losing your bearings. I hope Olbermann puts him in Worst Persons.
Blame America First was a better way to say that. Changed the first sentence.
And what’s up with Bill O’Reilly in that clip? I’ve never seen him so calm, and absolutely refusing to tie Obama to Wright’s craziness. I need meds like that!
Terry,
Just wondering when we can expect to hear you criticize right-wing Christofacists like Pat Robertson, Rick Warren or the late Jerry Falwell?
Didn’t Falwell and Robertson blame America first for the 9/11 attacks?
Sean, I didn’t want to fall into that trap.. of sounding like we’re defending Wright as someone of “the left.” He’s a loon in his own right.
Vern,
I was a lion in the tall grass, waiting for it. LOL. Thanks Sean!
Vern,
Terry and others on the right want folks to believe that they somehow are the only one’s who can claim the flag and God. They try and portray the left, all on the left not just Rev. Wright, as being anti-American and anti-God.
I am not defending Rev. Wright just pointing out Terry’s hypocrisy.
Vern,
Also folks like Terry would have us believe that America is “totally innocent” of everything. They dispute that attacks on us and our interests are the result of any “blowback”.
Terry and those like him want us to believe that the only reason people would want to attack our country is because “they hate our freedom”.
Anyone with any integrity and honesty knows this is hogwash and propaganda.
Really Sean.
I posted this story to transpose against leftists who say that anyone on the right who claims the flag and God is “fascist”.
You can’t attempt to claim the flag and God without being accused of same.
People like Wright are sick and, unfortunately, they represent the views of a great number of liberal Christians.
“Churches like this need to be addressed and their tax exempt status given a roto rooter exam.”
See? I can do that too. But that’s a yawner. In reality, I think they’re so pathetic they can yap all they want. I dont care if they shut up.
People who want otherwise, those are the truly dangerous.
“Blame America first” is a red herring, Americans SHOULD be more critical of OUR COUNTRY,we live here, our government’s policies are funded with OUR tax dollars and it’s actions are done in OUR name. Bottom line, it is OUR responsibility to oversee and debate and protest ( if and when we feel it’s necessary ) OUR GOVERNMENT’S policies. You “love it or leave it” types do your country a huge disservice by promoting ignorance, Hiroshima and Nagasaki are a good case in point. How many Americans even know that it is America, that is the ONLY country that has ever dropped a nuclear bomb? How many Americans have seen pictures or read about the devastation and horror those bombs caused? It is NOT the debate or the differing opinions of our actions in Japan that harms this country, but rather the sheer ignorance most Americans have about them. That ignorance and lack of debate allows for future DEBACLES (like Iraq) to go forward unopposed because most people in this country are unaware of their right to hear and debate THEIR government’s policies.
Sean,
You and people like you have such enormous egos that you have to feel GUILTY for a problem you can’t solve.
“Something’s wrong here, and I can’t fix it.”
That guilt entitles you to say and do pretty much whatever you want, because whatever makes you feel guilty had to be done to you or in your name first. Everything else that follows is excused.
Note: the ego never attacks anything stronger than itself. It will always proclaim VICTIM status.
Just by portraying America as the progenitor of your problems, you give your weakness away.
“People like Wright are sick and, unfortunately, they represent the views of a great number of liberal Christians.”
What, exactly, is a “great number”? If you mean to suggest a majority of liberal Christians concur with Wright and his views, you are dead wrong about that. I have many, many Christian friends who consider themselves moderate to liberal and virtually all of them I’ve talked to have condemned Wright’s views. But then you wouldn’t know because you just tossed that off without any proof…they kind you’re always asking other people to provide.
whatttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please refrain from following those whose policy is “ready, fire, aim” when the rest of the story needs to be added. As you are upset with our use of the A-bomb in Japan let me share some facts for you.
“Invasion Not Found in the History Books
Deep in the recesses of the National Archives in Washington, D.C., hidden for nearly four decades lie thousands of pages of yellowing and dusty documents stamped “Top Secret”. These documents, now declassified, are the plans for Operation Downfall, the invasion of Japan during World War II. Only a few Americans in 1945 were aware of the elaborate plans that had been prepared for the Allied Invasion of the Japanese home islands. Even fewer today are aware of the defenses the Japanese had prepared to counter the invasion had it been launched. Operation Downfall was finalized during the spring and summer of 1945. It called for two massive military undertakings to be carried out in succession and aimed at the heart of the Japanese Empire.
In the first invasion – code named Operation Olympic – American combat troops would land on Japan by amphibious assault during the early morning hours of November 1, 1945 – 50 years ago. Fourteen combat divisions of soldiers and Marines would land on heavily fortified and defended Kyushu, the southernmost of the Japanese home islands, after an unprecedented naval and aerial bombardment.
The second invasion on March 1, 1946 – code named Operation Coronet – would send at least 22 divisions against 1 million Japanese defenders on the main island of Honshu and the Tokyo Plain. It’s goal: the unconditional surrender of Japan. With the exception of a part of the British Pacific Fleet, Operation Downfall was to be a strictly American operation. It called for using the entire Marine Corps, the entire Pacific Navy, elements of the 7th Army Air Force, the 8 Air Force (recently redeployed from Europe), 10th Air Force and the American Far Eastern Air Force. More than 1.5 million combat soldiers, with 3 million more in support or more than 40% of all servicemen still in uniform in 1945 – would be directly involved in the two amphibious assaults. Casualties were expected to be extremely heavy.
Admiral William Leahy estimated that there would be more than 250,000 Americans killed or wounded on Kyushu alone. General Charles Willoughby, chief of intelligence for General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Southwest Pacific, estimated American casualties would be one million men by the fall of 1946. Willoughby’s own intelligence staff considered this to be a conservative estimate.
During the summer of 1945, America had little time to prepare for such an endeavor, but top military leaders were in almost unanimous agreement that an invasion was necessary.”
Mr. Whatever your real name. Yes over 100,000 Japanese died on those two days. However we did not attack ourselves in Hawaii on Dec 7th
Dem. President Harry Truman had a tough call to make and he called it correctly. Look at the liberal news reports of every single American to die in Iraq and Afghanistan which after 7-8 years is less than 5,000.
Every American life is precious. So we saved upwards of 400,000 to end the war in the Pacific and you are angry. That’s the price of freedom. Get used to it. Our having the A bomb and the H bomb have been deterents against any enemy wishing to meet us in the school yards.
“you have to feel GUILTY”
Terry,
It is not a matter of “guilt” it is about being honest with oneself.
You and those like you feel as if this country is entitled to act with impunity and do whatever it pleases, whenever it pleases. Then you are shocked when there is some sort of “blowback”.
It is this type of fanatical foreign policy created by folks like the Cheney’s, Wolfowitz and Pearle’s of this world that has created this disaster that we must now deal with.
Folks like you want to divert attention from the dismal failure that is George W. Bush and the neo-con agenda by parading out the words of a single Reverend from Chicago.
You want to inflame the emotions of people so that they will lose focus. That has been the right-wing playbook for quite some time now. Thankfully the voters wised up and ignored it this last go around.
Dick Cheney, George Bush, Richard Pearle, Paul Wolfowitz and their ilk pose a much greater threat to this nation and this world than Reverend Wright ever will.
His words may be over the top and ridiculous, but their actions have damaged this nation and this world and cost more lives than we will ever know.
In case everyone missed it, the video showed Reverend Wright mistakenly claiming that Pearl Harbor Day (which just passed) was the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. While I agree with pretty much everything Sean says in comments 7, 8 and 14, this Wright episode is proof that the knee-jerk habit of always criticizing America no matter what can make you as *stupid* as Bush and his 20-something-% of supporters who believe America can do no wrong.
BUT. NOT AS DANGEROUS as them. Exhibit A – Wright has no army or nukes.
As for Crowley, I’d been thinking about the scenario of him condemning Robertson and Falwell for the last couple of hours (while playing piano at a lunchtime Christmas party) and I’m not sure if it will ever happen – not just because Vern, Sean, Art and Red Vixen do a perfectly adequate job ragging on the “Xtian right” here already, but also because – maybe he actually agrees with them? Maybe he agrees that 9/11 was God’s punishment to America for its moral lassitude?
He HAS been pretty pissed at Americans lately for electing a Democrat President. Well, Terry? Ball’s in your court. Were Falwell and Robertson right?
(PS thanks for the interesting history, Brother Larry.)
Good thing we have freedom of speech. I didn’t see “over the top” or “critical of the government” as qualifiers on that right either.
Lets face it, we have a lot of extremists in this country on both sides of the aisle and they tend to inflame each other. Oh well, better that than strapping explosives to themselves and blowing each other, and us, to smithereens.
Its a little like the corrupt politician, both sides have them. Lets stop citing the extreme and tarring the majority with it. Its not true. As Vern pointed out “He’s a loon in his own right” and God knows we could say that about preachers and pundits on both sides of the aisle.
Perhaps a page from the animal trainers book would work here: Ignore the behavior you don’t want and reward the behavior you do want.
Larry, I recently saw a poll that showed that a large percentage of Americans were unaware that America had used a nuclear bomb and I would venture to say that an even larger amount are unaware that we purposely targeted civilians.Is this ignorance acceptable, do these people have a clear understanding of U.S. history? I believe in debate and discussion, especially when it comes to war. To pretend that our history is black and white, good vs. evil, is naive. If our actions were so noble and pure, tell me why our government purposely suppressed all film shot in Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the bombings? The killing of civilians to achieve a political end is, in my opinion, state sponsored terrorism, you may disagree, but that does NOT make your opinion more valid than mine. Let me add that the WWII veterans in my family disagree on this issue as well.
Larry is correct in stating that military estimates of American casualties during a planned invasion of the Empire of Japan would have been over ONE MILLION.
Additionally, that same invasion would have caused over 2 MILLION Japanese casualties, with at least ONE MILLION JAPANESE dead.
It was horrible and awful that upwards of 200,000 Japanese were killed in the atomic bomb attacks on Japan. How much more horrible and awful would it have been for the two countries to suffer 3 – 5 million casualties in an invasion of the Japanese homeland?
And besides, I probably would not have been born had the US not dropped the A bombs. My dad was in fighter pilot training at that time, in preparation for the invasion of Japan. Life expectancy for combat pilots was less than 2 weeks. I am happy to be alive and kicking – and so are my kids and grandkids.
Whattttt!!!!!!!!!!!
You are joking of course. Forget about what ordinance was used to end the war. And dropping those two bombs surely put an end to the war in the Pacific.
Prior to the Japanese surrender do you have any idea as to how many soldiers were killed on both sides. Think about that as you beat up on the Bush administration for the number of Americans who died in Iraq. Oh, the WWII numbers.
The US had 51,983 killed in the Pacific War.
The Japanese Military lost 1,140,429.
And if we had continued with conventional weapons and actually tried to land on their islands, at a cost of hundreds of thousands of American G.I’s, let me suggest you speak to some veterans of that war. I have. We interviewed one man who was the recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Wake up to reality. War is hell and good men and women die. Our first obligation is to protect those who serve our country. Harry Truman did the right thing. This is the end of my participation in this dialogue. Have a wonderful and safe day tomorrow.
Jeremiah Wright is Right on Hiroshima/Nagasaki. As a prophetic Christian, what other position on two A-bombs dropped killing an ungodly amount of civilians would he take? What about Jesus too? Not every person of faith is the praise the lord and pass the ammunition type! haha Some actually read the Bible!
Your sense of history is oversimplified and apologetic. 2 a-bombs weren’t needed to end the war with imperial Japan. On the other hand, what was needed was some sort of feel good pretext for a history such as the nation that chose to be the first and only of its kind to deploy such horrific weaponry…
For Jeremiah Wright in his own words, tune into Margaret Prescod’s “Sojourner Truth” radio show this Tuesday on KPFK 90.7 FM at 7-8 a.m. for an exclusive one-hour interview with the Reverend beyond the Obama hype…
GSB said: “What about Jesus too?”
I suspect that many who use this ploy are not in the least religious and do not have faith in Jesus Christ.
GSB said: “Your sense of history is oversimplified and apologetic. 2 a-bombs weren’t needed to end the war with imperial Japan.”
GSB – so you were there at the time and had priveleged information greater than the US military and President Truman?
All of this A bomb histrioninics is misplaced. The bombings of Tokyo and Dresden Germany killed many more people than the the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – and were necessary to bring both theaters of war to an end.
Sean Mill said: “… their actions … cost more lives than we will ever know.”
I would say that their actions have SAVED more lives than we will ever know.
Larry and junior, your opinion{s} on the nuking of Japanese civilians is not now and was not then, universally held by all. Let me quote Admiral William D. Leahy, (Truman’s chief of staff) from his book I WAS THERE; that using the “barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender because of the effective sea blockade and the successful bombing with conventional weapons.” President Eisenhower in an interview with Newsweek in 1963; “the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing.” Anyway, my point was not to argue WWII, but to make the point that as a citizen of this country, criticizing this country is your PATRIOTIC DUTY. Jeremiah Wright may have had his facts wrong, but at least he is putting the issue out there for discussion. Too many people fear words more than bombs. Larry, one more thing, when you bring up Iraq you CONVENIENTLY NEVER mention the Iraqi casualties, I guess that is the difference between you and I, I value all lives equally and a million dead Iraqis and the chaos and carnage that we have caused in our dirty little war, angers me and makes me want to see Bush and company tried for war crimes. So, harrumph to you too.