Category: Anti-American Crap

I have decided to take up Yangban’s challenge to do this piece of journalism (crap) from Oh My News justice. The author of this article, Michael Werbowski is trying to make a comparison that the US of today will fall just like the Roman Empire. In his agenda driven article he provides his (day dreamed) examples of why this is about to happen. Let me start with this example:

Rome extended the borders of its vast empire in conquest after conquest then exacted a “tribute,” or tax, on its subjected citizens. It was a reasonable trade off: the subjected peoples in return for a paying a “head tax” to their imperial overlords enjoyed the privileges of Roman civil rights and protection from barbarians thanks to the mighty empire’s legions.

This isn’t a bad idea because right now my tax dollars are going to places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Korea, etc. So if we can get these people to pay us taxes that would really help the American tax payer. No Mr. Werbowski would prefer Americans pay more taxes:

This is compounded by a presidency restricted to promoting a corporate agenda at the expense of the greater good of the nation. Added to this is an administration willing and able to wage war, but not pay for it with higher taxes or able to ask it’s youngest to make the “ultimate sacrifice.” It is also unable to provide housing or decent pensions for its “war heroes” on the home front. This untenable situation led to uprisings among the armed legions of Rome and triggered revolts within the Roman imperial armies. Perhaps America should do more to keep its troops happy.

What does this guy know about making the “ultimate sacrifice”? US military members every day are giving up their lives for idiots like him to make such comments. Plus if US soldiers are on the verge of a uprising than why are recruiting numbers for Fiscal Year 06 so high?:

Companant Accessions Goal Percent
Army 25,973 25,100 103%
Navy 12,454 12,236 102%
Marines 11,572 11,050 105%
Air Force 12,064 11,994 101%

Plus why have reenlistment numbers been through the roof for the past 9 months and counting? Also I take it Mr. Werbowski has never seen US military housing before such as on Ft. Carson or Ft. Lewis for example.

Fort Carson Housing Community

Here is more of his ranting:

By contrast, the U.S. exports “freedom and democracy.” Decoded, these two words usually associated with liberty, in today’s context really mean tutelage by the World Bank and the IMF in the form of debt repayments. Freedom, in the form of free trade agreements, is exported around the globe, which enables corporations to usurp national sovereignty and operate beyond the “rule of law” with impunity in pursuit of greater market access. In the process, this forces “target nations” to give up their rights over their domestic industries to multinational control and ownership.

That IMF loan given to Korea during the Asian Financial Crisis saved the Korean economy. Where would Korea be today without it? Plus would the author prefer countries have no jobs instead of jobs from multi-national corporations? Maybe he does so they can all be on socialist welfare.

This has to be the most hysterical passage of the entire article:

The U.S. also exports its culture, such as video games and instant gratification in the form of fast food, to create an overweight and chronically ill populace on a global scale. This resembles a much cruder version of Rome’s bread and circuses, which distracted both the citizens and the conquered masses at the same time. At home, America offers its growing illiterate, incarcerated or homeless population a brief reprieve from their pitiful existence by means of a computer generated “virtual reality.”

I didn’t know the US had a policy that instead of funding soup kitchens the government funds PC Bangs for homeless people and convicts to play video games.

I also didn’t know the US government was allowing cattle ranchers to murder Mexican immigrants either:

One poor Mexican’s dream is another Arizona cattle rancher’s nightmare. Border states have mounted a patriotic resistance to this onslaught by keeping an armed militia on patrol to search for and often destroy undocumented day laborers with the benign consent of an overworked and underpaid U.S. border patrol.

Where is this guys proof that cattle ranchers are mass murdering Mexican illegals crossing the Arizona border? How is this responsible journalism? Here he continues his bashing of the US military:

On the foreign front of the global scale American-state, the war in Afghanistan against terror is being fought without the proper amount of ground troops. The same is true in Iraq. U.S. Special Forces try to win the “war on terror” by terrorizing local villagers who shelter their own “freedom fighters.” Wielding a big stick without dangling a carrot to the Afghan resistance, or any other armed opposition to the ongoing occupation, is unlikely to quell the ongoing uprisings in poor and backward states.

Here is a video of the American terrorizers at work. I could write a whole posting on this, but I hate listening to leftists talk about “freedom fighters” when us in the military have seen what the leftist’s freedom fighters really are. It makes me sick when these leftists dignify these pieces of human garbage as “freedom fighters”.

The rest of the article goes on about the usual leftist, Michael Moore conspiracy theory talking points of the war on terror being about oil yet there is no oil in Afghanistan and about how bad of a country the United Kingdom is. Overall being compared to the Roman Empire in my opinion isn’t a bad thing.

Let’s see the Roman Empire was founded by Augustus on 31BC and ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453; the US has been around since 1776 so that would mean, (leftist anti-Americans mark this date on your calendar) that the US “Empire” should fall just like the Roman Empire some where around 3260! 1,254 more years of pax-Americana! So if Mr. Werbowski wants to compare the US to the Roman Empire than go ahead. The Roman Empire was one of the greatest civilizations ever just like America. The Romans just like any civilization had it’s faults but the Romans did far more good than bad for the ancient world just like America is continuing to do far more good than bad in today’s modern world.

Now why are these demonstrators allowed to accost and harass US Marines on a joint training exercise with the ROK Army?:

The demonstrators spent some 50 minutes at the site, wielding pickets with such slogans as, “Stop pre-emptive strike exercises against North Korea which prevent the establishment of a peace framework on the peninsula.” Some tackled U.S. soldiers taking part in the training to calls of “Yankee, Go home!” and “Stop the war exercises.”

Police admitted they took precautions against protests from fishermen and local peace activists but were caught off guard by activists “from outside” who interrupted the drill “unexpectedly.” Police say they will consult with the military before deciding whether to book them for obstructing officials.

How could the police not plan for outside agitators? Shouldn’t these outside agitators be arrested? Could you imagine the headlines if the Marine pushed this guy back? He would probably claim injury and psychological damage and demand an immediate apology from the USFK commander and President Bush. Also if Marines were tackled by these protesters wouldn’t that constitute assault at least?

In order to prevent violent protests on Sunday at Camp Humphreys, the Korean Riot police are going to try some new tactics:

The National Police Agency said yesterday it would limit contact between activists and riot police at a rally scheduled for Sunday to protest the relocation of United States Forces Korea bases to southern Gyeonggi province.
The Pan-South Korea Solution Committee Against U.S. Base Extension in Pyeongtaek, the rally organizer, earlier announced that 5,000 people would participate in the protest near the U.S. Camp Humphries in Pyeongtaek.

To prevent violent clashes, police in full riot gear would be inside the U.S. base, police said, and uniformed officers would patrol outside with observers from the National Human Rights Commission. At a similar rally last July, hundreds of protesters and police were injured in scuffles.

Let me get this straight, the riot police will hide inside of Camp Humphreys to prevent violent clashes. How about the protesters not bring metal pipes and bamboo poles to the protest to assault the police with? How about the protesters not throw stones and destroy public and private property? How about the police actually throw these people breaking the law into jail?

Here is an editorial also from the Joong Ang condemning the upcoming violence over the 2nd Infantry Division and Yongsan Garrison relocation to Camp Humphreys:

The government thinks that the residents have been influenced by outside instigators, who are demanding the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the peninsula. “Do you think the farmers know anything about a U.S. war plan? I don’t understand why outsiders keep stirring them up,” said a taxi driver.

The relocation of the Yongsan garrison and U.S. 2nd Infantry Division installations to areas south of Seoul have been approved by the National Assembly. Attempts to overrule such an agreement are a challenge to this nation. One is free to oppose the relocation plan, but protests should be done sensibly within a legal framework. And yet, the activists are not doing so. They have occupied empty houses inside the site that they do not own, after former residents left the area.

As the taxi driver noted this is not a grass roots protest against USFK, but a well organized protest for mass propaganda value by anti-US hate groups. That is why they are occupying houses that have already been sold to the government so that when the government comes to kick them out they can kick and scream in front of television cameras and create sympathy within the Korean public against USFK. Stopping the Camp Humphreys relocation is the hate groups Super Bowl because they know that if the 2nd Infantry Division and Yongsan Garrison is not allowed to relocate that it will mean the end of the US-ROK relationship as we know it.

It will be interesting to see how things go on Sunday.

Is this really a good idea?

Schools in Broward and Palm Beach counties are tapping a new source of teachers: South Korea.

The Asian nation has more teachers than it needs, and the Korean government is helping them find jobs abroad, said Andrea Seidman, president of Teachers Council, a nonprofit agency that helps place instructors.

Teachers Council has helped Broward and Palm Beach find Korean teachers in recent weeks. Broward has hired three for next year; Palm Beach likely will hire five, recruitment director Marcia Andrews said. Representatives of both school districts say they want to start with just a few to see how they adapt to American life.

I wonder if we can expect to see charming and artistic works of art from the children of Florida such as this seen in South Korea:

Or how about the teachers teaching facts such as this to the children of Florida:

Consider the following question, posed to 400,000 Korean students in a grade school exam: Which of the following descriptions of Iraq after the Gulf War is incorrect?

A) Due to economic sanctions, infant mortality increased by 150 percent, and in some areas, 70 percent of newborns had leukemia.

B) The United States and Britain conducted a bombing campaign against Iraq for 11 years after the war, causing terror among the Iraqi people.

C) Cancer among Iraqi children in 1999 was 700 percent because of depleted uranium left from the bombing.

D) The infant mortality rate of Iraqi children in 1999 was 300 percent higher than it was a decade earlier.

E) Not a single Iraqi starved to death after the Gulf War because of the extensive food relief program.

This question, and many more like it, comprised a supplemental teaching package on the second Iraq war that was distributed two years ago by the Korea Teachers and Educational Workers Union, the Los Angeles Times reported in July 2003. The package allegedly included graphic photographs of child casualties and urban destruction from the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

According to national education law, teachers who belong to unions are permitted to incorporate such supplemental teaching materials into the mainstream curriculum. School principals technically have the power to regulate what is used, though this rarely occurs.

In one controversial instance, a teacher leading a class on the U.S. military role in South Korea showed her seventh-grade students a police photo of a naked Korean prostitute who was murdered and sexually assaulted in 1992 with an umbrella by an American serviceman.

The offending teacher, who subsequently did not lose her job, argued that such material was widely available on the Internet for public viewing. She echoed the opinion of other unionized educators who contend they oppose war of any kind, and are not waging a targeted smear campaign against the United States.

South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun — who dispatched the third-largest contingent of foreign troops to Iraq — supported the union’s position, saying that “antiwar education should be encouraged but only as long as it is not anti-American, in consideration of our diplomatic relations.”

Even better yet they can teach this:

Today’s texts contain pictures of North Korean food shops (“A lot of women,” reads the caption, helpfully, “are participating in economic activity”) and suggest students practice writing letters to their counterparts across the border (without mentioning that North Korea prohibits mail from the South.) In today’s classrooms, you can find a third-grade textbook with a cartoon of two boys from either side of the border deciding not to throw rocks at each other.

Northern Boy: I’m sorry I threw the rock at you first.

Southern Boy: I’m sorry, too. It is not right for brothers to throw rocks at each other.

Northern Boy: Our parents and ancestors would be grieved to see us fighting.

Southern Boy: Speaking of which, do you want to participate in the international Ping-Pong game together as one team? … If we become one team, we can make up for our weakness and no other country will be able to beat us.

Teachers need little encouragement to use such texts. Park Geun Byung, a teacher at Song Chun elementary school in Seoul, uses a storybook that instructs his fourth-grade class in the tale of an evil dragon that prevents a Romeo and Juliet on either side of a river from marrying. The river is plainly the DMZ. The evil dragon is meant to represent the U.S. Park is a believer in what he calls “unification education.” “Teachers,” he adds, “don’t have to be neutral.”

I wonder if he was making a stand against taxi cab related incidents?:

South Korean police said they are seeking an arrest warrant for a man accused of vandalizing a statue outside of Camp Casey’s main gate.

Yangju police detective Yun Yeo-gil said the man, identified only as Choi, smashed the statue with a brick at about 10:20 p.m. Dec. 31. Riot police guarding the U.S. base apprehended Choi and turned him over to local police. Yun said Choi also is accused of vandalizing the statue on Dec. 15. Choi’s anti-American sentiments and state of intoxication led to the incidents, according to Yun.

The detective said the statue, of an American Indian, suffered $300 to $400 in damage.

The Korea Times has an interesting interview with President Roh Moo-hyun’s Senior Secretary of Public Information, Dr. Cho Ki-suk. I have chosen to respond to a few of her comments below:

Third, incidents like the attempt to demolish the statute of General McArthur are a source of misunderstanding about public opinion in Korea. Public opinion should be understood through objective indexes rather than dramatic events. If people perceive an unusual event launched by an extremely small number of people to attract public attention as representing the whole, it is quite dangerous as we may reach an erroneous policy decision. Psychologists call this phenomenon “subjective probability.”

Yes the protesters were composed of a small number of hate groups. However, if their views are so off the wall then why hasn’t the Korean government spoke out strongly against them and defend General MacArthur’s contributions to freedom and democracy in Korea? It is because deep down the Uri Party types sympathise with their cause and won’t crackdown on them and limits them to only making ambigous statements about the protesters that does not condemn their activities.

Fourth, interpreting rallies in memory of the two schoolgirls killed by an armored military vehicle of the U.S. as an expression of anti-Americanism or anti-American sentiment may be another cause of confusion. It is my understanding that American officials were stunned at the seemingly anti-American street rallies in the course of the 2002 Korean presidential election.

It is true that a handful of the participants burned the US flag and chanted Yankee Go Home slogans. Yet their extreme behavior could not be sustained because other participants who witnessed such conduct strongly protested and left the rally.

What? A handful of protesters burned or destroyed the US flag?! Is this considered a handful of protesters?:

Or maybe this protest in 2002 at Seoul City Hall that drew tens of thousands of people together in an anti-American hate orgy:

Yes folks, the Korean government wants you to think this is the work of a handful of malcontents that shouldn’t be taken seriously.

Go ahead and read the rest on your own, because I think I have made my point.

I’m sure USinKorea will have fun with this one.

The jockeying for position at next month’s APEC summit is in full swing in Pusan and there is already controversy:

South Korea’s conservative and progressive activists are racing to book space for pro – or anti- capitalist rallies around the venue for the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and forum.

(…)

A group of anti-APEC activists on Wednesday submitted to police a mountain of applications to use the space near the conference venue between Oct. 30 and Nov. 19.

Under the country’s law, organizers of any outdoor rallies must report their plans to police beforehand and receive proper authorization, a measure to protect public order and security.

(…)

“They sought approval on a total of 1,004 planned rallies in Busan,” a policeman in charge of accepting applications said. “It is apparently aimed at buying time, as we do not have enough manpower to screen their requests within the designated time.”

The leftist groups (AKA-activists) believe there is a conspiracy in Pusan to silence them by giving conservative pro-capitalist demonstrators all the protesting time during the APEC conference:

The activists’ group that is organizing to protest the APEC conference said it had no other choice, arguing that police-backed conservative activists have already occupied almost all of the sites suitable for demonstrations.

In fact, several conservative civic groups applied for a number of sites around the APEC conference center first, police said.

It would be a shred move by the Pusan police department to fill the APEC conference with pro-capitalist demonstrators instead of the usual hate group protesters you see protesting the MacArthur statue and Camp Humphrey’s. I actually wish the Korean government would let these idiots protest at the APEC. Let them bring their bamboo poles to beat the riot police and let them trash the cars of all the international officials parked outside. Of course no hate group protest would be complete without jumping up and down on top of the riot police bus. Let the world see who these people are maybe then the Korean government would do something about them.

Of course, the Korean government isn’t going to allow this to happen because they want to put the best face of the country forward during the APEC conference which is why the Pusan police is trying to slot conservative protesters during the conference. This fits the Korean governments MO to squash the leftist protests as soon as it receives international attention.

Fear not hate groups, I’m sure you will be allowed to continue to assault policemen, destroy private property, and even jump up and down on top the riot police bus once again as soon as the APEC conference is over. So keep your bamboo poles ready.

This is what the ruling Uri Party Chairman had to say in today’s Chosun Ilbo about the MacArthur statue controversy in Inchon:

Ruling Uri Party chairman Moon Hee-sang said Sunday the dispute over a statue of U.S. general Douglas MacArthur in Incheon was “a clash between civic organizations,” but some media outlets and conservative forces blew it out of proportion for reasons of their own. They “sow distrust and friction between Korea and the United States on the pretext of being concerned about the Korea-U.S. alliance,” he said.

Let me get this right, the people that are trying to tear down the statue and rewrite history are not the ones driving a wedge in the ROK-US alliance? It is in fact the people who are defending the statue that are driving a wedge in the US-ROK alliance. So according to the leader of the ruling Uri Party the conservatives should just let the anti-American hate groups tear down the statue and the US-ROK alliance will be better for it. Is this how I’m supposed to take this comment?

British Ambassador to Korea, Warwick Morris has now spoken out in regards to the current General MacArthur statue controversy in Inchon by sending this letter to the Chosun Ilbo:

“I have been saddened to read that a group of protestors attacked and called for the removal of the statue of the U.S. general MacArthur in Incheon. The statue was erected to commemorate the Incheon Landing, which he led, and which was one of the most decisive interventions of the Korean War. British naval vessels were among those involved. By attacking his statue and his memory, these protestors are also denigrating ALL those foreign soldiers under the UN command, who came to fight alongside South Korea in that war. There were men and women from more than 20 nations involved, including my own. Tens of thousands of them gave their lives so that South Korea should remain free and independent. Without the fierce allied fighting that followed there was a real chance that South Korea, by then pinned down to Busan, would have been overrun.

“None of us can change our country’s history. What happened, happened, and we should respect the right for people to demonstrate peacefully, but these protestors risk alienating more than just American friends. I am glad there have been some firmly-worded editorials, and that a number of leading figures, including Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, have spoken up. They need to, and strongly, if good friends of Korea and war veterans from many countries are not to feel insulted.”

The good ambassador is absolutely right about this. These protesters shame all the soldiers from all the countries involved in the UN force that came to the aid of South Korea during the Korean War. Notice however in his letter he only mentioned Foreign Minister Ban speaking out strongly against the hate groups. He did not mention President Roh Moo-hyun. President Roh has only spoken out vaguely against the protesters and it appears Ambassador Morris may be hinting that the President should take a tougher stand against these hate groups. I would be surprised if President Roh did that however, because these hate groups form part of his political base. It would be like Howard Dean speaking out against Moveon.org, PETA, and the evironmental wacko groups. It would be political suicide for him.

It may be political suicide for President Roh anyway because these hate groups may have made a big error in going after the MacArthur statue. Average Koreans are embarrassed and getting fed up with the actions of these hate groups. Look what some Koreans had to say in this LA Times article reprinted on Newsmax:

The imposing statue was erected in 1957 in Freedom Park atop a pedestal with the inscription, “A man to hold eternally in honored memory.”

Freedom Park is not a usual venue for protests; it is a place where retirees play mah-jongg and toddlers chase pigeons.

“These protesters are just stupid kids who don’t know what happened during the Korean War. Because of them, our park is full of riot police,” said a 51-year-old hairdresser, Lee Jong Sun, who wandered off muttering under her breath: “Crazy! Idiots!”

Jeon Gap Su, a 72-year-old retired military officer, recalled being among the onlookers on Sept. 15, 1957, when the statue was dedicated.

“Back then, if anybody had protested they would have been shot instantly. It would have been clean and easy,” Jeon said. “It was clean and easy in those days.”

I don’t advocate shooting the hate groups and actually don’t care if they protest. What they shouldn’t have the right to do is assault policemen and destroy property. These people should be jailed and given stiff fines. Why this is not happening I can only ponder is because of political reasons.

It is definitely not clean and easy anymore.

UPDATE #2: One of my commenters Michael has pictures of Ike’s statue in France up on his site.
_______________________________________

UPDATE #1: Somebody has called the Korea Times on there misinformation attempt and the Korea Times actually published it! Will miracles never cease! Interestingly the Korea Times didn’t publish the author’s name who informed them that France does in fact have many statues not only honoring Eisenhauer but also other famous American generals. So whoever it was great job.

_____________________________________

This editorial in the Korea Times began by giving the same government talking points about the MacArthur Statue, that it should stay in Korea, that MacArthur with his faults still is the one that lead the Inchon Landing, blah, blah, blah, etc. Until this last paragraph where this was slipped in:

As President Roh made it clear that it is the government’s position to keep the statue, U.S. lawmakers had better wait and see. Nor is this an issue for partisan wrangling domestically. Related officials can consider relocating it to a war memorial from the present public park someday. We have never heard of a statue of Dwight Eisenhower in Normandy to commemorate D-Day.

Does this mean that the Korea Times wants the statue removed and sent to the Korean War Memorial instead? This statue has stood in that park for almost 50 years and now because of few communist hate groups don’t like seeing it, the Korea Times advocates removing the statue?

The people of Inchon are the ones who bought the statue and emplaced it in their park. They are the ones who should decide if MacArthur should go or not. Not the hate groups, the media, or national government, but the people of Inchon. Put it to a referendum to let the people of Inchon decide. That would end this controversy right then and there.

Of course the hate groups, that want to see the statue go, don’t want that because the people of Inchon will overwhelmingly vote to keep it. That would be democracy in action and that is not what these communists want to see. Apparently neither does the Korea Times.