Monday, May 07, 2007

House Democrats Offer Reparations ... to Guam

When you hear the words "Democrats" and "reparations" in the same sentence, it most commonly will have something to do with paying African-Americans back for the cruelty of slaveowners over 150 years ago. Their penchant for thinking emotionally leads to these kinds of offers, but nobody could have seen this coming.

In submitting H.R. 1595, they are offering to compensate the residents of Guam for the oppressive acts of Imperial Japan during the course of World War II. Even more ridiculous than the purpose is the opening sentence of Paragraph II:

Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to make specified payments to: (1) living Guam residents who were killed, injured, interned, or subjected to forced labor or marches resulting from, or incident to, such occupation and subsequent liberation ...

Leave it to a Democrat to draft a statement so non-sensical. Beyond this, the overall idea of the bill is simply absurd. In the culminating battle for the island, soldiers from the 3rd Marine Division and the 77th Infantry Division landed on July 21st and proceeded to retake the island from Japanese forces. With a toll of over 10,000 casualties including 3,000 KIA, the battle for Guam lasted three weeks in the summer of 1944.

After the price paid by members of the American military, men from all walks of life each with families of their own, House Democrats neglect their sacrifice by arguing that we owe the citizens of Guam for what agents of another country perpetrated. The absurdity of the 110th Congress continues ...

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