On War Reparations, By Our "Fellow" Americans...

I will be posting more about this soon, bai hu prometi hamyo este, but for the moment, since its late ya gof yayas yu', I'll just say a little bit now.

This past week the long await War Reparations Bill for Chamorros on Guam passed the House of Representatives and will soon move onto the Senate.

A key word in this issue is "recognition." The bill in question is titled "The Guam Loyalty Recognition Act." For so many Chamorros we are encountering or approaching an important moment here, in our history of desiring to be American, feeling American and being rebuffed or rejected in our attempts to be American. If this bill passes and we receive this compensation, it will represent an important moment the Americanizing of Chamorros, which is a process all predicated upon the United States "recognizing" us. Or us being in a subordinate and marginal position and being "liberated" from that position by the benevolence, goodness and greatness of the United States.

But in all cases such as this, where the dream of every Chamorro (whether they want it or not, like it or not) to be at last American appears to finally become consistent, we should step back, look around, think things through and maybe do a little research. As with the case a few months ago when we on Guam were bestowed with a grand fake vote in the United States Congress, we shouldn't be so quick to whip out the American flags and celebrate our newfound belonging. When I did some very easy and simple research on the internet to find out what "real" Americans were saying about the prospect of those of us on Guam joining the family we've wanted to for so long, I was hardly surprised to see that people, especially Republicans were incredibly pissed off at idea that people on Guam were going to get even this fake vote.

So to all your patriotic-American loving Chamorros, here is a message to you all, from Virginia Congressman Patrick McHenry. This is precisely the type of research you really should be doing everytime you feel the need to grab a flag because this morning is the morning that we are all finally American:

My constituents – all 619,178 of them – pay federal income taxes to have a rightful voice in Congress. But these territory delegates will have the power to increase spending, which will lead to raising taxes for everyone – everyone, that is, except the territory delegates’ own constituents. The Revolutionary War was fought over the idea of ‘taxation without representation,’ but the Democrats are pushing forward the policy of ‘representation without taxation.’

Or how about this message, for more friendly "fellow" American action, from a delegation of Republicans from Pennslyvannia to the people of the territories:

The American Flag has a field of fifty stars for a reason; they represent the number of constitutionally recognized states in our Union. Only those states can be fully represented in the United States House of Representatives under law. The Members of the Republican Congressional Delegation of Pennsylvania agree that this move by the Democratic Majority amounts to nothing more than “representation without taxation.”

Given this new development, I think it is just as important to do a little bit of research and see what those who are already American, are saying about us from Guam becoming more American or just as American as they are, through this War Reparations Bill.

To start you off, here is a "Take Action" notice from the website Free Republic, which instructs patriotic Americans to resist and protest the giving of War Reparations to Chamorros, because it is "anti-American." Beneath this action post, I'll paste some of the comments that people have made about the issue as well. If you love America and are just dying to be a part of it, read what I'm pasting below very carefully. That is your beloved master, and those are the people that you are dying to call "fellow Americans" which are dismissing and disrespecting you, the suffering and survival of your people and your ancestors. In order to enhance the feeling of having yourself completely dismissed and mutilated by hundred of thousands of people who know nothing about your island and history, but because they are Americans feel they have the right to do so, listen to some sort of patriotic tune when reading, like "Proud to be an American" or "Uncle Sam Won't You Please Come Back to Guam."

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TAKE ACTION: We're Paying War Reparations to Guam for What Japan Did
RedState.com ^ today Jeff Emanuel
Posted on 05/07/2007 2:18:42 PM PDT by enough_idiocy

"House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and his eight compatriots, all of whom have co-sponsored a bill that would require that America pay reparations to the people of Guam for - get this - the actions of the Japanese in World War II.

According to the bill (HR.1595, the "Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act"), the people of Guam:

suffered unspeakable harm as a result of the occupation of Guam by Imperial Japanese military forces during World War II , by being subjected to death, rape, severe personal injury, personal injury, forced labor, forced march, or internment.

For this reason (?), "the Secretary of the Treasury shall make payments" to WWII survivors and their descendants on Guam for the brutal actions of a third party.

Makes perfect sense, doesn't it? After all, the US is the largest aid donor on the planet; it's only logical that we should rebuild, repatriate, and reparate every country that has been hurt by every war that we can find. Let's not stop with Guam - let's include everybody from Carthage on up to the present. Should we pay reparations to the Koreans for the Mongol invasions of the 14th century, and to the Spanish for the loss of their Armada in 1588? Why not?

And while this bill holds up $126,000,000.00 for the repayment of the people of Guam for what the Japanese did (as well as $5,000,000.00 for "the Secretary of the Interior [to] establish a grants program [to]...award grants for research, educational, and media activities that memorialize the events surrounding the occupation of Guam during World War II, honor the loyalty of the people of Guam during such occupation, or both, for purposes of appropriately illuminating and interpreting the causes and circumstances of such occupation and other similar occupations during a war"), our soldiers can't even get a dime in supplemental appropriations.

Way to go, Democrats. Your "blame America first" (even for things we have nothing to do with), anti-US soldier attitudes, actions, and mindsets have just been taken to a new level."

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My rep's office could not explain to me why we're spending Americans' money to compensate Guam for what Japan did.
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What kind of lunacy is this...? Oh yeah, the Democratic kind.
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I think Steny Hoyer and his eight cronies should have to pay the reparations. Their savings and investments can be liquidated for the purpose, and their wages garnished until their debt is paid.
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Easy.. it’s called buying votes.
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Makes perfect sense...
In a bid to one-up his compatriot, Harry Reid, the Hon. Mr. Hoyer has found a way to retroactively surrender to Japan for WWII...
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Liberal logic says if we had been ready for the Pearl Harbor attack, we could have stopped Japan in it's tracks and the Japanese would have never needed or been able to occupy Guam.
So, yes it was our fault.
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I am so ashamed!! Why wasn’t I there to protect Guam? Why? Why?...Oh yeah, I wasn’t even born yet. Sheesh
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Does the word “KICKBACK” come to mind? Someone other than the people of Guam is getting some of this money. This is one of the dumbest things I’ve heard of in a long time. How about all the other countries that Japan invaded? Like China? How about all the countries that Germany invaded? And.....where in our Constitution does it give these idiots the right to do this?
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My grandfather lost a couple of toes and partial hearing in the Ardennes during WWII. Apparently he wasn’t loyal enough for me to get reparations.
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Easy.. it’s called buying votes.

Votes for what? Guam is a U.S. Territory that elects a non-voting representative to Congress. It has no electoral votes for President. The current representative is a Democrat. And a Democrat has held that seat since 1993.Why aren't the Japanese paying these "reparations"? They are the ones who invaded our sovereign territory in 1941. The United States has already paid reparations in blood, liberating the island in 1944.
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I wonder how many Guamians are still alive from WWII. I would expect that most of these people would be in their 70s and 80s by now. If they survived that long, then what’s the problem? The Dems are outdoing themselves on the pork - at least the Repubs seemed to keep their pork in the USA.
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Wait until the next Democrat apologies to Germany for us winning WWII.
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Who wants to bet that Steny Hoyer and/or his cronies have Guamianian relatives?
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I don’t ever want to hear another liberal complain that we don’t have the money for this or that program.
This is so stupid, so incompetent, so ridiculous it will (and should) define congress for decades to come. I would rather dine on hay with horses than sit down at a dinner table with a single member of congress.
When do we start kicking their doors in?
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Using ‘democrat-logic’ the presence of US forces in Guam mad Guam a ‘target’ for the Japanese. You see? It’s the same thinking that says that Iraq would be a rose garden if only the US forces currently there would just... leave.
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Bullsh!t.Pure and simple bullsh!t.
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Please tell me this is some sort of parody, or joke. Please.
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It’s called the San Francisco Peace Treaty. It was signed in 1951 between Japan, the United States and most of the other allied powers.

You can find the text here.

I draw your attention to Article XIV. To make a long story short, the signers of the treaty agreed that Japan would turn over certain assets to the Allied Powers, and that all further claims against Japan would be waived. The details are in the treay.

Why did we do that? Because demanding massive war reparations from Germany under the Treaty of Versailles worked out so well. You may remember the consequences of that brilliant idea by Woodrow Wilson. If not, you can look it up. The United States wanted a free Japan that could be an American ally, not a country burdened by economic troubles that would probably wind up having a revolution and going over to the Communists.

So, among other peoples, Guamians cannot claim compensation for losses from Japan. So the only country that can compensate the Guamians for their WWII losses is the United States, which has somewhat of a moral obligation, since the U.S. signed away the Guamians rights to get compensation from Japan.

That is why this is happening this way. You can agree or disagree that the U.S. should pay this compensation. I'm not interested in arguing either way. So nobody complain to me about it.
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Ican see why Queen Plastic Pelosi wants Guam's delegate to have full voting rights in the House. This is Guam's second go-around at the public trough known as the United States Treasury for damages caused by the Japanese.

You can find the The Guam Meritorious Claims Act of 1945. I especially draw your attention to the final sentence of Sec. 1 - "Provided further, That any such settlements made by such commissions under the authority of this Act shall be final and conclusive for all purposes, notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary."

In short, they already got their money. Why do we need to toss another $162,000,000 at them?
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From Today’s ‘ Neal’s Nuze’ (05/07/07):
http://boortz.com/nuze/index.html
MORE OF YOUR TAX MONEY AT WORK

Brace yourself for this one. Your tax dollars are being called upon to pay for reparations to the people of Guam for the Japanese’s actions in WWII. That’s right. You read it correctly! Americans will pay for what Japanese did in a war that was fought over 50 years ago.

Here’s the story. A bill will be introduced this week in the House called the Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act. This act calls for reparations—costing about $135 million—for the “unspeakable harm as a result of the occupation of Guam by Imperial Japanese military forces during World War II, by being subjected to death, rape, severe personal injury, personal injury, forced labor, forced march, or internment.” Now mind you, these are terrible things that happened to the people of Guam, but why do I have to pay for it? And why now?

Well it turns out that Truman signed an agreement with Japan in 1951 basically stating that from then on, Japan is not responsible for “individual American war claims.” Because Guam is a U.S. territory, the burden to compensate for Japanese abuses falls on U.S. taxpayers. Thanks a lot, Harry Truman. You are a great American Democrat.

But in 2003, Bush authorized the appointment of the Guam War Claims Review Commission. I guess we can assume that this was the result.

Now here’s an interesting question. I have heard, though I have never taken the time to verify, that there was only one major war engaged in by the U.S. where U.S. taxpayers didn’t fork over huge sums to rebuild the loser. That would be the War Between the States .. sometimes erroneously referred to as the “Civil War”
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This is nothing compared to the monies we spend on Guam because of Guam's mismanagement and inability to maintain what the Federal government has already built. Ask anyone who has lived on Guam for any length of time and you will hear the same story of local government incompetence.

The Ordot dump has been scheduled for closure for 20+ years and the locals can't decide where to move it, thus costing mounting fines by the EPA. The Guam Public School System is a federal money pit that can compete with any pork program in the US. The island's infrastructure is in such disarray, because of no planned maintenance programs, it will take the Federal government to come in AGAIN to rebuild it.

The only governmental corruption cases to be prosecuted and won were cases brought by Federal prosecutors because the local judicial system can not convict their own, such as x-governor Carl T.C. Gutierrez.

The taxpayers need to know exactly how much money has already been spent on Guam.
The people of Guam need to stop depending on their Uncle Sam for their government officials incompetence.
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