velllly interesting!  But Dumb

Only from the bay area can Americans get the kind of things that have NOTHING to do with today.  Why are we still worrying about the japs????  We whupped their butt, dropped the A-bomb on them.  I think every kind of apology has been made as far as world war 2 goes.  But leave it to the libs to always pull one out of the hope chest.  Bet he ran for his job on that one.  According to the libs, we are supposed to be playing nice with the world, since the world hates us Americans so damn much.  Way to go Nancy, you are doing such wonders for making our name shine a little brighter each and every day LOL!

dumb dumb dubm.

they all need to go.

Japan obviously must have come out in favor of SOMETHING Bush said to get these mooreons to strike back.

GONZO-GATE

DID SOMEONE SAY GONZO-GATE ?

Don't the California Democrats have something better to do? My god what a pitiful display. This has nothing to do with California let alone America. How do you shut off the flow of BS from Cali.
Rep Honda to shame Japan, but Nancy Pelosi is willing to lick boot in Syria?
Let's redraw the border and give everything from SF south to Mexico.

If I were japan I don't think I would be apologizing for anything to the country who melted down two of they're cities and the civilian inhabitants, apologizing for issues that occurred generations ago never solved anything

The democrats are telling the american people that we need to make nice with the world.  I see some of their people did not get the message.  I can see the world actually getting angrier in a liberal world.

MK you make me so proud

See senior...gonzo-gate

MK, we melted down those two cities because we gave them a chance to quit and they didn't and it would have resulted with 100,000 deaths in the invasion.  Kind of hard to believe you liberals would rather kill americans in an invasion of Japan, yet you have a meltdown about 3600 killed in Iraq.

They performed vivisections on living prisoners. If a POW in a Japanese camp slipped and fell into the open sewer - they drowned in it. Beheadings. Infected rats dropped by air. They were every bit as bad as the Nazis, if not worse. Thanks for sharing, MK. The loud mouth from Oregon gets the prize, however.

Maybe we should give San Francisco/Bay area TO the Japanese as compensation for nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Or will that impede the delivery/ceding of California to Mexico, as compensation for the Imperialist conquest by America in 1848?
Or maybe we should give it back to the Indigenous tribes of California; after all, it WAS their country to begin with.
Ya know, when you get on a "liberal, feel-good, show- them-that-we-care, bleeding heart" love train, this is what you get for your Democratic/liberal votes out in whacko-land.
I vote to give all of California BACK to the Indigenous tribes, since we are in such a feel-good, pious,idioitic mindset in Congress.

Better Mexico: go ahead: give your land to Mexico.
Put your money where your liberal mouth is, for once.

1.5 million Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks,4000 churches burned ,This is important ...

Jerry: the conservative estimate for the casulaties in the invasion of Japan were 500,000 DEAD Americans, and over a MILLION wounded.
Coupla well-placed nukes obviated our impending sacrifice.
Current wet-your-pants libs take note, as our fight with the Islamofascists soon enters its most dangerous phase.

Who cares about the japanese?  They lost!  Game over! All California Democrats are going to do is bring up a bunch of issues that are really going to get their liberal party whipped badly.  The rest of the country see how high gas prices are in Los Angeles, How high food prices are in San Franscisco, how liberal policies are getting people burned out of their homes, how they get movie stars and football players found not guilty for murder and how Mayors literally take their jobs all the way to their bed!  I think the rest of America will see this and say "thanks, I think I'll pass".

When will our "leadership" realize the need to stick to OUR country's problems??  The system does indeed seem broken.  Sad!

My point was not to make light of the horrific things the Japanese did. But a statement, that censoring the use of forced hookers by an enemy army 50 years after the fact is irrelevant. That it is being proposed by an State Representitive, who should be spending his time on state issues, makes it all the more so.
By the way whats the prize? The state seal of Cali. It looks up for grabs.

I am sorry, but this conversation is missing the point. Why can't we put pressure on the world to respect womans rights?

What?  They want Japan to apologize for something Japan did to Japanese?  Uh, again, what?

RH: don't apologize. The loony left, some of whom populate this blog, haven't the FAINTEST ideas of what "historical context", or "beating a dead horse"
mean.
Loony left elected officials spew loony left ideas and diatribes, as Mr. Honda so apty demonstrates.
The issue, that is to be voted on, happened 70 YEARS ago: we took care of those murderous Japanese barbarians 70 YEARS ago. The current Japanese culture/voting Japanese population has NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER to those Imperialistic Warlords of the 1930's-1940's.

RH: don't apologize. The loony left, some of whom populate this blog, haven't the FAINTEST ideas of what "historical context", or "beating a dead horse"
mean.
Loony left elected officials spew loony left ideas and diatribes, as Mr. Honda so apty demonstrates.
The issue, that is to be voted on, happened 70 YEARS ago: we took care of those murderous Japanese barbarians 70 YEARS ago. The current Japanese culture/voting Japanese population has NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER to those Imperialistic Warlords of the 1930's-1940's.

Do we really want some country asking us to apologize for what we did in Iraq (and Iran next) 50 years from now?

+++ "Why can't we put pressure on the world to respect womans rights?"

We're trying to.  The Left of this country though says it's a lost cause and we should stop trying.

Hope those women in the mid-east kept their Burqas.

I have been watching the news about the South Korean pilgrams being kidnapped and butchered one by one by the Taliban, I think we know what the arabs think of women's rights.  Arabs treat women the same way white people treated black people in the old days.  Yet all the world wants us to play nicely with the arabs.  

It's a dumb, irrevelent issue.
It happened 60 years ago.
No excuses for what the Japanese did, but what does it have to do with anything ?
Get back to work, Nancy !!

We need to get SF its fair share of Federal funds.
We need a subway to Chinatown.

WWII is over, Nancy, We need to end THIS war.

jjj--Thanks for bringing up the Turks' genocide against the Armenians. Here's something unbelievable and unconscionable: Israel, which of all nations knows the pain of having had her people experience genocide, sides with TURKEY against the Armenian genocide's being recognized as genocide. Why is Israel in bed with Turkey on this issue?

I'm a liberal myself, but I must admit I wish Congress would be doing other things related to America instead. Asking Japan to apologize for something Japan did to Japanese is just too ridiculous to put into words, and debating about the Armenian Genocide might be even worse. I can see how these issues might disappoint the general population, but would it be enough to give power back to the neocons? I don't think so.

LOL Sierra:  After that earthquake last week in the bay area and you still want a subway tunnel???? probably going to cost 5 trillion dollars to pour 100 trillion tons of concrete to make it earthquake proof.  I think Nancy spent her money for the year when she put in that boat terminal next to her hubby's property.  When the democrats raise taxes on the rich, man oh man, will her husband be pissed off about that!

Mike Honda seems to bringing his personnal issues to his workplace. And please don't start diatribes against the left when republicans often present equally divergent resolutions now and during their majority rule.

yes, I've often sat down and thought about the Armenian genocide and the Turks.  All for about 2 seconds!  What the heck do I care?  The democrats are now going to finish pissing off the rest of the world that started with this administration.  It started with pelosi and her trying to start a war between Israel and Syria.

I can see it now.  They'll be requesting legislation to begin slave reparations next month.

wasted time in congress.  period. done. over. next issue.

MK -

Nice post. I love the way you totally missed the point, which is that the U.S. government need not be spending its energy on this issue when it has so much other, U.S. business to which it should attend. But since you went there, I fail to see how the fact that we "melted down" two of they're (sic) cities soemhow lets them off the hook for the forced rape and enslavement of thousands of women during World War II? Ever heard "two wrongs don't make a right?" Apparently two lefts don't make one, either.

And finally, your closing gem: "apologizing for issues that occurred generations ago never solved anything"

Bingo. So please remember your words the next time someome starts bitching about reparations for slavery in this country. After all, such economic apologizing would never solve anything.

I am stunned by some of these comments.  There is a former comfort woman in my family.  If you think that asking for an apology for systematic slavery and rape are a small thing, ask yourselves if you have the guts to say to someone who lived through it.

"What?  They want Japan to apologize for something Japan did to Japanese?  Uh, again, what? "

No, "comfort women" were often women of the countries that Japan invaded, ie: China or Korea. This is not about something that they did to Japanese women.

No question these were terrible atrocities, but why are we demanding Japan apologize? It seems there are more important issues needing leadership and attention at home (social security, health care for children, the things that used to set America apart). Moreover, after the dirty tricks of the clueless conservatives in the executive branch who are we to demand apologizes, we need look no further than Guantanamo Bay, Cuba or clueless George’s secret CIA prisons. I’m glad my military service is out of the way now that the US has set new rules in play for interrogation.  Well, 15 months and we will begin to undo the damage of the “commander guy”.

How many prostitutes have served US soldiers in Korea since the end of the war under the Status Of Forces Agreement (SOFA)? What a bunch of hypocrites.

"Asking Japan to apologize for something Japan did to Japanese is just too ridiculous to put into words"

This is not about Japanese prostitutes. That is a separate issue. The brothels that the Japanese government set up to keep the American troops preoccupied were established BEFORE Gen. MacArthur or any American troops landed on the main Japanese islands. Japanese conservatives today try to claim that the US forced Japan to set up the brothels, which is not only ridiculous, it is impossible.

No, this is about women enslaved by the Japanese to 'service' their own troops. Typically Korean and Chinese young women and girls (12 was considered plenty old enough) were 'recruited' to be sex slaves for the military, but there were girls from the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, etc. involved as well.

As others here have pointed out, the Japanese behavior in WWII was monstrously barbaric. They made the Nazis look like charming little Boy Scouts. While the Germans have come to grips, as a people, with the horrors that their society visited upon the world, the Japanese, to this day, try to pretend that they were the 'Good Guys' in WWII and that they are just misunderstood. This continues to enrage Japan's neighbors, particularly China and Korea.

Japan really does need the occasional nudge from its best friend in the whole world (the US). Well, maybe a nudge isn't enough. . .Japan occasionally needs a sharp slap to the back of the head, followed by "Nande yo?"

Geezle, have you ever studied what Nazi Germany did? They killed 6 million jews, civilians. Is this what charming little Boy Scouts do? What kind of boy scouts have you ever seen?

For those that constantly choose to writhe in guilt over the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, realize that for the US to send ground troops into Japan to end the war would have been profoundly unpleasant, not just for the American troops, but for the Japanese population as well.

There was, of course, a third option. The US could have simply maintained a naval blockade of the main Japanese islands, patrolling the coast and sinking anything that left port. Along with regular (conventional) bombing sorties to eliminate anything that looked like a manufacturing facility, Japan could have been contained indefinitely. To be certain, the US would have had to occupy Hokkaido, at least, so as to keep the Russians out (so that there would be a chance of a country called Japan existing after all the shooting was over).

How many years would the Japanese high command have tried to hold out, testing America's resolve? In those years, how many tens of millions of Japanese civilians would have died of disease and malnutrition? Naturally, we can only guess, but it is clear that this third option, while risking few American casualties, would be far from the strategy that minimizes the suffering of the Japanese people.

And just so that you know, the Japanese had an atomic weapons development program too.

Yes, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a terrible thing. Wars are generally filled with terrible things. Remember, however, that the Japanese started the fight with America and they were not willing to say that it was over, even when the ultimate outcome was obvious. All in all, the US treated Japan with remarkable restraint and consideration. In fact, one could argue that the military defeat and subsequent occupation of Japan by the United States was the best thing that ever happened to Japan.

Boomer: Is this what charming little Boy Scouts do? What kind of boy scouts have you ever seen?

Things have really changed with the BSs recently.  They have gotten quite vicious.

SHUT UP!! These are your paper Hangers!!! You sent them to Washington, they are your voice """LOL"""!

"Geezle, have you ever studied what Nazi Germany did? They killed 6 million jews, civilians. Is this what charming little Boy Scouts do? What kind of boy scouts have you ever seen?"

From my original message: "[The Japanese] made the Nazis look like charming little Boy Scouts."

Boomer, do you have a problem with English grammar? Specifically, is English not your first language? If English is your second, or third, or nth, language then you are excused. If, on the other hand, English is your first, or (horror!) only language, then perhaps you should spend some time studying it. When you feel you have a handle on how English works, please reread my post. In particular, reread your comment and the excerpt that I included at the top of this message and answer this question: "Where does Geezle say that the Nazis were Boy Scouts?"

I was making a comparison. Let me distill it down to symbols for you.

A:B::B:C

Where
A=Japanese soldiers
B=Nazis
C=Boy Scouts

Got it? Nowhere in there does B=C.

The point of all this is not to argue that the Nazis were a sweet, fun-loving bunch of humanitarians, but rather to point out that as bad as the Nazis were, the Imperial Japanese were worse. Furthermore, the Germans of today are a sober and responsible group that teach their children the reality of WWII in their school history books and civics classes. The Japanese, on the other hand, shield their children from their history and systematically deny or downplay evidence of wartime atrocities. Slave labor was brought to Japan to work in mines and factories during the war. Japanese corporations have employment records of these individuals, yet the Japanese have never conducted any investigations into what eventually became of these poor people.

There is a very good reason why Germany of today is considered a mature and responsible partner by its neighbors. There is also a very good reason why Japan is still considered with deep distrust by its neighbors. Japan, having a very self-absorbed culture (sorta like nation-scale autism), needs help from its best friend (the US) to  fix up its international relations. . .to provide a little guidance from time to time. In this respect, the House resolution is doing a very good thing for Japan (please note that the measure is sponsored by an American of Japanese descent).

Well well. I guess after all of this Sturm und Drang over Japanese ''apologies''we can nix this slavery ''reparations''nonsense pronto.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):