Truman averted ‘a massacre of biblical proportions’

As President Obama lays a wreath to honor those killed in the world’s first atomic blast, some see it as an apology, and as I read a biography of Harry Truman, I wonder if Obama, and the world in general, know what President Truman faced in August of 1945.

Germany had surrendered, but the war mongers of Japan were alive and well. Knowing that the war was lost, the Japanese military had pledged their lives to the code of the Samurai, which interestingly sounds lot like the Muslim code of jihad. Honor in death, disgrace in surrender. Truman was well aware of the years of Banzai, where the Japanese made countless suicide attacks, not to mention the Kamikaze plane attacks, much like the 9/11 suicide bombers. Japan had in reserve as many as 6 million armed, fed, motivated troops with three thousand airplanes all dedicated and itching to die in the honor of their god/king Hirohito.

The Japanese war department already had in place a plan that would starve the too old and the too young to carry a weapon. Young girls were being taught how to attack carrying only sharp spears. The only concern of the leaders of Japan was to die in a blaze of glory. To think that they had any concern for the 300,000 Japanese citizens who died due to a single bomb is to ignore the history. They had for years endured fire bombing of their cities with no concern for their citizens.

What Truman faced was a massacre of biblical proportions. The invasion of mainland Japan projected the death of as many as a million American soldiers. The death rate of the Japanese was projected at 6 million, and this did not account for the millions who would starve and the millions who may decide that suicide was better than defeat.

Truman was the man for the times, in my opinion. God bless him and to hell with political correctness.

Samuel Teague


Appreciation for those who support the military

Thank you for publishing the story about the removal of the American flags from Ridgecrest Cemetery and Highland Memorial Gardens.

Numerous volunteers spent hours placing those flags to honor our veterans on Memorial Day, only to be told, as you reported, by the owner of those cemeteries to remove them just a few days later. That is disgraceful.

The owners obviously did not appear to place a high value on the sacrifices of our military and cared more about their own convenience.

Regardless of the apparent indifference of StoneMor, the cemetery owner, I applaud The Jackson Sun and the people of Jackson for their strong support of our military.

Leanne Braddock


Flags should have stayed on veterans’ graves

I really wish that Jon Harrison and the other fine veterans at VFW Post 1848 would have ignored the StoneMor Co. cemetery owners, as they were ignored by them with their “declined comment,” and not removed those amazing flags that were placed with such great love and respect!

This is a disgrace. I myself had a flag placed at my husband’s grave site, and it brought tears to my eyes that he was remembered in this way. Honor from one veteran to another. How lovely!

Lynn Williams


America is in midst of moral decay

What has happened to America today? We have people who only think of themselves. They show this by being rude in public and behaving like their rights are all that matter. We have a generation of young people who want everything free. They don’t realize that when they get older they will pay for what they think is free today because the national debt won’t go away anytime soon.

In today’s America, Christians are told to accept everything that goes against their beliefs. We are called names and told that our beliefs are out of date. This started with taking prayer out of schools, next came gay rights, then gay marriage and now it is transgender (which is one-tenth of 1 percent of the population). We are called Bible-toting, Bible-quoting people who are against the moral issues facing America. The truth is we love the sinner and hate the sin. One of the steps of socialism is to remove God from the government and schools. My question to those who support this transgender movement, what would they do if a pervert went into the restroom with their wife, daughter, or granddaughter?

In history, nations and empires have lasted around 200 years and have been destroyed from within, which is what is happening to America. We are approaching our 240th anniversary as a nation, so we are due. America is like putting a frog in cold water and gradually turning up the heat. He doesn’t realize what is happening until it is too late. We are losing our freedoms gradually, and the sad part is that a lot don’t realize what is happening.

If Hillary Clinton is elected, America will be lost forever. Finally, as Christians of either party, how can you vote for someone who supports the moral issues that go against the commandments of God.

Tom Dinwiddie


Libertarians may pose threat to major parties

I spent a pleasant Memorial weekend partly enjoying the accoutrements of the Libertarian party’s convention in Orlando, Florida, part of which was dwindled on Saturday in a noisy, undisciplined debate between their five candidates for president.

The major differences between the Libertarian candidates were few, on the subjects of global warming and foreign policy, disagreeing only slightly on some economic and domestic issues. As candidate John McAfee stated during his opening remarks, there wasn’t really a lot of light between the five of them. And, overall, their positions and ideas were more extreme than anything from Bernie Sanders.

Which is probably why Rand Paul now calls himself a Republican.

Like the major parties, the Libertarians have been invaded by ideological interlopers who come to it from the tea party and Republican sides and from the wings, as it were, to challenge the ultimate winner, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, the party’s nominee in 2012.

My purpose in observing was serious, as the Libertarians this year pose a major threat to the Republicans and Democrats alike for the first time, as well they should. It does none of us any good to be constantly stuck with the best of two bad candidates — not that the Libertarians offer any hope.

But if they can make headway this year it would go far to break a long chain of events and lead us toward a multiparty system offering better choices. Americans might not like the confusion of multiple candidates at first — after all, it was probably confusion that landed a sociopath in the GOP seat. But after a few turns, the superior nature of multiple choices could become apparent. Not having always to choose between the two worst candidates might even become so popular that voting itself could come back into fashion.

Alan Asnen


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