Your are right Joe. We have the "problem" of Korea because we had a gutless wonder named Harry S. Truman as President, who felt apparently that by kissing the asses of the China and the North Koreans and not solving the problem, but rather helping it metastasize into an even more virulent form, that he and his Democratic party were actually doing the jobs they were elected to accomplish.

MacArthur, like Patton before him, made the mistake of thinking that the goal was to actually win the war - rather than surrender as you are about to defeat the enemy.

The Democrats did the same thing in Vietnam - effectively making a total waste out of the ultimate sacrifices of over 60,000 American lives by derailing the Vietnamese situation by forbidding the U. S. to continue any participation in that area when - Nixon, weakened by the Watergate fiasco - was no longer able to make good on promise to South Vietnam on his threat to bomb the North Vietnamese again if they violated the peace treaty - which was working and which was enabling South Vietnam to retain its independence and move forward.

As a result it is no great stretch to lay at their the feet of the Democrat's cowardly, cut and run feet, the deaths the millions of deaths that ultimately resulted in Cambodia by the instability they helped create in the region by allowing South Vietnam to die on the vine, not to mention the enslavement of all of South Vietnam and God only knows what horrors were inflicted upon those people in South Vietnam who had supported us.

If Truman had had done what needed to be done and stood up to China and demanded - backed by the threat of an act of war against China and the willingness to use our at that time nuclear advantage over them - that China get out, return our prisoners (whom they later used as guinea pigs for brain washing and testing of new torture methods) and made good on his threat if need be - it would be a vastly different world today and China would not think, as it so clearly does now, that we are a paper tiger, rather than the real deal.

It is not an accident that most of the retiring military men think that Obama is a lousy Commander in Chief - it goes with being a Democrat; remember it was Roosevelt who felt that "Uncle Joe Stalin" was our friend and who refused to think of him as anything else; all the while Stalin was playing him for a fool and stealing our atomic secrets with his spies within the Manhattan Project.

Roosevelt, for those who are historically short, was also a Democrat.

They seem to have plenty of $$ for missles. Maybe they should try eating those.

.

I am sorry, but until the North Korean population decides to fight for itself against its dictatorship, with sticks and stones if necessary, I have no sympathy. None.

And for all of those who give the "helpless children" argument...well...their parents aren't helpless...they are complicit in their own children's starvation.

Please excuse the typos in the above post.

I will make a prediction. Kim will start his saber rattling against the west, threatening to use nukes on the south and our stupid gov will appease him with food aid if he puts his saber away for the winter season. Actually it is not a prediction but just a repeat of every winter with this nutcase.

Stoops, You are correct. Lets also not forget about how roosevelt also dimissed Chaing in China after our entry into WWII and instead decided to disband the AVG (Flying Tigers) and decided to give all the military aid to Mao instead thus enabling Mao to take over China at the end of the war courtesy of the all the U.S. military hardware he had recieved. It was because ole FDR didn't like the fact that Chaing had the word Republican in his party and Mao was a so called Socialist. I guess the word Socialist appeased him so much he thought that they could never be bad. These are facts.

So lets recap what I just said for all those who have a hard time with true history.....FDR helped create Communist China.

Your perception of history in China is not quite complete. FDR, of course, had no power to dismiss Chiang. China was never ours to lose. It has always been an independent sovereign nation.

@Barlow...as long as we can point out your self-promoting demeanor. Who are you to judge someone and their opinion?

The international famine relief agencies developed a food package for starving children which is composed mostly of peanuts. This should brought to these hospitals. The reason North Korea is starving is that millions of people who should be doing farming are endlessly marching and drilling in the North Korean army. Kim Jong il and regime are a bag of nut cases. They should resign in disgrace and hand over the running of the North to the South Korean government, but their perks are too good to give up. This regime is COMMUNIST, not socialist. In the USA we have extreme right-wing nutcases in the pay of the Koch Brothers who believe that any aid given to one's fellow man is an example of Socialism. Those people need to shut up because they are weakening the USA and pushing it in the direction of becoming another North Korea on the extreme right.

Joe - Unite the Koreas?

So the wackos in the North can utilize the vibrant economy of the South to build a bigger and more dangerous war machine?

Don't think so.

I just finished reading a remarkable history of how Communism materialized after WWII so rapidly. In addition to the usual deceptions and malevolence of the Communists, the real agency which assisted in the delivery of China and much of Asia to the Commies, was none other than our own State Department. The same is exactly true for Cuba. Once you read and understand all that went on and why, you can easily see that academic elitism and ineptness and a naive Liberal view let it all happen without much difficulty. It is almost as if Communist sympathizers were running the State Department then. And Now???

"The only things I could save were the portraits of the Great Leaders,"

That, in a kernel, is their downfall. Perhaps she didn't own much more than those portraits, but leave a population in abject poverty and malnutrition long enough, and you get "cattle", not human beings.

To those who think the population needs to solve this problem by rising up, they can not. Perversely our modern "enlightened" age creates the conditions for this country's leadership society to wall the nation in without any real threat of invasion and control food in such a way to keep it's people ignorant and without the nutrition to have much energy or mental clarity to change anything.

Ultimately, this situation is only tenable because China supports them. Not entirely the "official" China, but the strong undercurrents of Corrupt China. And what does China get? They get a steady stream of trafficked women in all likelihood breed for trade, the one "product" they have that China needs, women. China also gets to look "good" to it's own population. Nothing like someone else's misfortune to feel a little better about your own situation.

Joe,

It breaks any parent's heart to see the pictures of these children. Something must be done to help them, but don't expect China to lift a finger or they would have by now.

Truth is, China doesn't give a rat's @ss about NK or anyone else but themselves. Between 1950 to 2009, in total, China spent 256.29bn yuan ($38.54bn) in foreign assistance – roughly the same amount the US provided in 2010 alone. That should tell you all you need to know.

But this is what you'll get if China becomes the lone superpower - barely any assistance to the outside world. Enjoy.

We failed to have victory as MacArthur wanted and lost many men and dollars to create a boogey man , North Korea .Since that time North Korea was a source of warmongering to justify big spending on useless armaments and now an object of demonizing. It does not seem to bother China and Russia , but it seems to bother us. Unite the Koreas , allow the free exchange of goods and services and Communism will collapse. The propaganda how bad life is there only detracts from problems at home.Let the Chinese worry about North Korea , they have a lot more money to spend.

Appallingly glaring ignorance of the situation.

Unite the Koreas , allow the free exchange of goods and services and Communism will collapse.

All of these are prevented by the communist party of North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong-Il. How do you propose that the Koreas be united or that information be freely exchanged when the ones in charge of NK continually prevent those things?!

Sanscience...I am sorry my friend, but they can rise up. The history of revolt is long. Some revolts are successful and some are not. But until the people there rise up, no one is going to go out on a limb for them. That is just the way of human beings and the way of the universe...

Joe, Stoops,

Perhaps you should be reminded of who the president was when we were evicted fron Vietnam. A Mr. Richard Nixon comes to mind. I have noticed your rewrie of history is a bunch of diatribe and incorrect information. I can only assume you are both TPing GOPers.

Now the point that is missing is should we support a country that holds daily hate America rallies, refuses to spend money on foodstuffs for it's people, who believe America is the great white devil, a country that has time and again blackmailed Europe and America with nuclear threats of all kinds. Is a country that sells nuclear weapons technology to terrorists or to any entity that will pay them. or should we (YOU) use this as an opportunity to make political points by lying and misleading others. I see you have made you choice. (Wrong choice)

davefromindianapolis

You might be right. That was what Bush did to appease the North Koreans.

Navy, you're right about Bush, but don't forget his predecessor, Clinton, did the same. This is not a partisan issue, it's a human rights issue.

Navy Patriot, maybe you should remember that it was under Nixon that we employed the use of the B-52 and also handed N. Vietnam such a terrible defeat - the killing of about 50,000 of their regular soldiers in concert with our actions that finally drove the bastards to the peace table and made them settle.

THEN, after Nixon had promised South Vietnam if the North reneged on its promises he would renew the bombing, and then, because of Watergate and his evaporating power base, the shark-like Democrats smelling blood took the opportunity to outlaw our having any further involvement in the area, that THEN the North re-invaded the South with the resulting horrific images of people trying to jump to catch the last helicopters out of what THE DEMOCRATS had helped create.

THEN, because of the political instability caused by the DEMOCRATS craven, despicable abandonment of the South Vietnamese came into being the likes of Pol Pot - which resulted in the deaths of millions.

We did not loose in Vietnam, THE DEMOCRATS undermined our military as well as our allies and by their capricious actions directly helped slaughter millions of people. That is the type of idiotic leadership you get with a Democrat and why those retiring form the military feel that the current Commander in Chief is not someone worth following (and probably if the truth be told, someone they have any respect for - just as military men had no respect whatsoever for our other "great" Democrat Commander in Chief, Bill Clinton, who helped gut the C. I. A. of over 30 percent of its foreign agents and who reserved all his yeses for Monica gentle, sweet administrations to the Presidential person in the Oval Office, rather than reserving even one little, itty bitty, tiny yes for okaying the assassination of bin Laden.

How do you say, "Who helped most set the stage for 9/11 as perfectly as perfect could be? by enabling the mastermind behind it to live when he had three chances to kill him but said NO each time?" Easy answer: You just spell: B I L L Clinton.

Your entire message is bull, fox much.

Perhaps South Korea can stand on it's own, but it should not be abandoned. There are many good things about South Korea, and good people.

I spent two years serving in South Korea in the US Army. Frank is absolutely correct about the people, they are true friends and very loyal to their friends. I honestly feel that we are in Korea, not to stop the North from coming south, but to influence the South from going north! The South Koreans are a proud people and miss their relatives trapped in the North!

My father in law served all three years in combat in the U.S. Army in Korea fighting the Chinese, Soviet Union, and the North Koreans. Over fifteen years ago, my husband designed the South Korean's control system for their multiple nuclear reactors to provide electrical energy needs (HEY! Dept. of Energy--your a little behind the eight ball here) since they have had, prior to this time period, rolling brownouts as standard operating procedure.

My husband and I had three South Korean's here for training during that period of time. We had my husband's family and business associates over for a party for our South Korean guests. The two oldest men, older children during the war, bowed and shook hands with my father in law, thanking him for freeing and serving in South Korea's battle against communism. The youngest one, born well after South Korea's war, didn't understand the older two's immense respect to my father in law but dutifully paid his respects to him under the scrutinizing eye of the older gentlemen.

All three gentlemen commented that grass in yards was very uncommon in South Korea. Why? As we were told, almost every square inch is devoted to food production aka vegetable gardens in some way shape or form. I cannot see that this has changed dramatically in fifteen years, because the South Korean's are continuously aware that they are in an armistice situation and that the 38th Parellel is the only thing keeping the North from invading. Perhaps Ed is correct that we are there to prevent the South from heading north, but the South has much more to lose than the North. The North will either starve to death or be shot to death, and there is greater possibility of being starved than shot at this stage of the game.

The Koreas are at a stalemate with neither the Chinese or the United States be able, either knowingly or willingly, going to change the situation or balance of power in the region.

Our presence in South Korea helps to keep the whole of North East Asia from blowing up into armed conflict. And before you post your response to this- Yes we do have an intrest in NOT having a war in the far east. Remember last time there was one it draged us in.

Uh, Jimmy? China hates North Korea. Ever since the war they've been trying to shake that parasite.

Come back when you understand basic East Asian politics.

uh, toast. China is their biggest and best friend and will defend the north with military action if they are attacked. Where the F have you been for the last 60 years?

all their military hardware has "Made in China" stamped on it. DUH

How much of their military hardware stamped "Made in China" have you seen? I assume not very much. NK produces most of their own hardware. It is what their Juche ideology is all about and why they kicked out the Chinese Army in 1957.

And it's also why they are starving because all their resources are devoted to military production.

Yes, N. Korea wen the way of its military industrial complex. They have the attitude let the children starve, we need guns not butter. Very much like another country I'm living in. Meanwhile the Communist Chinise make iPads for us American consumers.

Wake up America. Get our jobs back. Get the greedy corporations under control. Our children could be next.

Dave, inform yourself on some basic East Asian politics, and then come back and talk with the grown-ups.

Most of their weapons are marked Made in Russia. Russian MIGs, Russian Kalashnakov rifles, etc. etc. etc. Russia gave up on them a few decades back and they still have the weapons and still buy from the intl. arms market. That is why they have no food. Kim Jong Il and his invisible brother 'Men Tally Il' Spent the money on military hardware. Toasty is the one who is right on this argument. forgive the mentally ill joke. I couldn't resist.

Exactly. And ever since the USSR collapsed, the DPRK has resorted to begging from the Chinese, who downright hate them.

I don't think the Chinese actively hate the North Koreans, but they certainly don't like them. They see them as a useful buffer and lightning rod. They can keep a vassal state on their border as a buffer against South Korea and dangerous ideas like democracy, while at the same time point to North Korea as being far worse than they are.

You've misnamed yourself 'Patriot'. You should be called 'USA Idiot'. I think the world would agree that their leader is a candidate for a booby hatch but to wish starvation on anyone, let alone defenseless children is beyond ignorant, it's inhuman.

As for the Sally Struthers crack all I can say is that your humor sounds as childish as your compassion is nonexistent. I just hope that you have an excessively low motility rate and don't reproduce.

What good is sending them food aid? They'll just divert it to their army and political elite. It's like sending aid to Somalia; the people who really need it don't have the guns.

@USA wow!!!just wow...I can understand your anger but my God what a thing to say... those people are in hell right now don't ya think...such a sad sorry person you seem to be.

You moron, I am ashamed to be American just because of your name. Like children have any say as to who their "DICTATOR" is. Dictators are people who rise to power wither the people of that nation want it or not. I am in total disgust.

Ship that religious garbage. "Our government" will give $B's to Israel, Pakistan, and will "try to minimize the death tolls when we bomb other countries. Now, we will withhold humanitarian aid, but not continued flow of US made weaponry. That's what a "great country" does?

The trouble with N. Korea is that you can't believe them. These pictures were taken by the government. You could walk into any hospital and find sick children and take pictures and claim all the child are in the same situation. N.Korea is NOT TRUSTWORTHY!!

Wow. I never thought I'd see someone take glee in a picture of an infant painfully starving to death. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised with the American far-right these days. Not after they cheered death and booed a US soldier serving in a warzone...

I am impressed at the gullability of these postings. You people don't recognize propaganda when you see it. Your house is collapsing and the only things that you save are the pictures of the great leaders - this is pure propaganda. Put yourself in their place ... your house is collapsing and water is rushing in and the only thing you would save is cheap picture of Obama? I think not - this is pure propaganda.

The food crisis may be partially true, but this is mostly a fiction created by the North Korea government so that they can collect more food - and sell this excess food to other countries for cash and weapons. They do this every year. They don't distribute food to their peasants - they never had, and this is why there is starvation in the country. Please research the articles written by the refugees that have smuggled themselves out (usually via China to Thailand).

And realize that this country is the largest counterfeiter of US Dollars in the world. The US Government informally describes this country as run as a criminal activity. They kidnap, hijack, resort to piracy, and do many other illegal activities to fund their government benefits.

interested observer
I am impressed at the gullability of these postings. You people don't recognize propaganda when you see it. Your house is collapsing and the only things that you save are the pictures of the great leaders - this is pure propaganda. Put yourself in their place ... your house is collapsing and water is rushing in and the only thing you would save is cheap picture of Obama? I think not - this is pure propaganda.

Is it the right or the left that ships American jobs to China? Note: The demonstration on Wall Street is against the right and their money grabbing ways.

sandtrich, I am a little confused by one part of your posting. You said that US would not stop the flow of weapons. Are you saying that US supplies weapons to DPRK? If you are I think that would surprise a number of people, especialy North Koreans. We are, as part of United Nations comand, steel technicly at war with them. We don't even have an embasy in North Korea. Oh and untill they conducted their nuclear and missle test it was the US of A that was the leading supplier of food aid to that regime. Also, it was not even a year ago that North Korea sank a South Korean ship and shelled a South Korean island killing about 50 people in the 2 "insedents", now they want the world to feed them? Mind you I am not saying that starving children should not be helped. What I am saying is that we MUST make sure that any aid we choose to give goes to those starving children and not to the millitary.

Ilya-2069799
sandtrich, I am a little confused by one part of your posting. You said that US would not stop the flow of weapons. Are you saying that US supplies weapons to DPRK? If you are I think that would surprise a number of people, especialy North Koreans. We are, as part of United Nations comand, steel technicly at war with them. We don't even have an embasy in North Korea. Oh and untill they conducted their nuclear and missle test it was the US of A that was the leading supplier of food aid to that regime. Also, it was not even a year ago that North Korea sank a South Korean ship and shelled a South Korean island killing about 50 people in the 2 "insedents", now they want the world to feed them? Mind you I am not saying that starving children should not be helped. What I am saying is that we MUST make sure that any aid we choose to give goes to those starving children and not to the millitary.

I didn't imply that the US provides weaponry to NK. Just check out the illegal relationship between the Koch Bros and Iran. I wouldn't rule anything out.

Sandtrich

Their weapons are Kalashnakov, not Colt or Remington. Do ya' think ya' might find a clue in there somewhere. Geeeeze!

If a patriot you are, USA i doubt more evil empire unless talking out your a..ss is a sign of patriotism. Don,t drag the USA down to your level.

Compassion? Enabling a drug user isn't compassion. Compassion is giving the "hard" love necessary to bring an intervention. Its only when the people realize that no one is going to help them but themselves will they start to gain the courage of changing their futures.

Hard love? So the best thing to do is to look away and pretend nothing's wrong? It's not your problem, or America's problem, so the answer is to let them deal with their own issues, right? Everyone's comments I'm reading really disgusts me. Is this what all Americans are like? I know people can be selfish, but to say it's alright for people in another country to starve.. This is really a shock. Oh yeah, so let China take care of the problem? Every country has it's own responsibilities. Who are you to say "this is what I can do" or "that's what they should be doing"? Really...

These people aren't starving because of some freak accident or catastrophe. They've been starving for decades. Thats what happens in communist countries. That is what happens in countries with oppressive governments. North Korea has both. If people are tired of starving, then they should rise up and end their slavery.

If you think giving them enough food to get by just so they can remain starving slaves is some how more compassionate, I would disagree whole-heartedly.

Death is a kinder fate than living under communism/socialism.

but the protesters and Stephen Lerner and Van Jones et al. want to create a 'workers paradise' here in the evil capitalist USA. How come they never seem to look at the reality of totalitarian regimes? These children are heartbreaking. It is criminal for a government to spend millions on a military while letting its citizens starve. If this level of starvation were happening here, if the scale of the starvation were here, I think there would be a revolt. Of course, starving people are docile people.

Because nobody is calling for a totalitarian regime, MG. Grow up.

Toasty: What is communism if not a totalitarian regime? Perhaps you should pay attention.

What is communism? Something that nobody is calling for here. Like I said, grow up.

Um Toasty... All those yellow pre-printed signs that the Occupy Wall Street protesters are waving around were from the COMMUNIST WORKERS WORLD PARTY. You think they are not advocating communism?

Nah, they're advocating yellow signs made by union print shops:)

Actually Toasty, we already have totalitarianism in the U.S., or are well on our way to it. It just doesn't starve too many of us - yet, but... wait for it.

By the time the corporatist/welfare-statist system we have is finished destroying the country, we will be really damned poor. No one will own anything, and many of us will be begging the government for food.

You just completely pulled that out of your ass again, didn't you Watch?

Actually, Toast.

Some of us actually keep up with current events.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers_World_Party

http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2011/09/workers-world-party-youths-occupy-wall-street/

http://www.workersworld.net/

Don't worry.... I actually don't expect you will read them and become informed.

Watch out Toasty the Republican and Tea Party Trolls are out from under the bridge again. They actually believe it is good to rob from the poor to save the rich. Their diatribe about communism and socialism is a ploy to cover greed and theft. They see the people beginning to understand how they have stolen the American Dream by taxing the middle class out of their homes while sending the jobs overseas. They will lie at the drop of a coin and then steal the coin.

First off, who gives a @!$%# about the WWP? And why are you attacking them for wanting more American jobs?

because the WWP is a communist ideological front. Guess you want a perfect communist society. BTW: Marx considered socialism the bridge between capitalism and communism. And we all know how well communist systems work, now don't we? Wait, apparently some people still think communism is a viable system, they sure keep wanting it real bad. Think if they had to live in a communist country they'd be looking to escape fast as their tiny feet would carry them.

Oh wait, isn't this article about people starving under a communist regime?

Wow, that's one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen someone post.

I don't like their philosophy any more than you do, but letting them starve won't expose it anymore than capiltalist countries helping them will.....the point has already been made anyway, and those people need help. Allowing them to die when the international community could help would be even more evil than the NK govt.'s mismangement.

Somehow helping someone remain a slave isn't all that compassionate to me. Instead of food, we should be smuggling in some guns for them.

Under the guise of helping starving children survive they will use to food to feed their military forces and party cronies. They roll out sick kids for photo opportunities. Providing no emergency rations is current U.S. policy toward N. Korea. It is correct,

I am shocked. I am also as conservative as they come. I have no love for the government of NK, but, my lord, to say that millions should die to expose a political fraud is heartless. I would certainly be in favor of something like the Berlin Airlift if it could be done. Hand out rifles and bread. The rest will take care of itself. Do not let the UN or any of these other Leftie organizations get their hands on anymore US dollars to spend in ANY of these countries. It has been shown time and again that Americans are the most generous in the world when it come to things like this - sometimes to our own detriment. Get the needed supplies directly to the people! Rifles and bread!

This goes waaaay beyond 'taxation without representation'. The North Korean people are BRAINWASHED, not crybaby or lazy. They are not failing to overthrow their leader due to not wanting to do something difficult. They have been systematically brainwashed during the decades since the Korean War. Kim Jong Il is not just a dictator, he and his deceased father are worshiped. Anyone who tries to defect, or even just does not buy into the personality cult is killed or put into concentration camps (which is basically a death sentence), along with their entire family. It's very easy to talk about overthrowing your government when someone else has already done it for you. Any "American" who had grown up in those circumstances would be doing the same thing most of those North Koreans are doing - trying to survive from day to day.

Yeah, because it's just that easy, isn't it, USAP? It's amazing how people who have never had to sacrifice in their perfect, sheltered little lives seem to think that breaking the shackles of a brutal regime is just as easy as "just overthrow it."

The personality cult that is in place in North Korea is scary even when compared with one created by Stalin and Meo. When Stalin died even people that were harmed and imprisoned by his regime wept. The aparatus of represion is so pervaisive in North Korea that you can not organize a group of any size without being betrayed and having your entire family killed or sent to work camp. This is not something Americans faced in 1776.

and starving people are weakened without basic nourishment. Where is the basic humanity here? I'm not talking about an armed insurrection or shipping over filet mignon and pate fois gras but to have no human compassion, no sympathy for even the smallest of the population - the kids - is inconscienable to me. That booby Obama will send suitcases of cash hot off the presses to Mexico, or Pakistan to fatten the pockets of drug kingpins and terrorist sympathizers but no one wants to air drop baby formula? Rice? Nothing? What is wrong with you people?

I doubt the air drops would be allowed in such a paranoid country. I agree with you that our money to foreign countries is wasted on those who receive it. Sad when you realize how often famine is created not by natural disasters, but rather, by the actions of people.

Air drops weren't allowed back then either, but we did it anyway.

Sadly enough, they don't even know about the Arab uprisings. North Korean people in general do not have world news or access to the internet. Despite all of these hardships, they believe that their Great Leader, who turned in a 43 at Augusta and single handedly fought off the Great Siberian Bear Mounted Cavalry, will guide them. There is an undying loyalty to the government, but I'm still not certain it is driven by fear, but ignorance to the outside world.

The amount of propaganda and brainwashing is off the charts, it's amazing.

What about food in exchange for unification and peace?

Yes. Hey, we'll feed your people DIRECTLY (not your military), but first... you must...

... what a great negotiating tool.

I agree. The children are always the ones to suffer. It's so sad.

Food for weapons/warheads. Seems like a good trade to me!

Applauding the slow death of infants to starvation. This is disgusting, Lawrence.

Toasty..... I don't think that anyone is applauding the slow death of infants to starvation. The truth is that any aid sent to NK will not go to those that you (and I) are concerned about, it will go to the Military and priviliged relatives and friends of the Dictators families. Instead of bad mouthing everyone, why don't you spend your energy in developing a feasible way of ensuring that those in need recieve what we all would be willing to provide if guarenteed that it would go where needed!

These aren't pictures of communism it's of idiocy for a leader who cares nothing about his people. Communism sucks but let's not be false here.

BTW China which is communist is eating our lunch if you haven't noticed.

Wondered where my hot pocket went....

That's what happens when you promise a Chicken in every pot. Maybe we should not push the rich out of America to soon. First we need to make sure we have lots of chickens.

All this talk about comparing this situation to helping a drug user is pure rubbish! It's like Johnny Depp comparing photographs taken to being raped. Those of you spewing these synaptic misfires shine a very bright light on your gross lack of humanity and inability to feel the most basic compassion.

I have more compassion than you will ever posses, I just see better than you, and I see frightening things in the future. Maybe you should study a little HISTORY. You may think people don't care because they don't always show that side of themselves but I assure you that alot of us old farts have already been around the block, and know what is around that corner. Call me an a hole I don't care its a learned thing its a rite as in a passage, some thing you will have to do on your own. if you survive( Not directed at you Purvexen this is in general young people should study history we have been here before)

Uh, Watch? North Korea wrote communism out of its constitution YEARS ago. These guys are hard-line conservative militarists.

Toast, there is nothing conservative about them. There is no private enterprise, period. There is no God except the leader who wears a military uniform or who lies perpetually in state as Lenin. Socialism and Communism are evil as they take individuality away, tell you what to think, have your children inform them of your actions and beliefs to the state, take your land, take your business, etc...... George Orwell wrote extensively on the subject, he called it "Animal Farm".

The eventual end of Communism, Socialism, etc.... is death. It takes away the personal nature of nurturing, and replaces it with the cold Stalinist diety called the State.

Conservatism has nothing to do with private enterprise. Who taught you civics?

The real tragedy here is that the rulers and military will always get all the food they want, while parading starving children before the world, and there's nothing practical that we can do about it.

Ah yes, because it would be horrible to be a bit more like Canada.

You are the A-typical snot nosed, American Capitalist. You'll never know empathy until you demand it from someone else.

Toast, I didnt talke the Civics class from Jane Fonda as you did. I love how elitist liberals love to re-define words to make their actions more palatable.

The issue transcends the liberal/conservative argument. Should we have stood idly by during the holocaust? FDR turned a ship full of Jewish people around and sent them back to Germany during the holocaust and knew full well what their fate would be. FDR was advised if we destroy the railroad infastructure of Germany, we could stop the wholesale slaughter of Jewish people, he chose not to destroy the railway. Whether FDR was a liberal or conservative is not the issue, what he did was evil.

The previous administrations (Republican or Democrat) and the current administration give platitudes to the issue of North Korea. These poor people have been held hostage by a crazy, totalitarian, communist regime since the early 1950's.

They are dictators - it doesn't matter whether they're conservative, progressive, religious, atheist, whatever. They do not have the consent of the governed, and that allows them to abuse the governed at will. Kill, maim, conscript, starve, tax, plunder, rape, whatever.

In this country, totalitarianism has learned how to "look pretty" for the camera. Our Dear Leader can assassinate an American citizen without due process, but he spends a lot more time making it "look good." Don't protest too stridently; you may end up on a list somewhere.

TunTavern I don't know where you're getting your ideas, but neither FDR nor anyone else knew about the extermination camps in Germany before we showed up in our tanks. It's preposterous to claim that FDR knew about it and refused to bomb railroads to break it up.

The problem with wild-ass claims like this is that no one will listen to even the reasonable things that you say, if you also shout that you believe in ghosts.

From the Holocaust Museum: www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005267

From PBS "American Experience"

3. President Roosevelt's Apparent Reluctance To Help Europe'S Jews

Entry from Assistant Secretary of State
Breckinridge Long's diary in which he notes that President Roosevelt supports
his policy of encouraging consulates to "postpone and postpone and postpone" the
granting of visas

A report written by Adoph Held, the president of
the American Jewish Labor Committee recounting President Roosevelt's 29-minute
meeting on December 8, 1942 with a small delegation of American Jewish
Leaders

After the State Department confirmed reports that Hitler was planning to
murder all the Jews in territories under German control, several American Jewish
leaders including Rabbi Stephen Wise managed to arrange an audience with
President Roosevelt. At this meeting, the only one FDR had with Jewish leaders
about the Holocaust, the President was presented with a document outlining the
Nazi plan to annihilate European Jews. As this report of the meeting indicates,
the president was acquainted with details of the atrocities being committed by
the Nazis.

Memorandum of Conversation by Mr. Harry L.
Hopkins, Special Assistant to President Roosevelt regarding a meeting with
Anthony Eden March 27, 1943

Four months after the State Department confirmed the dimensions of the
Holocaust, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden met in Washington with
President Roosevelt, Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Undersecretary of State
Sumner Welles. At this meeting, Eden expressed his fear that Hitler might
actually accept an offer from the Allies to move Jews out of areas under German
control. No one present objected to Eden's statement.

"Washington Times Herald" report on the march
of 400 Orthodox rabbis to the White House

On October 6, 1943, 400 Orthodox rabbis marched to the Capitol where they
handed Vice-President Henry A. Wallace a petition for a government rescue
agency. Later that day they walked to the White House and handed the document to
a presidential secretary. The rabbis had tried for weeks to arrange a meeting
with FDR in person. The White House claimed the President was unable to see them
because of "pressure of other business." FDR's appointment diaries show that he
had a light schedule that day.

Stopthejunk, I dont give a crap if it was FDR or Ronald Reagan. What was done to the Jewish people by our government during the holocaust was deplorable. The fact of the matter is that FDR was anti-semitic and advised by those who were anti-semetic as it was normal in that day to be one.

The modern day holocaust of starvation is due to communism and our "tolorance" of it. RWR, GHWB, WJC, GWB and BHO's administrations have done nothing but give platitudes on the subject of North Korea.

Oh, the ghosts remark? How snobbish of you.

Tavern, how can you accuse other people of redefining words when you just completely pulled a definition for "conservative" right out of your ass?

You are toast

They would not support a revolt. The military are part of the ruling class, and much like the republicans, they don't care a whit how many poor people starve to keep them in food and luxury.

That's right, I compared the republicans with the elite of North Korea. The shoe fits. Wear it.

And if it does not fit, as in this case, can we through the shoe back at you?

It's ridiculous to ask starving people to revolt. Modern dictatorships are extremely hard to overthrow, and if the dictator is willing to butcher his own people, then they are impossible to overthrow - the power imbalance is too great.

The only reason the Arab Spring is succeeding - in some countries - is because the dictators there are not willing to commit pogroms to stay in power. Also, the protestors are not starving. Once you have enough to eat, then you can worry about freedom. There are some people in this world that are so hungry, the only way that God can appear to them is in the form of bread.

theCalavier - I have to disagree with you on two counts. First, Republicans and Democrats are the same on everything that is important. While the power struggle between them is real, there is no real philosophical debate. So if you throw Repubs under the bus, please throw all the rest of our political trash under the bus as well - where they belong.

Second, the only reason our Dear Leaders do not treat us the way that the Kims treat their people is because there are 100 million gun owners in this country. Not because they love us more; but because enough power still rests with the people - and cannot be wrested away. That is the ONLY reason.

If they could manage it, the wealthy/powerful elite (both parties) in the U.S. would have us penniless and starving. Like George Carlin said, they don't give a f-k about you. Only the ultimate threat of armed revolt keeps them in their place. And in NKorea, the people have no such power.

My father fought on Okinawa during WWII and has the same opinion as you. He saw a lot of hunger among the local population during that conflict. My son comes home from Afghanistan this week.

Thank you for your service to our country.

Retired Vietnam Vet you are my hero and I too thank you for your sacrifices and service for us all.

I couldn't agree more. Money flows like water out of this country to all sorts of places. Why can't we drop some help for those kids? Not cash (the govt will jump on it like a monkey on a cupcake) but we can certainly drop things that are nutrient rich for kids. Come on!

I wish I had the answers I really do but I don't we can't trust North Korea If we help that little fat pr!ck will use it against us, we can help with food for the children but will it go to the children, or will it go to support his massive Army? Children should be the last ones to suffer, there they are the first, I'm afraid this is a problem of the North Korean people they have to stand up, then the help will pour in they live in total poverty and don't even know it. they don't know the outside world. what a shame the ruling class and there Divine leader live like royalty and the people suffer, they have to stand up that's all there is to it, events from within is their only hope, How many of those children could have been fed on those trainloads of European cars and Rolex watches given out for Pudgies Birthday.

Yes, there is something wrong with this picture. Short of finishing the war we were in in '52, and completely removing the North Korean military and leadership, nothing can be changed. It's our choice, of course, but we will do nothing, because it's not really in our national best interest.

No child deserves to starve, to be treated cruely, to be unsheltered, or abused in any way. That said, how do we get the food and aid to the children without it being stolen by the dictatorial regime of Kim Jong Il? I see and hear all of the political rambling and posturing that is on this thread. Now show me some rational solutions. I admit, I do not have a solution. I am at least willing to find and support one. Let's stop the bickering and look for a way together to make this better than it is. Even if it is only a few children and they are being used for propaganda, it is still too many.

Don't you mean "make" China feed them? They aren't going to do it out of the goodness of their hearts.

China wont help a country that has no money.

China has nearly a billion peasants that they can barely keep fed. The prosperity that they show the world is a front, and most of the country lives in abject poverty.

how the hell can anyone help these people while the country is being controlled by an A$$HOLE. Do you really think this pig face idiot cares about his people???

Well happy Camper they are dying!

The only good racist is one that's dead.

One world order? god help us all.

..and put it on Jim's credit card.

duplicate

Lord, please forgive franksam.

The children won't get the food! That fat little Kim will take it all and ask for more. don't you pay attention its a slave nation the ruling class don't care.

Sorry Jim, it would never get to the children.

Speaking of ruling class D Buck. Maybe David Jong Koch could chip in a little for the starving children.