JAPUNDIT Open Thread – 012

03/01/2008 @ 5:01 pm

Here is the Open Thread for the week in which readers are invited to discuss things that have been on their minds, regardless of whether they are on topic.

Rules are very loose for open thread posts, and usual restrictions concerning topic matter do not apply. Feel free to sound off about anything you want.

By Edward, Stored in: Open Thread

2 Responses to “JAPUNDIT Open Thread – 012”

Edward Chmura Said:

Found the following here.

So I went I did some searching on the Okinawa Prefecture’s official webpage and found this graph of criminal statistics involving US servicemembers stationed on Okinawa. The graph has statistics of crime committed by all Status of Forces Agreement personnel on Okinawa between 1972-2001. On the last year of the graph, 2001 SOFA status personnel committed 70 total crimes on Okinawa compared to 5,268 total crimes committed on Okinawa overall. Those 70 crimes when compared to the total crimes on Okinawa worked out to be 1.3% of total crime on Okinawa in 2001. This is significant because Okinawa has a population of 1,318,218 people while SOFA status personnel on Okinawa have a total population of roughly 50,000. This means that SOFA status personnel make up 4% of the Okinawan population but only committed 1.3% of the crime in 2001.

If you look at the graph you can see 2001 was actually a high year for crime because in the six years prior SOFA members comprised less than 1% of crime on Okinawa. Even in 1995 when the infamous rape of a 12 year old Okinawan girl occurred SOFA status personnel composed .5% of crime on Okinawa that year. Clearly when looking at the statistics, SOFA status personnel of Okinawa have committed less crime then the general population on Okinawa since the 1970’s. If anyone has the current SOFA status crime stats for Okinawa please leave a link in the comments section and I will add the findings to the post, but I seriously doubt the number of SOFA crime on Okinawa has surged above the 4% of the total population of Okinawa that SOFA status personnel comprise on the island.

March 1st, 2008 at 7:05 pm

remora Said:

this is to Marie – hence it isn’t a topic as such, but a person..a very valuable and long standing contributor to Japundit.

Over a year ago (I softly raised) the issue of “gender balance” for want of a better hackneyed phrase.

I believe it can only to the good and benefit Japundit overall if there is a more even mixture of men (boys in my case) and ladies, both as contributors and as commenters.

I’m no prude, and I can certainly go the argy-bargy with most that I have encountered around here..well, whether it’s my age or my upbringing, but it slightly offends me, when somebody becomes deliberately smutty and sleazy during a discussion (I hate the word argument) and a woman is on the receiving end of the remark.

Marie, please continue to contribute and comment..you are the First Lady of Japundit and an inspiration to others like you.

Make this your motto (suggested) “Nil Carborundum Bastardum”…dont let the Bas#$%*d’s Grind-you-Down.

*I would write you a short poem, but as I know you are a poet also, far superior to me – it would be fairly pointless and futile.*

yours sincerely

remora

March 2nd, 2008 at 9:57 am