1 Theese hope of which you speek... she must be amaaazing stuff.

2 first? anyhoo
people- who need people
are the luckiest people

3 somewhere
over the rainbow...
stop me if u've heard  this before
if i could say a few words-i'd be a better speaker...[waiting..waiting]
rim shot! thank you, thank you
 now for tonights headliner-shecky greene

4 Hey babs, how's the veal?

5 the veal is much

6 resist the veal we much [better]

7 Bring it on.  We're ready. 

8 Harumph! Some of us have work, important work we much important more to do.
Life much does suck for you resisting Palm Beach County. Every little girl still has a pony around here. Stay in the fracking Rust Belt with your mostly STD infested womenfolk, I'm thinking. Safer that place to way. Harumph.

9 Month 6: Rebels Surround Tripoli @ Drudge, what gives with the photo of the white youth rebel?

10 Life much does suck for you resisting Palm Beach County. Posted by: dr kill at August 20, 2011 06:17 AM (le5qc) What's the forecast for next year's harvest of those sweet, sweet dangling chads of which you participatory democracy Einsteins are particularly fond?

11 "But you cannot have an effective moral code, Nietzsche pointed out, without a God who says 'Thou Shalt Not'".

Well, the libs (as well as some other distractions like a color TV in every home showing crap 24/7, entry level job income without the job requirement, etc.), have pretty much managed to destroy religion, so even though God is still saying 'Thou Shalt Not...', no one listens. 
The other ethical code that might (and ought) to parallel a moral code and protect citizens, such as the Nation of Laws concept as embodied by an enshrined Constitution (that 100 year old document that we once revered in the US) has also been shredded, because our (and pretty much all) leaders are captives of influence, power, and money.
My money (what little I have left thanks to treasonous Bernanke) is on chaos and DOOM, showing up a lot sooner that anyone expects.  

12 I'm reading the book as well, but not quite as far along.   So far, my reaction has been depression: the gloom and doom has solid foundation, and frankly I don't see a way out.  This hasn't been going on here for a decade or two; the ugly process started with the New Deal in the '30s and I seriously doubt there is any politician (or group of politicians) with the will or the power to do something to arrest the decline.  Ominously, what is going on in Europe, Detroit, California and elsewhere today seems eerily similar to the Cloward-Pivens strategy to overthrow Western societies.  Coincidence?  I don't think so.  That we seemly refuse to recognize this revolutionary activity does not bode well for a favorable outcome.

13 Can we talk about golf?

14 I'm scared to read the book. I generally like Steyn's writing, but this one could put me in a very deep funk, even lower than the prospects for my retirement.

15 I would have to disagree this started with the new deal. I would say this started Febuary 3, 1913. The day enough states thought it was a good idea to give the federal government unlimited ability to tax and spend. Yea!!!!!!! 16th amendment.

16 The inexorable slide toward oblivion is gathering steam.

No politician, republican or democrat alike has the will or
ability to stop it.

We have created this situation, we have voted time and again for
politicians that have said the right things but allowed the slide toward
socialism and marxism. Republican administrations have only slowed
it.

We are doomed and no we will not be lucky enough to survive the
decline of America.

17 I'm scared to read the book. I generally like Steyn's writing, but this one could put me in a very deep funk, even lower than the prospects for my retirement.

Posted by: USA at August 20, 2011 07:31 AM (6Cjut)

I'm with you on that.  I couldn't bring myself to read his first book, and this one sounds even more dreary.  I used to visit his web site frequently, but personal malaise set in.  One problem is that I cannot find any major flaws in his reasoning, and his reasoning leads to a future that I really don't like.  Neither I nor the legions of Morons have the time or ability to reverse demographics, especially when the elites have decided that they approve of, and, indeed, want to enhance the accelerated degeneration and perversion of immigration laws to buy votes to retain their elite status.
We now know the working answer to Benjamin Franklin's response, and that is 'We were not able to keep the Republic, Sir!'

18 But the forecast doesn't allow for a reaction. In this case, wealthy, militarily weak nations can see that America is falling and, if they have any common sense, they'll use some of their wealth and build up their militaries.

Forces allied like China with N.Korea are not going to idly await military build-up in wealthy weak nations. China already has "possession" of the infrastructure in the wealthy but militarily weak nations today (African countries with gold, diamonds. China has wasted no time already alliance building with Pakistan/Afghanistan and the other countries near China and India. The N.Korean Army provides China with amply trained boots on the ground. And China has everything the US has, if not more, given their intelligence gathering from within our government/military, permeating our arsenal with electronics and components to easily sabotage from within the greatest Military. The Air Force Magazine bemoans that reality already in article after article, year after year.

Wealthy but militarily weak nations don't usually "build up their militaries" from scratch in their own factories and by their own wits without purchasing (stealing) what they want from those who have, (former) super powers. After WWII, the arms race and Cold War certainly wasn't limited to the super powers. That's been the point of the military industrial complex (mic) Eisenhower admitted, exporting war, exploiting war for profit and more power. And America's mic has not been the only participant. Also, the propaganda certainly has mutated as times require, gone to the ridiculous: "War on Terror" as if one can declare a military war on a tactic and win a victory. Hence, "not interested in victory" and get used to the never-ending wars we're accumulating. Remember your Keynesian dogma, "Debt Is Wealth" arching over the Gateway of Doom. As if that Spending represents "Americana" -- oops, it has. Too bad "kick the can down the road" doesn't win victories. We've proven ourselves great at that game, unfortunately while the UN asserts global "sovereignty" over (formerly sovereign) nations now mere subjects and pawns of the authoritarian global elitists.

Point remains, without wealth, there is no survival.

So far as the US is concerned, given the Federal Reserve bleeding taxpayers dry to repeatedly cover the Ponzi frauds (bail-out globalist "investment" piracy), there is no economic survival, let alone "recovery" until the US Treasury performs without the superimposed domination from the Fed. It must be amputated from our nation's Treasury, and deprived the opportunity to print and coin our money at interest to taxpayers for the Fed's own profit. Until we cut the Fed from our Treasury, the rest of "recovery" is futile, whether economic or military or at this point even diplomatic. In order to be a "more perfect union" domestically, we must have an effective economy.

19 GMB

Yes. Wilson was a monster. His legacy is today's DOOM.

20 Posted by: maverick muse at August 20, 2011 07:41 AM (lpWVn)
"Buddy, can you spare a dime?"

The time lag between the decision to "enhance/create" a nation's military and having field capable forces is measured in decades and requires both money and manpower.  Wealthy nations may have some money now, but demographically, their citizens have all decided that screwing is more fun when you don't have to raise any potential offspring (hence birth control and abortion on demand as the norm), so they are all short on the troop manpower end of the equation.  "Investment" in the military/defense side cuts back on the government provided largess and gets voted down by citizens or diverted to buying short-term votes by "leaders". 
In any case, wealthy sheep are far outside the OODA loop of the rapacious wolves, and the sheep might not like what the wolves are planning for dinner.    

21

I  can't be the only one noticing the  anti conservative advertising on this site as of late? AARP? And the anti GOP ads? W.t.f?  Ace?

22

 In order to be a "more perfect union" domestically, we must have an effective economy.

That's why I've been advocating an American "retrenching."

It's clear to anyone with two functioning neurons to rub together that this global economy thingy just isn't working. We're now exposed to risks that we previously weren't, such as the Japanese tsunami. Why on earth should a natural disaster half a world away distrupt our assembly lines? We could and should be making those parts right here.

We thought that the rest of the world would embrace freedom for their people and move towards more capitalism, following our example. What has happened is that our own government has interfered, manipulated and distorted capitalism until it's just a shell of its former robust self. Then those who did the meddling can rightfully say it doesn't work. HTF can it when it's been strangled by too much government?

We need to concentrate on us for a while. We could be harvesting our rich natural resources and creating a robust economy if it weren't for the idiot politicians we keep stupidly sending to Washington who don't want what we want, a position I am constantly amazed by.

23 21 I think the ads are handled by an ad "conglomerate" so to speak. I don't think they advertizers pick the site nor does the site opt for particular advertizers.

24 We need to concentrate on us for a while.
Posted by: BackwardsBoy at August 20, 2011 07:57 AM (d0Tfm)
Words to live by,

unless you are a typical politician!

25 Great chance for the Flat or Fair Tax folks in 2013--

"One Hundred Years of the Income Tax, Junk it Now!"

26 Sorta OT: MFM fucked up the NASA-aliens-AGW story in many, many ways. (Although the paper's authors are still idiots.) Hat-tip five feet of fury blog.

27

Flat Tax, not Fair. It must be combined with a balanced budget amendment with some real teeth in it. I'd like to see any effort to increase the flat rate go through as difficult a process as possible, like a two-thirds majority vote by the states.

A flat tax of around 12% with no deductions, except for a home mortgage. The Fair Tax has too many opportunities for shenanigans. We've got to clamp down on Washington. If we don't, it will clamp down on us, kinda like it's doing today.

28 There's no effective international disaster relief. Smashed by earthquake? There's not going to be any naval task force flying helicopters with relief supplies.

When the tsunami hit Thailand back in '04, the UN called for a meeting to study what to do...

...meanwhile the US and Australia immediately sent in the military to do whatever they could for disaster relief and mitigation.

A ex-military friend of mine, who was actually a Democrat and not a big fan of Bush at that time (he has re-evaluated that since and has come to appreciate him actually) was living over in Germany when the tsunami hit. He was at a dinner party a few days after when one of the Kraut assholes criticized Bush because he sent in an aircraft carrier.

The fucking Nazi made some sort of stupid comment like "Vat's Bush goingk to do. Attack zee vater??"...and they all laughed.

My friend went ballistic. He not so calmly had to explain to these Eurotrash liberal fucking idiots that an aircraft carrier was 1) the perfect platform for launching helicopter search and rescue missions, and for delivering food and water and other supplies, 2) it has a fucking hospital on it, and 3) can de-salinate a million gallons of water a day.

This is the essence of the difference between conservatism and the mental disorder know as liberalism

29 The fucking Nazi made some sort of stupid comment like "Vat's Bush goingk to do. Attack zee vater??"...and they all laughed.

My friend went ballistic. He not so calmly had to explain to these Eurotrash liberal fucking idiots that an aircraft carrier was 1) the perfect platform for launching helicopter search and rescue missions, and for delivering food and water and other supplies, 2) it has a fucking hospital on it, and 3) can de-salinate a million gallons of water a day.

This is the essence of the difference between conservatism and the mental disorder know as liberalism

Posted by: beedubya at August 20, 2011 08:12 AM (AnTyA)

Ya know....maybe we should have just stayed out of WW2.

30

Ya know....maybe we should have just stayed out of WW2.

Posted by: Tami at August 20, 2011 08:15 AM (X6akg)

Europe Yes, Pacific No.

Although, if we HAD stayed out of the Pacific, Hawaii would never have become a state, and we might have not have a problem with birth certificates issued there.

31 In tomorrow's final installment - a leeeetle bit of hope.
Ice cream will still exist for the masses.

32 Anybody know how to get rid of my latest firefox "update" and get it back to the way it was before? I hate the goddamn thing.

33 I listened to Boortz for a couple of minutes on the ride home yesterday. He summarized what ace has been saying for the past 2 years.

38% D will vote D

42% R will vote R

20% of independent and swing voters will determine the outcome.

Abortion and Gay Marriage as issues will push the 20%'ers to the D side.

This next election needs to be about Jobs & Economy.

It was interesting to hear.

34 Elephant Attack

35 33
...This next election needs to be about Jobs & Economy...
Posted by: sTevo at August 20, 2011 08:28 AM

If you care to wade through my assorted travails, click my link and scroll back for my "drive by" reports on the economy. Briefly, I've never seen anything like it, and I go back to Truman.

The MBM won't say a word, because it would make Boyfriend Obama look bad- but it's so grim I've never seen anything like it- not even when Wee Jimmy was Preznint.

36 Anybody know how to get rid of my latest firefox "update" and get it back to the way it was before? I hate the goddamn thing.

Posted by: backhoe, Hobbit tea-roar-ist of Doom at August 20, 2011 08:24 AM (rFdqZ)

Same here.  I used Zsoft Uninstaller (freeware), but the add/remove programs should work as well, to remove the installed (new and improved) version of FF.

I searched for previous versions of FF (Mozilla site) to find 3.6.18 (I think) and downloaded that.  After that, it was a regular install.  Even though you may specify a complete de-installation, the book marks seem to survive.

As a masochist, I am actually running a FF variant Aurora. (7.0a2 (2011-08-16), a beta version of some eventual potential branch of FF), and it seems very stable and flexible.  It does get updated a lot and there are some feedback options you might find annoying.

HTH.

37 This whole premise is bullshit. All we have to do is vote in the Republicans in 2012 and all will be well again. Right?

38 The MBM won't say a word, because it would make Boyfriend Obama look bad- but it's so grim I've never seen anything like it- not even when Wee Jimmy was Preznint.

Posted by: backhoe, Hobbit tea-roar-ist of Doom at August 20, 2011 08:34 AM (rFdqZ)

It is past time to start ignoring the cooked numbers that the establishment pumps out and the garbage that the MFM publishes (without supporting objective) data. 

Look around your community and see how many small businesses are now thriving; then look at where small businesses once were thriving; then look at (admittedly speculative but economy related) commercial real estate and count the space available signs; and then look at a google foreclosure maps for your (or any) area. 

You will quickly conclude that if this isn't hard times, you don't want to be here when hard times arrive.

39 All we have to do is vote in the Republicans in 2012 and all will be well again. Right?

Posted by: USS Diversity at August 20, 2011 08:36 AM (KbEJl)

Yes!  Vote the Straight RINO Establishment Republican ticket and you know you can't go wrong!

40 Remember to uncheck ff and search engine updates under: tools options advanced updates. This should help you keep your current version of FF.

41 Hrothgar expresses well our sentiment.

Band of Brothers, "The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead."

Against all odds, miracles sometimes happen when people are determined as our non-aristocratic farming and craftsmen founding fathers proved. These men actually fought for years nearly naked without shoes and without food and without proper shelter during the worst winters, watching their friends die needlessly of illnesses and starvation, themselves suffering, literally diving under frozen rivers that broke under the weight of canon in order to retrieve what was required for the battles to be independent and establish American Liberty. For years of the worst deprivation, they had to believe in their "Great Cause" and put their lives on the line, and accept Prussian military disciplined training to prove their own effect before any help would be arranged from the King of France whose ships prevented the British retreat, enforcing the British surrender.

Our fathers believed in themselves, each other, and in posterity, us.  They fought as great and wealthy a superpower as existed, and again in 1812. Thank God they won. But that they willingly and always put everything on the line for what Washington called the "Great Cause" is what makes them heroes and our (my) ideal as Americans. So when the British invaded and burnt down the White House, the "woe is me" never overpowered the fighting American Spirit to maintain our Liberty and take back our nation's capital.

Ideas "live" metaphysically forever. Tell people to not think about a subject, and of course that subject is what their thoughts ponder. Even in doom, "Abandon all hope, those who enter here," there are the eternal myths proclaiming salvation through love of the ideal.

Yes. We're stuck with over a century of Progressive Socialism that has completely corrupted our Constitutional Government and our nation's economy as well. Nothing new there. The problems have been diagnosed for years, and those espousing reality check were/are dubbed crazy radicals. Regardless of finger pointing, the strategy for our recuperation is "use it or lose it" so hold tight to what is most dear, our Constitutional Governance that limits and balances official powers which today are ignored by abusive authorities. Our Constitution has not yet been ruled a non-binding document. So at election, vote on the platform maintaining constitutional integrity. Rather than promoting the media propagandized status quo that so prettily protects and augments our nation's ruin with a charismatic facade for dupes who fall for lip service, break that trend which has already facilitated DOOM.

42 Posted by: sTevo at August 20, 2011 08:44 AM (VMcEw)
Good point, but I usually leave the 'check for updates' box checked but also check the  'ask me what to do'.  That way I know if a newer version is out there, but don't have it automatically installed.  Practically, it seems once you have any browser running in a mode comfortable for you, turning off the update feature and locking down the version males a lot of sense.

43 15 I would have to disagree this started with the new deal. I would say this started Febuary 3, 1913. The day enough states thought it was a good idea to give the federal government unlimited ability to tax and spend. Yea!!!!!!! 16th amendment.

Posted by: GMB at August 20, 2011 07:33 AM (wY55N)

As disastrous a the 16th Amendment has been, I believe it's potential for misuse could have been contained had the 17th Amendment never been ratified. The 17th fundamentally changed the character of Congress from a bicameral Legislative body that set representatives of the People's will against representatives of the State governments' wills, basically ensuring little legislation would be passed unless it truly was in the interest of both the people and the states.

The 17th has left us with an upper and lower house, closer to a Parliamentary system then we were ever meant to have, changing Congress ever closer from an organ of a great republic into an organ of a declining democracy, and basically destroyed the confederacy of republics that is Federalism. The 16th was a bad idea, but it's the 17th that allows it's unending abuse. I've felt for a long time that if I could only make one change to the Federal Government, repealing the 17th would be it, the rest should slowly fall back into place afterwards.

Of course, telling people you no longer get to vote for Senators, but your local state reps will so maybe you should pay closer attention to who you are sending to your state capitols, is not a winning argument to a public that has been led to worship it's "democracy". I just hope I'm dead before the inevitable collapse occurs, but I doubt I'll be so lucky...

44
  Looks as though it's quite fashionable to wring one's hands and bemoan the country's demise, if this thread is a true indication.  I appreciate the concern shown, I agree the situation is dismal, but  y'all done beat it to DEATH.

  From this corner, we'll be working phone lines, helping at the polls--whatever is deemed necessary to win the upcoming election.  I have an unbreakable faith in my country--it is, simply, the most exceptional place on the planet.  I'll be totally fucked if  I will allow these progressive shitstains to destroy it.

  You can deride this post, laugh at the author---don't damn care. But PLEASE, can we quit with the whining?

45 Posted by: maverick muse at August 20, 2011 08:48 AM (lpWVn)
DOOM is the natural state of man.

Men and women that hold that the concepts that 'our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred Honor' have meaning are our only hope of survival as free citizens.  Despite the best efforts of a coordinated liberal establishment, such people still exist in this country (elsewhere not so much), and they may still stave off the impending DOOM. 

46 The people are the problem, unless we fix ourselves there is no fixing anything else.

47 Thanks, Hrothgar- I'll give it a try. $#@! automatic updates...

48 sTevo--This next election needs to be about Jobs & Economy.


At this point, I can't help but think that Independents are completely concerned about Jobs and Economy.

Those voters desiring to legislate social issues are playing the same game as their opponents, whether pro/con abortion/gay-activism/amnesty/drugs/education.

But without an economy, no one enjoys any independence or "rights" except the abusive power mongers.

49 Posted by: mugiwara at August 20, 2011 08:58 AM (KI/Ch)
The 17th was another subversion of the cleverly constructed labyrinth of methods the Founders put in place to protect the people (in some cases from themselves).  The 17th made Congressmen and Senators virtually identical except for the duration of their terms.  The election of Senators by the State legislatures provided a bulwark against the encroachment of "State"power by the Federal government.  Preservation of State power let you vote with your feet, as opposed to a one size fits all Federal nowhere to run system (so desired by elites).

Representatives<->locally elected in districts
Senators<->State legislature elected
President<->Nationally elected
A different path to power for each branch was provided to make it hard to establish national power bases, but what did those old dead white guys know.

50 Western Civ has been on a slide since WWI. A lot of today's problems and bad ideas came out of that war. Of course the stupidity leading up to it could arguably be considered the start of the decline, with each power gleefully accelerating toward their own suicide.

51 BTW Morons, you guys are really slipping. I did just read through all the comments on this thread and sadly report to you that I am the first to notice what a stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure Barry is. Very disappointing...

52 Obama is a stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure.

53 Steyn is pointing out that one side has the psychological edge of being able to tolerate more losses. --Musings - not obviously decisive. As the war drags on, resistance to losing more sons as cannon fodder is building in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But they do have more staying power than you expect because of loss-of-son tolerance.

Numbers aside, they have the mindset to endure, no matter what. It's their genetic make-up in the mountainous and isolated tribal regions, and their consistent history: survival and (at least mentally) rejecting the invader.

Such a pugilistic independent nature is what we (I) extol in our founding fathers and each "greatest" generation of Americans who fought/fight to protect our Constitution.

Diana West wrote a piece yesterday linked @ Breitbart's Big Peace that deserves our attention since the MFM and politicians refuse to acknowledge what is missing in our Afghan War, "purpose".

Maybe the omission is connected to the fact that Petraeus didn't also speak of the great national purpose for which these valorous soldiers had just risked life and limb. And maybe that omission is connected to the fact that there wasn't any. There weren't any American deaths at the Battle of Margah, either, and maybe that fact, for the military, is part of what makes it so memorable. But on the night of October 30, 2010, "one of the biggest localized fights" of the decade-long Afghanistan war took place and no one noticed, not even after Gen. David Petraeus called the outpost's battle to save itself from being overrun "one for the history books."

Everything transitoryis only an approximation;what could not be achievedhere comes to pass;what no-one could describe,is here accomplished;the Eternal Feminine [Sophia/wisdom]
draws us aloft.

54

A miserable clusterfuck of a stuttering failure?

The economy has fallen and it can't get up.

55 The people are the problem, unless we fix ourselves there is no fixing anything else.

Posted by: MarkC

So is there a "Final Solution" in our future?  Just wondering. 

I agree that the attitudes and beliefs of many so-called Americans have lead us to this pretty pass we are in, but we're sorta stuck with each other now.

It's been 150 years since the Civil War and people are still arguing about it.

56 Posted by: Hrothgar at August 20, 2011 08:59 AM (yrGif)

Ah, yes. DOOM, the Tree of Knowledge between Good and Evil, and the "fall".

Yes, the matter on which optimism rests is within us, to maintain the good, that light prevail over darkness though each exists and play on us in turn. And the ability to discern determines the temporal survival of good made manifest. But one's blindness does not limit the existence of good, be that goodness hope or action. After all, the sun is not limited by man's perception of it. And those who function best utilize all perceptions to the best of all senses available, and appreciate greatly like minds wherein alliance matters in survival, if not simply enjoyment in life.

57 44 Of course, telling people you no longer get to vote for Senators, but your local state reps will so maybe you should pay closer attention to who you are sending to your state capitols, is not a winning argument to a public that has been led to worship it's "democracy". It doesn't help either when most elected Republicans prattle on endlessly about the wonders of "democracy".

58 IronGranmpa said: From this corner, we'll be working phone lines, helping at the polls--whatever is deemed necessary to win the upcoming election. I have an unbreakable faith in my country--it is, simply, the most exceptional place on the planet. I'll be totally fucked if I will allow these progressive shitstains to destroy it. Sorry dude, There's really not a lot you can do. Work the phone? WTF... we've got a nation that's gone completely lawless. EPA causes the cost of a car to go up by $11,000. Who do I fight? Where do I as a law abiding citizen get to push back? Can I help find or arrest an illegal alien and get them the hell out of the country? Can I tell congress that I'm not going to abide by some law since it's obviously unconstitutional? This isn't like the gunfight at the ok corral where you could strap on your gun and get in the fight on either side you wanted. Why is it that any single court case anywhere that supports a liberal cause is the only one that counts. Why does one decision mean that abortion on demand is the law of the land? Why is it not permissible to EVER re-look at a court case? No, as much as I love this country, we are truly boned. I think a big part of the problem is that we can't find and fight the enemy. How do I fight the EPA or the DOE?

59 It's been 150 years since the Civil War and people are still arguing about it.

No majority of Americans argue that slavery was/is wrong.

History is written by the victors.

Prior to the secession of Southern States, the more populous vote North (enjoying the vote majority because of slavery) imposed tariffs on the agrarian South but not on the mercantile North in order to pay for the 1812 War debt (greatest damages from the British impacting the North). Irony gloats. The North was against slavery (as some in the South were as well, though never in sufficient number to voice anything but a minority vote). Yet the North required funds derived from slavery in order to rebuild its mercantile industrial economy.

But even that record as told by Civil War victors (Northern "Union") suffered Progressive Revisionism (instigated by Northern elitist liberal-socialists via Ivy League propaganda) to the extent today that speaking (let alone knowing) the historical record is "hateful" and leaves on subject to a frivolous law suit prosecuted by the State or US Attorney. And the word "deserve" is tied tooth and nail to "empowered" and "entitled", legislated not simply from the bench by judicial activists, but as PC policy, is running every branch of government including our Military.

Yes, history is a bag of worms. Allow the dead to rest in peace.

60 And, in the end, Latin and South America will never have gotten their shit together and contributed anything, and so they weren't missed...

61 Great chance for the Flat or Fair Tax folks in 2013-- Flat tax! Fair tax is simply the old income tax circa, I don't know, say 1930, with the same untapped opportunities for shenanigans. To think that my grandmother, who's 100, remembers a world where income tax didn't affect lives.

62 When the shit really hits the fan, and things here in Denver are truly in the toilet, I'll move to Alaska.  Even if I have to fucking walk there and leave everything behind.  That might be the last place in the US where sanity (and copious use of firearms) will prevail. I'm partial to the Kenai peninsula, but might even take Fairbanks.


Ain't no flash mobs in Anchorage, either.

63 Of course, I'm forgetting Wyoming...I love that state. Some of the most spectacular geology on the planet. More cattle than people. Friendly, hardworking, honest people. Great trout streams...what's not to love about that?

64 I think Steyn's first predictions (America Alone) were so spot-on despite his linear thinking about history because he lucked out that his linear assumptions kind of fit the curve of what's actually happening, which is more like a pendulum (sort of - bear with me here). Now, it doesn't follow the *path* of a pendulum - we don't just go from good to bad and back again. But there is a tendency to go one direction and then slow and then go another direction. After America is the straight-line projection, whereas we've seen some pushback and slowing in real life (partly because of a sudden acceleration on both the Islamic and American Political fronts toward DOOM!). Now, I don't know how it's going to turn out, but we at least have a chance to get control of the fall. Doesn't mean we'll *like* where we are in 20 years, just maybe it won't be disastrous. For us, I mean, The rest of the world is boned, that's a given.

65 I have been quite impressive with your posts, keep up the great work.