1 What a way to start the weekend!

2 curious to start linking to OT subjects in 3...2..1..

3 Jeez - so now I need to choose whether to relax this weekend, or play Russian Roulette.

4 The Tea Party as the last hope for America.  Keep that in mind as the leftards and their MSM lapdogs call you a terrorist, racist, extremist, blah, blah, blah

5 How did Rome lose 75% of its population in 50 years?

6 3 Jeez - so now I need to choose whether to relax this weekend, or play Russian Roulette. Posted by: Vashta Nerada at August 12, 2011 05:14 PM (UhTsC) Relax.

7
Beer O'Clock.

8 The Doom Song! from Invader Zim. http://tinyurl.com/2wws3r

9 How did Rome lose 75% of its population in 50 years?

Beats the hell outta me.

10 If After America does happen, make damn sure it's not after you're out of food and ammo.

11 How did Rome lose 75% of its population in 50 years?

It's always in the last place you look.

12 How did Rome lose 75% of its population in 50 years?

Climate Change. Seriously -- there was a warm period during the rise of the Republic and Empire, and the Dark Ages were actually cold and dark in comparison.

So the agriculture tanked, and people starved.

13 5 How did Rome lose 75% of its population in 50 years? Posted by: PJ Don't know for sure but, well into the 19th century, cities could not maintain their populations without new people immigrating from the countryside. Disease! Rome would have been the happy hunting ground for germs.

14 by all means visit marksteyn.com and look for his various interviews and audio responses to questions love this one http://www.steynonline.com/images/stories/books/aa%20question%206.mp3

15 So, one of the things Steyn is saying is that Obama is the symptom, not the underlying disease.  Is there a red or blue pill for that or is amputation required?

16 Stein can be funny, but sometimes he's just too glib. To wit: P18. Geopolitical implications. There are 3 major world civilizations. West, Muslim, China. [What about India, Mark?] Muslims - (other than oil) economically weak, demographically strong. [Don't you think poverty mixed with growing population is a prescription for WEAKNESS, Mark?] China - economically strong, demographically weak. [China is as economically strong as WE are: stop buying her cheap crap, and she implodes. Demographically, she's beyond weak: she's headed for disaster] West - weak on both. Economically we are as strong as we CHOOSE to be. Vote out Obama, put in a solid conservative... I predict the next decade will be one of boom. Demographically, America is the STRONGEST major nation on Earth, thanks for a reliably growing population - by the next century, I don't doubt there will be more Americans than Chinese in the world.

17 On Topic: Preppers for the Zombie Apocalypse are Potential Terrorists according to the FBI (link goes to Oath Keepers).

18 After a thousand years of islamic darkness, where will the new Renaissance begin?

19

the end of America as we knew it has already happened. 

The question is how to manage the transition.  The best thing I can think of is to live in a fairly self-sufficient area (a small town kind of place with its own nearby power generation, wild food/farms, and water).  I don't live in such a place, but some family does. 

We're never getting out of this hole without violence and blood.  Best to let the big cities tear themselves apart and buy junk silver for the underground economy.

20 baldilocks --

Insty linked to this Examiner article on the subject this morning.

21 13 How did Rome lose 75% of its population in 50 years? Climate Change. Seriously -- there was a warm period during the rise of the Republic and Empire, and the Dark Ages were actually cold and dark in comparison. So the agriculture tanked, and people starved. Posted by: Meiczyslaw at August 12, 2011 05:19 PM (bjRNS) Well, the more immediate change was that the Vandals seized control of North Africa, cutting off the free grain that maintained ancient Rome's incredible 1 million person population. Without the free food, the population imploded. The same happened to Constantinople in the 600's: the Byzantines lost grain-producing Egypt to the Muslims, and the free food in the capital came to a halt. The population imploded from 500,000 to 70,000 overnight.

22

 If Steyn - or anyone else - thinks that China is econmically strong, they simpy haven't been paying attention. While we were building gated communities and McMansions that no one could afford, China has literally been building cities the size of L.A. ...year, after year, after year. Those cities remain all but empty. Their real estate bubble hasn't blown up...yet. ...and it dwarfs ours. That's just one example of the underlying economic problems they have.

23 Posted by: Meiczyslaw at August 12, 2011 05:24 PM (bjRNS)

Same one linked in that piece.

24


a reliably growing population

no, we're not.  The population only grows thanks to immigration (legal and illegal).  Our base birth rate is barely above replacement.

from the CIA:

Total fertility rate:
    Field info displayed for all countries in alpha order.
2.06 children born/woman (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 123

25

A rude awakening: Certain categrories of thickheaded stupidity exist despite extensive higher education, and in some cases because of it.

What would make an elderly guy with a Ph.D. from Stanford be a rabid Obama supporter even now? I know such a person.

What it the mechanism of the educated fool? It is a question of the day. There is the desire to belong to an ad hoc elite as outlined by Ace, there is ego, there is belonging to a group.

But to have one's survival instict suppressed to the point that the current spending orgy is not cause for immediate existential alarm is just - extraordinary. It's like an alky who has developed pain in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen, has the whites of his eyes turned yellow - and who just quells the fear and pain with more of whatever he's drinking.

One thing that really bothers me is that the failed authors of this vast clusterfuck and their allies presume to order us around more than ever now, rather than showing some appropriate chagrin and introspective reserve. Where is the god damned shame?

26 Posted by: CoolCzech at August 12, 2011 05:21 PM (kUaEF)

India is Western.  I work with lots of native Indians now, and they're just as comfortable (sans Hooters and such) here in America as they are at home.  A few minor cultural differences, but they're basically Western.

27 > 18 Stein can be funny, but sometimes he's just too glib. To wit: Muslims - (other than oil) economically weak, demographically strong. [Don't you think poverty mixed with growing population is a prescription for WEAKNESS, Mark?] Posted by: CoolCzech That was covered in American Alone. Also, I'm just posting VERY brief summaries and impressions. Often you'll find obvious objections answered in the book. Ref India. Big country, big economy. Not a world player.

28 28 a reliably growing population no, we're not. The population only grows thanks to immigration (legal and illegal). Our base birth rate is barely above replacement. from the CIA: Total fertility rate: Field info displayed for all countries in alpha order. 2.06 children born/woman (2011 est.) country comparison to the world: 123 Posted by: imp at August 12, 2011 05:26 PM (UaxA0) Our population ALWAYS grew principally due to immigration - there is nothing new about that. From 2.5 million in 1776 to 40 million by 1840: the VAST bulk of it by non-English speaking parts of the world.

29

Warren Bonesteel at August 12, 2011 05:25 PM (E7Z1r)

I agree. And there are many individual Chinese in the new middle class who exhibit the weakness of a developed society - a soft unwillingness to work hard. They are not ten feet tall.

30 i have a friend who just spent a few days with me. Her husband works at the the place where that current precedent lives. She never discusses what happens at his work, but she says he comes home furious and that i would NOT BELIEVE it. Thats all.

But we had an interesting discussion about how America is essentially two countries and two groups of people occupying the same physical geography, and essentially we get alone like Israelis and palistinians. Two belief systems, two different histories. All different assumptions and yardsticks for good and evil, neither group sharing the others perspective at all... We both mused on if, at some time, it will work out as well for us as it did for them (sarc)

good news is... red America breeds. Blue not so much.

But what makes us exceptional is this... when a would-be tyrant tries to subject us to their will there is always the reflexive red American question of "OR WHAT?"

The Blue answer is often the suckup answer of "what do i have to do for you not to hurt me?"

People who cling to guns and religion are much harder to control and subjugate because they dont fear death, the fear slavery and dishonour. SO we have that going for us. I think someday there will be a Taxpayer rebellion or some sort of huge civil rift which will amount to a collective shout of OR WHAT?!!!!!

And then we will figure out if its possible to live together after that. I am not sure that one half has a reality that ever imagined in a million years that we would eventually say ENOUGH.

My friends husband says they cant imagine it. They think we will go on forever just bearing more and more of the burden. That they have a bad case of teh Dum.

31 Malaria is believed by many to have played a large role in the decline.

But the birdies' egg shells were robust and durable!

32 Ref India. Big country, big economy. Not a world player. Posted by: Comrade Arthur at August 12, 2011 05:27 PM (AEA92) If we can work our way past how awestruck we habitually are by the Chinese, we'd see that China is hardly a bigger one. Their cultural influence beyond their own shores is nil, their political system hardly a model that will inspire emulation on the scale America has. The Chinese are NOT 10 Feet Tall. I know it's hard to believe... so repeat it, often.

33 Muslims - (other than oil) economically weak, demographically strong.
China - economically strong, demographically weak.
West - weak on both.
__________

So... we instigate trouble between the Muslims and the Chinese, then pick up the pieces after they've worn each other out?

34 By being early with America Alone, Steyn both faced the wrath of the old order but also helped to structure the way people discerned the break down as it happened.  Even those who denied and hated him still had to start from his apparently proven right premise as they tried to push their propaganda. 

I recall reading Steyn back in 05 etc.. when it all seemed far off and ambiguous, yet his early writings are exactly what help me see the patterns in what was happening.

35

Our population ALWAYS grew principally due to immigration

If the shit falls apart, immigration is not going to be a major population driver in this country, except to the extent we will be overrun with unskilled refugees. 

36 ...where will the new Renaissance begin?

Morris Berman discussed this in "The Twilight of American Culture."

It's a pretty good read, except his solutions kinda lean somewhat socialist, from what I remember.

37 And by the way: China's aircraft carrier is an old (literally) joke, a hapless Soviet-era clunker purchased from the Ruskies. It's hardly the Nimitz.

38 Well, the more immediate change was that the Vandals seized control of North Africa, cutting off the free grain that maintained ancient Rome's incredible 1 million person population. Without the free food, the population imploded.

Yeah, but once Belisarius eliminated the Vandals, the population should have rebounded. If you look at populations historically, they're primarily limited by their agricultural capacity.

Granted, it did take 100 years to get rid of the Vandals, so they might have done more damage to said capacity than I'm giving them credit for.

39 So... we instigate trouble between the Muslims and the Chinese, then pick up the pieces after they've worn each other out?

Why must I be surrounded by frickin' idiots?

40 39 Our population ALWAYS grew principally due to immigration If the shit falls apart, immigration is not going to be a major population driver in this country, except to the extent we will be overrun with unskilled refugees. Posted by: IMP at August 12, 2011 05:31 PM (UaxA0) That is so. THAT is why we must kick out Obama, and commit the country to LONG TERM Conservatism. You know why Obama suddenly came to the fore? We've allowed the radical left to indoctrinate our kids in the public schools. President Perry needs to see that that STOPS.

41 I do wonder what led him to believe that China is economically strong. Check out their per capita GDP versus ours, or any western European country's. Not that we aren't doing our very best to level the field...

42 Also ref china. America's decline is in progress no matter what China does. One scenario is America falling and China replacing it as the dominant world Another scenario is America falling and nobody replacing it as the dominant world power. Both scenarios are disturbing. So accurately saying China has problems or the Muslims are absurd doesn't change the fact that America is in trouble.

43 Ok I F*ing give up. How do you make a devil emo here?

44 > 41 And by the way: China's aircraft carrier is an old (literally) joke, a hapless Soviet-era clunker purchased from the Ruskies. It's hardly the Nimitz. Posted by: CoolCzech That's their learning carrier. They're building their own - and we're paying for it with interest payments.

45 Devil emo?

}

46 I'm sorry, but I just don't buy the America is in decline meme. It pops up ONLY each time a liberal President is in office. The last time was in the 1970's. I lived through that decade, and everyone was convinced of our alleged decline even then. 20 years later, we were the world's only superpower. Elect a solid conservative, capable President. Morning in America, Folks!

47 5 How did Rome lose 75% of its population in 50 years?

Posted by: PJ at August 12, 2011 05:15 PM (FlVA

Illegal immigration

48 Nitpick, replacement in developed countries is 2.1 births per woman.  If we're at 2.06, we've already dipped below replacement.

49 48 steal it's pitch fork?

50 I don't see an audio version listed on amazon.

51 Two things:

1) Barack Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.
2) Please do not begin any post with "I have a friend..." I makes my eyes immediately want to skip your post, and sometimes you do actually have something interesting to say.  I'm sorry, it's just become a habit.

52

“and at the end of the day, we need a candidate with a proven record on jobs, like President Barack Obama”.

 And there are no American tanks in Baghdad.

53 : evil : :evil
: twisted :

Omit the spaces and you have your lil' devils...

54

_{How do you make a devil emo here?}

You were mean to us, so we aren't telling.

BRB, sacking Rome!

55 Er,

56


That is so. THAT is why we must kick out Obama, and commit the country to LONG TERM Conservatism.

You know why Obama suddenly came to the fore? We've allowed the radical left to indoctrinate our kids in the public schools. President Perry needs to see that that STOPS.


Must, need, should.

In other words: never going to happen.

How does "President Perry" make unionized leftists employed by 200,000 local governments stop "indoctrinating" anyone.  How does that matter for the 5-10 year window where everything goes to shit.

Enough of the bromides and vague platitudes. 

I really like what you write, CC, so this isn't a slam at you. 

But there's no way in Hell that this country goes ANYWHERE except into the abyss in the next decade.  Maybe we climb out, maybe only part of the country does.  We have as a nation not been this ideologically divided since the Civil War. 

As soon as the food stops getting trucked to teh US inner cities, the London riots will look like a first grade sandbox fight.

I truly believe it is simply too late.  If you can convince me otherwise with something beyond optimism, I'm all ears.  Not that this is a campaign message, far from it.  It's just the way I see it.

57 > 51 I'm sorry, but I just don't buy the America is in decline meme. ... The last time was in the 1970's. I lived through that decade, and everyone was convinced of our alleged decline even then. 20 years later, we were the world's only superpower. ... Posted by: CoolCzech We had problems in the 1970s. We fixed many of them in the 1980s. Just because we avoided a disaster doesn't mean the disaster wasn't in our face. We face another one now. We have a few years to deal with it. Very few.

58 Omit the spaces and you have your lil' devils...

Hm. So which plug-in do we seem to be using?

59 How did Rome lose 75% of its population in 50 years?

Water, food, folks fleeing to more secure locations, violence, disease...really, when civilization falls, you can take your pick.  I've seen projections that imply that a similar situation in a 'Modern Western' locale would be lucky to have only 75% casualties...

60

If we're at 2.06, we've already dipped below replacement.


precisely.

61

Gabriel Malor, rdbrewer, ArthurK, Ben, and DrewM. - you all have been doing an awesome job today filling in for Ace.

Have a drink on me

 

62 34 i have a friend who just spent a few days with me. Her husband works at the the place where that current precedent lives. She never discusses what happens at his work, but she says he comes home furious and that i would NOT BELIEVE it. Thats all.

My ex-boyfriend--still a friend, still talk to him almost every day--worked for a three-letter agency making big bucks, but was angry all the time; something that contributed to our break-up.  Earlier this year, he walked away and has become a different, much happier man.

People who cling to guns and religion are much harder to control and subjugate because they dont fear death, the fear slavery and dishonour. SO we have that going for us.

Posted by: Gushka at August 12, 2011 05:30 PM (QNeKQ)

Amen.  Great comment.

63 Hm. So which plug-in do we seem to be using?

Firefox, no special plug-ins, the codes are here.

And, having contributed to the delinquency of a thread, I'm outta for a while...

64 So, it's like the One's Federal Gummint has taken moral hazard to the next level.

65 IIRC, they ran out of enough water for everyone, and people beat a hasty retreat.

Yeah, that's it. Sorry -- "Rome" means both the Empire and the City.

The City shrank from lack of water, and nobody managed to replicate the feat until the 1800s.

66 Rick Perry: "Global Warming is all one contrived phony mess that is falling apart under its own weight." [Link]

Yes, please!

67 Elect a solid conservative, capable President. Morning in America, Folks!

I agree. America is never more than 1 good conservative President from kicking ass!

Get the government off our backs and we'll start this fuckin awesome engine of creativity and strength again. We'll come roaring back so fast Red China and PaleoEurope's heads will spin.

Give us two conservative Presidents and we'll be shopping at a Wal-Mart on  Mars in twenty years.

68 <sub>Rick Perry: "Global Warming is all one contrived phony mess that is falling apart under its own weight." [Link]

Yes, please!</sub>

Fapt.

69 Eh. Sort of on topic. On The Five, just now -

Greg Gutfeld: "So if the government takes over these foreclosed homes, and Obama's your landlord, who do you call when your toilet gets backed up? The White House?"
Eric Bolling: "Joe Biden?"

My first thought: Well, I hear he's good with plugs...

70 My first thought: Well, I hear he's good with plugs... Posted by: Megan at August 12, 2011 05:45 PM (BNv9H) Really?

71 @downrated

Water for Rome, Fuel for America

72

I agree. And there are many individual Chinese in the new middle class who exhibit the weakness of a developed society - a soft unwillingness to work hard. They are not ten feet tall. Posted by: Wm T Sherman

To some extent, but why is it a good idea to grow slack and assume we're untouchable? That is what is implied in dismissing China. You may not believe this, but I fail to see any value in discounting the challenge before the US.

The US and the West in general need to do some housecleaning regardless of what China's doing. Our shitty schools aren't the product of China, yet, you wouldn't argue that there is nothing that can be done to improve them, correct?

China is largely poor and economical dynamic. There is no contradiction here. They have a growing population and one that is growing old. Again, no contradiction. Some of the wealthier, politically protected Chinese are slackers, but a billion+ of them are not.

Do not think that because alarmists overstate the case of a Monstrous China that we can take refuge in gainsaying.

73

Posted by: Johnny at August 12, 2011 05:43 PM (iT/Iy)

He wins just having the testicular fortitude to say that. 

74 Look I think we all can agree,  socialists, leftists, conservatives, republicans, libertarians, etc... that we all need to hear what Joe Biden has to say before we make any big decisions.

75 @79 Brain bleach! Brain bleach!

76 He wins just having the testicular fortitude to say that.

I got $5 says he'll drop the big C-word (Communist) on the Democrats within a month.

I'll send another $100 to his campaign when he does.

77 Those of you who know me know that I'm passionate about teaching. When a student says or does anything without thought (not the same as being wrong), I call him or her a Visigoth and say that it is my duty to civilize them. Of course students ask me what a Visigoth is, but I tell them to look it up. And thus the beginning of defending civilization begins. Once last year a particularly clever student pointed out that the Visigoths were one of the groups of barbarians that eventually overran civilized Rome. I replied that yes, that was true, but after the fall of Rome, the Visigoths went on to found what were to become the next empires of Spain and France. In other words, one day I'll be dead, but it is my hope that civilization will live on in my students.

78

the Visigoths went on to found what were to become the next empires of Spain and France.

We had to get our plunder somewhere.

79 When a student says or does anything without thought (not the same as being wrong), I call him or her a Visigoth and say that it is my duty to civilize them.

Visigoths.  Fucking barbarians.

80 @imp,

Imo - I agree with your sentiments totally.  I also sense a pull of great import to both defend the walls while we can but more importantly prepare for the rebuilding and lay the ground work for the ideological phoenix of an independent constitutional republic America that will rise from its ashes.  If that makes any sense.

81 I replied that yes, that was true, but after the fall of Rome, the Visigoths went on to found what were to become the next empires of Spain and France.

Wait, what?

82 Posted by: Downrated Upscale at August 12, 2011 05:54 PM (IhHdM)

You know... the one thing about my vacation last week?  I missed y'all.  Comments like this are why.

83

"How did Rome lose 75% of its population in 50 years? "

Too much buttsecks?

84 Visigoths.  Fucking barbarians.

Posted by: An Ostrogoth

Fuck you. Just, fuck you.

85 As the smartest member on 'the five', i've somehow come out against the cleaning up of times square in NY.  Its become 'disneyfied' 

I prefer squalor and pestilence ... oh and the free market is nonsense or something.

- Juan "the genius" Williams


Oh juliet huddy... seems you've somehow become a liberal idiot like me.  I saw you squirming in your seat when Gutfeld was absolutely destroying the rioters.  WTF? When did she do a green footballs?

The comment about the organic chef being against pesticides in food, but fine with rioting and destroying things was epic.. hehe (yes he was arrested for firebombing a store)  I love Gutfeld

86 @91 The Franks My apologies--Southern France, to be more specific.

87 Oh juliet huddy... seems you've somehow become a liberal idiot like me. I saw you squirming in your seat when Gutfeld was absolutely destroying the rioters. WTF? When did she do a green footballs? That was just vaginal itch!

88 Fuck you. Just, fuck you.

Candy-asses.

89 Juan might actually be worse than Beckel. He has some special talent for squeezing more stupidity into 15-second sound bites than most people experience in a day.

90 Can long bows v crossbows be far off? 

91

OT:

How the fuck is it legal to have a bumper sticker that says "Save an Elk - Shoot a land developer"?  I just told a bitch here is her chance and she got in her car and took off so fast I didn't hava a chance to tell her what happens if she misses.

92 54 Just a few minutes ago, on CNN, Debbie Wasserman Schultz “and at the end of the day, we need a candidate with a proven record on jobs, like President Barack Obama”.
__________

She didn't say proven *what*, did she. Proven a futtering stuttercluck of a failure is still proven.

93 I mean no offense to you Gepids, Geats, or Ostragoths; I'm sure you all are equally offensive. It's just that "Visigoth" is such a fun word to say!

94 93 "How did Rome lose 75% of its population in 50 years? " Too much buttsecks? Posted by: bosk at August 12, 2011 05:55 PM (n2K+4) Nah, that was OUR gig!

95 Candy-asses.

Posted by: Geats

As long as we are duking it out for the consolation prize...

96 Can long bows v crossbows be far off? 

Posted by: Y-not at August 12, 2011 06:00 PM (5H6zj)

That question is settled.

97 Gepids, Geats, or Ostragoths

That reminds me of a wonderful T-Shirt I once saw at a gaming convention.

"If you're so Goth, where were you when we sacked Thrace?"

98 102 54 Just a few minutes ago, on CNN, Debbie Wasserman Schultz “and at the end of the day, we need a candidate with a proven record on jobs, like President Barack Obama”. BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!!!!!! WHEEZE! WHEEZE!! WHEEZE!!!! MUST BREATH...

99 103 I mean no offense to you Gepids, Geats, or Ostragoths; I'm sure you all are equally offensive. It's just that "Visigoth" is such a fun word to say! Posted by: goddessoftheclassroom at August 12, 2011 06:00 PM (ympbj) We're still around, you know!

100 O/T: Tiger Woods is currently +9 with a couple of holes left to play in Day 2 of the PGA Championship. 

101

For those who think that America is still the world's superpower, I will agree....for now.  Steyn is not saying that the US is no longer a super power, but at the rate we're going, as I'm reading it, we'll be at the same level as everyone else as far as world dominance is concerned.  And that, folks, is a very scary thought.

102 So basically Rome fell bit by bit by neglecting to preserve basic values that brought them to rule the world.

Hmmm....why does that sound familiar?

But at least our preznint hasn't screwed up agriculture yet and we can still grow our own food, right?

103

For The Win!

104 I see it's all OT here so I've got a great one via a friend's fb status --

Proud to be an american this morning - a colleague flying back from our Annapolis meetings on a full flight had the pilot come on and ask for a couple seated together to give up their seats for Aaron Vaughn's parents so they could get home (from claiming their son's body) and not only did several couples volunteer but when the Vaughn's got on the plane everyone stood and applauded for like 5 minutes and apparently there were not many dry eyes either. God bless!

105 @115
That's nice. 

106 All this talk of Rome and Sparta makes me wonder: if some guy calls his hand Rosie, is he really straight handed?

107 _{we'll be at the same level as everyone else as far as world dominance is concerned.  And that, folks, is a very scary thought.}

We'll be equals until someone gets froggy and decides to jump again like in 1941.
Then they'll be reminded why that is a very bad idea.

Even the end of our strength is still very strong. - shit Tolkien said.

108
And then we will figure out if its possible to live together after that. I am not sure that one half has a reality that ever imagined in a million years that we would eventually say ENOUGH.

My friends husband says they cant imagine it. They think we will go on forever just bearing more and more of the burden. That they have a bad case of teh Dum.

Posted by: Gushka at August 12, 2011 05:30 PM (QNeKQ)

It's not possible for us to live together forever. As pointed out, it can't go on forever, therefore, it won't.

The simple fact is that the blues - I mean the REALLY blue, Berkeley types - cannot survive without red - red feeds, clothes, and houses them. WE don't NEED them. WE get along fine without them, indeed we get along better without them. They are cold and unsheltered, and STARVING without us.

In the past, the blues might be be feared because they would whip the mob into physical violence. In that past, the Reds didn't have a way to defend themselves (Europe, China). Our founders saw fit to give us the means to defend ourselves.

Thus their desperation to disarm us. It's not for crime or safety. It's all about, and has always been about, control. If they cannot disarm us, they know that this will all end, and they will starve.

Tyrants fear a free and armed people.

109 Posted by: laceyunderalls at August 12, 2011 06:05 PM (pLTLS)

OT?  I believe the topics here are crossbows and the relative merits of barbarian European tribes.

110 113 So basically Rome fell bit by bit by neglecting to preserve basic values that brought them to rule the world. That's kind of a cliche. The real reason Rome fell was a slave-based economy that never allowed for a Roman Industrial Revolution to take place. With no modern armaments, the Roman soldier eventually found he was no better than the average Goth one. No modern medicine, and the empire was devastated by horrific plagues, in part because of incredibly bloated urban populations sustained by free bread (i.e., WELFARE). And oh yeah... some serious overtaxation and government interference with the private sector, that escalated to proto-feudal levels under Diocletian.

111 57 Two things:

1) Barack Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.
2) Please do not begin any post with "I have a friend..." I makes my eyes immediately want to skip your post, and sometimes you do actually have something interesting to say.  I'm sorry, it's just become a habit.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) at August 12, 2011 05:38 PM (8y9MW)

seriously AllenG, i dont usually talk to Daywalkers so the curious problems is less of a familiar concern to me. You see being a member of the ONT Mean Girl Clique is a good thing... it makes certain people just... go away. Perhaps im blocked on her Sooper Seecret Mean Girl Clique Filter...

But the truth is, i do hear things that sometimes are interesting to me when friends come over to stay. This time was one of them.  If i dont say "I have a friend with access who came to stay and this is what they said" would  i do better to say: "It came to me in a dream" or "My Cats told me" or "I was discussing this with my horses?" Hmmmmm?

As for people of no earthly interest to me, i give their verbal tics as much thought as i would their opinions (which is to say none) Feel free to skip anything i say, if its disturbing to you.

112 Hey AllenG, the trolls are calling you out it the Sarah thread.

113
_{That's kind of a cliche. The real reason Rome fell was a slave-based economy that never allowed for a Roman Industrial Revolution to take place. With no modern armaments, the Roman soldier eventually found he was no better than the average Goth one. No modern medicine, and the empire was devastated by horrific plagues, in part because of incredibly bloated urban populations sustained by free bread (i.e., WELFARE). And oh yeah... some serious overtaxation and government interference with the private sector, that escalated to proto-feudal levels under Diocletian.}

They were weird and they smelled bad too.

114 It's a trap, AllenG!

115 The Romans also came to suffer from a declining birth rate, so eventually they needed to populate their armed forces with the very barbarians they wanted to keep at bay. The most likely cause was lead poisoning, from the lead pipes feeding water to their fountains and great baths from the aqueducts.

116 Do not think that because alarmists overstate the case of a Monstrous China that we can take refuge in gainsaying.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at August 12, 2011 05:49 PM (DEcmU)

Oh, I agree. I'm just saying, let's look at everything, the weaknesses as well as the strengths. The goal here is accuracy, not complacency.

If they really had their shit together, they might well be less dangerous in some ways rather than more.

117 At least, the Romans didn't make Hannibal consul.  America wasn't that smart.

The Romans, for all their similarities to us, were insanely stubborn. They lost a quarter of their male population fighting Hannibal, and they still won.

118

119 In the past, the blues might be be feared because they would whip the mob into physical violence. In that past, the Reds didn't have a way to defend themselves (Europe, China). Our founders saw fit to give us the means to defend ourselves.

 

Remember the racial violence at the Wisconsin State Fair this past week, with young black thugs beating on random white fairgoers?  Some of the thugs have been arrested, and have confessed that (paraphrase) they beat up the white fairgoers because it's so easy. 

Must be a lotta Blue at the fair.

119

I wrote After America because I don't want it to come true.

Funny, that's the same thing I said about 1984.

120

Reading about the riots in London this week I formed a new hypotosis. The liberal left does not have the capaticity to form logical thought due to how/what they have been taught in school,college ect.  Until we take control of the curriculum in our school system  then wait at least 12 years for our first HS graduates we will have the political chasms and rifts between our fellow citizens. The whole mess we are in has been manufctured over the course of many years in the name of progressionism. It will take many years to undo some of the damage.

121

Hey AllenG, the trolls are calling you out it the Sarah thread.

Hey, invasion is OUR gig!!!

122 "he was no better than the average Goth one"

Plus, the Goths had much better/scarier makeup.

123 OK, all this talk of American and Roman decline is just too freaking depressing. Can we change channels now, and discuss some good old fashioned raunchy finger-licking good sex?

124 Goths were so badass, they cut themselves.

Wait, no. That was the Emos.

125

Remember the racial violence at the Wisconsin State Fair this past week, with young black thugs beating on random white fairgoers?  Some of the thugs have been arrested, and have confessed that (paraphrase) they beat up the white fairgoers because it's so easy. 

Must be a lotta Blue at the fair.

I remember reading (probably here) that Concealed Carry starts in a month or so in WI.  Don't know if it's shall issue.

126

Remember the racial violence at the Wisconsin State Fair this past week, with young black thugs beating on random white fairgoers? Some of the thugs have been arrested, and have confessed that (paraphrase) they beat up the white fairgoers because it's so easy.

Must be a lotta Blue at the fair.

Posted by: Boots at August 12, 2011 06:16 PM (neKzn

I am waiting for the Iowa State Fair to have the same problems

 

127 @133 Krazy Kat aka sonnyspats aka Vince Spataro I've devoted my career to this.

128 @106: Can long bows v crossbows be far off? 

Posted by: Y-not at August 12, 2011 06:00 PM (5H6zj)

--------------------------

That question is settled.

Posted by: Henry V at August 12, 2011 06:01 PM (QKKT0)

----------------------

Your mileage may vary.....

129 119 The simple fact is that the blues - I mean the REALLY blue, Berkeley types - cannot survive without red - red feeds, clothes, and houses them. WE don't NEED them. WE get along fine without them, indeed we get along better without them. They are cold and unsheltered, and STARVING without us.
_________

Just you wait 'til the space goat gets here. That'll learn ya!

130 Gushka at August 12, 2011 06:12 PM (QNeKQ)
The second one was kind of a joke.  I'm getting irritated at the trolls today.

Hey AllenG, the trolls are calling you out it the Sarah thread.
Yeah, I caught that.

131 Since people are yapping about Rome, it might be an appropriate time to note that Barky is nearly the reincarnation of Hannibal (but without any of the talent).  Driven by a desire to destroy and little else.

At the First Punic War, Carthage and Rome were co-equal powers, with Carthage controlling much of the sea trade in the Mediterranean. Hannibal acted to end Roman influence in Italy so as to protect Cathage from further encroachments on Carthaginian possessions.  (By the start of the Second Punic War Carthage has already lost Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica to the Romans).  He probably would have succeeded had Carthage provided him with the resources he asked for.

Hannibal may have hated the Romans but he had a rational goal.  He also deserves credit for the amazing military skill that he showed in trying to reach it.

132 Did Rome have 52%ers?

133 They were weird and they smelled bad too. Posted by: sifty, Son of LiberTea at August 12, 2011 06:13 PM (ECjvn) Have you ever spent 14 hours on a non-stop flight to Asia from JFK crowded with 350 Chinese audibly hocking back loogies the entire time? Jeesh.

134 I am waiting for the Iowa State Fair to have the same problems

They did last year.  Google "Hate Whitey Night".

135 Can we change channels now, and discuss some good old fashioned raunchy finger-licking good sex?

Fall of Rome...extreme decadence...the two do have some interplay. 

How about this?  Will it satiate you for a bit?

136 I'm thinking that the Halloween Haunted House at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Ca. will have a race riot this year.

The last two years they have come damn close. Lots of tension. Decent folks are getting scared to go.

137

@107: ""If you're so Goth, where were you when we sacked Thrace?"

But did you sack Thrace thrice?

138 133

Reading about the riots in London this week I formed a new hypotosis. The liberal left does not have the capaticity to form logical thought due to how/what they have been taught in school,college ect.  Until we take control of the curriculum in our school system  then wait at least 12 years for our first HS graduates we will have the political chasms and rifts between our fellow citizens. The whole mess we are in has been manufctured over the course of many years in the name of progressionism. It will take many years to undo some of the damage.

Posted by: Krazy Kat aka sonnyspats aka Vince Spataro at August 12, 2011 06:17 PM (A23u6)

I had that Captain Obvious Moment too.

Some can be reached. Even long term cases if they are bright and hae some sense of humility. Right now i have a case which has not let go of his Liberal Identity, but has adopted nearly every meaningful Conservative position. If allowed to just talk he'd fit right in here, and just recently admitted that hed even take Bush back, simply because he was not so horrifically bad for business.

so i would give a quarter of the brain washed population a chance to be rehabilitated, if exposed to hard facts over a three to four year period of time. I dont think it will take as long as you fear

139 Hey AllenG, the trolls are calling you out it the Sarah thread.
Yeah, I caught that.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) at August 12, 2011 06:21 PM (8y9MW)

I just wanted to see you pimp slap one again.  Instead you reverted to your nice, reasonable self.  Darn it.

140 How about this? Will it satiate you for a bit? Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at August 12, 2011 06:22 PM (aYTJa) As I have my beloved sitting immediately to my left at this very instant, I think I'll wisely put off clicking on the linky until a bit later...

141 @107: ""If you're so Goth, where were you when we sacked Thrace?" Thrace? Is she the blonde that works at the car wash?

142 Well when the govt calls "preppers" terrorists you can damn well be sure we are in decline (see sidebar).

And by the way, that pisses me off.

You will be controlled by the state and you will like it.  Got it?

Always be prepared. Boy Scout Motto

143 <sub>Have you ever spent 14 hours on a non-stop flight to Asia from JFK crowded with 350 Chinese audibly hocking back loogies the entire time?

Jeesh.</sub>

Nope. But I lived in Miramar for a year and listened to the sound of sandles scraping and shuffling across the pavement all day and night.

PICK. UP. Your. Gawd. Damn. Feet.
Fuckers would trip over a Tic Tac.

144 Our local Palin supporters are for the most part perfectly fine.  Really, there are only a handful of overly enthusiastic folks from any of the camps, imho.  But these imports that troll over here from C4P must be dropping acid or something.  Completely out of touch with reality.

145 Posted by: baldilocks at August 12, 2011 06:24 PM (T2/zQ)

See? I said I was normally a fairly laid back guy. Besides, why waste the effort? If he replies in the next few minutes (before I head home), maybe I'll drop a hammer again.

Though I have to admit being called a RomneyBot by one of the trolls was rather amusing.

146

@118: "Even the end of our strength is still very strong. - shit Tolkien said."

Maybe you shouldn't carve that one in stone just yet.

147 The answer, Y-not, is that it's fine smooth, but gals find "chunky" uncomfortable...

148 I'm thinking that the Halloween Haunted House at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Ca. will have a race riot this year.

The last two years they have come damn close. Lots of tension. Decent folks are getting scared to go.

Posted by: sifty, Son of LiberTea at August 12, 2011 06:22 PM (ECjvn)

 

OKC is really not known for any serious racial problems (most all of us are too busy working), but there have been some beginnings at some events, mostly concerts, that are giving many people pause when considering going. 

149 _{Maybe you shouldn't carve that one in stone just yet.}

Tell the big fuckers to line up and the little fuckers to bunch up.

And pack a lunch.

150 160 The answer, Y-not, is that it's fine smooth, but gals find "chunky" uncomfortable...

Ahem. 

151 _{Posted by: North Korea, China, North Vietnam, Hezbollah, Somalia, & Afghanistan at August 12, 2011 06:27 PM (xy9wk)}

All won on the battlefield by brave Americans and lost in Washington by cowards and/or communist sympathizers.

The US fighting man does not lose wars. The American politician loses wars.

152 161 Bob Dole can't sack Thrace twice in three hours. / three times fast Posted by: Bob Dole at August 12, 2011 06:27 PM (IhHdM) Bob Dole could sack for four hours if he took his little pill.

153 Alright, y'all.  If the troll bothers to respond, on of you will have to drop the hammer on it.  I'm out.  See you Monday.

154

_{Hannibal may have hated the Romans but he had a rational goal.  He also deserves credit for the amazing military skill that he showed in trying to reach it.}

He rode elephants. Elephants! Did he want the Romans to default? Think about it!

155 I remember watching a history channel doc about Nero and Rome, and how he came to power off of the heels of a very unpopular emporer who was not well liked. They loved Nero because he was charming and mainly because he wasn't his predecessor and I thought, hmm sounds very familiar.

156

@130: "The Romans, for all their similarities to us, were insanely stubborn. They lost a quarter of their male population fighting Hannibal, and they still won."

Quantity has a quality all its own, comrade!

157 143 Gushka at August 12, 2011 06:12 PM (QNeKQ)
The second one was kind of a joke.  I'm getting irritated at the trolls today.

Hey AllenG, the trolls are calling you out it the Sarah thread.
Yeah, I caught that.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) at August 12, 2011 06:21 PM (8y9MW)

just ignore the Trolls. They are attention whores so i figure its best to just burn them with silence, and take no mind of what they say. They are non people. If you dont play with them, often they go away.

158 A couple of people have mentioned this but it bears repetition. We're in the sad place we are because we lost control of our institutions. Schools and Bureaucracy, mainly, to an extent courts and legal system. We shrugged and asked what we could do while not just "the left" but the radical, destructive left took over and slowly began to squeeze everyone else out. We're not talking about people who just think there should be welfare programs or less military spending or abortion funded by the government, we're talking about people like Ayers and Dohrn and Van Jones and Cass Sunstein and Holder. These are people who believe and gather around them people who believe that America under the Constitution has to go away and be replaced by some France-esque psuedo-communist crony-corruptocracy. It doesn't matter *why* they do it - some of them think it's a stepping-stone to a Marxist utopia, some of them think they can get more power under the alternative system, some of them just don't think much about consequences. But we've got to a point where a plurality or more will resist correcting that problem - either because they benefit personally or ideologically or because they just fell for the "McCarthy Trap," the social phenomena surrounding the failed attempt to stop Soviet incursion into institutions which resulted in "loyal American" being "icky words" to a fair percentage of the people. That's the real scary part of all this, we've reached a point where we could be boned *because* of our belief in representative government - majoritarian civil society has been so sabotaged that it *can't* sustain itself. It was a good run, in some ways.

159 The trolls don't understand.

The guys get shirts.

And we wear no pants.

160 I'm bored.

Dance for me internet monkeys! 

161 Wait, did I hear Baldilocks say she no longer had a boyfriend plz?!?!

162

Dance for me internet monkeys!

Tough monkeys don't dance.

163 144 Since people are yapping about Rome, it might be an appropriate time to note that Barky is nearly the reincarnation of Hannibal (but without any of the talent).  Driven by a desire to destroy and little else.

At the First Punic War, Carthage and Rome were co-equal powers, with Carthage controlling much of the sea trade in the Mediterranean. Hannibal acted to end Roman influence in Italy so as to protect Cathage from further encroachments on Carthaginian possessions.  (By the start of the Second Punic War Carthage has already lost Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica to the Romans).  He probably would have succeeded had Carthage provided him with the resources he asked for.

Hannibal may have hated the Romans but he had a rational goal.  He also deserves credit for the amazing military skill that he showed in trying to reach it.

Posted by: al-Cicero, Tea Party Jihadist at August 12, 2011 06:21 PM (QKKT0)

Thing is, the second Punic war wasn't really Carthage vs. Rome.   It was the Barca family vs. Rome.  The elites in Carthage were afraid to give much support because it was Barca-land (Spain... Barcelona says it all) against Rome.  Part of them probably thought not supporting Hannibal and his bro's would give them some plausible deniability.  Didn't work out so well.  Carthage didn't have citizens that wanted to fight either.  They paid others to fight for them.  In the end they had no chance

164 We've arrived at the point where liberals can say with a straight face, "Socialism is JUST A WORD. Having spent time in an Austrian refugee camp in 1969, I assure you: Socialism is "just a word" in the same way Holocaust is "just a word." We have allowed the liberals to rewrite reality. And it sucks.

165 174 I'm bored. Dance for me internet monkeys! Posted by: Y-not at August 12, 2011 06:34 PM (5H6zj) Well, perhaps I could show you this thing I've learned to do with my hands...

166  I remember watching a history channel doc about Nero and Rome, and how he came to power off of the heels of a very unpopular emporer who was not well liked. They loved Nero because he was charming and mainly because he wasn't his predecessor and I thought, hmm sounds very familiar.

Posted by: Adam Smith's Invisible Pimp Hand at August 12, 2011 06:31 PM (sSD4S)

 

I also read that he gave really good speeches off the teleprompter.

167 *squirt*

168 179 One big difference between the US and Rome: I would LOVE to have Incitatus in the White House, right now. Posted by: progressoverpeace at August 12, 2011 06:37 PM (G/MYk) Isn't Michelle close enough?

169

@133: "Until we take control of the curriculum in our school system  then wait at least 12 years for our first HS graduates we will have the political chasms and rifts between our fellow citizens."

Not necessarily.

170 It was a good run, in some ways.

The Heinlein quote Insty keeps dragging out is increasingly relevant as the mindset of the liberals becomes more obvious:

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as “bad luck.”

171 149 I'm thinking that the Halloween Haunted House at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Ca. will have a race riot this year.

The last two years they have come damn close. Lots of tension. Decent folks are getting scared to go.

Posted by: sifty, Son of LiberTea at August 12, 2011 06:22 PM (ECjvn)

not to sound racist but the plain truth is that LBC has been a dangerous place for whitey for a long damn time. Its just some people are sayin it out loud now.

172

Speaking of lefties, my boss, a fellow drummer whom I give a ride to work because we're buds, has this fantasy he's going to convert me to leftism. We normally start talking about politics about five minutes into the ride to work most mornings. They're always a good intellectual exercise for me.

I've been listening to him rant and noticing his many contradictions. I may have figured out how to zing him. He says I need to abandon my Rightist philosophy and move to "the middle," the ground he says he occupies, but he's still waaaaayyyyy to the left.

I was telling him today about Felonious Munk and Beck. He stopped me in mid-sentence to rail about Beck, to which I replied, "But you wanted me to listen to both sides, didn't you?"

Stammering ensued. Mission accomplished for today.

Monday awaits...

173 185 "It was a good run, in some ways." The Heinlein quote Insty keeps dragging out is increasingly relevant as the mindset of the liberals becomes more obvious: Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as “bad luck” LIBERALISM. Posted by: Ian S. at August 12, 2011 06:40 PM (G/hEe) FTFY

174 154 Thrace? Is she the blonde that works at the car wash?
_________

Maybe. If by "car" you mean "Cylon raider".

175 176

Tough monkeys don't dance.

They fly.

176

Not necessarily.

Posted by: Arkan's Tigers

That's all? You need five paragraphs, all with topic sentences. You'll never get into Princeton with an essay like that!

177 Carthage didn't have citizens that wanted to fight either.

Part of it had to do with the fact that they were an exclusive club. You couldn't be part of their ruling class unless you were full-blooded Carthaginian (adoption didn't count, unlike Rome). So Hannibal's army wasn't really recruited or conscripted -- they were hired.

That Hannibal lasted as long as he did had something to do with the wealth of Spain, which is why Scipio's campaign there was so pivotal.

(The other big coup was turning the Numidians, and removing Hannibal's cavalry advantage.)

178

not to sound racist but the plain truth is that LBC has been a dangerous place for whitey for a long damn time. Its just some people are sayin it out loud now.

Posted by: Gushka at August 12, 2011 06:40 PM (QNeKQ)

Well, it's not that safe for anyone else either.

179

*knock knock*

Dad, why did you lock the office door? Hey Dad, you in there?

180 Dad?

181 I would LOVE to have Incitatus in the White House, right now.
Posted by: progressoverpeace at August 12, 2011 06:37 PM (G/MYk)


Reid appointed him to the "super" committee.

182

Posted by: Anthony Wiener's hypothetical future children who will never be born because they died on pieces of at August 12, 2011 06:54

Is that a sock failure or a sock-sess?

183

not to sound racist but the plain truth is that LBC has been a dangerous place for whitey for a long damn time. Its just some people are sayin it out loud now.

Posted by: Gushka at August 12, 2011 06:40 PM (QNeKQ)

Well, it's not that safe for anyone else either.

Posted by:baldilocks at August 12, 2011 06:47 PM (T2/zQ) 

Isnt that the truth?

Im from the LBC. Tho i grew up in many places due to dads Job.

But i have been in and around there forever and have seen as even the best parts have turned scary, and the people gotten really weird. Sad really.

i grew up with a lot of brown friends and in the 70s and 80s it was possible. Way more possible than it is now. Yeah you can have a mixed marriage and not be so stigmatized in some places of white culture, but in some ways we are more far apart than EVER.

whats freakin me out Baldilocks is it looks like its getting really dangerous to be a kid or a woman. since then you are prey. And you are right, it really doesnt matter what you look like. Im so glad i dont have to go to school these days. I cant imagine how frightening to be a kid and navigate all they have to get thru just to get their education not get beat up and taken advantage of by the other kids.

They got 5th graders with rap sheets these days. And the teachers cant discipline them. WTF?

And god help a child of color who tries too hard. You know what they say about the nail that sticks up and what happens to it?

184

Is that a sock failure or a sock-sess?

No, there's a limit on how many characters an sn can have.  Thank God for that, else that's just another blog feature that would be abused to hell...

We can't ever have nice things!

185 Yeah, Long Beach should only be admired while driving quickly on the 405, don't get off until you get to Costa Mesa. The plant lights at night are something to behold though.

186 Don't mind me...

187 100 even.

188 Well, it's Friday.  And I actually have somewhere to go.  See.  See.  My life doesn't revolve around AoSHQ.  *sigh* 

189 My life doesn't revolve around AoSHQ.  *sigh* 

Posted by: Soona - Tearorrist at August 12, 2011 07:05 PM (UkTU+)

I hate you...

190 Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at August 12, 2011 07:01 PM (aYTJa)

Try this.

Feel better?

191 (T0NGe)

CoolCzech must be envying your hash, AmishDude.

192

Well, it's Friday.  And I actually have somewhere to go.  See.  See.  My life doesn't revolve around AoSHQ.  *sigh* 

What is this "life" you keep referring to? There is nothing but chaos outside of AoSHQ.

Well, that and hobos...

193 Dead thread walking... Dead thread walking...

194 CoolCzech must be envying your hash, AmishDude.

Posted by: Y-not at August 12, 2011 07:07 PM (5H6zj)

Everyone envies my hash.

The secret is just a pinch of cilantro.

195

@193: "That's all? You need five paragraphs, all with topic sentences. You'll never get into Princeton with an essay like that!"

Princetonians can line a ditch just as well as Bosnians.

196 213, Good one!

197

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo (NJConservative) at August 12, 2011 07:07 PM (LH6ir)

Awww..thanks for the concern!  Great link!

Those women are lovely, yes, but they'll never be Shannon Tweed. 

198

Oh its co-bloggers whoops my bad I thought you guys were calling each other

cob loggers! heh heh

199 Antony Weener is a charter member of our lodge.

200

"ThereÂ’s nothing virtuous about "caring" "compassionate" "progressives" being caring and compassionate and progressive with money yet to be earned by generations yet to be born."

 

I hope Rick Perry's speech writers steal this.

201 RE: 11th Circuit ObamaCare Decision

I contacted my uncle, who is an attorney and works with these types of cases.  His opinion was that the lack of severability and this courts decision not to toss the whole law doesn't matter that much.  He reminded me that one Appellate Court threw out the whole law and he said he expected that the SCOTUS would do the same.  When I said that it's basically a Kennedy coin flip, he disagreed.  He said, "I think whole process was so unseemly that it taints the entire bill... that and Obama's graceless slap at the Court during his State of the Union regarding the Citizens United case.  Remember, Kennedy delivered the majority opinion in that case."

That last point I hadn't considered.

202 Thanks ArthurK for this. I will buy the book and follow along the best I can. I always valued the opinion of Conservative brits. Its like an old Gunny talking to a new recruit about battle. They may have lost the battle in their country but the war the progressives declared is International so here they are. Rush don't keep Steyn around cause he's a novelty. I also enjoy Stuart Varney's comments on business issues. We have lots to learn from these people.

203 There's a show on my local NPR station called "Tell Me More" which never fails to make me livid. It purports to be in-depth coverage behind the headlines. What this means is they pick one of the day's topics and get some liberals to talk about it. There's usually a far-left liberal "activist," a Democrat party hack politician or journalist, and an "expert" from some Soros-funded nonprofit. The notion that there could even be a conservative position simply doesn't exist for them.

But remember, we need public radio as an alternative to corporate media!

204 Books are a Socialist plot. 

205

@219: "I contacted my uncle, who is an attorney and works with these types of cases.  His opinion was that the lack of severability and this courts decision not to toss the whole law doesn't matter that much.  He reminded me that one Appellate Court threw out the whole law and he said he expected that the SCOTUS would do the same.  When I said that it's basically a Kennedy coin flip, he disagreed.  He said, "I think whole process was so unseemly that it taints the entire bill... that and Obama's graceless slap at the Court during his State of the Union regarding the Citizens United case.  Remember, Kennedy delivered the majority opinion in that case.""

Uh-huh-huh-huh-uh-huh.   You said "taint."

206 Remember, Kennedy delivered the majority opinion in that case."

That last point I hadn't considered.

Nothing would give me a bigger woody then Kennedy stiffing Obama on this issue by shooting down the whole Mariann. esp. with something in the opinion like "I do not believe the Petitioners understand the over 200 years of law which place strict limitations on the power of federal government. Indeed based on argument, one would wonder if the Petitioners even know the definition of federalism."

207 The teabaggers rioted in London, they will riot in America.

208 The Charlie Rose lunatics are blathering about "liberals' discomfort with holding power" - to explain the genius, decent, caring Barky's failures.

ROTFLMAO!

Wait! Wha?

What kind of mental gymnastics is necessary for the "let's ban salt" crowd to believe they have problems with being in power?

It goes beyond doublethink as Orwell described it. It's easier to believe in leprechauns and elves than it is to believe that. They've taken denial and reconstruction of reality to a whole new level. I'd ask what color the sky was in their world, but with that, who can be sure it has a sky, or a ground for that matter. It is total detachment from reality.

209 I am reading it now, more than half way through.  Don't read it at bedtime, because if you are like me you will not be able to sleep afterwards.  Doom, Doom and more Doom. 

210

Ugg boots? Never heard of them.

211 I hope you never stop!  This is one of the best blogs Ive ever read.  Youve got some mad skill here, man.  I just hope that you dont lose your style because youre definitely one of the coolest bloggers out there.  Please keep it up because the internet needs someone like you spreading the word.

212 We pwned all y'alls butts.

213 We pwned all y'alls butts.

Top that, beyotch.

214 Obama's uncomfortable with being responsible.
I swear that horses ass parties more than all my Leprechauns combined.

215 Top that, beyotch.

Okay, our shit wasn't as large as yours, but we took over friggin' Sicily.

Yeah, everyone's heard of Normandy in France. That was a warmup ('cause, seriously, who hasn't launched a successful invasion of France at some point?). Sicily was a little more challenging. Then we launched the friggin' Crusades, and looted, raped, murdered, and burned to the point that Richard Lionheart's name is still used by Middle Eastern moms to scare kiddies to this day ("Be good or King Richard will get you.")

216 30 Posted by: CoolCzech at August 12, 2011 05:21 PM (kUaEF)

India is Western.  I work with lots of native Indians now, and they're just as comfortable (sans Hooters and such) here in America as they are at home.  A few minor cultural differences, but they're basically Western.


Don't know about how westernized Indians are but I will tell you this, a few I have encountered have embraced US anti-discrimination law with great gusto.  I have now defended several discrimination suits brought by Indian professionals and .... whoeee... the hypersensitivity to any slight is off the scale, sometimes comically.  A theory is emerging.  Since caste based discrimination is still practiced by the upper castes in India, and since it is people from the upper castes who tend to predominate among Indian immigrant groups here in the US, they naturally assume that now that they are lower caste here (or so they think) that the powerful here will do to them  what they do to those below them at home.  The big difference being of course that here the law lets people sue over it. And man do they sue.

217 Top that, beyotch.

That would be the sound of you shutting the fuck up that we hear, right, Genghis?

218
Re#34 Guska
"good news is... red America breeds. Blue not so much."

They reproduce ideologically.  They control the schools from K-1 through graduate level.  And they make sure that religion is demonized.
When you think about it, it's pretty efficient.
The Left understands what we are beginning to appreciate:
 he who controls the minds of the children controls the future.
Look around: they're winning.

219

Didn't Attila and his Buns beat the Franks, IIRC?

220 Ordered the book so that I can keep up with the posts.  Thanks!

221 245

Didn't Attila and his Buns beat the Franks, IIRC?

Posted by: LGoPs at August 12, 2011 08:52 PM (lHn6+)

Uhh no.  You've got it wrong.  The huns were defeated finally in open battle in Chalons in 451 by the Romans (what was left of them at that point.. at least in the west).  Farthest west the hun got, and that battle probably saved western civ. 

Yeah he ran wild across Europe for many years, but his civ being nomadic, they needed to be constantly on the move to maintain their hordes of horse archers.  In the end, they (their horses) ate themselves into oblivion.  Forced to become more Roman-like in battle, they weren't the terror they were cracked up to be.

Attila died a few years later and his sons fought for dominance of the clan, and 20 years later they vanish from the record.

222 Attila was a fag

223 weft cut-loop at August 12, 2011 05:49 PM "To some extent, but why is it a good idea to grow slack and assume we're untouchable? That is what is implied in dismissing China. You may not believe this, but I fail to see any value in discounting the challenge before the US " I agree; internet discussions of what's going on in China always degenerate into ridiculous versions of reality (from "OMG! China's taking over the world!" to "China's just a giant bubble waiting to burst, that depends solely on us to buy their goods!") Both visions are cartoonish, although there's some truth in each argument. China is growing and it does still depend on the West for a market . But we live in a dynamic world, and the fact is that the middle class in the emerging economies is growing and growing. As time goes on, China (and every other emerging economy) will depend less and less on our market. We're already only the second largest automobile market, for instance. When I try to value companies for investment, I look for solid multinationals with the potential for overseas growth, because frankly I don't see much economic growth domestically. Maybe I'm wrong, and if I am I'll pay for it (but I don't think I'm wrong).

224 Don't spoil it for me!  I've ordered the book, but I'm a slow reader.

I really enjoyed "America Alone," and I'm sure that "After America" will be just as good or better.

225 Shanghai a incident, 16 after the outbreak in Shanghai, upperJanuary 31, 1932 organization Cheap MBT established Shanghai citizens WeiChiHui place, for the army supply, and relief war zone refugees.History is only President, DuYueSheng and WangXiao as vice President, GHD which is home to the office FuXu road 181-original is DuYueSheng open casinos.During the war, GHD Straighteners WeiChiHui place were raised $930000 donation for the troops, not only provide a lot of goods, but also opened 65 shelter, holding more than 30000 refugees.According to the declaration report,Relief groups which have of open7 place temporary medicine, and there are four DuYueSheng for capital construction;Relief chongming refugees, DuYueSheng and donated 1000 yuan,MBT Shoes Sale accounting for a quarter of the total JuanKuanE