On the Other Hand, That Was in New York

Of course, the focus of that last post was a development in New York City, which is considerably more civilized than most of the country. In rural Mississippi things do not seem quite so cozy. This is from a reader of Andrew Sullivan’s blog:

If you travel down any road, you will see churches popping up everywhere. I’ve lived here my entire life, and it used to be that each community had one church, usually Baptist, with a place name. Now they have names like Bread of Life, The Living Water, and By Faith; single-word names like Cornerstone, Compass, and Centricity.

They pop up in the middle of nowhere, in abandoned storefronts, in closed-down factories, in metal buildings put up in the middle of the woods. And everyone has a preacher who is called Brother, or Elder, or Bishop. And all these fundamental churches spend the majority of their time either directly or indirectly involved with local, state, and national politics, involved in the Tea Bagger Movement, the War on Christmas movement, the myriad boycotts of every hue, and posters and ads of every conceivable variety.

Ugh. And here’s some charming news from the Idaho governor’s race:

A Republican candidate for governor in Idaho who joked about hunting President Obama over the summer is calling for God to save the U.S. Constitution.

Rex Rammell said recently it is time for citizens to “rise up” and defend the Constitution. He said he will spread that message on the campaign trail.

“To think that we can save the Constitution without God’s help when the government of the United States is corrupt is absurdity,” he said. “We are in America’s second Revolutionary War to save our freedom, which we paid for with blood. We need God’s help and I’m not ashamed to ask for it.”

I used to live in Idaho. Pocatello to be exact. Granted, I was six, but I still have a clear memory of trying to explain to my teacher that I would not be in class on Rosh Hashanah. I might have been the first person ever to say that to her, but she eventually came to understand it was a Jewish holiday and decided that was OK.

Guess there is still some work to do.

Comments

#1 Confederate Soldier
January 5, 2010

I live in Mississippi. Yes we do have alot of churches. I know some old beer joints that was turned into churches after they went out of business. Mississippi is the most religious state in the union and i am proud. I am proud to be in the tea party movement, proud to financially and prayerfully support Answers In Genesis and other wonderful organizations like the Gideons, etc. Come to out twon as an atheist, that’s okay, but you start trouble, you will receive what you asked for. We have already run two atheists out of town for stirring up trouble. Be careful. You are welcome here, but leave socialist secularism behind.

By the way, to those not used to traveling through Mississippi, be not offended if you see Confederate flags flying high and proud. Many people have one including myself. I still plege my allegience to it more than the modern flag. At least we weren’t marxist socialists when this flag was instated. If we ever pass the hell care bill, I’ll plege my complete allegience to it.
#2 Johnny Birch
January 5, 2010

I’m right there with ya, CF! The confederate flag stands for alot more than just only slavery, and Im tired for one of people telling me its not. Its comes from a better time when theere were churches and Godbelieveing people in this country and not any uppity niigers inthe white House why do you thihnk they call it the WHITE house huh? and any athists that came into MY town wood of been tied to a poe and run out of town!!
#3 Rob Jase
January 5, 2010

Now I’d bet on 2 being a poe but I’m not so sure about 1. Sounds like some of the tea-baggers interviewed last summer.
#4 Johnny Vector
January 5, 2010

Well um, yeah. It says POE right there in the last sentence. And I’m wiped out. Writing that stuff is really hard. I suspect #1 is serious. And I’m pretty sure Mr. Rammell is. Gag.
#5 Duke York
January 5, 2010

Actually, my job takes me to some of the most run-down sections of New York City, and let me tell you, we can give Rural Mississippi a run for its money when it comes to churches. I’ve found some blocks of both the Bronx and Brooklyn where there were 6 churches — 6 separate, unrelated christian churches — in half a block. It seems to me that the worse a neighborhood, the more churches there are. I’m not sure which way the causation runs.

Duke
#6 SLC
January 6, 2010

Re Confederate Soldier

The Confederate flag is a flag of treason. Anyone displaying it shoulde be thrown under a good federal jailhouse. The biggest mistake made by the US Government after the Civil War was not hanging the traitors Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee from the highest yardarm.
#7 Jr
January 6, 2010

“The biggest mistake made by the US Government after the Civil War was not hanging the traitors Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee from the highest yardarm.”

I think they made a few errors that were bigger when they dealt with the reconstruction.

I know it is the wrong holiday but the post made me think of this quote from the Simpsons:

“I know Weinstein’s parents were upset, Superintendent, but I was sure it was a phony excuse. I mean, it sounds so made up: “Yom Kippur.”"
#8 CybrgnX
January 6, 2010

The Confederate flag does stand for more then just slavery, but I doubt he knows what that is. Davis & Lee were not traitors, but fought for an important cause. And your next thought is wrong…I am a Connecticut Yankee and not a confederate. But I have read real history books and not the pack of lies and half truth they pedal in grade school. Read some real history of the era and gain some perspective. Although I am not stating the reason for the civil, I did not and do not agree with the reason. Read some history NOT grade school crap.
The amazing part is the article ignores the fact that most of the constitution was watered down by the religious republican BUSH, so if g0d wants to help then get a secular atheist elected so the losses can be returned to us.
#9 Collin
January 6, 2010

The confederate flag “stood” as the symbol for the states that had seceded from the United States (the confederacy), around April of 1861. What it stands for today is obviously a bit more freighted with meaning.
Philisophically, the best that can be said about the cenfederacy was that they were engaging in a fight over the legitimate question of the primacy of states rights/power versus that of the federal goverment rights/power. That question though, is and always will be, tied, along with the confederacy, seccesion, and the confedrate flag to the underlying question of why the states rights were being challenged by the federal government. That question being, did the federal government have the power to limit the expansion of the “peculiar institution” to areas south of the 36/30 line, or anywhere in general? More pointedly, did the southern states, or any state, have the right to determine the issue of forced bondage/slavery of several million of its inhabitants and the expansion of that institution into newly formed states and territories?
The “meaning” of the confederate flag is further embroiled in controversy by its association with the KKK, whose first leader of note was Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Lt. Gen and cavalry officer for the confederacy. The flag was often seen flying at Klan rallies. The flag was also a potent symbol of the south during the segregation era of the civil rights movement.
I know this response is a bit off topic from the original post, but I always get a bit put off by simplistic arguments about why the confederate flag should be flown. Without a full understanding and acknowledgement of the weighty history of that symbol, I don’t think anyone should be flying it, let along pledging allegiance to it. The confederate flag isn’t just a symbol of slavery, nor is it just a symbol of states rights, or “just” anything. It should be a reminder of the continuing evolution (I knew I could get that word in somewhere!) of the meaning of union and rights in America as well as the continuing expansion of who should get to enjoy those rights. The confederate flag is rightly stained with the blood of the millions held in bondage and the hundereds of thousands that died in defense of that flag and the stars and stripes. To give any part of our history less than its due, and less than a full airing does not do justice to our past.

Whew…now that that’s off my chest…off to gym.
#10 Confederate Soldier
January 6, 2010

SLC,

Try it!
You’ll have more rednecks on your ass than bees in a hive.

The biggest mistake the South ever made was not slaughtering the northern troops in their sleep at night, burning down every factory and schoolhouse they came across when in the north and not burning entire cities and forests to the ground in the north. It’s amazing teh financial damage that could have been inflicted on the north if even one major city were abalze from 10,000 rednecks with torches lighting fire to everything in sight.

My flag will fly high. If you wish to not see it, don;t look at it. I consider removing it from my property as an act of war and an act of treason, not to mention vandalism, trespassing, and a host of other crimes punishable by firing squad. my heitage, your ignorance. The South could have won that war if they had been merciless savages pilaging and burning everything in sight instead of going by a bunch of civilized rules. Next time we fight a war, I hope they put me in command. I promise you will surrender.

Besides, the war was over states rights, you dummy. You know? Like the healthcare crap bill will have states rights lawsuits too! At least i hope it will last years in the courts.

See yall later.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/596259/posts

We are no longer to be called hillbillies. You are to call us Appalacian-Americans!

I salute the Confederate flag with affection, reverence, and undying devotion to the cause for which it stands!
#11 Confederate Soldier
January 6, 2010

Honestly though I have seen this bumper sticker around:

“If I had known this I would have picked my own damned cotton”

Also I have seen :

“If I had know it would have turned out like this I would have never surrendered – Robert E. Lee”

Once more that has the rebel flag that states:

“We fought the first terrorists”.

My personal all time favorite reads:

“WARNING! This property is protected by Confederate Security Agency. All trespassers will be violated!”
#12 Confederate Soldier
January 6, 2010

One other sticker has a picture of Hitler with his right arm raised and it reads: “Everyone in favor of banning guns raise your right hand”. That’s one that should be posted in washington.
#13 Collin
January 6, 2010

Not to belabor this portion of the discussion, Johnny Reb, but the tactics you are holding in high regard were tried. Sherman’s march to the sea being the most notable example of burning, pillaging and laying waste to the war making capabilities of the south. Grants flanking movements of Lee’s army and the ensuing destruction of its fighting capabilities ending in with the “seige” of Petersburg, being another example of laying waste to the men and material of the south. Nasty, viscious trench warfare that consumed thousands of union and confederate soldiers dead.
The south’s chances at victory were slim at best and quickly removed once control of the Mississippi was lost at Vicksburg, New Orleans was controlled by Farragut, and the northward advance was stopped at Gettysburg. Many other factors were in play, but without a major interventions of a European power, an influx of material from somewhere, or a major increase in the power of the northern peace democrats, the south cause was mostly lost from the begining.
Guess I won’t be getting a response to this post either, CS?
#14 Confederate Soldier
January 6, 2010

There is no such thing as an unwinnable war. It is only unwinnable in the eyes of the weaker warrior. The could have won. They should have never given up.

Think about this:

The south was outnumbered. The north had more men, more guns, more money, more factories, more financial stability, more everything. Yet, the south kept them fighting for years. Rain, sun, hot , and cold. We may have lost but for a ragtag untrained, poorly equiped, financially broke group of rednecks, we sure held our own as long as possible. If we had proper training, better weapons, and a better economic situation, your side would have been screwed.
#15 Collin
January 6, 2010

What the various pieces of the confederate army did, from a tactical point of view, was impressive. Some of the premier service members of the US military left for service in the Confederate army, notably Lee, Jackson, Longstreet and many others. They put together a viable fighting force that was able to hold off a much stronger northern army for a considerable time. But make no mistake about it, after 1861 the core parts of both the northern and southern armies were both made up of combat veterans.
The south’s war strategy was easier to implement. Hold the territory that was their’s, fight a defensive war, don’t lose too many men and hope for a European recognition of independence or a stalemate that would allow northern peace factions to gain a foothold. In the long run, none of that happened; the advance northward was halted with devestating consequences (both military and political), too much man power was lost, recognition never came (an extremely long shot in any case), and the territory was not held.
Both the north and the south had armies made up of generally uneducated, farmers/laborers. The higher ups from both armies were mostly US military trained men, many of whom were educated at West Point and served with distinction in several actions (the Mexican-American War being a good example).
Obviously this is a vast simplification of the whole war, both from a military and political stand point. But given the realities of the time, no southern army would have been able to stop the northern armies. European recognition was lost, seas lanes were effectively closed, access to the west was cut off, and punishing losses were inflicted during the final campaigns in late ’64 and early ’65.
Whatever the view point taken to look at the war, at least after the peace settlement at Appomatox the south didn’t start a guerilla style war and the north didn’t inflict much undo punishment.
#16 FastLane
January 7, 2010

I think what ‘Confederate Soldier’ is saying in post #14 is that the Iraquis and Afghanis might still win.

I wonder why he hates America so much?
#17 Pierce R. Butler
January 7, 2010

Shithead wrote: I live in Mississippi. (# 1), followed by You are to call us Appalacian-Americans! (# 10).

I can’t help but suspect he lives in his mom’s basement in Wasilla, where the home-schooling curriculum includes neither the geographical extent nor the spelling of Appalachia.

For the record: my family roots in Mississippi go back before the American Revolution.
#18 Jim Harrison
January 7, 2010

When Southerners defend the Stars and Bars, they might as well be Germans flying the swastika. Defending the Confederacy is the moral equivalent of holocaust denialism because slavery was every bit as horrible as the holocaust. If the rebels and their families had been sold into slavery to pay off the cost of the Civil War, it would have been mere justice.
#19 Confederate Soldier
January 7, 2010

When liberals defend Saul Alinsky or Jeremiah Wright, or that terrorist who is now professor (how the hell did that happen?) they might as well be Marxists killing Christians in South America.

There is nothing wrong with flying the confederate flag. It has nothing to do with slavery. Besides, for somone so concerned over slavery, you sure do support enslaving us all with that socialist governemnt takeover of healthcare. Now, that is true slavery! Forcing someone against their will to purchase something they can’t afford from a private company ruled by mobster politicians in Washington. You call me bad?

If the yankees who stole money from the south would have repaid it by minding their own business, it would have been mere justice. They are still screwing us over. Look at all the union thugs and creeps we have to go through to deal with production. The faxct of thye matter is that the whole war was the fault of the north screwing over southerners by strealing all their profits. If the north had truly cared about the slaves like they claimed, they would have boycotted southern businesses instead of stealing their profits and giving little in return. War was justified! Keep flying the flag until apologies from the north are said!

I have a book recommendation for the lame brained people here:

The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War

also read:

The Politically Incorret Guide to the South.

You might learn something worth talking about.
#20 Jim Harrison
January 7, 2010

My great, great, great grandfather died leading a charge against the Union lines on the first day of Shiloh. My family sometimes refers to him as the last happy Harrison because he must have thought that South was going to drive the Feds into the river that morning and end the war. So I know something about the South. Family piety doesn’t change anything, however. Of course the war was about slavery. The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War ought to be titled the Civil War for Idiots if it asserts anything different. The funny thing is that the only people who are still defending the Confederacy are crazy right wingers and doctrinaire Marxists who want to assert that wage labor is no different than chattel slavery—I’ve met all too many of both species.
#21 Confederate Soldier
January 7, 2010

I doubt if marxists support the confederate flag. They are too busy wrapped up in the healthcare scandal in Washington. Call me crazy right winger then, becuase i still fly mine.
#22 Richard Eis
January 8, 2010

Churches popping up is usually a sign of lack of prosperity and serious uncertainty/fear. The fact they they are simply churning around in politics without any connection to anything “real” is even more telling.

They will soak up the money from those that can’t afford it on the offer of bread tomorrow. Since they have no power to deliver that, people will starve soon.

I wonder if Confederate Soldier has ever actually fought in a real war. He seems a little too keen to fight, fight, fight. Always a good sign that someone has never seen more than a cut from their shaver.
#23 SLC
January 8, 2010

Re Confederate Soldier

There is no such thing as an unwinnable war. It is only unwinnable in the eyes of the weaker warrior. The could have won. They should have never given up.

Think about this:

The south was outnumbered. The north had more men, more guns, more money, more factories, more financial stability, more everything. Yet, the south kept them fighting for years. Rain, sun, hot , and cold. We may have lost but for a ragtag untrained, poorly equiped, financially broke group of rednecks, we sure held our own as long as possible. If we had proper training, better weapons, and a better economic situation, your side would have been screwed.

The initial successes of the Confederate armies were mostly due to the incompetence of the Northern commanding generals. It wasn’t until Grant, Sherman, Thomas, and Sheridan emerged that the North got it right.

1. For instance, if, during the campaign of First Bull Run, the commanding general in West Virginia had done what he was supposed to do and held Johnstons’ forces in place, the Northern forces would almost certainly have won that battle, as McDowells’ strategy was sound and he had a substantial numerical advantage. A victory for the North at First Bull Run would have changed the entire complexion of the war.

2. If the pontoon bridges had been available at Fredricksburg, Burnsides’ forces would have crossed the Rappahannock and occupied Maryes’ Highths before the arrival of Lees’ troops. Lee then would have been faced with either retreating South towards Richmond or attacking Burnsides’ forces on Maryes’ Highths. Given Lees’ penchant for aggressive action, he very likely would have chosen the latter strategy and would have suffered the same defeat the Burnside actually suffered. Again, the entire complexion of the war would have been changed.

However, the main problem with the Confederates was that their leadership had no conception of military grand strategy. As General Fuller puts it, Jefferson Davis was dried up old stick, more suited to the cloister then the presidency in Richmond. Robert E. Lee was, in many respects, one of the most incapable commanding generals in history. Thomas Jefferson Jackson was probably certifiably insane.

Since Mr. Confederate Soldier likes to suggest reading material, I suggest he consult the following volumes where the inadequacies of Davis, Lee, et. al. are demonstrated in full.

1. “Lee and Grant, a Study in Generalship and Personality,” Major General J. F. C. Fuller.

2. “Lee, the Marble Man,” Thomas Connelly.

3. “Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat,” Grady McWhiney.

4. “Lincoln and his Generals,” T. Harry Williams
#24 donquijoterocket
January 8, 2010

I’ve a friend from our time together doing a walking tour of the sun and fun capitol of southeast Asia who, after having been sentenced upon our return to a stint at one of our southern bases, insists that the biggest mistake was in reining in W.T. Sherman too quickly.Basically I’d say the south got just what was going to happen to a poor agrarian society still imbued with the dubious principles of chivalry and class correct behavior who thought they could win a war with a more populous industrialized society purely on the supposed advantages of chivalric gallantry and good horse flesh.This friend, a former ranger, believes the north should have constructed a wall along the Mason-Dixon line and up the east bank of the Mississippi and then disposed of all its domestic and industrial waste over that wall.
#25 Confederate soldier
January 8, 2010

donquijoterocket:

I was thinking about a similar thing along the America/Mexico border.
#26 clamboy
January 9, 2010

“Confederate soldier,” in post 12 you directly imply that Hitler “banned guns.” What do you mean by that, please, and what is your evidence for this assertion? I have asked this same question to several people who have said the same thing, and none has ever replied.
#27 Confederate Soldier
January 9, 2010

Did Hitler not promise a more secure state if guns were confiscated? Do you think that the Jews would have defended their homes and families against the SS if they had guns in their homes in the first place? You are smart enough to do the research. Go ahead and loo it up. Hitler promised a more secure and safe Germany if guns were removed from the hands of citizens. Now do you know why we fear gun stealers like the far left? Makes us wonder what their plans are after they unarm us.
#28 pough
January 9, 2010

that terrorist who is now professor (how the hell did that happen?)

Education?
#29 Richard Eis
January 10, 2010

A proper history education hopefully. Also lessons in sex and race equality.

Your obsession with guns is noted. The rest of the civilised world is unimpressed. Americans seem to need guns to protect americans from americans.
#30 Modusoperandi
January 11, 2010

Confederate Soldier “When liberals defend Saul Alinsky…”
Actually, it’s the Right that uses him now. Remember the Town Hall “protests” over the summer?

“…or Jeremiah Wright”
So it’s only okay to be an angry jackass padre if you’re white?

“…or that terrorist who is now professor (how the hell did that happen?)”
Bill Ayers? Do you want to know why he didn’t go to jail? Not because of lefties or traitors or “liberalactivistjudges” (all one word) or [pause] SOCIALISM!^*, no, it was because of COINTEL.

“…they might as well be Marxists killing Christians in South America.”
That’s totally different than the other way around, which itself is completely different than, say, Op Phoenix or the School of the Americas.

“Did Hitler not promise a more secure state if guns were confiscated?”
And who is playing Hitler in the modern version of this? (/me says, knowing the answer)

“Now do you know why we fear gun stealers like the far left?”
That would make more sense if there were any parties of “the far left” anywhere near the centers of political power. (And don’t say “Obama is one”. A statement that absurd and fact-averse demeans everything we, and I speak for all the “far left” that has no place in either Party, stand for). If there was a legitimate “far left” in the USA you’d have a “public option”. Heck, you’d have proper SOCIALIZED!^* healthcare.

^* I always capitalize and add an exclamation point to any variant of SOCIALISM! now. I do it just to fit in. The shift to the Right has left me ever so alone.
#31 Confederate Soldier
January 11, 2010

Just because Ayers didn’t go to jail, doesn’t make him a sweet innocent little angel now does it. He is still a terrorist who should not be allowed within 1000 yards of students at a university, let alone be able to teach there.He should be in prison. Better yet, why don’t he just join the Taliban?

The gun hating liberals who want to illegally strip the second amendment out of the constitution is who the modern Hitler is.

Public option? Don;t be so sure yet. Just becuase they have dropped it for now, doesn’t mean they will not try to sneak it back in later. These socialists are sneaky and evil. They’ll do anything, and I mean ANYTHING to make sure their agneda is accomplished.

Thank you for trying to fit in.
#32 Modusoperandi
January 12, 2010

Confederate Soldier “He is still a terrorist who should not be allowed within 1000 yards of students at a university, let alone be able to teach there.”
Based on what, his not-being-convicted-of-a-crime? You don’t like it. I don’t like it. What we like doesn’t matter. It’s the Law. There’s that pesky Constitution thing. You know, that bit about “Not being punished for not being convicted of a crime”.

“He should be in prison.”
He probably should be, yes. Again, blame it on COINTEL.

“Better yet, why don’t he just join the Taliban?”
Because he was an American lefty terrorist. The Weathermen went out of their way to avoid killing people.

“The gun hating liberals who want to illegally strip the second amendment out of the constitution is who the modern Hitler is.”
Names and citations or STFU.

“Public option? Don;t be so sure yet. Just becuase they have dropped it for now, doesn’t mean they will not try to sneak it back in later.”
My prediction? Dead for at least a decade. It will take that long for enough people to get screwed by the present system, hopefully giving the Public Option the push it needs.

“These socialists are sneaky and evil. They’ll do anything, and I mean ANYTHING to make sure their agneda is accomplished.”
Are you high? Seriously, are you on “the drugs”?! Every other First World nation (and lots of the Third) has some variant of “socialized healthcare” and their systems work better, for the most part, for more people than the mess of the American one.
#33 Richard Eis
January 12, 2010

They’ll do anything, and I mean ANYTHING to make sure their agenda is accomplished.

* Sproing *

I need a new irony meter, anyone got any left still able to function after that statement?
#34 Confederate Soldier
January 12, 2010

WHAT? names and Citations? Ever heard of BRADY? You dummy.

The BRADY center is the largest anti-secondmendment force in the US besides some of Obama’s anti-american czars.

Socialized medicine does NOT work better. I wanted to be on a year long waiting list for chemo or heart surgey the place to go is Canada or Britain. If I wanted to wait four months to get an X-ray and wait another four months to hear from it and another four months to be treated, then again, move to a socialized nation. If you want results in hours, not months the US is the place to be. STFU youself about your Nazi utopia. Only the hippy crazies want 1940 German style government. We normal people hate socialism and love freedom. We hate humanism, and embrace normal things like normal people. Karl Marx was a bigoted freak of nature that should have excommunicated from civilization. His ideals have brought nothing but tyranny to civilization. Between Karl marx (whom you love) and Darwin, there have been millions of deaths due to a Godless secular socialist regime empowerment. Thus type of illigal and immoral government that you dream of will only bring tyranny to the people.

Son, I think your acid trip summer of love days are over. It’s now time to join the grownups and be normal. Hippy marxists are no better than Islamic terrorists. Both hate capitalism and freedom. May socialism and all its proponents go straight to hell. I refuse to live in your hell. I am a sovereign citizen. No governemtn owns me. I am a free man. The whole idea of forcing me to buy insurance if I choose not to is an illegal, unconstitutional, marxist fascist tyrannical move that I hope ends in teh fiery pits of satan’s basement in Hell. This soldier will march on in victory, whilst watching my foes melt away at the hands of their destructor.
#35 Confederate Soldier
January 12, 2010

whatever.
#36 Confederate Soldier
January 12, 2010

Modusoperandi,

By the way, Ayers is till guilty of terrorism. Just becuase a court didn’t convict him doesn’t mean he didn’t do it. It just means the court was wrong and he is still guilty. Any university that would hire a man like that is definitely not a good place to be. Might as well recruit ELF or the taliban to teach there. If I were the interviewer, he would not be hired in the first place no matter his educational background, unless he wholeheartedly and publicly denounced his actions as outright evil and outright anti-American and then apologizes.
#37 SLC
January 13, 2010

Re Confederate Soldier

Between Karl marx (whom you love) and Darwin, there have been millions of deaths due to a Godless secular socialist regime empowerment.

I won’t bother responding to most of the inane rantings of white trash Confederate Soldier but the mention of Charles Darwin along with Karl Marx should not go unchallenged.

The fact of the matter is that both Stalin and Hitler rejected Darwins’ Theory of Evolution. In particular, Stalin sent Russian evolutionary biologists to the gulag for daring to support the theory. Thus, peckerwood Confederate Soldier, in rejecting the Theory of Evolution, is siding with the two greatest criminals in history.

By the way, it should be pointed out that the most destructive war in history in terms of the number of deaths as a fraction of the total population was not WW 2 but the 30 Years War of the 17th century. And of course, the 30 Years War was a religious war. One can only guess as to how many people would have been killed in that war if Gustavus Adolphus, Count Tilly, and Albrecht von Wallenstein had had the weapon systems of WW 2 available to them.
#38 Richard Eis
January 13, 2010

Cancer average waiting times for England are:

Within 31 days – 97.4%
32 – 38 days – 1%
39 – 48 days – 0.7%
49 – 62 days – 0.4%
62+ – 0.3%

These are basic averages across multiple hospitals and will fluctuate slightly. This is the time between finding they have cancer and beginning treatment. The target is apparently 2 weeks with about 94% on target.

I think we do quite well considering we are an evil and depraved socialist state. Oh, you can go private too if you can afford it anyway so your comment is pretty moot.
This is taken from the governments FULLY PUBLIC website of statistics at dh.gov.uk.

Anyone have statistics for the US? Does anyone even know these figures? Is anything tracked like this?

I do agree that mandatory insurance is dumb. That isn’t how our system really works. Don’t blame us for American business’ unending greed and corruption in your political system. Also, its not like the insurance companies aren’t taking your money now.

The UK system may not be perfect, but my god it pisses all over what you have for the average Joe. There would be rioting if anyone proposed replacing our system with your fragmented, bloated pile of crap.
#39 Modusoperandi
January 13, 2010

“WHAT? names and Citations? Ever heard of BRADY? You dummy.”
Brady Bill, “was an Act of the United States Congress that, for the first time, instituted federal background checks on firearm purchasers in the United States”. Oh, no. Woe! The inconvenience!

“The BRADY center is the largest anti-secondmendment force in the US besides some of Obama’s anti-american czars.”
Uh huh. Colour me “not worried”. I am surprised to hear that Obama has an Anti-American Czar, much less multiple Anti-American Czars, though.

“Socialized medicine does NOT work better. I wanted to be on a year long waiting list for chemo or heart surgey the place to go is Canada or Britain.”
Assuming the worst (which is wrong. Socialized medicine is good at “life-protecting” care, eg heart surgery. It’s not so great at “lifestyle-protecting” care, eg hip surgery), that’s not even the “choice”. Between “waiting a while” and “not getting it at all”, which would you choose?

“If I wanted to wait four months to get an X-ray and wait another four months to hear from it and another four months to be treated, then again, move to a socialized nation.”
I’m already in a nation with socialized healthcare. One story: I work with a guy. For a while, he has headaches. Later, they turn to dizzyness and blurred vision, so he goes to the doctor, who diagnoses him with a potential brain tumour. MRI shows he’s got one. Less than a week later, it’s been scooped out of his head. No fuss, no muss.

“STFU youself about your Nazi utopia.”
“Nazi utopia”? C’mon, we’re conversing in the real world, here. At least try to argue as though we’re sharing a common reality.

“We hate humanism, and embrace normal things like normal people.”
You use the word “humanism” as though you know what it means. It’s quite clear that you do not.

“Karl Marx was a bigoted freak of nature that should have excommunicated from civilization. His ideals have brought nothing but tyranny to civilization.”
Yeah, I’m sure the Swiss (whose socialized healthcare is all private) are big fans of, um, that.

“Between Karl marx (whom you love)…”
The guy whose political theory was based on a false model of how things work? Hardly.

“…and Darwin, there have been millions of deaths due to a Godless secular socialist regime empowerment.”
Don’t. Blame. Darwin. For one thing, it’s wrong. As such, it betrays your ignorance. I recommend doing something about that. Try reading. Books are quite popular nowadays, I hear.

“Thus type of illigal and immoral government that you dream of will only bring tyranny to the people.”
You, sir, are nutty. Genuinely nutty. You’re fighting to pay more for the same level of care.

“By the way, Ayers is till guilty of terrorism.”
Yes. Again, COINTEL.

“It just means the court was wrong and he is still guilty.”
No, the court’s decision was right. It’s a nation of laws. The “good guys” cheated.

“Any university that would hire a man like that is definitely not a good place to be.”
He’s reformed and has been for quite a while.

“The whole idea of forcing me to buy insurance if I choose not to…”
Agreed. Sort of. Keeping that while losing the Public Option seems daft.

“I am a sovereign citizen.”
Yes. You’re also a member of a society. Democracy is most emphatically not “when my team isn’t in power, I’m taking my ball and going home!”

“No governemtn owns me.”
Welcome to Representative Democracy. The “other team” won (this time). This means that you won’t get everything you want. Suck it up, rub some dirt on it and move on.
Democracy is the only system where nobody is happy. Curiously, it’s also the system that tends to work best.
#40 Confederate Soldier
January 13, 2010

SLC :

There have been more deaths through abortion than through all wars involving America put together. 55 million and counting in the US alone. Now who is the warmonger again? Hitler’s ideas of the white race being superior coincides with the theory of evolution to a ‘T’.

Both Stalin and Hitler were bad men, but Karl Marx’s ideas shaped the evil to come. Hitler was no capitalist. He was a big labor union man – a socialist to his last dying breath. The NAZI regime was a labor union long before Hitler got hold of it.

_________________________________

English man is lying. Of course your “statistics” are based on what the government tells you. Are there any private companies who share the same statistcs or does your government allow people to question the government? Your government is a tyranny obsessed regime. You people haven’t been free in decades. You can’t even own a gun over there. Agian on your medical system: I bet you pay out the ass for your “free” healthcare too. I refuse to give up more of my hard earned money to some freakshow fascist in the government. I already pay 32% of my paycheck to the government and that’s about 20 % more than they deserve. Not even God requires but 10%.

——————–

Modusoperandi,

Still, it is unconstitutional to force the subjects of a nation to purchase a product from a private company. I can’t wait till the lawyers get hold of that one. I usually despise most political lawyers, but the more hell they can wreak on washington liberals, the better off America will be. I hope it takes decades to end this feud.

Some don;t seem to get it. If you want a socialist style dicatorship where all of your constitutional freedoms die, then please move to another country and leave this one as the original founders designed it. PLEASE!

England and Australia are not good examples of freedom. They pay out the ass to a governemnt that rules every private aspect of their life and gets the shaft in return. That is tyranny, not freedom. Better yet, I say we divide the United States. I say we cut off Washington, Oregon, and California from the union. Then ship all the socilaists over there and bring all three conservatives here and we’ll live in peace and harmony. You’ll have your utopian dream of socialist dictatoships where everyone will pay 99% of their cahecks in taxes and you get “free” healthcareand you cannot watch big TVs, own guns, eat fried foods, or do anything you want unless it is regarded as illegal or immoral like gambling, fornication, gayist “marriage”, darwinism, etc. Meanwhile in our side of the country we’ll live in freedom enjoying hunting, shooting out guns, reading our Bibles laughing at darwin’s funny beard, shooting at clay targets that look like Karl marx and living free. DEAL? Wait. California is its own country already. Didn;t they merege with Fidel castro and Hugo Chavez a while back? That’s right, they renamed their country Calicubazeula. Now their flag is a rainbow, their president is an all powerful dictator, their healthcare system is free when you can find a clean room in the hospital that actually have real nurses, not whores posing as nurses to make money to support their Mary Jane habit. Sounds like a good movie. We could call it FALL OF THE REPUBLIC. Wait that name is taken. oh well. The future looks real shitty for America.
#41 Confederate Soldier
January 13, 2010

Oh, did anyone read about the Amish being able to be excluded from the healthcare plan? Damn, it’s time to convert. I’ll put on my overalls and name myself Hubert. I’m Amish now. I have a feeling the Amish will have alot of converts on their hands this time next year.

http://www.whptv.com/news/local/story/Health-Care-Bill-Exempts-Amish/rgxp6aLIwEKxA-23DJUtXg.cspx
#42 SLC
January 13, 2010

Re Confederate Man

Still, it is unconstitutional to force the subjects of a nation to purchase a product from a private company.

Really? In many states, one cannot register a motor vehicle without proof of liability insurance obtained from a private company. Mr. Confederate Man is full of crap.

English man is lying.

Mr. Confederate Man is a bigoted, bible backed, born again, Barnum bunkum bastard. He is also an ignorant piece of filth, the slime off the bottom of the cesspool. Furthermore, he doesn’t know his posterior orifice from an excavation in tierra firma.
#43 Confederate Soldier
January 13, 2010

SLC,

Just becuase some states require (illegally) people to buy insurance for their car doesn;t make it constitutional.

Thanks for talking a like a stupid … well, I don;t think that word is allowed here. Nevertheless, you probably smell like one’s asshole after a yearlong cotton picking festival without a shower. Go pick some cotton, loonybat. Calling me a peice of filth is as low as it goes. That worse than being called a nigger. You, SLC are a Black Panthers (terrorist group) dick licker. Go eat your mama’s turds. Turdlicker.

Sorry i had to get personal and nasty, but hey, you had it coming. Calling me a piece of filth means war. We can continue the conversation at proper levels of sanity and less name calling if you wish, or we can continue the war. I can get real nasty though, I warn you. There are no rules in my war. Do we play war, or finish discussing? Your call.
#44 Karl Marx
January 13, 2010

Re Confederate Soldier

Mr. Confederate Soldier is a pederast and a murdering rapist.
#45 Richard Eis
January 14, 2010

-Hitler’s ideas of the white race being superior coincides with the theory of evolution to a ‘T’.-

A muddled attempt at social darwinism is NOT evolution. Not even close. It is also rather like blaming Newton for if you fall out of a tree.
No it doesn’t surprise me that you know nothing about evolution.

English man is lying. Of course your “statistics” are based on what the government tells you. Are there any private companies who share the same statistcs or does your government allow people to question the government?

Yes, we have a thing called a “democracy”. The statistics are used to improve services and check for holes in the system, not for impressing the public.

You can own a gun in England, you just have to have a damn good reason for it. That also goes for police officers as well.

From wikipedia:
“To obtain a firearm certificate, the police must be convinced that a person has “good reason” to own each gun, and that they can be trusted with it “without danger to the public safety or to the peace”. Under Home Office guidelines, gun licences are only issued if a person has legitimate sporting or work-related reasons for owning a gun. Since 1946, self-defence has not been considered a valid reason to own a gun. The current licensing procedure involves: positive verification of identity, two referees of verifiable good character who have known the applicant for at least two years (and who may themselves be interviewed and/or investigated as part of the certification), approval of the application by the applicant’s own family doctor, an inspection of the premises and cabinet where guns will be kept and a face-to-face interview by a Firearms Enquiry Officer (FEO) also known as a Firearms Liaison Officer (FLO). A thorough background check of the applicant is then made by Special Branch on behalf of the firearms licensing department. Only when all these stages have been satisfactorily completed will a licence be issued.

Any person who has spent more than three years in prison is automatically banned for life from obtaining a gun licence.[7] Similarly, persons applying for licences with recent, serious mental health issues will also be refused a certificate.”

For all your assertions you know nothing about my country. That would be fine if you weren’t constantly telling ME how you think my country is run.

It is quite shameful that you have no interest outside of your own selfish wants. Guns, God, fast food and big tv’s?? What a meaningless existence you have.

You are an ignorant fool. Reality will chew you up and spit you out.
#46 Confederate Soldier
January 14, 2010

Does defending yourself or your home from thugs and theives a good enough reason to own a gun in England. Not only is it good enough in America, we can own one just becuase we like them. It’s called freedom. A little clause in our constitution provides private citizens the freedom to own firearms for whatever reason they need. Futhermore, this thing called the Second Amendment, a term unheard of in socialist realms, is insurance for the private citizens to protect themselves against a would be runaway government. I love target practice, some hunting, sport shooting and just having guns to defend my hope. That is reason enough in a civilized society where individual (not collective) freedoms prevail.

Remember that a government powerful enough to give you everything you want is a government powerful enough to take everything you have. Is that real freedom? I think not.

Stop quoting wikipedia. We all know they are biased against conservatism.

Furthermore, we do not have to have a liscense to own a firearm. We are a free country, not a dictatorship. If a government fears its citizens with firearms, then maybe the citizens should in turn be afraid of that government. Punsh criminals, not victims, then will you see results. Freedom will always triumph over tyranny.
#47 Modusoperandi
January 14, 2010

Confederate Soldier “Hitler’s ideas of the white race being superior coincides with the theory of evolution to a ‘T’”
That’s not Natural Selection (and the Theory of Evolution). That’s animal husbandry and artificial selection. Blame farming. Blame the Tanakh. Blame Nationalism. Heck, blame Sparta. Don’t blame Darwin.

“We can continue the conversation at proper levels of sanity and less name calling if you wish…”
Then you’re going to have to dial it way, way back. And try using facts. Those help.

“Stop quoting wikipedia. We all know they are biased against conservatism.”
Not really. They tend to be biased toward reality.
#48 Richard Eis
January 15, 2010

Stop quoting wikipedia. We all know they are biased against conservatism.

I quoted wikipedia for facts on gun laws. I have no idea what that has to do with your definition of conservatism.

My father owned an air-rifle, and I have fired them at a gun club. They are noisy, dangerous and completely unnecessary in England.

Licenses are sometimes necessary in America, it depends on the state. I also see nothing wrong with having regulations for dealing with the storage and handling of fireams considering they are purposefully designed for killing things. Just as you want regulations for the transport and handling of dangerous chemicals.

Since your government is made up of americans it seems that fear of your fellow man is the main reason for keeping guns these days. It doesn’t say much for your country when you practically wet yourself at the thought of leaving the house in your country of “freedom”.

Punish criminals, not victims, then will you see results. Freedom will always triumph over tyranny.

Your country is drowning in prisoners. Your prisons are full.

Freedom triumphs over tyranny in the movies. Life is a little more complicated than that. Unless you want to play the “Whos invaded the most countries in the last 30 years” game. I wonder where America would come in those stats.
I wonder if the 3rd world countries who have to export most of their goods to the US at slave prices due to modern market forces feel the US is a place of freedom?

Life is complicated, but you have been watching too many american movies.
#49 Modusoperandi
January 16, 2010

Richard Eis “Life is complicated…”
Sure, but only in the real world.

“…but you have been watching too many american movies.”
Now you’re just being ridiculous. Your statement implies that foreigners make movies. Imagine that! Foreigners! Making movies! Pah!
#50 Confederate Soldier
January 16, 2010

Our prisons are full, yes. There are many reasons for this. Fir one thing, parents need to do their jobs in raising their children to be better citizens, not thugs. Broken homes is the number one reason why children grow up to be criminals. Broken homes leads to mental distress which often leads to drug/alcohol abuse which often leads to theft, murder, etc. Single parent homes and deadbeat parents (not just dads) that are broken are a major contributing factor in crime rates. Don;t blame guns. I was raised with guns in the house, yet I am not a criminal. I was shooting rifles, shotguns and handguns before I ever entered the first grade. Most American boys in the South are taught to hunt and are familiar with guns from very early age, yet most of them turn out to be just regular people and not criminals.

Secondly, we treat our criminals here like they are royalty. No one is afraid to commit crimes anymore. Of course the death penalty never stopped crime, but is may reduce it if criminals fear for their life.

Thirdly, our criminals are almost never punished for their crimes. They go to a prison where they lift weights and read magazines and eat three meals a day rather than manual labor like we used to do. It wasn;t that long ago (less than 50 years) that people in Parchment prison in Mississippi would make their prisoners pcik cottom 12 hours a day or work on farms 12 hours a day 7 days a week for as long as their sentence. This is what we need today. manual labor and punishment for crimes, not lax rules. By the way, if the prisoner tried escape he was usually shot on sight. This gave the criminal incentive to stay put anddo as they were told. Often, people who were released at the end of their sentence were afraid to do anything that would put them back into that hellhole. Thanks to the America Crminal Liberties Union, all that changed. Now the crminals just laugh at us and there’s not a damned thing we can do about it. Technically hanging is still legal in Mississippi. They never took it off the books, even though it hasn;t been used since the early 1960s.
#51 William T. Sherman
January 17, 2010

Re Confederate Soldier

So we made a thoroughfare for freedom and its train
Sixth miles in latitude, three hundred to the main
Treason fled before us for resistance was in vain
While we were marching through Georgia.
#52 Richard Eis
January 18, 2010

Your statement implies that foreigners make movies. Imagine that! Foreigners! Making movies! Pah!

They don’t count as movies since most don’t contain any explosions…and of course, they are full of foreigners.

I never said that guns were causing crime. Only that in a civilised society, their benefit probably does not outweigh the harm. They do certainly make crime more violent and dangerous when guns are involved.
#53 Confederate Soldier and Poet
January 19, 2010

The south will rise again in 2010!

We will be the lords
after the dictaor (Obama) takes our guns
and we replace them with swords.

We will cut off your ears
with our spears
that we made from stuff we bought at Sears.

When I see you are Wal-Mart
I let a big fart
that will be awful enough to stop your heart.

Red clover, green clover
thank God the liberals’ days will soon be over.
#54 Richard Eis
January 20, 2010

Oh it is quite likely Obama will only serve one term and that the next president will be a republican.

2010 is a bit soon for stuff to start really rolling. America as it is can continue for about another 5 years or so I think.

You should be careful what you wish for.
#55 Confederate Soldier
January 20, 2010

I am careful what I wish for. I am more careful what I pray for. I wish and pray for the destruction of socialism and the downfall of communism and the arrogance of liberalism to fail and never rise again for all eternity.
#56 Richard Eis
January 21, 2010

I am careful what I wish for. I am more careful what I pray for.

Technically those two things are the same.

I wish and pray for the destruction of socialism and the downfall of communism and the arrogance of liberalism to fail and never rise again for all eternity.

So, you want pure capitalism?
#57 Confederate soldier
January 21, 2010

I want freedom, and socialism is not freedom. It is tyranny. It puts government forces in control of our lives which is anti-constitutional. Capitalism works. Of course there are crooks and liars who cheat their way to the top, but that is sin and that will ever be stopped. That is not the point. Socialism works great until the government runs out of someone else’s money.
#58 Modusoperandi
January 21, 2010

“I want freedom, and socialism is not freedom.”
You keep using that word as though you know what it means. The “socialism” in your head and the petite “social-contractism” in the real world are two different things.

“It is tyranny. It puts government forces in control of our lives which is anti-constitutional.”
Um. You vote for the government. That’s your representation. That’s not tyranny. Nor is it tyranny when the “other guy’s Party” wins.

“Capitalism works.”
Private fire departments were a big success…

“Socialism works great until the government runs out of someone else’s money.”
The problem now isn’t capitalism vs socialism. It’s that the system privatizes profits and socialized losses. It’s that the well-heeled and well-connected get sweetheart deals that you’ll never get. It’s not that the State is evil, it’s that a small cadre buy its loyalty, resulting in socialism for the rich and the connected corporations and Social Darwinism for everybody else.
…
If you think weakening the State makes you freer, think again. You’re arguing to cut off your own voice, to make yourself poorer. If you hate the State (which definitely has issues), just wait until it isn’t there to protect you from The Corporation. It’s bad at it now (stripping the EPA, FDA and loading FEMA with cronies did you no favours). It’ll be worse at it when it’s not there.
#59 TGT
January 21, 2010

On the original topic, I live just outside Baltimore. To northerners, we’re confederates. To southerners, we’re damn yankees.

In my suburban neighborhood, I can walk to 5 churches before I find a single bar or grocery store. I get weekly flyers from various groups about the “Greatness of God.” It’s a freaking epidemic.

Back off topic, I’d like to know why confederate thinks healthcare insurance mandates and automobile insurance mandates are unconstitutionally. What specifically is violated? How are the commerce clauses and legal precident refuted?

For healthcare, constitutionality is clearly up in the air. The scholars have come down on both sides, mainly based on how they define commerce. For auto insurance, it’s one hundred percent settled as legal. I’d love a coherent logical argument showing its not constitutional.
#60 Confederate Soldier
January 21, 2010

You are only as poor as you choose to be. Don’t make enough money? Get a second job. it is not the job of the government to make sure we live in a nanny state where every desire and whim is taken care. Take responsibility for your own life and stop counting on the government. Their job is to protect us from foreign threats, not tell tax us into oblivion so that Habib can quit his job and get on welfare to feed his 14 kids. Less government mean more personal individual freedom. This nation was founded on less government, more private freedom and less intrusion from government. I pay 33 percent of my paycheck to a sorry government that can;t get anything right. Frankly, that is 15% more than they deserve. If I had that back, I would be doing great and the economy would too. People can;t spend money on possesions and help the economy if the government is taking that money to fee Lashonda’s 54 kids while she watches cable tv and eats junk food and smokes dope all day. My advice to them : GET A F’ing JOB and quit stealing MY money.
#61 Confederate Soldier
January 21, 2010

@TGT:

Okay. The government just passed a bill that mandates you to purchase a Hummer. If you do not purchase one you will be fined or jailed. It doesn;t matter if you want one or not, you get no say it it. it’s either buy one or else…

Get it yet?

Forcing people to buy health insurance goes against the constitution entirely. The government cannot force private citizens to purchase anything and punish them for not doing so. For one thing there are 50 states with 50 different sets of laws. This whole healthcare mandate is wrong becuase it crosses states rights. The 10th amendment is being destroyed here. There will be lawsuits over this crap and rightfully so. Whta I buy, when I buy it, who i buy it from, and whether I buy it at all is MY business, not the government’s business. I am an independent soverign free citizen, not a slave. I do not adhere to tyranny. Down with this treachery. Apparently you haven’t been keeping up with current events. Just search for healthcare plan 10th amendment states rights and see what you come up with. There are hundreds of organizations arming themselves with lawyers for when this piece of crap legislation cross over the freedom line and into so called law. There are presently 13 attorney generals that swear they will take this to court if this goofy thing passes. I hope it fails and everyone involved looses their job and gets kicked out of the country.
#62 Richard Eis
January 22, 2010

Confederate, you are the most black and white thinker i’ve ever seen. Every person on welfare is a money vampire. If its not capitalism its evil socialism.

Everything that is the opposite of something bad must therefore be good to you. A dangerous way of looking at the world. All things in moderation. That includes government and business control generally works best from a historical perspective.

What I buy, when I buy it, who i buy it from, and whether I buy it at all is MY business, not the government’s business.

Car insurance completely undermines your valiant speech.

Will people complain? Probably. It sounds like a dumb idea frankly. Capitalism at its finest courtesy of the health insurance companies. Funny, no?
#63 Modusoperandi
January 22, 2010

Confederate Soldier “Their job is to protect us from foreign threats, not tell tax us into oblivion so that Habib can quit his job and get on welfare to feed his 14 kids….People can;t spend money on possesions and help the economy if the government is taking that money to fee Lashonda’s 54 kids while she watches cable tv and eats junk food and smokes dope all day. My advice to them : GET A F’ing JOB and quit stealing MY money.”
Hey, look everybody, ugly racism! Look, over here! Malevolent and ignorant racist jackass!

Poor people aren’t poor because they’re lazy or brown or swarthy or have a name that’s the “foreign” kind of foreign.
…
I’m done. There’s a level of stupid that I can’t stand being around and that’s so far gone that the path to rational, reality-centric thought itself has been obliterated by rightwing talking points, foolishly ignorant manichaeism and blind jingoistic tribalism. If there’s a stupid-not stupid line, you’ve not only crossed it, you jumped over it and kept going. Worse, you’ve done it willingly. There’s a whole big world out there that you’re missing and it’s not nearly as dangerous as you think. Most of it is pretty good, from what I’ve seen.
#64 Confederate Soldier
January 22, 2010

Come to Mississippi. You will see all kinds of lazy people. I know people who just keep having kids to get the extra government money to pay for their satellite Tv. I realize not everyone on wlefare is lazy. I realize that some people may be poor due to circumstances. That’s fine. I have no problem supporting them. It’s the lazy jackasses with 15 kids and food stamps I hate to support. I feel like telling the to buy some damned birth control sometime. Maybe take some of that beer and gambling money and actually buy groceries with it rather than stealing it from me through the government.

I know a lady who makesnearly as much money as I do yet refuses to pay health insurance becuase she takes her “chilren to da hef depotment”. Her wore Kia has to be jumpstarted everytime it’s cranked up. I used to jumstart it for her. After the third time, I told het NO. Go buy a damned battery. If she spent as much on things she needs as she does beer, pot, and gambling she wouldn’t have a problem buying a battery or health insurance. Priorities is a non-exitent thing to some people. It’s those people who can starve as far as i’m concerned. If you are hard working and willing to try to do your part and are down on your luck I’ll be more than happy to lend you a hand with groceries, lend you money, take you wherever you may need to go, etc. However, if you’re just a lazy bum, screw it. Get away from me!

Don’t accuse me of not being caring and passionate. Of course I try to help people, but I refuse to help people who take advantage of the system and are unwilling to help themsleves.
#65 Aquaria
January 25, 2010

CS is immune to facts, to compassion, to anything remotely resembling humanity.

He is a sociopath, and too stupid and full of himself to do anything about it.

Unfortunately, there are more like him, and they won’t be happy until they’ve made America the new Afghanistan.
#66 Confederate Soldier
January 25, 2010

You are crazy Aquaria. You don;t understand anything. America will never be like an Islamic nation. There is sadly an increasing number of leftists due to indoctrination in the education system and elsewhere. I have no desire to turn America into a “theocracy” as the old scare tactic suggests. I only want to keep America the way it is. I do not want socialism and i do not want the government to have more power than they already have. I don;t care if you are atheist or gay or whatever. I just ask you to leave America alone and leave it be. Most people are Bible believers and put their faith above their country and family. Real beleivers do anyway. The apostates do not.
#67 Richard Eis
January 26, 2010

America will never be like an Islamic nation.

You mean a place where religion is completely tied into politics and only the religious can go anywhere in government? Where religion is more important than “country and family”? Where other religions are looked down on. Where religious observance is considered more important than learning about the world, and education is treated as “indoctrination”?

oopsy…. too late…
#68 Confederate Soldier
January 26, 2010

Religion and politics have always been a part of each other except in socialist dictatorships and even they pretend to have religion to maintain their power and appearance.

God is to be placed above Country and family.

Indoctrination? I suppose those teenagers in the 1960s just turned all hippy marxist radicals all by themsleves didn;t they? I guess their traitor communist professor had nothing to do with it.

Before long America will become the land of the gay and home of the doped up marxist tree hugger who was brainwashed at youth and can;t seem to find a way into normaland.
Oopsy … too late…
#69 Modusoperandi
January 27, 2010

Dear God,
We haven’t talked in a while. To be honest, even when we do, it’s like I’m talking to myself. That aside, and try to keep in mind that I haven’t asked you for much, except for Megatron for Christmas back in the 80′s (note that you proved less than helpful in that regard. To be fair, Santa was no help, either), but please, please, please God, let Confederate Soldier be a Poe. I just can’t go on if he, in fact, representative of the Modern Conservative Brand® and, thanks to things like the Electoral College, the Southern Strategy and the return of Fundamentalism to the national stage, will continue to have a disproportionately large say in the direction the nation goes.
Thank you for your time,
Modusoperandi
#70 Richard Eis
January 27, 2010

God is to be placed above Country and family.

Why? Does it help?

and why is your all powerful god always so damn needy all the time? He should be helping us, not constantly asking for our time and money and prayers.

Before long America will become the land of the gay

indoctrination? I suppose those teenagers in the 1960s just turned all hippy marxist radicals all by themsleves didn’t they?

Pretty much. Its called counterculture. Happens all the time. I can’t think of many places more conservative in fact than the average educational establishment.

Before long America will become the land of the gay and home of the doped up marxist tree hugger who was brainwashed at youth and can;t seem to find a way into normaland

When americans start walking to the shops down the road, instead of taking their SUV’s then we can talk about tree-hugging.

No-one in america has really been living in normal-land for the last 100 years or so. Its like a giant makebelieve bubble covered in sticking plasters and getting bigger every year.

Also when gays constitute more than 10% of the population, then you can worry about “gay” america. I doubt they are even 5% to be honest.

Since your last president regularly talked to god however, my points still stand. Yours however are looking quite shaky.
#71 Confederate soldier
January 27, 2010

Richard,

When americans start walking to the shops down the road, instead of taking their SUV’s then we can talk about tree-hugging.

————–

Americans have the freedom to drive whatever the hell they want to drive to wherever they choose to drive it. If I decide tomorrow to trade in my Ford Ranger for a Freightliner or Peterbuilt, what damned just to drive next door once in, what difference does it make? It’s none of your business what somebody else drives and for what reason. Are you one of those global cooling/global warming fanatics or something? I thought climategate settled that issue. I guess for some people, faith really is a thing to behold. Faith in a failed idea like “global warming” or evolution is a failed idea that bites us all in the ass in the end.

Remember those farmers in California who could not get water for their crops because the environuts wished to protect a little fish (like they couldn’t be moved)? Environuts are evil They screw everything up for people. Somebody should have blown the dam. To hell with the EPA.

Richard, are you one of those enviroterrorists from ELF who burns Hummers? if you are, then I definitley will be buyng the biggest most wasteful gas guzzling 4X4 truck I can possibly find. I’ll make sure to cut off the catalytic converter, run dual pipes, never buy gas with ethanol in it, put a 6 inch lift kit on it and put on 44 inch super swamper mud grips and a heavy duty steel front bumper with an adequate winch and as many lights as I can fit on it, and to top it off, I have the sound system blasting bluegrass gospel music everytime I go past an atheist treehugger’s house. You’ll know it’s me. I’ll have a specialty tag that reads BITE ME and there will definitely be a confederate flag painted on the tailgate.

Happy Motoring.

I wonder if I can buy an 4×4 RV and paint the whole thing as a confederate flag? I wonder if they make lift kits for RVs?
#72 Richard Eis
January 28, 2010

Putting aside the fact that “climategate” was anti-environment hyped nonsense about a couple of misconstrued emails I would say you are quite free to buy whatever you want. However:

I would ask how much that “Peterbuilt” will cost to buy. Your economy is not so rosy at the moment (understatement of the year). More credit is i’m sure quite empowering at the moment…i’m sure your new car will thrill you no end until the payments are added to your (no doubt already existing) accumulated debt.

I would ask whether it is wise to buy a gas guzzler when only recently oil went up to nearly $150 dollars per barrel. To the shops and back a couple of times may actually be all the use you can afford to get out of your new prized possession before having to sell it.

I would ask whether you can constantly put new chemicals into the air you breath without consequence? Or do you also think that California’s pollution laws and smog are all a fantasy?

While complaining about the fish and the farmers, perhaps you should ask yourself why California is facing these droughts in the first place. I also wonder what source of water they would use after both the fish and its source of water has been obliterated through farming.

You are not free. Not from economics, nor nature, nor climate. There is no such thing as the freedom from reality, only the illusion of such. something you have taken to a fine art. Or do you really believe that the world you live in is infinite in size and resources?

You have no understanding of where your food, or energy or big screen tv’s come from. Nor its price beyond the tag attached to it.
#73 kiramatalishah
January 28, 2010

Small Business owners are largely forgotten. Thats why I only focus on them. I have experience several members of my family file bankruptcy due to small business failures. I also I suffered through 2 destroyed businesses due to failure however, in my failings I have learned some of the secrets to success. (Who can say they know it all?)

http://www.onlineuniversalwork.com
#74 coetsee
January 28, 2010

Affiliate Marketing is a performance based sales technique used by companies to expand their reach into the internet at low costs. This commission based program allows affiliate marketers to place ads on their websites or other advertising efforts such as email distribution in exchange for payment of a small commission when a sale results.

http://www.onlineuniversalwork.com
#75 Modusoperandi
January 28, 2010

I get stuck in moderation hell, but the spam makes it through. Woe!
#76 Richard Eis
January 28, 2010

I get stuck in moderation hell, but the spam makes it through. Woe!

Poor you. You don’t seem to have much luck with moderation do you.
#77 eric
January 28, 2010

Confederate: It’s none of your business what somebody else drives and for what reason.

Yeah! Its none of your business that my car emits cyanide. Regulation? Bah – if you don’t like it, you can move!

Eis: You have no understanding of where your food, or energy or big screen tv’s come from. Nor its price beyond the tag attached to it.

You’ll probably be bringing up that frenchie Carnot next, and start talking that crazy ther-mo-dy-whatever talk about how the true cost of a gallon of oil includes the hidden costs of disposing of the combustion products. Don’t even bother, he’s a ferriner and a frenchie, and so I know he must be wrong.
#78 Confederate Soldier
January 28, 2010

I know exactly where my food comes from. My family has a long history of farmers. Farmers are America’s backbone. Besides I grow my own garden and food anyway. Saves money and trips to the supermarket. Global warming/cooling/change is a bunch of hooey at best. Of course the climate changes. I don’t deny that. However I have a feeling that since the polar ice caps on mars is melting that those martians are going to just have to give up their SUVs and big screen tvs as well. Maybe we should close all the coal plants on mars too. Your so called climate change is a result of the Sun and radiation, not the minute human input of CO2. Mother nature produces far more CO2 than do we humans. I suppose you’ll have the EPA suing Mount St. Helens the next time it erupts. The last time it erupted it spewed more CO2 into the air than all factories and cars combned since man invented factories and cars, yet the EPA failed to make Mount St. Helens stop contributing to “global warming”.

P.S. I’ll buy a big screen tv if I so choose. To hell with anyone who says other wise.

Who care how much fuel my vehicle uses? It’s MINE! I’ll take responsibility for that since I work to pay for it. Who cares how much the payments are? It’s MINE! I bought it with the money that I labored for. It’s mine, not yours, not thye government’s. It’s nobody’s business but mine since my name is on the tite. If you plan to make it your business, then please contribute to the payments. Otherwise, keep out of the individual’s financial choices. If you are so concerned, I do accept donations (in cash).
#79 Richard Eis
January 29, 2010

Farmers are America’s backbone

Something we at least agree on. I suspect you are in the minority though about knowing where your food comes from.
So how is the farming industry these days in your neck of the woods? I hear there is a lot of pain going on for a lot of the smaller farms. But then apparently thats not really anything new.

Who cares how much the payments are? It’s MINE!

But not for long if you don’t make your payments. I am not stopping you from buying it, merely pointing out that you probably don’t need it, you probably can’t afford it and its going to help ruin the environment. Hardly a glowing recommendation no matter how big a penis extension it is.

not the minute human input of CO2

From a 2004 article:
“Worldwide, sulfur dioxide emissions from volcanoes add up to about 15 million tons a year, compared to the 200 million tons produced by power plants and other human activities.”

“Worldwide, people and their activities pump 26 billion tons of carbon dioxide a year into the atmosphere, he said. The total from volcanoes is about 200 million tons a year — or less than 1 percent of the man-made emissions.”

There is a big difference between a one time eruption and a constant output 365 days a year of an ever growing, ever increasingly industrious population.
#80 Modusoperandi
January 29, 2010

Richard Eis “Poor you. You don’t seem to have much luck with moderation do you.”
I’m just smarter enough to realize that I’m not smart, so I buttress “my side” with links to people that know what they’re talking about. Apparently that’s bad. This blog is more “open” than, say, Ray Comfort’s special hell, but moderation here makes it pretty much pointless for me to post anything longer than a ineffectual quip.

Confederate Soldier “Your so called climate change is a result of the Sun and radiation…”
No. I’d post links that are full of facts, but, well, moderation. Infuriating moderation.

“Mother nature produces far more CO2 than do we humans.”
And we add to that. The natural level of CO2 is the baseline. Our contribution is on top of that.
In addition, the natural CO2 is a part of the natural cycle. The CO2 that we add (from coal and gas) hasn’t been in the biosphere since it was dinosaurs (and dinoferns).

If you had a glass full of water and you added a tablespoon more, causing it to overfill, would you really claim that your addition had no effect since it was already full of so much water? Rationally, no.

…
Wait. I said I would no longer reply. Damn you and your words!
#81 Confederate Soldier
January 29, 2010

Richard,

Farming these days really sucks down here. The potato farms drowned this year. Cotton is worthless, soybeans are still doing okay, and so is wheat. Overall, corn and sweet potatoes were a total loss in most of north Mississippi this year.

——–

Global waring a scam. The amount of CO2 produced by humans is extremely small compared to the earth’s natural output of CO2. Ocean vents release CO2 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Somewhere there is always CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere by nature. Our input is barely noticeable when making this comparison. Notice the Sun spots. When we have alot of them the climate gets warmer, when they go away, we get cooler. Besides, neither of you mentioned the melting ice caps on mars and what you plant to do about manmade global warming on mars.
#82 Confederate Soldier
January 29, 2010

I forgot to add an important link:

http://www.icecap.us/
#83 Richard Eis
February 1, 2010

Notice the Sun spots. When we have alot of them the climate gets warmer, when they go away, we get cooler.

Sunspot cycles are about 11 years long. Global warming has been on the rise seriously since the 1960s. Mars is a completely different atmosphere to earth. Comparing them is really like comparing apples and oranges.

As Modus pointed out, Earth already has cycles and movements of natural CO2 levels. We are adding to that in noticeable amounts. The question is not whether we are having an effect, but how much effect we are having.
We were perfectly capable of creating a hole in the ozone layer, of creating acid rain and of destroying and polluting huge areas of land. So the idea that we can release CO2 without any noticeable effect is very unlikely.

There is something I don’t understand, why are all the farmers complaining about poor crop yields, yet 2009 was apparently a great year for corn?

http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/news/story/US_corn011510.aspx

or was this the previous crop, and you are talking about the new planting?
#84 Confederate Soldier
February 1, 2010

Global climate change may be real, but it is far from manmade. It is a scheme to get more tax mon ey and more power. That’s all. ICPP has led scam after scam and yet people continue to believe their lies. If you didn;t look at the link, look at this one:

World Climate Report
http://www.worldclimatereport.com
#85 Richard Eis
February 2, 2010

Well, I read 2 of the articles. According to one, the temperature is actually going down, except its also going up because of natural cycles.

According to the other article America isn’t getting hotter, except it is because of a 10 year cycle. Only they then drew a big green upwardly sloping bar across the graph showing a slowly increasing average temperature from 1900 to 2010.

It was rather schizophrenic and vague.

I should point out that cutting greenhouse gases is a good thing regardless of climate change.
#86 Confederate Soldier
February 2, 2010

Okay. Agreed. A clean earth and environment is always good. However, a bill like crap and trade is not good. If we are going to come up with solutions, then the government has to do their part in releasing all secret documents and Tesla style technologies to use what we can. Supression of information doesn’t help your cause at all.
#87 Richard Eis
February 3, 2010

A clean earth and environment is always good. However, a bill like crap and trade is not good.

That sounds like a dumb idea. Especially since I doubt America can really afford to buy the credits it needs from other people in order to keep the quality of life people want. Unfortunately governments tend to see everything as a taxation issue.

Tesla style technologies? Secret documents? If you mean some kind of “free energy” forget it. There are free energy scams about and you can get very, very, very, very, very small amounts of energy from background radiation. Nothing useful.
#88 Confederate Soldier
February 3, 2010

We cannot afford the crap and trade bill. Besides it is a bad idea. It will cost us all significantly more. Quite frankly I like having electricity in my home. If crap and trade passes, I may have to cut my electricity off becuase it will rival a small mortgage payment and do little else. Your so called global warming is not manmade. Sorry, dudge you hav been suckered and swindled.
#89 Richard Eis
February 4, 2010

Your so called global warming is not manmade. Sorry, dudge you hav been suckered and swindled.

Time will tell. I can wait. Regardless, the basic and individual-based preparations are worthwhile in themselves and long overdue.

Your electricity will go up in price soon regardless of what the government does. Along with food and oil. Because it will be out of their hands, I doubt the government will be able to do anything about it.

You have my condolences.

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