America #1 in patriotism

[Atlas]

Americans rank No. 1 in patriotism survey

By MEGAN REICHGOTT, Associated Press Writer

Tue Jun 27, 2:56 PM ET

SoCals link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060627/ap_on_re_us/patriotism_survey

CHICAGO - When it comes to national pride, Americans are No. 1, according to a survey of 34 countries' patriotism. Venezuela came in a close second in the survey, released Tuesday by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

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People rated how proud they were of their countries in 10 areas: political influence, social security, the way their democracy works, economic success, science and technology, sports, arts and literature, military, history, and fair treatment of all groups in society.

In the U.S., "the two things we rank high on are what we think of as the political or power dimension," said Tom W. Smith, a researcher at the university. "Given that we're the one world superpower, it's not that surprising."

Patriotism is mostly a New World concept, the researchers said. Former colonies and newer nations were more likely to rank high on the list, while Western European, East Asian and former socialist countries usually ranked near the middle or bottom.

The U.S. ranked highest overall and in five categories: pride in its democracy, political influence, economy, science and military. Venezuela ranked highest in four categories: sports, arts and literature, history, and fair treatment of all groups in society.

Eric Wingerter, a Washington spokesman for the Venezuelan government, said many Venezuelans believe President Hugo Chavez has helped create a new sense of national pride. "There's been a real emphasis on rediscovering what it means to be Venezuelan," he said.

Chavez rails against the U.S. government and the Bush administration in particular.

Ireland came in at No. 3, followed by South Africa and Australia.

Cultural differences might explain the lower rankings for the three Asian countries on the list — Japan (18th), Taiwan (29th), and Korea (31), Smith said.

"It is both bad luck and poor manners to be boastful about things there," Smith said.

Countries that were part of the former Soviet Union or in the former Eastern Bloc ranked lower because they are still struggling to find new national identities, Smith said. Hungary was the highest Eastern European country on the list at 21.

[Crushaholic]

Usa!

[spdirty]

good.

[BroncoBuff]

In the U.S., said Tom W. Smith, a researcher at the university. "Given that we're the one world superpower, it's not that surprising."
ONE super-power?! Yeah, Smith. You and the 'patriots' just keep believing that ... while China quietly passes us by on all fronts. In two years they have their "comnig out party" with their Olympics, and two years after that, we're #2 in anybody's book (if not already).

We're a nation running on fumes ... we've lost respect in every corner of the planet, China owns trillions of our bonds, our real estate bubble can't last forever, and our Republican majorities are looting the treasury.

And oh yeah: China's military is as strong as ours. We still have a tactical/spec ops advantage, but "hot wars" are the Old World Order. In the 21st century, such power is an albatross magnet for resentment around the golbe ... especially the way we've used it.

[footstepsfrom#27]

ONE super-power?! Yeah, Smith. You and the 'patriots' just keep believing that ... while China quietly passes us by on all fronts. In two years they have their "comnig out party" with their Olympics, and two years after that, we're #2 in anybody's book (if not already).

We're a nation running on fumes ... we've lost respect in every corner of the planet, China owns trillions of our bonds, our real estate bubble can't last forever, and our Republican majorities are looting the treasury.

And oh yeah: China's military is as strong as ours. We still have a tactical/spec ops advantage, but "hot wars" are the Old World Order. In the 21st century, such power is an albatross magnet for resentment around the golbe ... especially the way we've used it.
Don't look now but China is also investing billions in Africa, a place where the US has been reluctant to go because the short term payoff doesn't look as attractive as it does elsewhere. Chinese investment in African infrastructure is creating good will on a continent where emerging nations are trying to go from literally zero economic and political global influence to something approaching regional power. Nigeria is the only African country with a global presense due to their oil production, but the continent has huge natural resources accross the board that interests China. The African continent is suprisingly open to US relations outside of places where Islam has taken root like Chad and the Sudan, and has been for a long time, particularly in places like Kenya where pro democracy, pro US feelings are still there. We're idiots not to take advantage of the opportunity to create good will in Africa. If they can conquer the AIDS and food crisis they stand to explode a generation from now.

http://www.weforum.org/site/knowledgenavigator.nsf/Content/_S16446?open&event_id=

[BroncoBuff]

Excellent points, and excellent article. I'd like to quote a part of it to make a different point:Trade Winds: Chinese Investment in Africa
26.01.2006
World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2006
China has an "insatiable demand" for oil, gas, timber and minerals – and Africa has an "enormous supply" of these raw commodities. Trade has grown from US$ 10 million in the 1950s to US$ 48 billion today.

And THAT'S why we're at war in Iraq. Even wonder why the 'reasons' for the war keep changing, or why the justifications are so slim (for every single reason they give, North Korea is a better example: http://www.orangemane.com/BB/showpost.php?p=1160827&postcount=2 )

No, the REAL reason we went to war in Iraq is CHINA.

Yes, China.

Here's why:

A reliable, stable and cheap flow of oil is absolutely critical to the continued and long-term health of the U.S. economy. All sectors of the economy. With China (and India) suddenly industrializing, and doing so rapidly, the reality is that more than a billion Chinese will soon want their own cars. And whadd'ya think that'll do to the price of oil on the global market? You bet your last yuan - it pushes it skyward ... that's just Supply and Demand 101.

During the 90s, the French were doing an end-run on the U.N. "food for oil" program to assert influence for claims on Iraq's juicy fields ... and China was headed westward - making headway in Pakistan and Iran. Our two 'top dogs' are oil industry veterans, and they understood that a post-Saddam Iraq could easily become beholden to these countries, especially after the Gulf War. So first: they got permission from the Kingdom (don't even think we didn't check with the Saudis first), and then they used 9/11, Saddam's brutality, and doctored intel as pretexts to establishing a permanent military presence in Iraq. No timetable - even Murtha's - will get our bases out of there - ever. We learned our lesson in Iran: Don't just make friends, the religious zealots can overthrow friends. Build bases. Big ones.

Problem is, the administration, for obvious reasons, can't go public with any of this crap ... a war for oil dominance is too unseemly for the masses, much less for the world diplomatic community. So they keep fumbling around, "WMDs" ... errrr ... "Saddam was bad" ... errr.... "spreading freedom" ... errr ....

Personally, I think the real reason - oil - is the best of all. But then again, I think we shouldda drilled in ANWAR twenty years ago... keep it flowin' ... but press hard for alternatives. World economic competition is the "hot war" of the 21st century, and America needs every advantage it can muster. That goes for conservative Republicans or liberal Democrats - like me.
L E T . F R E E D O M . R I N G ! !


:USA: . :super: . :USA: . :super: . :USA: . :super: . :USA: . :super: . :USA:

[cbs1177]

Well I have a flag on my front porch. I am very patriotic. I love the anthem I even know all four stanzas. J/K like most true Americans I lip sing it till the important bomb bursting in air yadda yadda. I think most of my decor is the us map or red white and blue stuff I have the New York City sky line in the living room. I have at least 100 books on the Presidents, civics, history of America, etc. I never sold one History of America back to the bookstore in college. Sad to say I even have Historical Report of the Secretary of State Sesquicentennial Edition 1986 book of Arkansas. I also have a lot of state pride. I think our state flag is better then most; most who simply slap the state seal on some colors.

[Atlas]

ONE super-power?! Yeah, Smith. You and the 'patriots' just keep believing that ... while China quietly passes us by on all fronts. In two years they have their "comnig out party" with their Olympics, and two years after that, we're #2 in anybody's book (if not already).

We're a nation running on fumes ... we've lost respect in every corner of the planet, China owns trillions of our bonds, our real estate bubble can't last forever, and our Republican majorities are looting the treasury.

And oh yeah: China's military is as strong as ours. We still have a tactical/spec ops advantage, but "hot wars" are the Old World Order. In the 21st century, such power is an albatross magnet for resentment around the golbe ... especially the way we've used it.

Chinas military is no where near as good as the U.S. the only thing they have is numbers. Their jets, missels and everything else doesn't hold a candle to what the U.S. has.

They are becoming a super power but they have many obstacles. The burden of the over a billion people in the country could be their downfall, They have VERY serious water and pollution issues. It will be about 20 years before any one can call them a superpower.

[defenseman]

Chinas military is no where near as good as the U.S. the only thing they have is numbers. Their jets, missels and everything else doesn't hold a candle to what the U.S. has.

They are becoming a super power but they have many obstacles. The burden of the over a billion people in the country could be their downfall, They have VERY serious water and pollution issues. It will be about 20 years before any one can call them a superpower.

Just to let you know, their diesel "boats" are damn good. Quiet son's of bitches and definitely deadly in CQB, shallow water ops....dman

[Rascal]

Just to let you know, their diesel "boats" are damn good. Quiet son's of b****es and definitely deadly in CQB, shallow water ops....dman

Yeap. They suck at open seas but when they can troll at low speeds (5 knots or less) they are deadly.

[cbs1177]

ONE super-power?! Yeah, Smith. You and the 'patriots' just keep believing that ... while China quietly passes us by on all fronts. In two years they have their "comnig out party" with their Olympics, and two years after that, we're #2 in anybody's book (if not already).

We're a nation running on fumes ... we've lost respect in every corner of the planet, China owns trillions of our bonds, our real estate bubble can't last forever, and our Republican majorities are looting the treasury.

And oh yeah: China's military is as strong as ours. We still have a tactical/spec ops advantage, but "hot wars" are the Old World Order. In the 21st century, such power is an albatross magnet for resentment around the golbe ... especially the way we've used it.
Also China is having a super hot economy that they are having trouble slowing. Most banks are family owned and state owned. China doesn't have a lot of creative thinking. They have cheap labor. Also their aging workforce. India is expected to overtake China as the most people nation in 2050. And they have a heck of a better culture center ie. Bollywood. Also as mention above me pollution and health issues will come into play. But free thinking economy is gonna to be their down fall or lack there of.

[cbs1177]

sweet killed another thread. Another three months of therapy needed.

[BroncoBuff]

I also have a lot of state pride. I think our state flag is better then most; most who simply slap the state seal on some colors.http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/1487/ar0vg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Arkansas always had an undeserved bad name. Then the state had that AWESOME YEAR about 14 years ago ... Clinton the new president, Razorbacks basketball national champions and Billy Bob Thornton and his movie "Slingblade" the talk of Hollywood.

I gained a huge appreciation of your state that year. And if you have a NYC skyline on your wall, that's pretty broad-minded of the hitherto thought to be lowbrow Arkies ... nice.

I was torqued off when TX governor Ann Richards - a Baylor alum - forced the Big XII to take Baylor, when the AD's were talking about making a run for Arkansas, which had an escape clause (to join Texas if possible) in their new SEC deal. The Big XII would be that much better with Arkansas in and Baylor out ...

Feel free to add any amazing Arkie anecdotes ...

[defenseman]

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/1487/ar0vg.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Arkansas always had an undeserved bad name. Then the state had that AWESOME YEAR about 14 years ago ... Clinton the new president, Razorbacks basketball national champions and Billy Bob Thornton and his movie "Slingblade" the talk of Hollywood.

I gained a huge appreciation of your state that year. And if you have a NYC skyline on your wall, that's pretty broad-minded of the hitherto thought to be lowbrow Arkies ... nice.

I was torqued off when TX governor Ann Richards - a Baylor alum - forced the Big XII to take Baylor, when the AD's were talking about making a run for Arkansas, which had an escape clause (to join Texas if possible) in their new SEC deal. The Big XII would be that much better with Arkansas in and Baylor out ...

Feel free to add any amazing Arkie anecdotes ...

the wife and I are looking at what state we want to end up in , eventually. Arkansas is on a short list. Though, we'll still have to finish up the house on our property in Colorado. Not gonna give that up. Pretty area, great view, NO NEIGHBORS to speak of (can't see them at least)....dman

[W*GS]

ONE super-power?! Yeah, Smith. You and the 'patriots' just keep believing that ... while China quietly passes us by on all fronts. In two years they have their "comnig out party" with their Olympics, and two years after that, we're #2 in anybody's book (if not already).

You're wrong.

And oh yeah: China's military is as strong as ours.

You're wrong. Again.

You must be a liberal.

[defenseman]

You're wrong.



You're wrong. Again.

You must be a liberal.

WOW!!!! talk about the sky is falling. Agreed W*GS, china has a ways to go yet...dman

[55CrushEm]

You're wrong.



You're wrong. Again.

You must be a liberal.

That freakin' avatar still cracks me up.....:rofl:

[alkemical]

Say....

if things move west - and at the rate of acceleration (as with tech, civilization, etc) - it will move faster and faster. Look how long london was the 'centre' of the world, then it moved to NYC, then to silicon valley. It will move to china, then spread faster and faster west, increasing ever few years, to the point that the flux will remain constant.

But only if we don't ripple the wave and stop it.

[defenseman]

Say....

if things move west - and at the rate of acceleration (as with tech, civilization, etc) - it will move faster and faster. Look how long london was the 'centre' of the world, then it moved to NYC, then to silicon valley. It will move to china, then spread faster and faster west, increasing ever few years, to the point that the flux will remain constant.

But only if we don't ripple the wave and stop it.

Don't see that one, UNLESS the chinese government changes. The world will not allow communists to become the "centre" of the world...dman

[alkemical]

Don't see that one, UNLESS the chinese government changes. The world will not allow communists to become the "centre" of the world...dman


We are doing our damndest to change that Dman.

[BroncoBuff]

You're wrong.

You're wrong. Again.

You must be a liberal.

Good arguments ... you got me there! ;D

Actually, China's military is not equal to ours, that was hyperbole on my part.

But their economy? Fugged'abbaditt! They own trillions of our bonds and have the fastest growing economy in history.

Which part of that don't you believe/understand?

[defenseman]

We are doing our damndest to change that Dman.

How so? The chinese "elitist" are quite comfortable maintaining a behind the scenes status quo from what I've heard. However, I'm guessing it can be broken, but not from the outside. Possibly from the inside, the average chinese worker..dman

[alkemical]

How so? The chinese "elitist" are quite comfortable maintaining a behind the scenes status quo from what I've heard. However, I'm guessing it can be broken, but not from the outside. Possibly from the inside, the average chinese worker..dman


The American "elitists" are quite comfortable with maintaining a behind the scenes status quo from what i've seen. however, i'm guess it can be broken. Not from the outside, maybe from the inside - the avg american worker. It will be difficult to return the power to the people. For those that want to be free will be labled dissadents and locked away or slandered to the point they have no credibility.

[W*GS]

But their economy? Fugged'abbaditt! They own trillions of our bonds and have the fastest growing economy in history.

"Trillions"?

It doesn't matter if their economy is growing very quickly. One of China's biggest problems is that their population is aging more rapidly than any other in history.

You figger it out.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

You're wrong.



You're wrong. Again.

And you must be a BushCo brownie hound whoring for rep from the board wingnuts.

[cbs1177]

the wife and I are looking at what state we want to end up in , eventually. Arkansas is on a short list. Though, we'll still have to finish up the house on our property in Colorado. Not gonna give that up. Pretty area, great view, NO NEIGHBORS to speak of (can't see them at least)....dman


Anything west of Little Rock is safe and pretty. I mean I live in the delta area and it is boring. Spider can say for certain between West Memphis and Little Rock it is the most boring 2 hours ever.

[clean]

When immigrants want to become Americans, they must take a civics test as part of their naturalization interview before a Citizenship and Immigration Services officer. The questions are usually selected from a list of 100 sample questions (see at http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/services/natz/English.pdf ) that prospective citizens can look at ahead of the interview (though the examiner is not limited to those questions). Some are easy, some are not. We have picked some of the more difficult ones.

Should you be welcomed immediately to the Land of the Free or sent home for some more homework? Find out!

(PLEASE NOTE: These questions are as asked on the official United States Immigration and Naturalization Services Web site. Candidates are not given multiple choices in the naturalization interview, which is conducted orally.)

1. How many stripes are there on the U.S. flag?

2. Who is the chief justice of the Supreme Court today?

3. In what year was the Constitution written?

4. Which of these is guaranteed by the First Amendment?

5. How many Supreme Court justices are there?

6. What are the first 10 amendments to the Constitution called?

7. When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?

8. Which of the following amendments to the Constitution does NOT address or guarantee voting rights?

9. What are the 13 original states?

10. What do the stripes on the U.S. flag mean?

11. What is the introduction to the Constitution called?

12. How many changes or amendments are there to the Constitution?

13. Which of the following is NOT one of the constitutional requirements to be eligible to become president?

14. Who selects the Supreme Court justices?

15. How many representatives are there in Congress?

16. Who said, "Give me liberty or give me death"?

17. Why did the Pilgrims come to America?

18. Who has the power to declare war?

19. What INS form is used to apply to become a naturalized citizen?

20. Which of these contains three rights or freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13442226/

[W*GS]

And you must be a BushCo brownie hound whoring for rep from the board wingnuts.

Thanks for projecting again, Ms. Rep Beeatch.

[Rohirrim]

Clean, you have the most disturbing avatars I've ever seen. Seek help, man.

[alkemical]

Albert Einstein
The ruling class has the schools and press under its thumb. This enables it to sway the emotions of the masses.

John F. Hylan
The real menace of our Republic is the invisible government which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy legs over our cities states and nation. At the head is a small group of banking houses generally referred to as 'international bankers.' This little coterie... run our government for their own selfish ends. It operates under cover of a self-created screen...[and] seizes...our executive officers... legislative bodies... schools... courts... newspapers and every agency created for the public protection.

John Adams
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.

Marcus Tullius Cicero
A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murder is less to fear.

American Mercury Magazine
The invisible Money Power is working to control and enslave mankind. It financed Communism, Fascism, Marxism, Zionism and Socialism. All of these are directed to making the United States a member of World Government.

Justice Hugo L. Black
The Press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of the government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people.

Justice Felix Frankfurter
The real rulers in Washington are invisible and exercise power from behind the scenes

Samuel Adams
If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right to freedom being the gift of Almighty God, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.

Charles A. Lindbergh
This Act (the Federal Reserve Act, Dec. 23rd 1913) establishes the most gigantic trust on earth. When the President (Woodrow Wilson) signs the Bill, the invisible government of the Monetary Power will be legalised... The worst legislative crime of the ages is perpetrated by this banking and currency Bill.

James Madison
History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling the money and its issuance.

Maxwell Anderson
When a government takes over a people's economic life it becomes absolute, and when it has become absolute it destroys the arts, the minds, the liberties and the meaning of the people it governs.

Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes the laws.

Spiro Agnew
The American people should be made aware of the trend toward monopolization of the great public information vehicles and the concentration of more and more power over public opinion in fewer and fewer hands.

[alkemical]

Thomas Jefferson
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them (around the banks), will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.

Donald Alexander
We now have so many regulations that everyone is guilty of some violation.

Alan Barth
The notion that the church, the press, and the universities should serve the state is essentially a Communist notion. In a free society these institutions must be wholly free ­ which is to say that their function is to serve as checks upon the state.

Lord Acton
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Gaius Julius Caesar
Beware of the leader, who strikes the war drum in order to transfer the citizens into patriotic glow, patriotism is indeed a double-sided sword. It makes the blood so boldly, like it constricts the intellect. And if the striking of the war drum reached a fiebrige height and the blood is cooking and hating, and the intellect is dismissed, the leader doesn't need to reject the citizens rights. The citizens, cought by anxiety and blinded through patriotism, will subordinate all their rights to the leader and this even with happy courage. Why do I know that? I know it, because this is, what I did. And I am Gajus Julius Cäsar.

Franklin D. Roosevelt
The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government of the U.S. since the days of Andrew Jackson.

Niccolo Machiavelli
Thus it happens in matters of state; for knowing afar off (which it is only given a prudent man to do) the evils that are brewing, they are easily cured. But when, for want of such knowledge, they are allowed to grow so that everyone can recognize them, there is no longer any remedy to be found.

Sir Winston Churchill
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

Napoleon Bonaparte
When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes. Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain.

Louis Freeh
Ask the American public if they want an FBI wiretap and they'll say, "no." If you ask them do they want a feature on their phone that helps the FBI find their missing child they'll say, "Yes."

Henry Brooks Adams
Politics, as a practise, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.

H. L. Birum, Sr.
The Federal Reserve Bank is nothing but a banking fraud and an unlawful crime against civilization. Why? Because they "create" the money made out of nothing, and our Uncle Sap Government issues their "Federal Reserve Notes" and stamps our Government approval with NO obligation whatever from these Federal Reserve Banks, Individual Banks or National Banks, etc.

Josh Billings
The trouble with most folks isn't so much their ignorance, as knowing so many things that ain't so.

[alkemical]

Edmund Burke
To govern according to the sense and agreement of the interests of the people is a great and glorious object of governance. This object cannot be obtained but through the medium of popular election, and popular election is a mighty evil.

Henry Ford
It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.

Thomas Jefferson
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.

Alexander Hamilton
The President of the United States would be liable to be impeached, tried, and upon conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors, removed from office; and would afterwards be liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law.

Grace Commission
100% of what is collected is absorbed solely by interest on the Federal Debt ... all individual income tax revenues are gone before one nickel is spent on the services taxpayers expect from government.

Robert A. Heinlein
Secrecy is the beginning of tyranny.

Andrew Carnegie
I choose free libraries as the best agencies for improving the masses of the people, because they give nothing for nothing. They only help those who help themselves. They never pauperize. They reach the aspiring and open to these chief treasures of the world -- those stored up in books. A taste for reading drives out lower tastes.

William Lyon Mackenzie King
Once a nation parts with the control of its currency and credit, it matters not who makes the nations laws. Usury, once in control, will wreck any nation. Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to government and recognized as its most sacred responsibility, all talk of the sovereignty of parliament and of democracy is idle and futile.

Lord Acton
Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.

Samuel Adams
A general dissolution of the principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy.... While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but once they lose their virtue, they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.... If virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security.

Alan Greenspan
In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. ... This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists' tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard.

Lyn Nofziger
These things I believe: That government should butt out. That freedom is our most precious commodity and if we are not eternally vigilant, government will take it all away. That individual freedom demands individual responsibility. That government is not a necessary good but an unavoidable evil. That the executive branch has grown too strong, the judicial branch too arrogant and the legislative branch too stupid. That political parties have become close to meaningless. That government should work to insure the rights of the individual, not plot to take them away. That government should provide for the national defense and work to insure domestic tranquillity. That foreign trade should be fair rather than free. That America should be wary of foreign entanglements. That the tree of liberty needs to be watered from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. That guns do more than protect us from criminals; more importantly, they protect us from the ongoing threat of government. That states are the bulwark of our freedom. That states should have the right to secede from the Union. That once a year we should hang someone in government as an example to his fellows.

Charles-Louis De Secondat
There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.

[alkemical]

James Madison
The strongest passions and most dangerous weaknesses of the human breast; ambition, avarice, vanity, the honorable or venal love of fame, are all in conspiracy against the desire and duty of peace.

Major L. L. B. Angus
The modern Banking system manufactures money out of nothing. The process is perhaps the most astounding piece of sleight of hand that was ever invented. Banks can in fact inflate, mint and unmint the modern ledger-entry currency.

Edmund Burke
Tell me what are the prevailing sentiments that occupy the minds of your young peoples, and I will tell you what is to be the character of the next generation.

Justice Louis D. Brandeis
Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law breaker, it breeds contempt for the law.

Charles-Louis De Secondat
The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded.

Robert A. Heinlein
In a society in which it is a moral offense to be different from your neighbor your only escape is to never let them find out.

Justice Louis D. Brandeis
The government is the potent omnipresent teacher. For good or ill it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that the end justifies the means -- to declare that the government may commit crimes -- would bring terrible retribution.

Buddha
Believe nothing merely because you have been told it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings -- that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide.

Justice Robert H. Jackson
I cannot say that our country could have no secret police without becoming totalitarian, but I can say with great conviction that it cannot become totalitarian without a centralized national police.

John Adams
Be not intimidated... nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberties by any pretense of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery and cowardice.

Bertrand Barere de Vieuzac
The tree of liberty only grows when watered by the blood of tyrants.

Lyndon B. Johnson
Every man should know that his conversations, his correspondence, and his personal life are private.

Justice Louis D. Brandeis
Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.

Samuel Adams
The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.

Lyn Nofziger
One of the things that bothers me most is the growing belief in the country that security is more important than freedom. It ain't.

Frank Dane
Get all the fools on your side and you can be elected to anything.

Lord Acton
The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.

Samuel Adams
How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!

Thomas Jefferson
Yes, we did produce a near-perfect republic. But will they keep it? Or will they, in the enjoyment of plenty, lose the memory of freedom? Material abundance without character is the path of destruction.

W. Lance Bennett
Perhaps the most obvious political effect of controlled news is the advantage it gives powerful people in getting their issues on the political agenda and defining those issues in ways likely to influence their resolution.

[alkemical]

Vance Packard
The most common characteristic of all police states is intimidation by surveillance. Citizens know they are being watched and overheard. Their mail is being examined. Their homes can be invaded.

Maxwell Anderson
When a government takes over a people's economic life it becomes absolute, and when it has become absolute it destroys the arts, the minds, the liberties and the meaning of the people it governs.

Kort E. Patterson
According to Gestapo recordsthey had little need to engage in direct spying on the citizens since the citizens themselves were more than willing to do their spying for them.

Samuel Adams
If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right to freedom being the gift of Almighty God, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.

Carroll Quigley
The powers of financial capitalism had (a) far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank...sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world.

Clint Eastwood
At Waco, was there really an urgency to get those people out of the compound at that particular time? Was the press going to make it look heroic for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms? At Ruby Ridge, there was one guy in a cabin at the top of the mountain. Was it necessary for federal agents to go up there and shoot a 14-year-old in the back and shoot a woman with a child in her arms? What kind of mentality does that?

[cbs1177]

Coming tomorrow my work brought a huge mega flag to drap the front porch so pics tomorrow.

[Atlas]

Clint Eastwood
At Waco, was there really an urgency to get those people out of the compound at that particular time? Was the press going to make it look heroic for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms?

I had just moved to Texas before the Waco incident. People seem to forget that the Government waited outside the compound and negotiated for over a month at a tax payer expense of over $60 million.

How long and at what expense were they supposed to sit out there and wait??? They did the right thing because even if they did wait longer at some point the Davidians would have just started commiting suicide. Than everyone would complain that they waited too long.

[alkemical]

I had just moved to Texas before the Waco incident. People seem to forget that the Government waited outside the compound and negotiated for over a month at a tax payer expense of over $60 million.

How long and at what expense were they supposed to sit out there and wait??? They did the right thing because even if they did wait longer at some point the Davidians would have just started commiting suicide. Than everyone would complain that they waited too long.


but maybe the gov't killed the reincarnation of jesus......:thanku:

[W*GS]

How long and at what expense were they supposed to sit out there and wait?

What was the rush?

They did the right thing because even if they did wait longer at some point the Davidians would have just started commiting suicide.

You're right - what the government did saved the Branch Davidians from themselves.

Ooops - didn't work out that way, did it?

[Atlas]

What was the rush?



You're right - what the government did saved the Branch Davidians from themselves.

Ooops - didn't work out that way, did it?

They did the best they could. The Davidians put themselves in that situation. They should have just left the building and the only person that would have been arrested would have been Koresh.

I'm glad they stayed in the building rids us of 100 idiots.

[Kaylore]

China is going to have serious issues with their population when one person is supporting two or three elderly.

Couple that with a language that is difficult to use and not workable on a keyboard and you have information that is getting bottle-necked.

India speaks English, has a more free society, and a booming tech industry. Keep your eyes on India, people.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

They did the best they could. The Davidians put themselves in that situation. They should have just left the building and the only person that would have been arrested would have been Koresh.

Isn't it strange how such simple logic and such a basic notion of personal responsibility are utterly lost on W*GS?

[Atlas]

China is going to have serious issues with their population when one person is supporting two or three elderly.

Couple that with a language that is difficult to use and not workable on a keyboard and you have information that is getting bottle-necked.

India speaks English, has a more free society, and a booming tech industry. Keep your eyes on India, people.

Your right about India but they also have population problems.

I read that since China has a one child per family law. All couples want boys and now there is a huge population of men that will never be able to get married because there just aren't enough females. This is a horrible thing for China. A huge population of single men that will never have a chance to get married and settle down can really cause a lot of problems in China.

It's kind of sweet justice, because all the families that had girls are the ones that are the lucky ones because now their little girls will have the pick of the litter when it comes to finding a good man.

[W*GS]

They did the best they could.

Read "No More Wacos" by Blackman and Kopel. Blame for the tragedy goes to both the Davidians and the government.

They should have just left the building and the only person that would have been arrested would have been Koresh.

It's a pity the BATF decided to go in guns-a-blazing (to prove how tough they were and how they deserved more funding) rather than picking up Koresh quietly and easily when he was away from the compound (as they had ample opportunity to do) isn't it?

[Atlas]

Read "No More Wacos" by Blackman and Kopel. Blame for the tragedy goes to both the Davidians and the government.



It's a pity the BATF decided to go in guns-a-blazing (to prove how tough they were and how they deserved more funding) rather than picking up Koresh quietly and easily when he was away from the compound (as they had ample opportunity to do) isn't it?

Your right there were mistakes made and they are easily pointed out, although I heard that Koresh knew he was going to get arrested if he left the compound and he hadn't left it in over a month, anyway the mistakes are obvious BUT once the government found themselves in the situation that they were in the only thing they could do was go in. I guess they could have waited outside the compound a year or so at a cost of $50 million a month and when the Davidians started starving to death maybe, maybe they would have given up.

[alkemical]

or ATF could have 'left' and when koresh & co went shopping they could have picked them up.....

Or they could have used some of darpa's tricks on implenting thoughts into people's brains - (darpa.gov i believe) - they have a patent for this very thing. (http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2002/08/darpacontract0802_print.htm)