I once heard it said, that if God does not judge the United States, he must one day apologize to the ancient people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Although I don't claim to speak for the Almighty, I tend to agree. I fear too much for my own soul to try telling anyone how to live their lives; I'll be fortunate to avoid brimstone on my own behalf.

"Hail to the Chief"...music to drink hemlock to...

Be vigilant, and keep your powder dry. Not sure what, but something is coming. I can almost hear the sound of jackboots.

Very funny, Fiatlux...(you and I may be perfectly matched...you're awful pretty, and I'm pretty awful.)

if the mullah is right, humanity is doomed to extinction within three or four generations...BAAAAAA

Landslide?? See chickens, counting, prenatal.

(Pulls up chair, opens bag of popcorn, bottle of beer, settles in to watch.)

This should be interesting...

I remember reading this somewhere, in reference to the people of our nation: "History will record, with the greatest of astonishment, that those with the most to lose (by the collapse of our society and its freedoms) did the least to stop it..."

Poor bastidge, he probably fell on his bayonet immediately after picking up the weapon, feeling that would be a kinder fate than what awaited him after drill.

As I've already mentioned, I've been here awhile before posting. Some of those who post here, (myself occasionally included, I am ashamed to admit) would do well to remember the old saw: "It is better to keep one's mouth firmly closed, and be thought a fool, than to open it, and remove all doubt."
There may be hope for yours truly; I am slowly learning to wait before doing or saying ANYTHING when I'm angry, a rule of thumb I adopted when I was a street cop. It kept me out of both the Chief's office and the federal courthouse. If some enforcement action was necessary immediately, I requested other officers to handle it, and subpoena me as a witness.

Thanks, PoppaGringo...and I'm afraid you're right.
Although IMHO, the original text should have read,
"...with the blood of patriots and tyrants, and the sorrows of the complacent..."

I've been reading here awhile, and I'm normally an optimistic person, who loves getting a chuckle out of folks. (The first new topic I've started here, is gently poking fun at the differences between men and women, called "War Between the Sexes", posted in the general chitchat section.)
That being said, I remember the race r**ts of the late Sixties, and I have to say, I haven't seen people this angry, either at each other, or in general, in a long, long time.
I firmly believe the tree of liberty is about to be refreshed. I devoutly hope I'm wrong.

An elderly couple, named Hiram and Martha, went to the county fair every year since they had been wed, and every year, there was a man with an open cockpit biplane trainer giving rides to fairgoers for ten dollars. Every year, the couple would see the old plane, and every year, they would begin the same argument. Hiram had a longing to fly, and Martha thought it was a dumb thing to spend ten dollars on a joyride. Martha would always trump anything Hiram could muster by saying, "Yes, Hiram, but ten dollars IS ten dollars...", and Hiram would sadly turn away from the gleaming old airplane, and trudge down the midway after Martha, to watch her win another blue ribbon for her baking.
On this particular occasion, however, Dame Fortune finally
smiled on Hiram, and the pilot, who had noticed the couple for the past several years, and suspected the nature of the conversation between them , overheard their discussion, and entered the conversation. "Folks," he said,
I couldn't help but hear you two talking, and I think I can make both of you happy. Here's what I'll do. I'll take BOTH of you up for the same ten dollar bill, and if you don't make a single, solitary sound during the flight, I won't charge you a single dime."
Of course, this was all the ammunition Hiram needed, and he began working on Martha to accept the offer. Now, t***h be told, Martha had a bit of a miser living inside, and she felt she deserved to take the pilot for his own ride, after all the irritation she'd endured from Hiram over the years over that damned airplane, and now maybe there'd be an end to it. So Martha gave her consent, and the two of them climbed into the rear cockpit, behind the pilot.
"Remember, Hiram, not a peep," Martha hissed at Hiram as the plane began to roll. The pilot tried every trick he knew to scare the couple, doing rolls, loops, chandelles and Immelmans, but not a sound came from the rear cockpit. He finally landed the plane, and as he taxied back to his parking spot, he yelled back, "I guess you folks earned your free ride!"
Hiram yelled up to him, "Well, I started to yell when Martha fell out, but ten dollars IS ten dollars!"

I thought for a boy to have one of those, he had to take pills and have some sort of operation, said to be favored in San Francisco.

Six weeks ago, I cudn spiel oaf. Now, I are one.