Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned

[Allan from Fallbrook]

Rus: Sorry, just an off-handed, snarky comment.

While I am certainly bearish in my tendencies, I find the “end of the empire” routine that accompanies bad financial news a wee bit tiresome.

I agree that this country needs to re-define itself in terms of mores, responsibility and our role in the world, but to relegate the US to the ash heap of history so quickly really rankles me.

I hear incessantly the talk of China’s ascendance and am reminded of the talk during the 1980s of Japan, Inc. and how that country’s business and social “model” was going to outstrip our own and in short order.

During the post-Vietnam War malaise of the mid- to late-1970s, it was talk of the Soviets finally putting an end to the capitalist model, and of all the successes that their system and influence seemed to enjoy.

So, here we go again. And I certainly will profess to more than a little personal unease as this whole situation begins to unwind. Does it presage the end of the American “empire”? Somehow, I don’t think so. This country has shown remarkable resilience over the years and against some pretty tough competition. I wouldn’t count us out just yet.

Do we need to do some serious work? Yup, and hopefully this upcoming gargantuan systemic enema will do just that.

And, if that doesn’t work: I am counting on Hillary!

[NotCranky]

My posts were a bit snarcastic as well. I love Drunkle’s posts. I am glad I asked about your’s though I had it wrong.
As with housing prices I take a wait and see with the american “empire” fall. Of course there are problems but the respective courses and timelines I think nobody really knows.

bsrsharma,
We have had plenty of socio-political & religious commentary post & they have proven not to go over very well. I think that’s why you got some pretty flippant responses(including mine) and that’s about it. Besides that, the last couple of weeks have been pretty interesting within the main themes of this blog.
Best wishes,

[NotCranky]

My posts were a bit snarcastic as well. I love Drunkle’s posts. I am glad I asked about your’s though I had it wrong.
As with housing prices I take a wait and see with the american “empire” fall. Of course there are problems but the respective courses and timelines I think nobody really knows.

bsrsharma,
We have had plenty of socio-political & religious commentary post & they have proven not to go over very well. I think that’s why you got some pretty flippant responses(including mine) and that’s about it. Besides that, the last couple of weeks have been pretty interesting within the main themes of this blog.
Best wishes,

[NotCranky]

My posts were a bit snarcastic as well. I love Drunkle’s posts. I am glad I asked about your’s though I had it wrong.
As with housing prices I take a wait and see with the american “empire” fall. Of course there are problems but the respective courses and timelines I think nobody really knows.

bsrsharma,
We have had plenty of socio-political & religious commentary post & they have proven not to go over very well. I think that’s why you got some pretty flippant responses(including mine) and that’s about it. Besides that, the last couple of weeks have been pretty interesting within the main themes of this blog.
Best wishes,

[drunkle]

cheers rusty. i’ll send you a drunkle bob fan club tshirt as soon as i can find, make or buy another fan…

[drunkle]

cheers rusty. i’ll send you a drunkle bob fan club tshirt as soon as i can find, make or buy another fan…

[drunkle]

cheers rusty. i’ll send you a drunkle bob fan club tshirt as soon as i can find, make or buy another fan…

[bsrsharma]

I hope these guys just want some publicity. I thought we had problems of British Empire not Soviets.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071003/ap_on_re_us/secessionist_movement

Secessionists meeting in Tennesse
By BILL POOVEY, Associated Press Writer
Wed Oct 3, 3:15 AM ET

In an unlikely marriage of desire to secede from the United States, two advocacy groups from opposite political traditions — New England and the South — are sitting down to talk.

Tired of foreign wars and what they consider right-wing courts, the Middlebury Institute wants liberal states like Vermont to be able to secede peacefully.

That sounds just fine to the League of the South, a conservative group that refuses to give up on Southern independence.

“We believe that an independent South, or Hawaii, Alaska, or Vermont would be better able to serve the interest of everybody, regardless of race or ethnicity,” said Michael Hill of Killen, Ala., president of the League of the South.

Separated by hundreds of miles and divergent political philosophies, the Middlebury Institute and the League of the South are hosting a two-day Secessionist Convention starting Wednesday in Chattanooga.

They expect to attract supporters from California, Alaska and Hawaii, inviting anyone who wants to dissolve the Union so states can save themselves from an overbearing federal government.

If allowed to go their own way, New Englanders “probably would allow abortion and have gun control,” Hill said, while Southerners “would probably crack down on illegal immigration harder than it is being now.”

The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly prohibit secession, but few people think it is politically viable.

Vermont, one of the nation’s most liberal states, has become a hotbed for liberal secessionists, a fringe movement that gained new traction because of the Iraq war, rising oil prices and the formation of several pro-secession groups.

Thomas Naylor, the founder of one of those groups, the Second Vermont Republic, said the friendly relationship with the League of the South doesn’t mean everyone shares all the same beliefs.

But Naylor, a retired Duke University professor, said the League of the South shares his group’s opposition to the federal government and the need to pursue secession.

“It doesn’t matter if our next president is Condoleeza (Rice) or Hillary (Clinton), it is going to be grim,” said Naylor, adding that there are secessionist movements in more than 25 states, including Hawaii, Alaska, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Texas.

The Middlebury Institute, based in Cold Spring, N.Y., was started in 2005. Its followers, disillusioned by the Iraq war and federal imperialism, share the idea of states becoming independent republics. They contend their movement is growing.

The first North American Separatist Convention was held last fall in Vermont, which, unlike most Southern states, supports civil unions. Voters there elected a socialist to the U.S. Senate.

Middlebury director Kirpatrick Sale said Hill offered to sponsor the second secessionist convention, but the co-sponsor arrangement was intended to show that “the folks up north regard you as legitimate colleagues.”

“It bothers me that people have wrongly declared them to be racists,” Sale said.

The League of the South says it is not racist, but proudly displays a Confederate Battle Flag on its banner.

Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, which monitors hate groups, said the League of the South “has been on our list close to a decade.”

“What is remarkable and really astounding about this situation is we see people and institutions who are supposedly on the progressive left rubbing shoulders with bona fide white supremacists,” Potok said.

Sale said the League of the South “has not done or said anything racist in its 14 years of existence,” and that the Southern Poverty Law Center is not credible.

“They call everybody racists,” Sale said. “There are, no doubt, racists in the League of the South, and there are, no doubt, racists everywhere.”

Harry Watson, director of the Center For the Study of the American South and a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said it was a surprise to see The Middlebury Institute conferring with the League of the South, “an organization that’s associated with a cause that many of us associate with the preservation of slavery.”

He said the unlikely partnering “represents the far left and far right of American politics coming together.”

On the Net:

Middlebury Institute: http://middleburyinstitute.org/

League of the South: http://www.leagueofthesouth.net

Second Vermont Republic: http://www.vermontrepublic.org/

Southern Poverty Law Center: http://www.splcenter.org/index.jsp

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

[Bugs]

I think Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana Beach and Del Mar should suceed from San Diego County. That way we can have our own MLS and maintain our area as a safe haven from declining property values.

[Author]

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