Ernie's House of Whoopass Forums

given their discussions on science, economics, arts and world news - NPR has found its way into my sirius station list. normally i listen to SF NPR, but it's just a pain in the ass switching tuners so it's got a spot.

over the years of my life, i've repeatedly heard that doing xxx will result in the fall of our republic and the whimper into an empire. before it was bush and his bull's rush into the empire and now it's a complacent ceasarian turn under obama. i heard it w/ clinton and i'm sure it was said under regan and before him.

but, it got me thinking...whatever pundits are talking about, it always comes w/ the context or tone of end of times and the way things are. i argue that the commonalties / lessons drawn from history speak to a specific tactic or result, however history doesn't repeat itself in the sense that the end result is the same as the circumstances in the comparison...does that make sense? probably not. i got new pot. it's good.

my question, is for y'all...do you see the USA falling into an empire? do you imagine your generation will experience the concrete proof / nail in the coffin in the metamorphosis?

just curious....are we at the end of the American Epoch?

They work. Notice the PC trend. The dumbing down of education. Runaway bullshit lawsuits. The country consists of a shitload of sheep who think they need someone to protect them from "whatever", so what's a few more rights, freedoms and liberties-everything's going just fine, right?

Every generation bitches and whines about this and that; the problem is that along the way the government fixes all those bitches and whines.......and they all add up. Eventually, there's one last straw and that'll be that. Shit happens and it is what it is. There aren't enough people left with any backbone and balls to put things right anymore.

debbie downer.

Hasn't this been going on for centuries?

Probably for the entire history of us hairless apes, Lu.

Bread & Circuses for everyone!

I don't mean bread and circuses.

What I mean is the idea that the past was somehow better than the present and that the youth of today are destroying society. That's an argument that's been around for centuries.

no i meant w/ the fact that the dollar is no longer the gold standard, we're stuck in afghanistan and are fighting a two front war. the american people are completely oblivious to that and somehow thing that magic healthcare will fix or ruin this country.

One of the majour wrongs that is going on right now is that the American people are no longer informed at all. The majour media news outlets have a very liberal agenda and make no bones about covering over what they don't feel like reporting and blowing shit out of proportion that will hurt the conservative side of the coin. For example: they reported that the economy was in the toilet for the entire 8 years of the Bush administration while, for most of those years our economy was booming. Now they are saying that the economy is on the mend while it is truly circling the drain. Did they report anything about ACORN until forced to do so?
They refuse to ask any tough questions of this administration. In fact obama's press wranglers have been bragging about how easy and effective it has been to keep what they want under wraps unreported and to push only the news that they want to reported. Why do you think that they declared war on Fox news and radio news? They are about two of the only outlets that actually question what the libs are up to.

There is a need for a fine balancing, in my opinion, of the rights and responsibilities of individuals to be weighed against the greater good of all. A purely emotional and moral rendering of policy, procedure and comittment. Also, in my opinion, there is no place for it in government, unless it can be implemented completely without bias or judgement- which, of course, is impossible. What is "fair", exactly? Who decides and how is that determined? Popular vote? Not necessarily the best way to do that. The "have nots" are usually a greater number then the "haves", and they have a very different idea of what "fair" and "right for the country" is.

One of the problems is that purely mechanical processes, such as the economy, are being sent through the moral and emotional forge of governmental whims (be it liberal or conservative). If a company is poised to go bankrupt- let it; it's a mechanical consequence of making bad decisions or being subject to them.

We've got warning labels on cups to warn you that the cup of steaming coffee you just bought is hot, and to exercise caution when drinking it. "Don't use the hair dryer in the shower", mandatory helmet and seatbelt laws, etc..etc...ad nauseum.

Decades upon decades of, "It's not my fault" and "Someone needs to compensate me" and "where's my cheese" mentality have brought us here, and here is a place I don't like and don't want to be.

There's a tipping point, and I believe we're very close, when the idea of personal responsibility vanishes and we depend and rely on the Government to assume responsibility for our lives. That means control. It's supposed to be the other way around, and it's our own damn fault. Everybody's. Not the youth at all- frankly, if you're under 25 you're irrelevant to how it all works and happens(you don't earn enough money yet, you don't have any fiscal or corporate power yet, you don't have a position of authority and respect yet...), except for thaty pesky voting thing- which needs to happen less with the heart and more with the brain- but again, that's one of those things.

We're, as a country, always in a dangerous place when it comes to the current state of affairs- it's the nature of how it all works. The perceived problems that get addressed are rarely the real problems, though; and the problems that shit causes is cumulative. You can only pile it so high before it all comes crashing down. Might not be today, might not even be next year- but it's coming down, unless someone steps up with some balls and pulls the fucking curtain back and cleans house(which, of course, won't happen- who the fuck wants the truth and to be told that they are now completely responsible for their own well being?).

You do what you can, teach your children about responsibility and honor and justice- and then explain to them with your last breath why it doesn't matter anymore.

Fuck me. I'm gonna go eat a bullet.

We the sheeple.

It started with Magna Carta, and the empowerment of people who were actually getting the shitty end of the stick. People Power and the movement for basic human rights was thrust into society as a whole, and the plebs realised that they could stand up for what they needed and actually get it.

People Power somehow along the way kept getting picked up and used by dickwads who used it for their own benefits. Next you have frivolous lawsuits, reverse racism, minorities getting more benefits than the average joe, laws that remove your freedom "for your own good" and Robert Heinlein's slightly dystopian outlook on modern society seems to be coming to fruition.

Common sense should prevail for many things. In this day and age of "Instant Gratification", "You Can't Do That To Me" and "Because The Government Says So", it won't get a look-in.

I love pussy booze and rock and roll. I'll exercise my right to enjoy the three lawfully within this society, or I'll do it unlawfully after the collapse. I can and will survive on my own with no ones help. Can you?

Only until I run out of bullets. Then things might get dicey.

The only difference between now and the past in regards to your comment is that more and more people these days have these "rights" instead of just the elite.

Arrows are re-usable.

y'all seem to be misunderstanding my question. this relates to american domestic and international policy. has our go-it-alone policy in afghanistan, destruction of the dollar and "let them eat cake" attitude towards healthcare and services resulted in serving as a catalyst for the fall of our republic as painted?

i understand sniveling talking heads are always going to snivel and bullshit, however given the historical consequences of a) invading afghanistan b) devaluing your currency and c) creating an expectation based society (i'm entitled to xxx) pushed us over an unrecoverable point for a failing culture?

I'm not quite sure how to respond to this.

That depends on whether or not you think you're one of the elite.

No, I understood the question; domestic and international policy are always in constant flux- changing with the presidency/congress of this country or others. The players in that game are always changing, so the rules and even the game change along with them. Same thing occurs with services in the government-although it's a little more difficult to roll back something that's already been given, players change in that game too. The real problem is the expectation based society, the players never change, and they learn to keep asking for more and more.

I'm sure there are people who think so.

Abject derision works for me.

Assertion not supported by evidence.

All those Brits, Poles, Georgians, Aussies, Estonians, Danes, and all the remaining ISAF nationalities present in-theater were just a smokescreen created by the Bush administration, is that it? They don't exist and don't have a say at the strategic level, merely a contrived multinational flavor in the the plan fed to Congress? They're there, and they're out and about in the hinterlands, not just eating chow and filling shitters at the main camps. They do a hard damned job alongside American counterparts.

Don't downplay or disregard their role just because it's inconvenient to your limited analytical capabilities (or dependence on shitty, strongly left-biased information sources, whichever).

ahem.

Yes, Canadians are there too, fairly well ensconsed in and around Kandahar City, brewing beer and attempting to teach the locals to speak French.

and no doubt clogging up the local vending machines with those damned Can.adian quarters

and spreading socialism, no doubt.

While carrying a canoe.

and wearing a toque.

You wouldn't believe how much Kandahar stinks of shit, given that it's populated primarily by First Worlders. You'd think you were in Any Given City In India or some shit.

It's the ISAF/NATO HQ in-country, and the stink is amusing, given the nearly-as-thick cloud of smug that hovers over the head of most Europeans. They can pretend that they know more about how to deal with Third-Worlders and nation-building than we do, but can't figure out their own fucking plumbing and are too proud to just shit in and burn WAG bags.

I hear the Canadians put ketchup on stuff that ketchup should never be on.

and this is the america i believe in. the americans who make wherever they are america and don't mind living w/out america. seriously...it's this spirit we have being american - that the world has never seen.

we also put vinegar on our french fries, when we're not eating them as poutine. you can go to any restaurant in canada and there'll be vinegar on the table or nearby. when i ask for vinegar at a restaurant around here i get blank stares.

That's because you aren't carrying a coffeemaker.

I put Malt vinegar on my fries all the time. Ketchup without the tomato crap.

That bought up a whole host of mental images involving Kerazi and Guns that I didn't want. Thanks.

i only use that malt-vinegar bullshit at Long John Silver's....which i usually eat at about once every 10 years, if that.

Honey on fries is pretty damn good.