Posted on 12/31/2006 8:54:59 PM PST by Ooh-Ah
Check out Civilization Calls - Wake Up America!
May we WAKE UP so our country and the world will be safer!
Very well done - bookmarked with thanks.
Thanks and a Happy New Year to you!
The Roman Empire fell because of apathy, excessive cultural and religious diversity as well as permissive amorality. Permissive amorality creates apathy. By looking at what is being shown on prime time television these days, it is absolutely clear that we are in the later stages of apathy.
But America is not sleeping, it is in a full blown coma! It would now take a nuke in one of our cities to wake a few of them up. The rest would simply appease who ever attacks us and do what ever they say. I'm not real optimistic about Americas true character any more.
The list goes on and on.
Religious diversity? If I recall my history, the Roman Empire fell after converting to Christianity. I suspect the Roman Empire fell because the brutality and taxation of Roman tyrants was greater than that of the barbarians marauding through the frontiers. I'm sure the peasants thought barons and dukes were an improvement over the Centurions and tax collectors.
bttt
You probably recall the history you were (mis)taught in American schools. The 'Fall of Rome' was a non-event at the time. The last Western Augustus was retired to a villa near Naples because the Eastern Augustus, Zeno, reigning in Constantinople (which had become the capital of the Empire in 324, and was thence the seat of the sole Emperor during periods when the office was not split) decided that the King of the Ostrogoths, Odoacer, with grant of the title Patrician of the Romans, was an adequate representative of Imperial power in the old heart of the Empire, and that he should be the sole Emperor.
While Christianity was the favored religion of the Empire, there was still a great deal of religious diversity: the cities were largely Christian, but divided between the Arian and Orthodox (or Catholic if the Latins on the thread prefer) variety, while the countryside outside of Asia Minor and Palestine was still largely pagan, despite Theodosius' banning of paganism a century earlier. With the exception of the Franks, the Germanic barbarians, including, most notably the Vandals, were Arian Christians, and converted to Nicean Orthodoxy only slowly--the Vandals hanging on to Arianism until their destruction as an effective power by St. Justinian's reconquest of the West, and the Lombards clinging to the heresy until the 7th century.
In fact, there is a some evidence that the peasantry ('villains') remained very Roman in consciousness, and thought worse of the Germanic overlords. One reason for Charlemagne's success was that he presented himself as reviving the Empire in the West. He and his Western contemporaries regarded him a reviving the office of Western Augustus, not having noticed that Rome had 'fallen', since in theory most of the barbarian kings within what had been the bounds of the Empire ruled under grant of authority from Constantinople (even though in practice, they ruled on the basis of their own military power).
THAT is powerful...!!!!
Hate to be negative, but it's already too late I fear. All that's left is target practice and lock 'n load. At least we can go down fighting.
I disagree, PSYCHO. Our Leadership, our President Bush, understands that it is 1938 again.
He will not falter, and we will not fail. We won't allow the slightest chance of a repeat of 9/11. Keep the faith, and read yer mail. ......................... FRegards
Robert A. Heinlein
You're exactly right. And this "make nice and be good" mentality is going to be the downfall of this country. If we don't grow a backbone soon, I fear the worst for us.
Your # 10 - Thanks! ..................... FRegards
"I disagree, PSYCHO. Our Leadership, our President Bush, understands that it is 1938 again.
He will not falter, and we will not fail. We won't allow the slightest chance of a repeat of 9/11. Keep the faith, and read yer mail. ......................... FRegards"
And I disagree with you. Not only do I disagree, but I am horrified that the allegience, by some, to him, has so blinded them that they cannot even see that statements such as yours are completely false and without merit! "He will not falter? We won't ALLOW the slightest chance of a repeat?" I had to read it a second time...I thought you were talking about God?? Where have you been? If your statement is truth, then please explain to me how statements such as "I'm doing everything within my power to protect this country", are made with a straight face...while our borders are INTENTIONALLY, left open? You do know that we have no border security? You do know that this is intentional? Then how can you even think of making the claims you do? From my perspective, it seems your loyalty has blinded you to reality. If our borders are not secured, we stand to lose the WOT right in our own backyards!! President Bush needs to be held accountable for this BEFORE another attack happens...but until you take those rose colored glasses of, uniting of the party in an effort to do so, will never happen.
That's just my opinion...sorry if you don't like it, but at times I'm literally blown away by statements such as yours.
Excellent piece Ooh-Ah! Thanks for posting!
It's only a matter of time before the WOT is brought directly to our soil and discerning WHO the enemy is, will be difficult, especially when we know which side of these issues our own government is on. Evident by the refusal, despite 9/11, to secure our borders from both aliens AND terrorists! The gaul on the part of our D.C. leadership is simply breathtaking.
I've been reading my bible, paying particular attention to Israel during the time of the kings.
They were warned by the prophets over and over to give up their evil ways and return to God, or bad things would happen.
Israel relied on her own strength to keep her safe and secure and well fed. She forgot that it is God who causes the rain to come down and causes the crops to grow. It's God who keeps away famine and plague and keeps the enemies at bay.
Israel was ravished by her enemies and all her people taken captive. I fear for the future of our country.
Just found this...will videos such as the one you posted be "allowed" in the future? Will those of us willing to point out the obvious, become enemies of the state? As I've said...lest we forget, always remember which side of these issues our government is on!
McCain Bill Is Lethal Injection For Internet Freedom
Exploits fear of sexual predators and basic misunderstanding of Internet to attack blogs critical of the warmongering agenda he fronts for
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Friday, December 15, 2006
Republican Senator John McCain has introduced legislation that would fine blogs up to $300,000 for offensive statements, photos and videos posted by visitors on comment boards, effectively nixing the open exchange of ideas on the Internet, providing a lethal injection for unrestrained opinion, and acting as the latest attack tool to chill freedom of speech on the world wide web.
McCain's proposal, called the "Stop the Online Exploitation of Our Children Act," encourages informants to shop website owners to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who then pass the information on to the relevant police authorities.
Comment boards for specific articles are extremely popular and also notoriously hard to moderate. Popular articles often receive comments that run into the thousands over the course of time. In many cases, individuals hostile to the writer's argument deliberately leave obscene comments and images simply to sully the reputation of the website owners. Therefore under the terms of this bill, right-wing extremists from a website like Free Republic could effectively terminate a liberal leaning website like Raw Story by the act of posting a single photograph of a naked child. This precedent could be the kiss of death for blogs as we know them and its reverberations would negatively impact the entire Internet.
Under the banner of saving the children from sexual predators, McCain is obviously on a mission to stamp out the influence of the burgeoning blogosphere and its increasing hostility to the warmongering agenda that he fronts for.
"This constitutionally dubious proposal is being made apparently mostly based on fear or political considerations rather than on the facts," warns Kevin Bankston, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco.
McCain has publicly expressed his distaste for blogs in the past and this is why any protestation that he is simply aiming to "protect the children" with this legislation falls on deaf ears.
In a May 2006 speech at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, McCain attacked the blogosphere as a refuge of those only infatuated with self-expression. He was trying to minimize the importance of the last true outpost of freedom of speech, the Internet, and portray it as nothing more than a swap shop for egos and hyperbole.
So if the blogosphere is nothing more than a bulletin board for self-important know it alls, what possible threat could that be to young children? Where is the evidence that kids are being victimized by people who post comments on blogs?
There is no evidence but that doesn't really matter when you consider that a sizable portion of Congress critters who will be voting on this legislation if it comes to pass, don't even know what the Internet itself is (it's not a big truck), never mind how it's used. And then a sizable majority of the remaining House members probably hate the blogosphere as much as McCain, because it has replaced the lapdog mainstream media in acting as the 4th estate in muckraker reporting, anti-war protest, and holding public officials to task.
In reality, sexual predators have always confined their grooming to live chat rooms, or in the case of Republican pervert Mark Foley, instant messaging and PDA's. Pedophiles are never going to leave a record of their sordid advances on message boards because in most cases, their IP address and location can be obtained immediately from the server log. And as reported by C Net, "Studies by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children show the online sexual solicitation of minors has dropped in the past five years, despite the growth of social-networking services."
McCain's proposed bill is just another step in greasing the skids for Internet 2, a tightly controlled, regulated and privileged world wide web where government approval will be required just to run a blog.
In recent months, a chorus of propaganda intended to demonize the Internet and lead it down this path has spewed forth from numerous establishment organs.
- The White House's own recently de-classified strategy for "winning the war on terror" targets Internet conspiracy theories as a recruiting ground for terrorists and threatens to "diminish" their influence.
- The Pentagon recently announced its effort to infiltrate the Internet and propagandize for the war on terror.
- In a speech last month, Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff identified the web as a "terror training camp," through which "disaffected people living in the United States" are developing "radical ideologies and potentially violent skills." Chertoff pledged to dispatch Homeland Security agents to local police departments in order to aid in the apprehension of domestic terrorists who use the Internet as a political tool.
- In an interview with Fox News last month, Bush senior slammed Internet bloggers for creating an "adversarial and ugly climate."
- A landmark legal case on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America and other global trade organizations seeks to criminalize all Internet file sharing of any kind as copyright infringement, effectively shutting down the world wide web - and their argument is supported by the U.S. government.
- The European Union, led by former Stalinist and potential future British Prime Minister John Reid, has also vowed to shut down "terrorists" who use the Internet to spread propaganda.
You must be joking.
President Bush can't, or wont, even properly identify what it is we're fighting.
L
I, too, did a study of the King Manasseh, who committed the abomination that causes desolation...child sacrifice. I have my study on the web called Manasseh Judgment. We aren't the only nation in trouble. God hates child sacrifice and is the only One able to raise up a people to avenge the deaths of the innocent. THIS IS ON A NATIONAL LEVEL. God did forgive the King Manasseh, when he repented, but 3 generations later, Judah again took up the practice and the people of Babylon exacted justice. Interesting study, especially since we have been attacked since Roe-v-Wade. America must be warned that this judgment is coming. But who will listen? God will bless those people who are pro-life, whether Latin American Catholic or Muslim. Do we deserve to live in this land, when we are covering our streets with blood, polluting our water with the bodies of the unborn, polluting the air with the ashes of their cremated bodies? Our forefathers would revolt, and we have that right as Americans. As Christians we are to submit to the government. Dilemma! Therefore, I speak out and tell what I have learned, and will do so even after I lose my right to speak freely.
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