Looks like the "majority" here in America is doing just that.....

MOO - but a problem as I see it is that with the Internet, the incessant and increasing stridency of the messages being received from both the wolves and the sheepdogs does little but overwhelm and confuse the sheeple to the point of typical ovine complacency.

Perhaps less frivolous 'barking' and a bit more serious 'biting' on the part of the sheepdogs might help reverse the trend.

And so it goes...;)

Richard's $.02 :munchin

Back to my "999" thought from one of the other threads. In effort to be ready, really ready when we need to be, and in order to be heard in that very important time, it would be in our best interests I believe, to minimize the white noise. If everything is important, than nothing is important.

How long did it take for all of us to begin to hear the white noise of the new "color coded homeland defense alert" so much now to the point that even when it is raised, most folks I know just shrug their shoulders and go on about their lives. No added vigilance, no added thought to making changes in their daily lives. So what happens when "the threat REALLY REALLY REALLY is real this time, we promise, we wouldn't raise the threat level if it wasn't, hey pay attention, why aren't you listening" The sheepdogs will know the threat is real, but to the sheep, it is only white noise, because they have heard it all before, and nothing came of it, so why bother listening now?

If, on the other hand, the sheep only hear about the real and true threats, and not all the other white noise, when the sheepdogs raise their voices to the threat of the wolf, the sheep are more likely to listen.

Back to the Future?
 

Folks,

Is the current administration and environment radically different from America in the late 70's under Carter? I'm curious what folks who served in that era recall of the Military's morale and the general pulse of the nation. Jimmy Carter was an empty suit socialist as well, and when his act got stale, there was a decade long conservative blowback as a result. America has endured and survived significantly worse threats than this man.

IMHO besides his hubris and ineptitude Obama's weakness is he doesn't grasp Americans value freedom, but don't want to be equal, they want to be free to be more successful than their peers if possible, they want the house with the white picket fence etc.

Folks argue the cultural challenge of bringing democracy to the historical tribal cultures of the Middle East. Okay, but then America has a cultural history of liberty, individual rights, and capitalism, this is not fertile soil for socialism. In the past when the country drifts too far in either direction it has snapped back to the center, what is secular about this era?

akv,

Strange that you mention Carter as I was reading about him earlier. Carter is quoted in today's China Daily defending his handling of the 444 day hostage crisis. Here's the link

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2...nt_8984162.htm

I recall that those were pretty rough times and I remember morale was down. Not that it was all Carter's fault, the nation had gone thru a pretty rough period, Vietnam had not been our victory (I felt because of politics), we had some bad years as the draft ended and we transitioned to a VOLAR, we had recession and inflation, and an oil embargo. Lots of bad things seemed to pile up.

But you can see Carter's feelings at the link - I never found anyone I served with that shared Carter's cost/benefit analysis of the crisis.

I always found that when the POTUS treated the military with the dignity and respect that it deserved, the military would respond favorably, regardless of the administration's policies. I hope, and pray, the current POTUS is faithful to the military. Personally, I never cared whether the US declared war on the Soviet Union, or the Vatican - just give us the mission - then the support we needed. We would excute that mission faithfully.

v/r
phil

carter didn't attempt to destroy the United States by spending a trillion dollars on absolutly nothing and then attempt to spend another trillion on a health care program that will seal our fate as a solvent nation.

IMO yes, this administration is a thousand times more intelligent than carter's administration ever was and this one , IMO, is dangerous.

The tone of this thread has forced me to put on the "Seven Samurai" - grill a nice medium-rare rib-eye, prepare a Caesar salad, and uncork a bottle of 2007 Dona Paula estate Malbec. I am now going to enjoy my dinner, wine, and movie...and ponder the future of our great nation. ;)

Yours aye,

Richard

Let us suppose, for a moment, that we are wolves. Not ravening wolves intent on spilling the blood of the sheep in a single frenzied slaughter, but rather clever wolves who want to eat our fill every day - and to do so without having to work too much to control the sheep. How might we do it?

It is simplicity itself. We tell the sheep we are acting to protect them. Then we spoil the pastures all around. And finally, we let the sheep graze within the fences we have built around them. Should any wish to exit, we smilingly permit it - knowing that the ever-present attraction of the food trough will bring most of them back. As for the few who successfully wander off and escape, we have eliminated the more troublesome elements of the herd at little cost to ourselves. Of course, we fleece our flock from time to time to finance those fences and our own services - which we tell the sheep are for their protection.

We will move toward socialism - it is a tool for control concealed within an enticing bait, not unlike hiding the dog's pill in a piece of meat. The bait entices the necessary 51%. We offer payments, benefits, guarantees and programs - all paid for by some dim, unclear someone else. But these very payments create an entire system of controls - a system we embrace, a system we willingly participate in. Hence the problem was not Carter, nor is it Obama. Instead, it is the fundamental mindset of those who chose to elect them - along with Pelosi, Reid, and so on. The problem is an idea - and fighting an idea is no easy task.

Some people say they want "health care". Obtaining health care is simplicity itself - find a doctor, go to the doctor, pay the doctor. The objection is that people want "affordable health care." They want the prices forced down (in other words, governmental controls over someone else), or they want their own costs subsidized (in other words, they want someone else to pay the doctor). By offering the bait of affordable health care, the flock is easily manipulated into both advocating control of the flock and even accepting control of themselves.

The same principle applies to the bailouts we have witnessed. Individual wolves and their organizations took a risk. While they won, they accepted the outcome. When they lost, the wanted someone else to pay for it. The sheep will be fleeced 'till they bleed to pay for it - and they will believe that the wolves did it all to protect them.

There are those who have suggested that they have largely abandoned efforts to warn the sheep. I think they have chosen wisely. Because I suspect the sheep, if they are ever aroused, will likely trample the very ones who warned them. (Whether I am a sheep is a different question. At the least, I will try not to trample my friends. ;) )

And what of military morale? As our national leadership apologizes for much of what we've ever done, as our people sink into a socialistic mire of mediocrity, I cannot help wondering how it could possibly stay high.

Real soldiering ain't for sissies.

As my Dad used to say:

"Son, don't listen to the pussy side of you when you make a decision. People gravitate towards being a pussy. Remove the pussy, son, and make the decision."

Some of the ffolkes who wander about in these forums will understand what I am saying here...and I firmly believe there are enough out there who do get it to get the job done. ;)

Richard's $.02 :munchin

LMAO!!!
 

You're dad would be brought up on charges and/or kicked out of the military for saying the above, in front of the wrong audience nowadays.:eek:

Stay safe.

Thomas Paine, 1780


These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Some things don't change, neither in centuries nor in millennia.

And so, a tip of the hat to you, your dad, and your brothers-in-arms.

Richard,
You have very refined taste in movies. The work of Akira Kurosawa is among the best movie making ever done, in the history of film.

Team Sergeant,

I agree with you on the spending and health care, the former is at unprecedented levels by this administration, and even a watered down version of the latter will be a debacle. There is danger, but America has always faced danger. Perhaps we should consider a relative assessment of the environment both internal and external in the late 1970's?


http://www.armchairviews.com/carter.htm


We face economic woes now as we did then. Sheepdogs know there will always be wolves, Europe save England fell to them in 1940, the ones we face now wear robes and beards and should not be underestimated, but have we already forgotten what it was like to stare down a larger Soviet Bear with a massive modern military and nuclear capability equal to ours? If they had been emboldened by Carter's weakness and the balloon had gone up in 1978 could we have stopped them conventionally? I'd like to believe we could have, I don't know the answer. A 1946 Annapolis grad should have known better, that was a very dangerous time. The country got fed up, voted in Reagan and we righted the ship. We need to find a leader again.