Wars begin when the price of aggression is cheap, or the prize to be conquered is high enough to make the war worthwhile. Four stars for getting half of the equation right.

Robert, more deaths by firearms than any other nation? Really? How about Sudan? Remember, citizens possessing their own firearms can prevent another Darfur.

Prophetic, yet not unique. Many people can see the train wreck coming, but there seems to be very little that can be done to prevent it. I suppose it is human nature to let the accident happen and then clean up the mess later (if you can). As for the French and Germans being pleased with their system; of course they are-until it all comes crashing down around them.

I once knew a Jewish man who had escaped from east Berlin in the late '60's and emigrated to Canada. When Canada started banning guns, he didn't hand his over like some docile sheep. His gun may be buried in a coffee can in the back yard, but he still has it. He knows first hand of what government (any government) is capable. I wish we all did. It would make us all very nervous.

I want some political power, so I'm keeping my guns......................."If someone is so fearful that they're going to start using their weapons to protect their rights, makes me very nervous that these people have weapons at all!" ---Representative Henry A. Waxman, (D-CA)

That used to be called the right of conquest which, of course was never a right, just the law of the jungle. Those who consider human beings to be just another animal with no special place in the world promote this type of "law of the jungle" behavior. Animals are amoral and if men are mere animals, then they are amoral as well and violating another's rights has no meaning.

A German contractor I am working with mentioned just today how we're all probably on the threshold of the prison door and don't even know it, because of all the thousands of import/export laws one has to follow. We're supposed to have a government of laws, not of men; but when corrupt, immoral men make the laws, you should only expect corruption and immorality.

Censorship and propaganda are the tools of the dictator. A complacent, compliant citizenry are his building materials.

Government censorship is not even the most dangerous. Think of political correctness and how it aims to even control your thoughts through control of the language in banning words and phrases that are not acceptible in society. It is pernicious and it's aim is to produce docile, malleable people who cannot think for themselves.

War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. --George Orwell, 1984.

It's good to be the King! By the way, this didn't come out of GW's Defense Department, did it?

It's the people's right to be stupid. Of course the people have to live with the consequences of their stupidity, but will still blame the politicians.

I hope there's a contigency plan for everything, this included. I'm sure there's one for nuking invading green Martians too.

So, the State Department has always been staffed by traitors and fools. What else is new?

Absolutely, Archer. The New Deal was a Mussolini style fascist program through and through. Later on, of course, when European fascism fell out of fashion, he fell thoroughly head over heels for Stalin: anything but freedom and responsibility for the people.

Today there are no real conservatives or liberals. There are only two branches of the Fascist party who put on a show for the electorate every two years.

Obviously true. Would a Catholic school teach anything detrimental to Catholicism? Would a Jewish school be anti-Semitic? Why would you expect a government (not public) school to teach anything anti-statist? Who signs the teachers' paychecks?

Can anyone name a while male father figure in today's sitcoms who is not a buffoon who is constantly corrected by his obviously much more intelligent wife? One of those security system companies advertise frequently. Their commercials show someone breaking into a house with children cowering alone in a corner. Has the burgler ever been anything other that white? Huey may have been right then; today has a new agenda.

It's good for the credit card companies though.

Advertising churns interest in junk of marginal use, toys, new cars to replace cars that aren't worn out, home improvements to impress the neighbors (or someone), and any number of things people can spend their savings on. Go to any garage sale and you can find piles of junk people thought they just had to have, for a quarter. This reminds me of people who go to sales, come home with piles of things they'll never wear or use, look at their empty wallets, and say, "Look at all the money I saved!"

My thoughts exactly, Jack. The only exception I can think of may be the shopping channel.

I hardly believe anything I read or hear in the media. I just assume I'm being lied to.

Television is the chief tool in brainwashing and driving the herd. Who is the CFR? Why, the puppet-masters, of course. Beware the CFR (worth repeating, Archer) as well as the other nefarious NGO's.

Nation-states are often made of homogeneous people, but it is certainly not necessary that it be so. For instance, the Soviet Union was very diverse ethnically. Yugoslavia came apart at the seems because of their diversity, and nations such as Sudan, Nigeria, and any number of African nations have ongoing conflict because of their non-homogeneity. A nation-state is a social construct which concentrates power in the hands of the few in return for protection. The more "protection" you want from the government, the more invasive the state has to become, to the point they become totalitarian; but at least they can make the trains run on time.

It is no wonder traditional media are dying a slow and well deserved death, all while complaining about the internet and pajama wearing bloggers who are eating their lunch. They gave up their raison d'etre when they sold themselves as presstitutes.