>At Thermopylae, 1,000,000 Persians lost 20,000 >yet failed to disarm just 300 Spartans. > >80,000,000 lawful Americans would resist even >harder. > >That we promise. > >"Come and get them."
You will never live up to the standards set forth by the Spartans.
Jim Alder
2009-04-25 00:42:25 EST
Deucalion <someone@nowhere.net> wrote in news:t245v4t0e260pvu4t6r963bjk910eel4ds@4ax.com:
> On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 05:02:57 +0100 (BST), Anonymous <nobody@nymu.eu> > wrote: > >>At Thermopylae, 1,000,000 Persians lost 20,000 >>yet failed to disarm just 300 Spartans. >> >>80,000,000 lawful Americans would resist even harder. >> >>That we promise. >> >>"Come and get them." > > You will never live up to the standards set forth by the Spartans.
Probably not, but there will be a hell of a lot more of us. I expect a significant percentage of the military and/or the police (whoever comes after the guns) to side with the citizenry.
-- Some people are more interested in creating heat than shedding light.
Deucalion
2009-04-25 00:52:40 EST
On Fri, 24 Apr 2009 23:42:25 -0500, Jim Alder <jimalder@ssnet.com> wrote:
>Deucalion <someone@nowhere.net> wrote in >news:t245v4t0e260pvu4t6r963bjk910eel4ds@4ax.com: > >> On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 05:02:57 +0100 (BST), Anonymous <nobody@nymu.eu> >> wrote: >> >>>At Thermopylae, 1,000,000 Persians lost 20,000 >>>yet failed to disarm just 300 Spartans. >>> >>>80,000,000 lawful Americans would resist even harder. >>> >>>That we promise. >>> >>>"Come and get them." >> >> You will never live up to the standards set forth by the Spartans. > > Probably not, but there will be a hell of a lot more of us. I expect a >significant percentage of the military and/or the police (whoever comes after >the guns) to side with the citizenry.
What makes you think that? The police already stretch the search and seizure laws beyond what I personally consider Constitutional limits. The Feds already do the same. The military didn't balk at keeping a US citizen in the brig without charges for years.
Give a man a little power and authority and he will do much more than you think he will.
Jim Alder
2009-04-25 02:55:01 EST
Deucalion <someone@nowhere.net> wrote in news:5i55v4hjernne4lpkqdbu9ngvu7q97ftb3@4ax.com:
> On Fri, 24 Apr 2009 23:42:25 -0500, Jim Alder <jimalder@ssnet.com> > wrote: > >>Deucalion <someone@nowhere.net> wrote in >>news:t245v4t0e260pvu4t6r963bjk910eel4ds@4ax.com: >> >>> On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 05:02:57 +0100 (BST), Anonymous <nobody@nymu.eu> wrote: >>> >>>>At Thermopylae, 1,000,000 Persians lost 20,000 >>>>yet failed to disarm just 300 Spartans. >>>> >>>>80,000,000 lawful Americans would resist even harder. >>>> >>>>That we promise. >>>> >>>>"Come and get them." >>> >>> You will never live up to the standards set forth by the Spartans. >> >> Probably not, but there will be a hell of a lot more of us. I expect a >>significant percentage of the military and/or the police (whoever comes after >>the guns) to side with the citizenry. > > What makes you think that?
My deep understanding of human nature.
Plus, some of them have said so.
> The police already stretch the search and > seizure laws beyond what I personally consider Constitutional limits.
Some do. In certain instances, they may feel justified if they're after what they consider a threat to society.
> The Feds already do the same. The military didn't balk at keeping a > US citizen in the brig without charges for years.
Did they take a vote?
> Give a man a little power and authority and he will do much more than > you think he will.
Not all of them. And ground troops and beat cops are not given "a little power". Just a gun and orders.
-- Some people are more interested in creating heat than shedding light.
G. Morgan
2009-04-25 03:50:46 EST
Deucalion wrote:
>You will never live up to the standards set forth by the Spartans.
Tongue kisses for the men and high-fives for the women?
H*@hotmail.com
2009-04-25 07:30:55 EST
On Apr 25, 12:24 am, Deucalion <some...@nowhere.net> wrote: > On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 05:02:57 +0100 (BST), Anonymous <nob...@nymu.eu> > wrote: > > >At Thermopylae, 1,000,000 Persians lost 20,000 > >yet failed to disarm just 300 Spartans. > > >80,000,000 lawful Americans would resist even > >harder. > > >That we promise. > > >"Come and get them." > > You will never live up to the standards set forth by the Spartans.
True. Using firearms may seem like cheating to you, but I am unskilled with the spear and sword.
HeyBub
2009-04-25 08:17:45 EST
Deucalion wrote: > On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 05:02:57 +0100 (BST), Anonymous <nobody@nymu.eu> > wrote: > >> At Thermopylae, 1,000,000 Persians lost 20,000 >> yet failed to disarm just 300 Spartans. >> >> 80,000,000 lawful Americans would resist even >> harder. >> >> That we promise. >> >> "Come and get them." > > You will never live up to the standards set forth by the Spartans.
Just there the barbarians huddle, sheer terror gripping tight their hearts with icy fingers... knowing full well what merciless horrors they suffered at the swords and spears of three hundred. Yet they stare now across the plain at TEN THOUSAND Spartans commanding thirty thousand free Greeks!
The enemy outnumber us a paltry three to one, good odds for any Greek.
This day we rescue a world from mysticism and tyranny and usher in a future brighter than anything we can imagine.
HeyBub
2009-04-25 08:30:07 EST
Deucalion wrote:
>>> You will never live up to the standards set forth by the Spartans. >> >> Probably not, but there will be a hell of a lot more of us. I >> expect a significant percentage of the military and/or the police >> (whoever comes after the guns) to side with the citizenry. > > What makes you think that? The police already stretch the search and > seizure laws beyond what I personally consider Constitutional limits. > The Feds already do the same. The military didn't balk at keeping a > US citizen in the brig without charges for years. > > Give a man a little power and authority and he will do much more than > you think he will.
Don't know about the cops, but the military will certainly balk at any attempts to oppress the common folks. Things have changed in the military - there is no longer a 'cannon fodder' mentality. The general in the headquarters knows the corporal operating the radio is as much a professional at his job as the general is at his. The corporal knows this too.
As for an "American citizen" being confined to the Charleston brig, there are several issues involved.
1. American citizenship conveys no special attribute in matters of national defense. The Rosenbergs were, after all, American citizens and they got fried for spying. Being an unlawful enemy combatant is militarily identical to spying. Had they been caught on the battlefield, they could have been summarily hanged. Study up on our first "unlawful enemy combatant," Major Andre, who Washington ordered hanged.
2. That citizens/residents Hamdi, Padilla, and Marri were confined overlooks part of the story. They were not chained to the wall upside down. That alone speaks to our humanity and sense of fair play.
3. During the second world war, the U.S. confined hundreds of thousands of German and Italian prisoners on U.S. soil (Texas had dozens of POW camps). Of these prisoners, more than a handful had U.S. citizenship (usually dual). Not one of these U.S. citizens got even a minute in a court or any kind of preferential treatment.
Kent Finnell
2009-04-25 10:54:31 EST
"HeyBub" <heybub@NOSPAMgmail.com> wrote in message news:JOidnY0Qh4fxYm_UnZ2dnUVZ_u-dnZ2d@earthlink.com... > Deucalion wrote: >> On Sat, 25 Apr 2009 05:02:57 +0100 (BST), Anonymous >> <nobody@nymu.eu> >> wrote: >> >>> At Thermopylae, 1,000,000 Persians lost 20,000 >>> yet failed to disarm just 300 Spartans. >>> >>> 80,000,000 lawful Americans would resist even >>> harder. >>> >>> That we promise. >>> >>> "Come and get them." >> >> You will never live up to the standards set forth by the >> Spartans. > > Just there the barbarians huddle, sheer terror gripping > tight their hearts with icy fingers... knowing full well > what merciless horrors they suffered at the swords and > spears of three hundred. Yet they stare now across the > plain at TEN THOUSAND Spartans commanding thirty thousand > free Greeks! > > The enemy outnumber us a paltry three to one, good odds > for any Greek. > > This day we rescue a world from mysticism and tyranny and > usher in a future brighter than anything we can imagine. > >
The Spartans were not fighting for Greece. There was no Greece. They sure as hell were not fighting for Athens, the fragile home of democracy. Athens was Sparta's bitter enemy. They were fighting for Sparta because Sparta was theirs, the be all and the end all. They allied with Athens and other city states for their own benefit.
The Spartans were anything but democrats. They were a warrior culture. The males trained for combat from age 7, kill or be killed even at that age. At age 12 they started using for real weapons, sharp edged bronze swords and bronze tipped spears. By age 18 the survivors got full gear and regalia. Huge shield, one piece bronze helmet, bronze body armor, greaves to protect the shins. All the equipment weighed about 60 pounds. During the last great land battle with the Persians, they had trained to run in battle formation (the phalanx) full speed for a mile and a half.
They were the SEALS, the Special Forces, of the day. There was no individual glory, first the men on either side, your brothers in arms. Then the unit, then the army, and finally Sparta. Come home carrying your shield or being carried on it.
Just imagine facing 10,000 fully equipped SEALS without benefit of air cover, artillery, no weapons of mass destruction. That's what the Persians faced. Good luck.
Out of 80 million American gun owners, there could be culled at least 800,000 near Spartans ... from the swamps of Mississippi and Louisiana, from the Green Mountains in New England, from the coal mining sections of Appalachia, from the cold plains of the Dakotas, from the mountain men of the Rockies, from the spirits of our ancestors.
A foreign power would face a significant number of people who would never surrender. A domestic despot would face no less.
Molon labe, fool.
-- Quemadmoeum gladuis neminem occidit, occidentis telum est. Lucius Annaeus Seneca, circa 45 AD (A sword is never a killer, it is a tool in the killer's hands.) --- Kent Finnell, From the Music City, USA