Florida State Seminoles

[hedge]

"I would say that 1865 (right at the very end of our Civil War) or maybe 1870, was the absolute "peak" of Europe's Western Enlightenment, towards the end of England's Victorian Era."

Victoria died in 1901, and anyway, I was making a parallel b/w roughly the 14th and 17th centuries, when the various nations of Europe were pretty much in perpetual conflict (to say nothing of the equally perpetual religious conflicts, although obviously there was plenty of overlap b/w the two) with what you were talking about b/w India and Pakistan...

[aTm]

I have friends that recently moved from Houston to Austin. They dont want to buy in the suburbs but basically it sounds impossible to buy a house. Literally they have alerts set up to tell them when someone lists a house, makes any changes to a listing, and he keeps sending me listings asking what I think on a house listed like a day ago, and then the next day he tells me they made an offer, which was the 5th one on the house, and the next day that they didnt get it and its now pending and he thinks the offer must have been way over list. Its like there are 20 couples just like them all running around all over central Austin trying to buy the same houses as soon as they are listed.

[innocentbystander]

I have friends that recently moved from Houston to Austin. They dont want to buy in the suburbs but basically it sounds impossible to buy a house. Literally they have alerts set up to tell them when someone lists a house, makes any changes to a listing, and he keeps sending me listings asking what I think on a house listed like a day ago, and then the next day he tells me they made an offer, which was the 5th one on the house, and the next day that they didnt get it and its now pending and he thinks the offer must have been way over list. Its like there are 20 couples just like them all running around all over central Austin trying to buy the same houses as soon as they are listed.

Wow, impressive.

Texas might have been one of the very few states (maybe the only state) that wasn't seriously hurt by the recession of 2008. For that matter, we are still in that 2008 recession, yes?

[innocentbystander]

"I would say that 1865 (right at the very end of our Civil War) or maybe 1870, was the absolute "peak" of Europe's Western Enlightenment, towards the end of England's Victorian Era."

Victoria died in 1901, and anyway, I was making a parallel b/w roughly the 14th and 17th centuries, when the various nations of Europe were pretty much in perpetual conflict (to say nothing of the equally perpetual religious conflicts, although obviously there was plenty of overlap b/w the two) with what you were talking about b/w India and Pakistan...

Gotcha.

I mean you could make an argument that 1588 was just Catholics vs Protestants (and really, an enraged Catholic Spain looking to take a piece of England's ass for beheading the one TRUE British Queen, the CATHOLIC Mary Queen of Scotts.) But the majority of Europe's religious wars were fought not between Catholics and Protestants (per se) as much as they were between Christians and Muslims. And that all pretty much ended when Islam began to decline by the end of the Dark Ages.

17th Century, Thirty Years War was definately a religious war. Russo-Polish war wasn't much more than a land-grab. Turkish War was religious. But as you said, after the 17th century this all kind of wound down in Europe into land-grab wars.

Either way, Europe was 300 years more enlightened than India was, and that was the warning the British gave Indian in 1947. They didn't heed that warning and they paid the price. In some respects (for India), nothing has changed. Kashmir is still "contested" and it is all about religion.

[hedge]

I wouldn't extrapolate from the goings on in Austin a general view of Texas real estate. I suspect the market in, say, Lubbock or Temple is quite a bit softer than in Austin...

[hedge]

"Either way, Europe was 300 years more enlightened than India was, and that was the warning the British gave Indian in 1947. They didn't heed that warning and they paid the price."

Perhaps, but my point is, its their price to pay, and it's pretty much the same price that Europe paid to gain their own (as you put it) enlightenment. I'd much rather be trying to shape my own fate than have some "enlightened" outsiders doing it for me. I think most people would. To brush that off simply b/c it can get messy and bloody, esp. when those in control went thru exactly the same type of conflicts themselves, seems to me the height of hubris and vanity....

[eCat]

it was that way when I was there. Our realtor , a guy we knew and trusted, told us to make an offer immediately once we found a house we liked and to offer asking price. We had 4 houses we looked at - 2 of them were under contract before we could make an offer. Luckily we stumbled upon a great house before it was even listed in MLS.

Then when the market went belly up and our house was on the market for 4 months (short by today's standards but unnerving back then) and we took a loss on it because I was so anxious to sell it and move.

[aTm]

The multi-family market in central Houston is off the charts. Rents are like 1500 for a closet and 2500 for a decent sized place and maybe more than that at newer complexes (Very high for this city) There are about 7-10 300+ unit midrise complexes under construction within a couple miles of my house and several plus about 4 or 5 residential highrises planned close to my work.

[hedge]

Drug money!

[Jungle Rat]

Western civilization started when we told the Brits to go fuck themselves.

[innocentbystander]

"Either way, Europe was 300 years more enlightened than India was, and that was the warning the British gave Indian in 1947. They didn't heed that warning and they paid the price."

Perhaps, but my point is, its their price to pay, and it's pretty much the same price that Europe paid to gain their own (as you put it) enlightenment. I'd much rather be trying to shape my own fate than have some "enlightened" outsiders doing it for me. I think most people would. To brush that off simply b/c it can get messy and bloody, esp. when those in control went thru exactly the same type of conflicts themselves, seems to me the height of hubris and vanity....

I see your point.

England/Cornwalis (in surrendering in 1783) warned the British Colonies (before they were "The United States") that there would be NO "United" States so long as we had slavery. We told Cornwalis to go piss up a rope and yet England was proven right (to the tune of 600,000 dead by 1865.) That was our "price to pay" as you so aptly put it.

Would it have been better if we did away with Slavery from the get go? Of course. Would it have been better if (at the end of the Rev War) England was dealing from a position of strength such that it could have "ended" slavery in the British Colonies? Yes. Would the BEST outcome have been England trading Independance for the British Colonies for their ending slavery on the Continent? That would have been best (no war at all for anyone) but there was ZERO CHANCE that Southern States would have been part of that union back in 1783. We would have had one independant country (in the North) and British colonies with Slavery in the South fighting for their OWN independance.

[hedge]

I'm fine with slavery as long as I'm not the slave...

[aTm]

And as long as slavery isnt based on dispicable racism. I should be able to have hot azn, black, white, and latina slaves.

[AlabamAlum]

And when they came for the slaves, I said nothing. For I did not own any....

[eCat]

I talked about Rand Paul doing this a few months ago.

Here is an example of it being successful. I have no idea who the "Club for Growth" is but they are following the same pattern that Rand outlined.

If their plan works, they are going to establish a small base - a 3rd party residing within the GOP that will just shut down every attempt to grow the government in both spending and power.

Its a more formalized approach to the tea party, and I bet they'll fully and actively support a Rand Paul run in 2016. Assuming his kid doesn't keep getting arrested for public intox.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/b ... 85872.html

[hedge]

"Assuming his kid doesn't keep getting arrested for public intox."

That's called "playing to the base"...

[eCat]

heh...yea

hell, he's one of us - gotta strung out kid and everything!

[innocentbystander]

And as long as slavery isnt based on dispicable racism. I should be able to have hot azn, black, white, and latina slaves.

Naughty America - Dirty Latina Maids

[Toemeesleather]

Gun-store owners said they've seen spikes in people looking to get guns, first when Obama was re-elected in November, and even more so after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings last month. Terry Goode, the owner of Collectors Firearms & Militaria in Pelham, said he saw sales of guns, ammunition and accessories soar by around 30 percent after the Connecticut shooting. Some are looking for self-defense; others, including those who collect as a hobby, are worried about stricter gun laws on the horizon.

"They don't trust the government," Goode said. "They're afraid of what they're going to do."



Not hard at all to find these type quotes on any news website, IN ANY STATE....

[Owlman]

I had 3 months savings to pay all my expenses (which amounted to a car payment, car insurance, gasoline, food, utilities, and rent on the in-law apartment.) And that 3 months covered ALL my expenses for the 18 months I saved for my 20%.

Mother in law, father in law or both or who?