Hippies

[WoVeU]

My friend Ricky rides a Boss Hoss 502...502 HP and 515 Ft pounds torque..in a 1200 pound bike. It's not my cup of tea as a bike, but I do like hitting the trigger and getting to triple digit speeds really, really quick. But, you can't be squeamish and get off the throttle when the rear breaks loose and comes around...you have to just let her wag back and forth and settle down...get off the throttle and it will throw you down.

He also has a V8 Chopper with a Dart built 350...it's 800 pounds and also terribly quick, but better mannered than the Boss Hoss.

There are Boss Hoss bikes built with the aluminum 606 (I haven't ridden one) and they are expensive and blinding fast.

I won't even ride my friends Hogs. (When you ain't ridden in years...don't ride it unless you got the money to replace it. Cash.)

Those bikes are sick, what 2.4lbs/hp....that will do whatever the gears will let it and drag. I'd like to jump on that in the salt flats!

[billybud]

Spence...I also have deep roots in Wilcox County, Alabama. And Montgomery County, Alabama, and Mobile County, Alabama...all on mom's side. Both GG grandfathers fought in the Cival war...one for the 3rd Wisconsin cavalry, one for the Camden Rifles, 13th Alabama.

I was close to the courtly old folk of my southern side...

[Spence]

I think most people have relatives who fought on both sides of that war. At least any who were raised anywhere except the upper east coast. Since I am a mutt with many different family lines, some easy to trace and some impossible to ever find, I don't find which side someone fought on a source of personal pride. I do understand, however, that if the union hadn't won that war and gained control over the whole territory, that we would all probably be speaking German today. Neither side, by theirselves, could have defended their land against the axis army in the the fourth great war this country was involved in. Actually, we probably would have gotten through WWI.

[WoVeU]

I think most people have relatives who fought on both sides of that war. At least any who were raised anywhere except the upper east coast. Since I am a mutt with many different family lines, some easy to trace and some impossible to ever find, I don't find which side someone fought on a source of personal pride. I do understand, however, that if the union hadn't won that war and gained control over the whole territory, that we would all probably be speaking German today. Neither side, by theirselves, could have defended their land against the axis army in the the fourth great war this country was involved in. Actually, we probably would have gotten through WWI.

I agree Spence. Something awful true about "divided we fall."

That said, I think most hot button issues should be pushed down to the States. Then when something really goes against somebody, they can allocate themselves to the state that best suits them, many varieties would arise. For Abortion, Gay Marriage, Gun Control, God in schools, etc. Then you'd also get a nice 50 piece test bed to better understand what works how well when mixed in what way.

[Derek]

Reload is how you keep plenty of ammo on hand, and the Metallica CD in the floor board

I'm pretty sure the Black Album is their best, but that's just my opinion

nah....Master of the Puppets

[WoVeU]

Reload is how you keep plenty of ammo on hand, and the Metallica CD in the floor board

I'm pretty sure the Black Album is their best, but that's just my opinion

nah....Master of the Puppets

Everybody has an opinion...but if you prefer the heavier and thrashier side of Metallica, you get that opinion along with some or Ride The Lightning! I like the heavy handed semi-ballad...Metallica is the only who can even write and perform in this form. The Black Album had more of those Heavy Minoric Semi-Ballads. And Marches man...marches! Nobody else could have pulled this off, Bob Rock really got them to tap in and experiment and they did some real art IMO!

[Spence]

I think most people have relatives who fought on both sides of that war. At least any who were raised anywhere except the upper east coast. Since I am a mutt with many different family lines, some easy to trace and some impossible to ever find, I don't find which side someone fought on a source of personal pride. I do understand, however, that if the union hadn't won that war and gained control over the whole territory, that we would all probably be speaking German today. Neither side, by theirselves, could have defended their land against the axis army in the the fourth great war this country was involved in. Actually, we probably would have gotten through WWI.

I agree Spence. Something awful true about "divided we fall."

That said, I think most hot button issues should be pushed down to the States. Then when something really goes against somebody, they can allocate themselves to the state that best suits them, many varieties would arise. For Abortion, Gay Marriage, Gun Control, God in schools, etc. Then you'd also get a nice 50 piece test bed to better understand what works how well when mixed in what way.

That is the beauty of how the system should work. States are supposed to govern themselves as long as they remain within the restraints of the constitution. The federal government isn't supposed to run the business of the states.

It is true that the nation couldn't survive without the sum of it's parts. Neither the north or south could have made it on their own. If someone would have attacked us in 1865 from outside this country we would have fallen with little fight. We didn't have the resources or the manpower to sustain a foreign attack. It is just that the rest of the world thought we were such heathens they didn't want any part of us.

[WoVeU]

I'd submit that the rest of the world may have been correct. Well we are plenty heathen now!

[billybud]

It is true that the nation couldn't survive without the sum of it's parts. Neither the north or south could have made it on their own. If someone would have attacked us in 1865 from outside this country we would have fallen with little fight. We didn't have the resources or the manpower to sustain a foreign attack. It is just that the rest of the world thought we were such heathens they didn't want any part of us.

Maybe the world saw the world's superpower of the time, England, get its nose bloodied in two attempts. The US was the "Afghanistan" of the 18th and 19th centuries. Long supply lines for invaders, bickering tribes that could coalesce against a common enemy, and asymmetric warfare conducted by civilian soldiers.

[WoVeU]

It is true that the nation couldn't survive without the sum of it's parts. Neither the north or south could have made it on their own. If someone would have attacked us in 1865 from outside this country we would have fallen with little fight. We didn't have the resources or the manpower to sustain a foreign attack. It is just that the rest of the world thought we were such heathens they didn't want any part of us.

Maybe the world saw the world's superpower of the time, England, get its nose bloodied in two attempts. The US was the "Afghanistan" of the 18th and 19th centuries. Long supply lines for invaders, bickering tribes that could coalesce against a common enemy, and asymmetric warfare conducted by civilian soldiers.

That may be true in many ways. Nonetheless, a well planned attack through the Chesapeake Bay by a large navy during Gettysburg or another major battle would have been hard to overcome. Naval attacks in succession from Savannah up to Boston could have been crippling. America at that time (both the North and the South) used the Atlantic coastal shipping lanes to move many supplies...just raiding and sinking those vessels would have been torturous for many.

[Eric]

If I had to pick one, it's either And Justice For All or the Black Album. Ever since I got iTunes on my computer, I've opened up my music library a bit more. I have everything from Nirvana, Nickel Creek (acoustic/bluegrass band that you should all give a shot ), Oasis, Don Williams, Temptations, etc. Outside of my number one slot, my favorite rock bands are pretty much interchangeable. FWIW:

1. The Killers
2. The Strokes
3. Franz Ferdinand
4. Nirvana
5. Metallica

[Spence]

Maybe the world saw the world's superpower of the time, England, get its nose bloodied in two attempts. The US was the "Afghanistan" of the 18th and 19th centuries. Long supply lines for invaders, bickering tribes that could coalesce against a common enemy, and asymmetric warfare conducted by civilian soldiers.

I think they just didn't see the value of the land and they were probably afraid that while trying to fight a war that far from home someone would invade them. Geography was probably the single biggest reason we didn't receive an attack.

[Derek]

If I had to pick one, it's either And Justice For All or the Black Album. Ever since I got iTunes on my computer, I've opened up my music library a bit more. I have everything from Nirvana, Nickel Creek (acoustic/bluegrass band that you should all give a shot ), Oasis, Don Williams, Temptations, etc. Outside of my number one slot, my favorite rock bands are pretty much interchangeable. FWIW:

1. The Killers
2. The Strokes
3. Franz Ferdinand
4. Nirvana
5. Metallica

Don Williams?? The Country singer??

He was in Smokey and the Bandit part 2....

All I can give is my top 2...I like a lot besides them, but these are always on my Pod.

1. Joe Satriani
2. Iron Maiden

[WoVeU]

Yeah good point on WW1 Germany. It is something I think of or point to when people speak on over-punishing...forcing people to the point of severe tactics...or some to the point of following severe psychopaths!

[Spence]

I think most people have relatives who fought on both sides of that war. At least any who were raised anywhere except the upper east coast. Since I am a mutt with many different family lines, some easy to trace and some impossible to ever find, I don't find which side someone fought on a source of personal pride. I do understand, however, that if the union hadn't won that war and gained control over the whole territory, that we would all probably be speaking German today. Neither side, by theirselves, could have defended their land against the axis army in the the fourth great war this country was involved in. Actually, we probably would have gotten through WWI.

Bah humbug! Without US intervention, Germany wins WW1. No Versaille treaty= no reparations= no hyperinflation= no Hitler. Now if Germany, in victory had screwed britain as bad as the reverse, there might have been an english hitler equivalent, but it's pretty hard to unleash the panzers from an island. Japan may have ended up controlling china and SE asia, however, but I'm not sure that would have been worse than what followed the breakup of the Jap empire.

As far as family history goes, if I wanted to, I could join the Sons of the American Revolution. The first one came illegally from Prussian-occupied Alsace and was fleeing the draft. He was picked up by the brits in '76 and forced to serve with their Hessians. Surviving the war he was deported back to Prussia, whereupon, having been deemed to have met his service obligations, he was permitted to legally emigrate to the US. I have a book he owned (one of those heavy things with the clasp) and someone scratched his interesting life history in papers they attached to the inside cover.

I had ancestors on both sides of the War of Northern Aggression, but I know little about them. Others migrated west, the first arriving in the Oregon territory via the applegate trail in 1847.

It is hard to say how history would have played out had this country been split into two nations. Had the union let it happen the two nations would not have been as strong as the one. Both countries would have been vulnerable to attack.

I could say that had Ferdinand not been assassinated there would have been no WWI, but we all know that isn't true. Maybe there would have been no Hitler in Germany, but someone would have been there to present himself. There were no shortages of despites in the world, then as now. This country could not be great if it weren't for the contributions of all sections of the country. The east, midwest, south, southwest, and western states were all important in shaping this country and providing for it's defense.