Originally Posted By: Ellis
It's probably a silly idea but the comparison of the US with the Roman Empire was popular a few years ago, and the later decay of tthe Romans in the 1st century was resonsible for some remarkable stories of excess and downright craziness! There was a rescue of sorts, and the Pax Romana followed, but such individual power must inevitably be lost. Maybe this is the result of decay, misuse of power and the despair that samwik mentions.


Ellis,
fyi: the 6/7 Colbert Report has an interview with author Cullen Murphy discussing the parallels (Haliburton mentioned re: Barbarians (not Vandals though).

Are We Rome?: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America
by Cullen Murphy

~SA

Pyrolysis creates reduced carbon! ...Time for the next step in our evolutionary symbiosis with fire.