LANCASTER, Pa. (Aug. 20) – The Amish are expanding their presence in states far beyond Pennsylvania Dutch country as they search for affordable farmland to accommodate a population that has nearly doubled in the past 16 years, a new study found.States such as Missouri, Kentucky and Minnesota have seen increases in their Amish populations of more than 130 percent. The Amish now number an estimated 227,000 nationwide, up from 123,000 in 1992, according to researchers from Elizabethtown College’s Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies.Over the same period, Amish settlements have been established in seven new states, putting them in at least 28 states from coast to coast. The new states are: Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, Washington and West Virginia.
Well, at 230K, it’s not really an “ambush”, and Amish don’t really do anything bad on a sect-wide level (unless you count how they treat each other, and their annoying habit of driving their buggies in the street). And they do make nice quilts.But guess what they don’t do — READ THIS BLOG. BAD AMISH!
they are pests who should be treated as a burden to the state.others pay taxes so they can live a fairy tale others serve in the armned forces so these pests can live a fairy tale.
man of the people john mccain didn’t know he owned 7 homes worth 13 million dollars.i don’t like obama but trust a guy who doesn’t even know how many homes he has i don’t think so.
Of course, in the world of competing ideas, it may be to our advantage to have these weirdos around. It’s not like if the Amish disappeared they would all become atheists. Chances are they would fall into the clutches of some enthusiastic church, and we would be that much closer to having everybody believing the same thing. Diversity of religious opinion is what makes many people realize that all religion is based on stuff that people made up. Less diversity = consensus. When religious consensus occurs, atrocities are not far behind.
I sure have enjoyed all the posts here. Learned a lot. Like the time I went to an estate auction in Indiana and met an unfamillar tribe. They wore those hats, had beards, and the men had four button fronts to their pants! I don’t know if they were Mennonites or Amish but maybe they procreate profusely because they’re wild sex machines? You know, work all day and utilize the night doin what is needed to avoid becoming a dead end branch on the evolutionary bush.
I’m sure that has crossed Condie and GWs minds many times. I don’t mean to suggest those two are doin the wild thing on the White House floor when Laura isn’t there but, none of them want to let go of the future any more than the Amish want to let go of the past.
Oh I love this:
If this were to go in effect these arrogant and immoral docs would be purged from the system in a few years. Oh how I hope BushCo gets its way on this!
Please read this article about the mail that sent McBush’s campaign staff into a tizzy.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/21/politics/main4372096.shtml
What would be the best word to describe John “Keating Five” McCain’s campaign staff?
(a) Skittish
(b) Paranoid
(c) Neurotic
(d) Pansies
(e) all the above
Oops. Another blockquote faux pas.
Oh my Dog, c4t, my Mom grew up in Conneaut, OH.
It’s kind of a shit-hole now, but it was really quaint when I was a kid and we would visit.
What–
Okay, I’m going to try that again!
What–
Sorry! I can’t seem to get it together! That blockquote was supposed to end after “Affluence is tightly correlated with low birth rates.” The rest of the stuff is me talking.
Pixel
There is reciprocity everywhere in the universe. Sometimes it makes the prospect of fixing something seem difficult if not impossible. Not in this case.
Pixel
Thank you. I’ll bet he/she will be wonderful contributor to a rational society.
This was a “religious” point I failed to mention earlier. Cracks me up.
In Indiana, the Amish groups I observed held that buttons on clothing were proud, not plain, thus the women (not sure if the men were allowed buttons or not) kept their dresses closed with straight pins. Ouch! I never saw any safety pins so evidently those must not be plain enough.
Religion is such a hoot! Then again, maybe they are smarter than the rest of we females. They wear only sensible shoes.
We had only one child too, and our child had only one. So we’re doing our best to hold down the exploding population.
I’ve laughingly said, however, that maybe the influx of illegals is a good thing. They are multiplying like crazy and we may need lots of warm bodies some time in the future to fight the Muslim radicals who are also muliplying like crazy since we won’t be getting any help from the Amish.
Personally, I can’t get terribly excited about global warming and saving the earth as the unchecked population explosion worldwide will be the end of us IMO and there isn’t much I can do about that.
And I can’t get very excited about all the “green” talk these days and the need to save the earth, either. Once we are gone I’m pretty sure the earth can take care of itself.
GFG
Of course there is and you have done it!
Is that the issue? Isn’t the issue the many centuries of pain and suffering that our destruction and contamination of our environment will cause?
Another example of well meaning people doing destructive things to their children because of their fear of death and the hope of eternal life in perfect conditions, not just for themselves, but for their children. Wow, that’s new, NOT!!!!!!
Then the thread turns to green energy, it’s like rolling the dice.
GodFree, I’m on your side. If you are personally practicing population control without government mandate, you’ve earned a level of respect from me as a free thinker and a part of the solution, and not the problem.
Go back and read Mark Farris posts, we are free thinkers on the same page, I think. You may disagree, and that’s okay. Invitation to meet in open forum.
NeoWolfe
Thanks NeoWolfe, glad I’m not alone.
What: Sorry, but I’ve done the best I can. I harbor no guilt and I cannot fix the world. Bad things happen to animals every day and some of them are human animals. The future contamination of the planet is out of my hands. As I see it, not harboring any religious belief, my purpose on this earth was to procreate. I did that in moderation. So above that ‘task’ I concentrate on causing as few problems for others as I can and making myself and my family as happy as I can for as long as I have left. What happens after I’m gone probably won’t be pretty but it is out there waiting regardless of what I do.
I leave it to you to fix the world. Good luck.
GF&G
You underestimate your potential. I don’t – yours or mine.
We don’t know what is waiting.
For many decades we have seen major threats to our forests, air quality, water quality, soil sustainability, and more. During those decades some people rose to the task of protecting the environment. Our present environment would have been awful without their hard work. I’ll bet your pretty darned happy that others did that work aren’t you? How will you thank them?
Pay it forward.
Tell it to the Chinese, the Indians, the Mexicans and any other group with high birth rates. I can’t halt the population explosion and I’m not putting any money on you. Over population is the real problem.
GF&G
Tell them what?
Huh? What does that even mean?
I agree so we should be calling our senators and pushing for population control legislation. The Chinese already have a one child policy. We have lots of influence in India and Mexico. International aid and business interests could eaily be tied to population reduction measures.
GF&G
I noticed that he didn’t answer my question: How will you thank them?
he didn’t -> you didn’t
What
I like that!
cry4turtles
I’m glad to hear they’re trying. There is so much bigotry in this country against other languages, they must be fighting an uphill battle.
English is rapidly becoming the world’s universal language. Schoolchildren in nearly all countries are being taught it routinely, sometimes starting as early as their own language. If this goes on, other languages will go extinct one by one, and finally English will be the only language anyone can speak. The loss of a language is the same kind of loss to the store of human knowledge as the extinction of a species.
The only way this trend could be resisted is for children to be taught in their own language as long as possible, and leave English to be taught as a foreign language in the later school years.
NotSoFast
I think that’s a very good analogy.
I?m an only child and my son is an only child, but I hope he has 2 kids because we need more Atheists.
I like Amish noodles and milk. My stomach reacted badly after eating at an Amish restaurant in Ohio. I think it might have been the water used in the iced tea.
I think we should not overestimate the use of English as a universal lingua franca, especially with the growth of Chinese.
Interestingly nine British MP’s have nominated Esperanto for the Nobel Peace Prize 2008.
You can see detail at http://www.lernu.net
I think we should not overestimate the use of English as a universal lingua franca, especially with the growth of Chinese.
Interestingly nine British MP’s have nominated Esperanto for the Nobel Peace Prize 2008.
You can see detail at http://www.lernu.net