On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 20:12, Bryan O'Neal <Bryan.ONeal@theonealandassociates.com> wrote:

Well... we did steal it from Mexico. In a style that is reminiscent of the Romans but is still distinctly American. In truth it is an awesome tail of we want it, we can make claim for it, we can take it, and we are so cool the rest of the world will demand you apologize to us for making us take it from you. We are some bad as* mot** f**** :)
But that is just my humble opinion ;)

That's like saying that I stole your car when I drove away with it after paying you $5k ;)
Mexico was conquered by Spain which annexed what we call California and other areas. Later Mexico ceded California and New Mexico in the Mexican American war for the agreed upon price of $15M. Other parts of southern America were purchased in the Gadsden Purchase and Louisiana Purchase.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsden_Purchase
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viceroyalty_of_New_Spain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican-American_War

Great map here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/United_States_1803-04-1804-03.png

JD