Guard Dog

Of course FDR is ranked high by most academics. Most modern academics are communist/socialist/statists, FDR was like a godsend to them. He also presided over WW2, and many historians are enamored with war leaders of all types throughout the ages, no matter how evil they really were. So you dismiss the majority of highly educated scholars. Brilliant. Yea.. actually I do. I've spent enough time in Universities to realize that the academics there don't magically have a higher intelligence than those not there, that to an extent many of them live in a bubble that has little to do with reality (especially those who never left academic life, which is a sizable amount of academia), there are agendas that don't meet the average eye by those financing academia, and there are egos amongst academia that drive agendas and squash real scholarship. My apologies that I don't look at academia as a group of clergy as so many do. Professors are just as fallible as the rest of humanity, especially when considered as a group. In regards to FDR specifically. The guy was an evil MFer, who had zero respect for the Constitution and served the financial interests in New York and London first and foremost. I have a great deal of respect and desire for the liberty of man, FDR did not, and neither do a great many modern academics in the US (who I already mentioned are socialist/communist/statists). I think history has been unusually kind to FDR. As big government statist presidents go I can't think of many who were worse, preset occupant included. That is not to say that the times he lived in did not justify unusual actions, or that he was all bad, but trampling on the rights and freedoms of Americans is never a good thing and no end could ever justify that as a means. The only reason that the current resident is not worse is because he has to deal with the ramifications of fast information dissemination over the intertubes. FDR had his fireside chats and a bunch of cooperating newspapers. Oh yes a media monopoly definitely helps. But as little love as I have for Obama the truth is it will be a years after he leaves office before it becomes clear what his legacy really is. Heck we are just now getting a sense of what Clintons legacy is. With FDR there is a tendency to gloss over his worst acts, trying to ruin the SCOTUS, the imminent domain seizures with no compensation for the TVA, the internments, ignoring the Japanese to concentrate on the war in Europe when Japan was a greater threat, deliberate currency manipulation, sending german jewish refugees home to Germany knowing what awaited them. But on the flip side the did provide stable leadership and an optimistic vision when it was needed most, he is partially responsible for the FDIC, Emergency Banking & Glass Stengal acts, the March of Dimes and the virtual eradication of polio had a lot to do with him. Like most Presidents he is a mixed bag of good & bad. Some of the bad was really bad though and history seems determined to forget that.

Of course FDR is ranked high by most academics. Most modern academics are communist/socialist/statists, FDR was like a godsend to them. He also presided over WW2, and many historians are enamored with war leaders of all types throughout the ages, no matter how evil they really were. So you dismiss the majority of highly educated scholars. Brilliant. Yea.. actually I do. I've spent enough time in Universities to realize that the academics there don't magically have a higher intelligence than those not there, that to an extent many of them live in a bubble that has little to do with reality (especially those who never left academic life, which is a sizable amount of academia), there are agendas that don't meet the average eye by those financing academia, and there are egos amongst academia that drive agendas and squash real scholarship. My apologies that I don't look at academia as a group of clergy as so many do. Professors are just as fallible as the rest of humanity, especially when considered as a group. In regards to FDR specifically. The guy was an evil MFer, who had zero respect for the Constitution and served the financial interests in New York and London first and foremost. I have a great deal of respect and desire for the liberty of man, FDR did not, and neither do a great many modern academics in the US (who I already mentioned are socialist/communist/statists). I think history has been unusually kind to FDR. As big government statist presidents go I can't think of many who were worse, preset occupant included. That is not to say that the times he lived in did not justify unusual actions, or that he was all bad, but trampling on the rights and freedoms of Americans is never a good thing and no end could ever justify that as a means.

There was one in NWN (besides me ) I just can't remember who it was or where.

I'm curious. What got you kicked off and banned on the FreeRepublic forums? Getting banned on FR is easy, just voice a dissenting opinion a few times. If you are not a big R republican there then you must be a commie liberal democrat. It seems the universe is divided into two camps. Big R freepers and commie dems. Of course Democratic Underground is even worse the other way. I didn't even last a night before being banned and having death threats e-mailed to me. They have no love for libertarians on FR. I can tell you that.

Where is Calax in NV? I never ran across him. Im not sure if you can miss him. He appears early in the game and actually runs up to you for help. Is he the guy that gets you to go up the hill with the geckos then tries to rob you after?

Where is Calax in NV? I never ran across him.

Gromnir you understand that just because someone says something on the Internet it doesn't necessarily make it true. We have a responsibility to question the veracity of statements if we want more information around a particular comment. So its nothing personal, its just the Internet But saying all that there are several members who have corroborated your story so I believe it . Its a fascinating little history around the name Gromnir. I am particularly interested in the fact that Gaider would have been influenced or enjoyed your forum personality that he named a character after you, kudos to you There are a couple of forum members whose screen name made it into games. Gromnir was the most famous, but I can think of one in NWN and one in SoU. This was a big thing that caused a lot of flames I remember on either the BIS or Bioware boards, I forget which exactly. Maybe it was both. Ironically this whole incident is where my current screen name (that I use on 5 different forums no less) came from. Interesting, do you remember the names that made it onto NWN and SoU? Also what is the history and the incident around your name? Well, this was a big deal as I remember it with some folks acting like babies their name was not chosen. On BIS I was using a different name (and I wasn't real active anyway) so when I moved to the Bioware boards I figured I'd pick a NWN NPC and tell everyone they named that NPC after me just to get a laugh. So during my first play through I was playing as a Ranger and I took the Guard Dog that was standing in front of the Shining Knight arms store in the City Core with me through the prison and the undead section, I got so attached to him I took his name for my forum name. I use this name here, Bioware, Nexusmods, NWNVault, TW Forums, OOTP forums, Bethsoft, Libertypost.org (I think it's defunct now) FreeRepublic (before I got kicked off & banned), and a few others I think. Torias was one of the halflings in the SoU caravan. He was also a popular mod on the Bio boards. I forget who the one in NWN is. If there is one in HotU I never noticed it. There were a few in Throne of Bhaal besides Gromnir I think. Wasn't Melisan also a member?

I've always thought the smoking gun for his involvement is in the Dry Lake mitigation which was required to make that deal happen and has not happened yet because of the cows on Gold Butte.

You are operating from the mistaken impression the federal government gives a sh-t about the environment. The people in the government don't care about land they don't live near. They care about their money, their power, their continuation in office. If they have to run agricultural or other interests off that land to sell it to someone else so be it. And if they can cloak their business dealings in the pseudo-morality of helping the environment then that would just be the icing on the cake. The Bundy situation is pretty close to matching that description to a T. One of my favorite quotes is "Government is small minded people grasping for power under the guise of advancing high minded ideals". That kind of sounds like a campaign push for Al Gore Al Gore's dirty little secret is that he does not really give a damn about the environment either. It was just something he used to stay relevant after he lost the election.

Griz 111 Thunder 105. That was the greatest basketball game I've ever watched!

Gromnir you understand that just because someone says something on the Internet it doesn't necessarily make it true. We have a responsibility to question the veracity of statements if we want more information around a particular comment. So its nothing personal, its just the Internet But saying all that there are several members who have corroborated your story so I believe it . Its a fascinating little history around the name Gromnir. I am particularly interested in the fact that Gaider would have been influenced or enjoyed your forum personality that he named a character after you, kudos to you There are a couple of forum members whose screen name made it into games. Gromnir was the most famous, but I can think of one in NWN and one in SoU. This was a big thing that caused a lot of flames I remember on either the BIS or Bioware boards, I forget which exactly. Maybe it was both. Ironically this whole incident is where my current screen name (that I use on 5 different forums no less) came from.

No kidding? I didn't know that! Kudos to whoever made that call.

I know about Amway, we also have them in South Africa. What is your primary issue with there business model? Let's start with the fact that it's a pyramid scheme when you get right down to it!

Lady GD is working tonight. I can't sleep so I think I'll go sit on the porch, drink a highball or two of Knob Creek and just listen to the night sounds and count the stars.

The quickest way to start hating people is to go out and meet a few hundred of them. Actually in my experience most folks were pretty well educated on national issues but shockingly uninformed on local ones. They also, generally speaking, do not have a clear understanding of what the powers and responsibilities of the various levels of government are. Just my experience which admittedly was limited and 16 years ago.

You are operating from the mistaken impression the federal government gives a sh-t about the environment. The people in the government don't care about land they don't live near. They care about their money, their power, their continuation in office. If they have to run agricultural or other interests off that land to sell it to someone else so be it. And if they can cloak their business dealings in the pseudo-morality of helping the environment then that would just be the icing on the cake. The Bundy situation is pretty close to matching that description to a T. One of my favorite quotes is "Government is small minded people grasping for power under the guise of advancing high minded ideals".

Sinister quote of the day. Taken out of context that quote would have the FBI trolling this board in a second. Who am I kidding, they already are here watching Val, WoD & me!

Something really good may come from all of this: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/57836973-90/utah-lands-lawmakers-federal.html.csp It's about time. The US is a union of 50 sovereign states after all and it is difficult for a state to assert it's own sovereignty when an outside government controls 85% of it's land. If this happens it will make it difficult for the filthy corrupt freedom hating bastards on the Potomac like Sen Harry Reid from ordering people off land at gunpoint so he can turn around and sell it to Chinese power companies.

Gorgon were you born cynical or did you have to work at it? All kidding aside you are pretty right on. In the end voting really becomes a choice of lesser evils. You vote for the pols you think will hurt you the least.

Heh, I feel exactly like that a lot! Last night I called my former business partners and thanked them profusely for their consideration and declined their invitation. I love this house, this spot in the woods on Cold Creek. Then I slept through the night for the first night this week. I think you made the right decision. You do love where you live and person can be defined in some ways by where he lives. We find a sense of contentment. And no amount of money can necessarily bring you that same feeling. So even a better new job but in a different city doesn't mean you will be automatically happier. I imagine Steph is happy ? Yeah, she wasn't crazy about the idea either and I don't blame her. She has a life, a career, and friends here she would not want to leave behind. That was a big factor in the decision.

Please confirm you aren't serious. I doubt he is joking I don't think Val is saying it has never been done, but it is not joke that the ability to do it right this minute does not currently exist. If there were a compelling reason to go it could be put together in a few years time with sufficient funding no doubt. The main reason Apollo was cancelled and no other programs created is that it is prohibitively expensive to stage manned moon missions with not a lot of benefit to justify the costs (aside from exploration for its own sake)

Agreed. Although this does lend credence to the federalist argument that power is best left concentrated at the lowest possible levels because the voters have more influence there.

Heh, I feel exactly like that a lot! Last night I called my former business partners and thanked them profusely for their consideration and declined their invitation. I love this house, this spot in the woods on Cold Creek. Then I slept through the night for the first night this week.

I remember this! This was a board game back when I was a kid!

I vote for Dodge City & Santa Fe. Just for the historical value if nothing else. There is nothing to see in Albuquerque. If it wasn't for Bugs Bunny nobody would have ever even heard of it. If you do go to Amarillo you MUST eat at Coyote Bluff. Get the burger from hell. You've never had anything like it!