Guard Dog

To quote Jimmy Buffet:

I can't believe I'm doing this again. I'll give it one more try. Teeth, what to Bill Clinton, GWB, Ulysses Grant. and Abraham Lincoln all have in common? They ALL suspended or weakened Habeas Corpus on the pretext of a "National Emergency". And every time it was overruled by the Supreme Court. It is not illegal to pass a law, no matter how wrong it is. It IS illegal to enforce a law the SCOTUS has ruled unconstitutional and struck down. To date no President, this one included has done that. Dictatorship??? Are you even familiar with the definition of that word? You are a smart guy Teeth. You know better than that. That is what I was talking about when I said emotion over reason. Yes. If the US pulls out now every death there will have been for nothing and every dollar spent would have been wasted. Iran will take over the country and we will have another war to fight 10 years from now. Exactly what we all said when we were packing up to leave Kuwait in 1991. The Dems know this, they are NOT stupid. If Kerry had been elected in 2004 very little would be different. You would just be complaining about him. I agree with you, it was a foolhardy thing to do (invading Iraq). But whats done cannot be undone, and it MUST be seen through to the finish. Most Americans already believe (as I do) that the Democrats are weak and spineless in foreign policy. If they order a retreat and Iraq falls (it would) history would blame them for the result even though they did not start it. As I said, they are not stupid. They will say all the right things to capitalize on the political momentum generated by the anti war types, but in the end they will do what they must. It is not illegal to lie in a speech, or policy meeting, etc. It IS illegal to lie under oath. See the difference? There IS a difference. Also Being proven wrong about something does not mean they lied about it to begin with. Like I told Sand, suppose you truly believed I was hiding space aliens in my house, because intelligent people you trusted presented evidence to you that I was. And suppose I fueled your suspicions by not letting you look. If you kicked down my door and found no aliens does that mean you were lying or just wrong?

It is more than passing ironic that in the 231 year history of the US we have had a number of highly corrupt Presidents none of whom were ever impeached. And I do not mean GWB. Warren Harding accepted bribes (allegedly) from Sinclair Oil. Grover Clevland abused his wife. James Garfield accepted bribes from Union Pacific. Ulysses Grant looked the other way as tax revenues were diverted to a conglomeration of whiskey distillers that his own attorney general had an ownership interest in (which by itself was a crime). Then he interefered in the investigation that followed. Jimmy Carter's own brother was a paid agent for Lybia, and his OMB manager Bert Lance was stealing money from the White House and Carter attempted to cover both of these things up. Anyone remember Iran-Contra? Bill Clinton accepted a 4 million dollar "donation" from China then refused to investigate suspected chinese espionage at Los Palamos. None of these Presidents were impeached for these flagrant offenses. The only two US Presidents who were impeached (Johnson and Clinton) it was done for such a minor and insignificant violation that their prosecution could only be called political. One last thing to consider. Tit for tat is considered fair play in American politics, like it or not. A Democratic congress went after Nixon and Reagan, a Republican one went after Clinton. If they go after GWB now, what do you think will happen when the tables are reversed and we have a democrat in the White House and a Republican congress? And as we have seen with Johnson and Clinton, you do not need a reason. Sound like something you guys would like?

I have avoided this thread because it has been 26 pages of otherwise smart people posting some rather dumb things. It is an argument based on emotion, not reason, and political hyperbole, not fact. It is impossible to counter an irrational argument with a rational one if both parties cannot come to equal terms with a few simple truths. So I could state (backed up by hard facts) that the Bush administration has not created a dictatorship, has not burned the constitution, has not broken any laws, but what would be the point? He has because you guys THINK he has. And he deserves impeachment because you don't LIKE him. So, whatever. Believe what you like. Arguing this point is like digging in sand and I don't feel like getting dirty.

Lare and Wals, I'm afraid I'll have to conceede your points here. Beyond what I read in the news, or see on TV I (thankfully) have no first hand knowledge of this stuff beyond it's text book definition. I've never seen any skinheads in Florida. I have seen Klansmen, but no skinheads. As for the guys in the Klan... talk about a walking sterotype.

To sum up: 25 issues still on the board. Two are minor. Seven are tweaks. Three are trivial. Thirteen are feature issues. And for Gods sweet sake, if you can't say something nice, go post somewhere else.

Foce Slayer, do you have any idea how many game devlopers broke into the industry because a development studio noticed a high quality mod they did. I can think of 5 at Bioware, 1 at Obsidian, and 4 at Blizzard. I'm sure there are more. I doubt any of those individuals would say it was a waste of time. DLA and Ossian Studios were once a team of amatuer modders. Now they are both paid development teams. Now I'm not saying that is what Team Gizka is hoping for or even wants. But I am trying to politely point out that your assertion that modding is a "waste of time" is in error. Besides, if you enjoy what you are doing, be it modding KOTOR2 or stirring up trouble on a forum, how could that be a waste?

There's some hardcore porno at the end if you finish it. There is too much of that around for free to tax my brain like this.

Well the pigs names aren't those, but i can see it symbolically for sure. The disagreement trick that led up to the windmill was an interesting twist, that i did not expect. IIRC the parallels were: Old Major: Lenin/Marx/Engle composite Snowball: Trotsky Napolean: Stalin Squealer: Pravda (I think) the newspaper The Crow (dont remember name): Russian Orthodox Church Boxer: Bolshevick party members Dogs: NKVD (secret police pre-KGB) Mr Jones: Czar Nicholas II Mr. Fredrick: The Germans The other neighbor (do not remeber name): The British. The donkey: Russian Jews Mollie: The russian nobility who flen the revolution. There are others but thats all I remember. It's been a few years since I read it last.

You seem to be under the impression these groups are numeous and organized. I assure you they are neither. And I seriously doubt there is great concern over foreigners and homosexuals in most of these groups. Most are found in the mountain states around the Northern Central US. I doubt they ever see more than a handful of foreigners in those parts. And in those small towns there is a total absence of any kind of "gay" subculture. So I'm certain there are homosexuals living there, but you would never know one to look at them. They are just normal people living their lives like everyone else. While mistrust and fear of Uncle Sam does abound in there groups, immigration and homosexuals are an abstract concept in that part of the country, and nothing any one will be afraid of. And emphasising masculinity for it's own sake is not a uniquely facist trait. Just because fascist might do it does not mean everyone who might think that way is fascist. As for beer drinking, if that becomes fascist, I have a problem.

Sounds like Master of Orion 3.

There is a pretty good movie on this subject: American history X. It portayed the skin heads as thugs and followers with a few truly evil types with brains to lead them. The movie paints an ugly picture of an ugly concept. But it is worth watching. I think it is a little inaccurate to link the "militia movement" in the US during the 90's with neo-nazis/facists. To begin with, the milita thing was started as a response (over reaction actually) to increasing gun control attempts by the federal government in the early to mid 90s. The news media hyped it up to be bigger than it really was by blaming it for unrelated events such as Ruby Ridge and Oklahoma City. It really faded out by the late 90's. There are still some groups around but most are of the Survivalist/Free Stater ilk. Don't get me wrong, by and large these are not nice people and there is probably plenty of racisim to be found there. But it would not be accurate to compare them to neo-nazis. The neo-nazi/facist subculture never really caught on in any kind of big way in the states. I think the Ku Klux Klan cornered the market on racisim and hate here. Now there is a group with a long and nasty history.

Soundtrack to The Witcher. Check it out here: Link

I'm for that. I'm sure we can find some rope and sheds for these sickos.

Just heard on the radio, launch now delayed until september so as not to conflict with the shuttle. Grrrrr.

No, its the same everywhere. Its 450 voice min with unlimited internet/data/sms. As to the network, with EDGE GPRS the average b/w is 100 kbps. Plus is it wifi capable so you can max out in hotspots. There are a number of cities (like West Palm Beach) that have free wifi zones in poular shopping/business areas. But here is a rumor for you, Santa Claus may be bringing us the HSDPA version.

If you were a good brother the mocking should have started at the purchase/wait-in-line-for-hours stage. $600.00 bucks for the cheap version is outrageous and dont even get me started on the monthly pricing. Actually, the montly pricing is not that bad. It comes with unlimited internet use. Most cell services sell their data at a high price ($0.10 per kb). And the iPhone has full internet access. I accesssed this site on one last week!

Pink Floyd, Animals.

Rented Casino Royale last night. Wow, really good. James Bond started getting stale the moment Sean Connery walked away. But this new Bond genre could recapture the glory. I hope they keep it going in the same vein.

I think a Bladerunner type game will fill an empty niche. And since WB going to release an 25th anniversary edition this year, they better get jumping on it if they want to capitalize!

Ummm, you do know that Libby did not out Plame right? It was Richard Armitage. Ironically, he was not prosecuted. I think your half right actually, it was Richard Novak right? That was who she was outed to, Novak is a reporter, Armitage told him she was Wilsons wife and CIA.

Ummm, you do know that Libby did not out Plame right? It was Richard Armitage. Ironically, he was not prosecuted.

Well, I have been hoping for a PC port of Mass Effect. Instead, we get this.... Well, maybe it won't be so bad.

Apologies to Wals, but I must answer this. To date, no credible evidence has been offered that the CIA falsified intelligence on the orders of the administration. Yes, it was bad intelligence and there is enough blame to spread around there. From bad info out of Mi6 to Clinton and George H Bush's decimation of the CIA to the GWB admin presenting only facts they thought "relevant". And you could argue Congress did not do their due diligence in fact checking. But you seem to believe there was some kind of deliberate conspiracy to deceive here, and there is simply no evidence of that. That is hyperbole and does nothing to contribute to the debate. I believe the "bill" you are referring to here was actually an executive order signed by Bush on 11/13/2001 which did, in effect, suspend Habeas Corpus for anyone who was designated an "enemy combatant". It was later codified into law by Congress in the Defense Appropriation Act. It did not make the news because it was buried in an otherwise non descript bill. And yes this is a sickening and despicable thing to do. And it was also shot down by the Supreme Court in 2006 in Hamdan v Rumsfeld. The court ruled that Congress could not limit Habeas Corpus motions by American citizens. Congress revisited this in 2006 in the "Military Commissions Act". Only now the wording specified that non US citizens who were enemy combatants could not seek Habeas Corpus redress from the court. THAT has since been upheld by the US Court of appeals in Boumediene v. Bush. The SCOTUS has declined to review the case so it will stand. So, no they have NOT suspended Habeas Corpus for citizens. But yes, they did try. The system worked as it should. No argument there. It should never have come to that but it does not change the fact the the President of the United States committed a crime (Perjury and Obstruction of Justice) during an investigation that should never have taken place. But I was only citing this example to illustrate my point. Of course you have the right to that opinion. And you are not the only one who thinks that way judging by the approval ratings. But to return to topic, I was only pointing out that the people crying over Libby not going to prison were the same people who had no problems with Clinton not being punished for the same offenses. And had no problem with anyone he pardoned.