I've noticed that too, though I don't know if there is a mechanic for it.
Combat should be based off the pure attack/defense ratings, and I don' believe those go up with Veteran or Elite status.
Well, the Patriot Act allowed the CIA, FBI and NSA to cooperate with each other, but the entirety of the Patriot Act is being appealed due to the bad press it got, not really because of what the Patriot Act says.
White Wolf was willing to support D20, despite having the Storyteller system. Who is to say Steve Jackson games wouldn't if it meant landing a nice intellectual property?
I agree. People don't understand that.
Right now Americans are outraged that the FBI can track people without warrants.
I think it's fine. They need a warrant for court admissable evidence, but knowing which people to keep an eye on initially is a big thing. In the US, we are a country of 300 million people. We can't keep an eye on everyone, and every place at once. There are plenty of reports that would suggest we even knew that terroists planned to fly planes into the WTC and we couldn't stop it because we didn't know who or when.
Historical right to a land isn't enough reason to transplant people on it's own. However, given the Jews had no place to live after the Holocaust, I think we had a unique situation.
One witness described seeing an explosive device.
Another witness described seeing half a double-decker fly into the air.
Yet another witness described seeing a bus get ripped open.
I don't think this is a power surge.