Calax

taks- that sounds like the reason sand was able to turn a giant dragon into a tribble and hit it with a basic fireball to kill it.

Hovind is even further out there than most. He has a tenancy to make really bad arguements that sound really good. someone youtubed at least one of his seminars. and another one took his seminars and split them so that he could refute the seminars point by point (thank the maker for Video Editing.)

Except there are also people like this feller who are... psycotic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Hovind

Every piece of near future fiction I've seen (as well as economist and secret society forecasts) says that china will probably rival the US within the next twenty years for worlds most powerful nation.

nah, stackpoles books are in world of his own devising where a war begins between "the enemy" and the rest of the world. Except they are all chasing down parts of the artifact known as the dragon crown in order to control (against their will) the drangons. They also kill a dragon with a set of four HUGE cannons hitting it in the head at the same time from below

Potter and Rattatooie I liked the pixar one more

the DragonCrown War by Michael A Stackpole It's... interesting. They have muskets in a high fantasy novel that is not unlike The Song of Ice and Fire. Except it's got more magic.

Empire would have done better against the Vong.

plenty of people understand the constitution, though i would not number you in that lot based on nearly every post you've made on such topics. the supreme court cannot hear _anything_ unless suit is brought. don't you get it? even then, its power is limited to adjudicating laws that are passed, not simple functions of daily government. if the executive branch does something that is otherwise unconstitutional, perhaps by stepping on an existing law (or some facet of the constitution), then it is up to somebody to appeal that to the supreme court. SCOTUS may or may not choose to review such a case, and it is within their power to decide which cases are within their domain. taks I understand most of the constitution just fine, I just suck at your version of the special Olympics. And you just proved my point, I said that the supreme court was created to test weather or not the laws are constitutional or not (ie interpret the constitution) and they are ultimately the final say in terms of constitutionality unless the congress is able to get it's act together and get the 2/3rds vote AND the popular support to push an amendment though. Thus the presidents job is primarily to enforce the will of congress while keeping the publics needs and desires in mind (hence his veto power). What he should not be able to do is initiate armed conflict without the consent of congress (which he actually got by lying about the facts). I think that the entire system is broken. We essentially have the same two dynasties in power no matter what because an independent or third party candidate wouldn't have the money, backing, influence or publicity to gain enough of the vote (not the popular stupidly enough) to achieve a higher office than the house. While technically we all CAN run, realistically you can only run if your blood is bluer than the arctic ocean, or you have fought your way into the societies of power and been able to convince enough people to have them back you for the parties pick for presidency. usually along the way you will loose what ever morals you had and you will sell your soul for a constituent. Everything our framers wanted to avoid (a monarchical system that more often than not paid little heed to the underlings) has generally been demolished because of the two party system. Instead of a single monarch who is able to make their actions last, we get a congress that is so confused with itself that the Tax Code can break almost any table it's placed on, everything one president does another will undo in less time than it takes to tie my shoes, and the only people who get any attention at all are those who are so far on the left or the right that they get offended anytime the word breast is mentioned or that a person is suspended for having a sign that says "Bong hits for Jesus". Otherwise most of the public either ignores the whole mess because they don't think it's relevant to daily life other than "are we being invaded" or "am I going to get drafted" or "why's the price of milk higher?" Or they vote for whichever party has that little inkling of similarity to the persons ideals. Hell in the california recall I know people who wanted to vote for the Green party candidate but didn't because the system was working so well only Davis and Arnie were able to pick up more than about 20ish % of the vote. (don't even try and quote me on that)

you're missing the entire point, and function, of the concept of checks and balances. the way it is set up, no one branch _can_ do other than what they are allowed. congress can't "reign in" bush because that is not their mandate, they can attempt to pass laws that do so, and the "check and balance" bush has is veto, and, barring that, the "check and balance" of the supreme court can void the law if it is deemed unconstitutional. likewise, bush cannot dictate law, nor affect the supreme court's decisions on law, nor dictate the machinations of congress. you seem to think that just because various factions of government, be they SCOTUS, the president or congress, are doing things that disagree with your ideology, they must be wrong. that's simply not the case. that's also why i repeat my challenge to you to actually educate yourself on the matters. the only thing worse than a leader that doesn't understand the constitution is a regular citizen that doesn't. if the latter never happened, we'd never have the former. taks Except that nobody seems to understand the constitution. Isn't it one of the jobs of the supreme court to translate the document and how it should apply to current situations? (which is kinda like asking Don Juan for which toy to buy at an adult store)

How could GW be on that and yet still such a horrible president in terms of foreign relations?

can you say Computer and Console section?

I presume you are referring to The Calculator? Man, I friggin hate that guy. Single handedly reduces otherwise solid parties into wipeapallooza's. nope, the nethermancer, the only probems i've ever had with the Calculator was that we didn't get much rest between the last group of mobs and him. The supreme nethermancer has caused me more wipes than anyone else in that game barring a five man group taking on Ragnaros.

wonder how much the kids got paid

unless you decide that you don't want to do what the checks say you have to and create you're own branch of the government that gets the benefits of being in two branches but with none of the checks on it except for someone who's like a puppydog eating out of your hand.

doesn't the president have the ability to go outside his constitutional bounds in a time of war? (I'm not saying he SHOULD but, previous leaders have certainly shown that you can if in a declared time of war) If so, that would explain why FDR and his predecessors were able to have so much control. I feel it should be pointed out that the bush administration is not operating in a time of war.

actually I think that you've been relegated to legend do to the fact that you've slowed your postings.

I'm one run from being revered with the shatar (Sun eater here I come!) Grats. If you havent been yet then I wont spoil you on the detail but heroic Mechnar adds a cool new element to the second boss fight. actually, I got it my first heroic run. And I hate how the hardest boss in the instance is the boss that got harder in herioc (where as most of them in there got easier.)

Terrible day, McDonalds is suffering from office politics (the night manager has been getting shafted and having her power undercutted by the store manager) I learned I had no hours at gamestop, and on top of all that, some kid who was bored and full of himself decided to take a laxative and crap all over EVERYTHING in the mens room at mcd's... I got the dubious task of mopping it up.

... Because it's better than starting a new one? And Same debate, new lip gloss?

Oblivion is out already.

I live in a... rich... area (re:snobby) and find that there are really two versions of extremists in the mentality that wals is talking about, the boonie ones who are stereotyped as being blue collar, living in the deep south, and never seeing anything other than white people in power until they hit college where they get upset that a person of another ethnicity got to be student president when there was a perfectly good white guy running against him, so they become reactionary and think that all governments are corrupt and run by secret societies controlled by _____ (pick your target ethnic group) and thus We (being the dominant race) must take back the power and give it to the people (who will inevitably love their 'saivor' and give him freebooze and women for the rest of his life) then theres the rich people who will put on a facade of tolerance and like, but when you get them behind closed doors they are racist as all hell. They generally lived in an area like mine where you had all the ethic divercity of the continental congress and their parents grew up on the wrong side of the civil rights movement (meaning they fought it) and have enough money that their parents by them a brand new mustang on their sixteenth birthday, then cry because it's not the right model. the latter are more dangerous because they have enough money/influence to run and achieve political power and push through some rather bad legislature.

I'm one run from being revered with the shatar (Sun eater here I come!)

I thought he was specifically asking about the US

well I certainly wouldn't give you MY all spark.