Oblarg

Hahaha. How cute. Note how even lof has acknowledged and justified precisely that. Yes, just because I've never done a somersault, it doesn't mean I can't do somersaults. Yes, yes. Faulty logic. If I have an irreversible brain paralysis and as a consequence lack basic motor functions, I will never be able to do somersaults, and the fact that I've never done one is simply the foreseeable result of my lack of, and inability to attain, the necessary conditions. No, a communist regime *has* to be tyrannical and murderous, because otherwise, it cannot be communist. It cannot engage in wealth redistribution in the scale it's required for "communism" to be. And without violent revolution it cannot seize the power required to even think of engaging in said wealth redistribution (Marx himself didn't believe a peaceful revolution could take place in Germany - "The weapon of criticism cannot, of course, replace criticism by weapons"). And that just from a theoretical standpoint, we're not even taking into consideration the record of communist regimes. It's not a "broad generalization" any more than "triangles cannot have any diagonals" is a generalization. More like a fundamental implication derived directly from the definition, really. This point is well illustrated by the failure of "Eurocommunism", and the fall into irrelevance of its adherents, or their adoption of other, less militant and radical, political outlooks. Communism cannot be anything but totalitarian. I've never said I consider myself to be particularly smart, by the way. But at least I've grown past the point where fairy tales hold any appeal for me. Sweet dreams. You're an idiot. X has not happened, ergo X cannot happen is not valid logic. You know this. A true communist regime hasn't existed yet, and while it probably never will due to problems inherent in the idea of communism (which, to be clear, are not that it *has* to be tyrannical and murderous), there is no mandate that democracy is incompatible with communism, unless you assume that human beings are by default unwilling to make sacrifices for the collective (which is, to a point, demonstrably false). Oh, and a bloody revolution does not always lead to a bloody government, unless you somehow believe that the United States is a tyranny.

Boo ****ing hoo. Aye, that brought a tear to me eye, it did. I think I'm starting to see a pattern in your posts. You simply cannot deal with the fact that the world is fundamentally harsh and unjust. Maybe that's why you get a boner when you go on about all those mad totalitarian state utopies? Sorry, I'm not buying whatever it is you're selling... your antics are pretty amusing, though. Of course the world is unjust. Does that mean that you should just act like a **** and piss on the poor? Based on this post, I have to assume that it does. Right, I see what you mean. Does that mean we should press for world revolution and the instauration of inefficient, murderous and culturally repressive communist regimes only good for self-perpetuation (and even so...)? Based on your posting history, I have to assume it does. Because a communist regime *has* to be tyrannical and murderous, right? It's not communism otherwise! You're not making yourself look particularly smart with those broad generalizations.

*GD stands up and applauds* Another convert to Federalism. Way to go Awesomness, I knew you had it in you! Because the articles of confederation worked *really* well!

And there's also the point that is logistically impossible to provide large-scale services and only charge the people who use them. As for welfare and food stamps, if you seriously think that the people in poverty starving to death deserve it because it's their own fault that they're poor, you're an arrogant bastard. Our society is not flawless.

The epitome of power metal.

People do earn what they deserve. If you earn nothing then you deserve nothing. You're implying that in our society no one at all is underpaid and overworked? You're pretty thick.

I'm convinced you're trolling at this point.

That's a very naive point of view. Our society is not structured such that you can improve your standard of living purely through hard work, and to think otherwise is just denial.

It's not "bailing you out." Why should you be paid less than people who contribute literally nothing to society? That's the idea behind socialism.

Because people who work hard, low-paying jobs are certainly leeches who contribute nothing to society. ****. Edit: I can't believe that word is censored.

Jesus Christ. I did not say perfect or total equality. I said it takes away the motivation to improve oneself because if one works hard all his or her life to gain wealth that wealth would be taken away from the person and his or her family in order to be redistributed. You still don't understand what he's saying. He's saying the "wealth" you'd gain would be proportional to your direct contribution to the collective well-being. Thus, businessmen could not make a fortune exploiting other people's contributions to society. There's plenty of motive to do good for the society, there's simply no motive to attempt to gain profit from other people doing good for the society. The main problem with this is that it's very hard to quantify how much someone contributes to society.

You actually believe a (relatively small) pack of radical muslim terrorists pose a serious threat to our national security, even to the point of actually destabilizing the country? You're very mistaken there, bud. This is off topic, anyway. LoF, people seem to be conflating communism and socialism. Give a clear and well-defined explanation of both. Since you don't seem to be a slavering maniac I'll explain. Our entire system is predicated on high energy exchanges occurring at massive speed. Destabilising such a system doesn't just result in it losing energy and slowing down, it causes catastrophe. A plastic lightsaber isn't a threat in itself under normal circumstances, but jam it into the wheels of a tour de France rider and you've got bits of skinny bloke all up a tree. Irellevant and meaningless analogy is irrelevant and meaningless. I could just as easily say the exact opposite and have it be just as valid, seeing as you have done nothing to support your comparison. The amount of damage muslim terrorists can inflict to this country is not a major security threat. More people have been killed by lightning than by terrorists on American soil in the past 10 years. Yes, they can kill people. No, they can't topple the government. Now let's end this particular tangent before the thread derails and is locked. I was enjoying the discussion.

You actually believe a (relatively small) pack of radical muslim terrorists pose a serious threat to our national security, even to the point of actually destabilizing the country? You're very mistaken there, bud. This is off topic, anyway. LoF, people seem to be conflating communism and socialism. Give a clear and well-defined explanation of both.

Terrorists, foreign or domestic, are not capable of dealing any kind of serious harm to the United States' government, strategic interests abroad, or populace. The best they could hope for is to direct the political system's normal means, i.e. get a President elected or not, or to temporarily hurt its economy by attacks on major nerve centers of the United States. I'm glad someone actually came out and said this.

Helstar - Benediction The 80s had the best American music, by far.

"This "hurry up and wait around for orders" is like the death of a thousand cuts." Conspiracy theory time. I guess this means that with the delay, they have very little left to do with the game and are fed up with sitting around waiting for a release date.

The guy who wrote that article actually understands Kreia as a character. It's nice, as BioWare's description of her on their webpage is so terribly flawed. I see so many KotOR fans simply dismissing Kreia as an evil witch who wanted to kill the force. It's refreshing to see that at least some people read the dialogue in KotOR2. I fear that the new KotOR MMO will cut out a lot of the character depth made in KotOR2, though somehow I don't think the KotOR fanbase as whole minds it too much. Enough ranting, though. I seriously doubt Avellone can top Kreia, but if he does I will be extremely pleased. I've always loved Avellone's writing, though, so I have no doubt the villains in Alpha Protocol will be good (well, perhaps "villain" isn't the proper term as it has been revealed that many characters can either be allies or enemies).

This is really cool stuff. 120 hours of dialogue? Holy ****.

Fates Warning - One Mark Zonder is a god.

This is... wat.

It's sickening that the only form of environmental damage that gets any news coverage whatsoever is global warming. The environment is in a pretty sad state, and really, global warming isn't the biggest problem. Africa's population will double in thirty years - the continent can't support that many people. Most of the global fisheries are currently in danger of collapsing (bluefin tuna, for example). There's a whole host of problems that no one pays any attention to whatsoever. The next century is going to be...interesting, to say the least. It's a pity most of the people causing the problems won't be here to see what happens when the **** hits the fan, though.

Does that drummer always pout? Yeah, it's a pity Mark Zonder wasn't on drums for that tour. The studio version isn't on youtube, though.

Ooh, that's good. I was wondering if they'd get the same person who made TSL's soundtrack, which would have been good, but to be honest I prefer Deus Ex's soundtrack by far. Mark Griskey. His TSL soundtrack was in a league of its own. I hope Obsidian gets the chance to make use of his talents again some day Look, I loved some songs, especially near the end of the game ( ) but most of them weren't anything special. I think I got sick of Nar Shadaa's music to the point of turning it off. Ever heard the unused m4-78 core theme? It's incredible.

Fixed.