taks

sure, that's how they spin it in the media and in congress. they want bush to look bad. he didn't. taks

because they serve at his pleasure. they're political appointees, so he gets to pick and choose to suit his views. i.e., he's the boss of the enforcement branch of the government, so it is his sole discretion on how that is accomplished. taks

he is eldar... which probably doesn't help any. there was also some speculation, mostly started by me, that he may be sand/visceris/hades/<insert nom du jour here> in disguise, but that probably doesn't help either. taks

yeah, bush should have hired morris to handle PR for him. they don't do that end of the stick well at all which only serves to hurt his appearance. taks

actually, he probably learned from **** morris. taks

congress if it is the president, the justice department otherwise. congress is definitely overstepping their bounds with this one (their job is legislation, not enforcement). i'm not so sure it is a benefit to their cause, either. the biggest difference between clinton and bush is that nobody cared then, and the dems now are looking for anything to use against the current administration as fuel for the elections. he had to say something, and no matter what he said, they'd have tried to use it to their advantage. taks

maybe... ultimately a lobbyist's power is dependent upon what the congressman's view of the voters is. i.e., even the best lobbyist in the world won't gain traction if the congressman thinks siding with the lobbyist will hurt his chances for reelection. taks

dual core or more is a necessity for me. i kick off a simulation on one, and play some BG on the other! taks

the puzzle is more than likely an ARG (alternate reality game) designed to push/market an upcoming game called alpha-omega. it is, so far, completely unrelated to 1-18-08. oh, the puzzle is supposed to send out some sort of reminder and/or some big announcement today: 8-1-07. taks

i've seen similar problems with CD R/W drives. basically, some readers don't read other R/W discs very well, unless recorded at the absolutely slowest speed possible. taks

well, it can't be godzilla since that property is otherwise owned by someone else. there's speculation running around of a cthulu type critter behind the mess. dunno. taks

both, probably. taks

"corporate taxes" are another fraud perpetrated on the people. it insulates those that propose such taxes because they can claim "well, the greedy corporations are paying the bill." no, they're not. the people that buy their services are paying the bill, but indirectly. such taxes create unreasonable accounting headaches for the corporations, which also adds to the bill. the result is an end-run around the tax law looking for loopholes and ultimately, fraud, waste and scandal. take the government out of their pockets and many of these problems go away (not all, mind you). that's another thing i'd like to see eliminated. taks

he did own the texas rangers for a while... not sure what else he's done. compared to the elite of congress and the senate, however, the bush family is in the poorhouse. taks

i don't ever go there unless i need help with something not found elsewhere. i'd suggest you simply ignore the fanbois whines and concentrate on the goodness within the games... i love NWN2, though i'm waiting for MotB to play through again... yeah, it is true, i have another round of BG going. i think this makes 20 or so for BG1, probably twice as many for BG2. i've lost count. taks

usually much less. many are accomplished lawyers, some doctors, and all must give up their respective practices. kennedy comes from a ridiculously wealthy family, probably the closest thing to "royalty" we have in the US other than the rockefellers. power equals money, however, and the ties they make from a few terms in office pay dividends for the rest of their lives. ^laozi yes, lobbyists... if i had my way, trust me, there'd be no such thing as a lobbyist. take the government's hand out of the cookie jar, i.e. take away their power over corporate america, and there's no need to bribe politicians. of course, after that the vast majority of the stooges that actually run would plummet because there'd be no way to profit off of it. then we might actually get real leaders for a change. taks

what's interesting about that phrase, as well as the more common "split the atom," is that neither allows a full understanding of the magnitude of that feat. not just in theoretical or scientific terms, but in terms of the immense amount of energy that is released when something as small as an atom is simply... cut... in half. BAM! edit: i think we need to coin a new term to describe what happens when an atom is split in twain... "so then we kajama'd the atom" or something... taks

given that pay raises are are such an overall minor problem, attempting to pass a law to solve it is probably a waste of resources. that said, congress is the body that would have to get such a law going, and it would have to be a constitutional amendment to boot. very doubtful it could ever be done. also, while on the surface term limits seem like a good idea, there are a bunch of problems associated with them. first, while you limit bad congressmen to some number of terms, you also limit good congressmen as well. many of the functions of congress would end up in a fairly constant state of flux, which might simply serve to increase its already high level of inefficiency. of course, an inefficient congress is not always a bad thing because its hard to spend taxpayer dollars when you can't find your ass with both hands and a map. also, term limits take away the people's choice. if they want their congressmen to stay in office, they should have that right, whether he's a stooge or otherwise. they are representatives of the people in their district, so it is hard to argue the rest of the nation has a right to limit them. the same could be said for presidential term limits, though since WWII, i can't imagine any political climate in which a president could actually stay in office more than two terms anyway. congressional positions are more subject to local politics, which don't necessarily change with the wind as national politics do. personally, i'm probably 50/50 with the idea, just in case you were wondering. in an ideal society, folks running for office would do like others have: self limits. get in, do your bit, get out. oh well, idealism as such is usually misplaced anyway... ) taks

the amount of money they make, including all of their benefits, is in the noise... taks

somehow, it doesn't feel right being labelled the "average gamer" but in the end, you're probably correct. at least, correct from a rules perspective. i am very particular about mage rules, but that's because i usually play a mage as my PC. for the rest of the classes, i'm more concerned about the balance they add to my party, i.e. if i add a druid, is he a benefit when we're 10th level or sucking wind while i look for a replacement. taks

toee borked a lot of rules, too. some intentionally for the various reasons guiding obisidian (and any crpg developer of d&d products), some because of simple bugs, and some out of incompetence. taks

actually, the money congress makes isn't really big $$$. it's certainly upper class money, but that's not where they get their return in the end. the only way they can get a raise is if they vote one in, otherwise, they'd still be paid the $1000 or so originally intended 200+ years ago. they don't give themselves raises _very_ often, and in today's media frenzy we do tend to hear about it more than say, people 100 years ago heard about it. realistically, if you gauge the amount of work a member of congress is _supposed_ to be doing, their pay is low. however, most aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing, and spend more time worrying about continuing their constituency (i.e. working for reelection) instead. sucks donut. taks

disturbing visual. taks

based on i can't recall how many years worth of posts, i'm convinced you'd give vol's right or left anything to get such things, maybe even both. i've never been a cleric fan from an RP perspective so the issue never bothered me. i can understand, sort of, why it bugs those of you that are bigger into pnp, however. taks