Gromnir

"You disagree that our foray into Mogadishu is not comparable to a 5-year-and-rising full-blown war and occupation? That surprises me." shouldn't surprise you as we already noted that the scope were different, but the mistakes and the resulting bloodshed were very much similar. and the term "phony" for the brit intel is maybe more than a little misleading. again, mistakes were made and proper follow up never took place, and certain aspects of certain reports were given undue prominence. "inadvertently misled" were the terminology we recall, and various folks were absolved of any intentional or malicious wrongdoing. and again, is pretty much a fact that higher ups close to saddam were seemingly fooled too. reducing blair's ouster to so-called phony evidence is a big oversimplification. let us not spin this too much, eh? the notion that bush were somehow able to overpower the intelligence and free will of many people in the brit and US govts respectively requires a kinda mental gymnastics that we simply ain't capable of doing. is nice and convenient to blame one man and come up with neat and tidy explanations, but rarely does things turn out so simple and straightforward. getting in weren't as simple as you suggest, and getting out won't be as simple as you want neither... whether it is republican or democrats at the helm. HA! Good Fun!

"Dumb stunt all the way around, with lousy intell and tragic results. But no way can those relatively short skirmishes compare with the two-front war we now are mired in because of the Iraq invasion." am gonna disagree there. sure, the scope is bigger with iraq, but same kinda bad intel and predictable results when fighting someplace where even the folks who you is s'posed trying to help don't want you 'round. clinton's little military blunders, including letting al qaeda become more than an easily erased nuisance in the first place, seems easily forgotten... and never seemed to get appropriate press. is easy to forget that the brits joined in on the invasion o' iraq. british intel is generally considered pretty good and is not quite so tech dependent as US intelligence. is not as if the US were asking the brits to come along to go see a movie on a saturday afternoon neither. you not think that the brits did some checking of their own before signing up with the invasion plan? and heck, forget the brits for a sec and consider for a moment all the US military folks and civilian politicians that were no doubt consulted pre-invasion. if you thinks bush ordered an attack o' iraq without consulting majority and minority leaders in Congress first, then you is nuttier than a squirell. the notion that bush did some kinda dr. mesmer routine on everybody seems like wishful thinking rather than a reasonable conclusion. obviously a great many people were mistaken 'bout the reality o' iraq pre-invasion... which is understandable 'cause it sounds like saddam's own people were lying to saddam 'bout various weapons programs and such, and of course saddam wouldn't let in inspectors to verify the truth or falseness of intel we did have. but let us assume for a sec that the original invasion were all just a terrible mistake perpetrated by bush to one-ups his dad... or somesuch similar explanation. now what? what is solution for getting out of iraq? simply pull out and let the natives fix the mess? is not near as simple as Di seems to wanna make it. would be nice if we could point to one guy, like bush, and say, "that clown is responsible for this whole mess." bush is a yutz. am not pro-bush by any stretch of the imagination. still amazes Gromnir that the democrats were so incompetent that they couldn't beat out bush's second term run at the Presidency. even so, given our system o' government, the President is never quite as responsible for foreign policy or domestic economic success and blunders as is typically believed... 'cept in Real war times. HA! Good Fun!

had a friend with the most unique hobbie. he goes to greatful dead concerts and pick fights with dead-heads. am assuming he gets some kinda cathartic release, but it always seemd a little to vulgar for Gromnir. now going to a bar where stock brokers hang out and picking fights... *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

HA! Good Fun!

puberty were over a long time ago. however, puberty's end is a biological milestone that, short o' some kinda strange disease or mutation, is inevitably reached if one simply lives long enough. maturity, on the other hand... "know thyself" ain't helped us much neither. am fully aware o' our willingness to surrender to id or to fight unwinable fights, but as we has never met a woman we dislike enough to marry, and we got no kids... example: a few years ago we were pretty much told to push for a settlement, but not by our client. nuts. if Gromnir had a family to support and a future to be concerned 'bout we mighta knuckled under and done the smart thing. nuts. sure, Gromnir coulda' handled better, but telling off a senior partner in front of client felt pretty darn good, and it pretty much guranteed that no more funny business would be going on with that client's case. sure, our employment at the firm in question were pretty much at an end, but we can still smile 'bout it. am perfectly content to keeps things the way they is. if nobody is getting hurt, and Gromnir is satisfied, then why change, eh? HA! Good Fun!

Gromnir went to berkeley. the notion of unbearable noise was purged from our being a long time ago. am suspecting that people who has been married a long time have a similar ability to simply tune out undesirable noise. HA! Good Fun!

see previous comments by Gromnir regarding the Justice selections... besides which, Gromnir is a follower of strict construction when it comes to Constitutional law. the tendency of recent republican Presidents to appoint strict construction Justices is a positive in our book, but regardless of philosophy, we is more concerned with competence. (after all, Brennan were appointed by Eisenhower for chrissakes,) hell, we still think that it is tragic that a judge as brilliant as Robert Bork were kept off of the Court 'cause of somewhat misguided political reasons. ability is no longer a primary concern. as for the war stuff, Gromnir has far too good a memory to forget all the foreign conflicts that were going on while the other clinton were in the oval office. am not sure why kosovo and mogadishu is so easy to forget. is not as if when the democrats were in office the US were uninvolved in bloody foreign wars. the US President has far less practical freedom when it comes to foreign affairs than most s'pose. *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

moonshiner- uncle tupelo HA! Good Fun!

the notion of an honest politician may be oxymoronic, but Gromnir is naive enough to still consider trust a meaningful attribute. sadly, as much as Gromnir is intrigued by the notion o' a female president, we gots some serious trust issues with hillary. no biggie. as we has noted previously, Gromnir is far more concerned by local representatives and local politics than Presidential candidates. for the typical US citizen, the US President got far less impact on your daily life than you might expect. HA! Good Fun!

in spite of the fact that you folks were no help at all, Gromnir has managed to finalize our menu of punishments. xxxholic seasons 1 & 2 macross frontier amatasuki soul eater considered nabari no ou 'cause it is 'posed to be non-stop action and Gromnir could laregly ignore lack of meaningful story, but am not a fan of ninjas... and the notion o' metrosexual ninjas don't increase our interest whatsoever. tower of druaga were a possibility but amatasuki seems to fill the same kinda fantasy niche. allison & lillia, kure nai, and golgo 13 were the other three we considered, but golgo seemed like it were a bit over-the top with the sex and violence and the other two were... dunno, but is sometimes difficult to choose the leer of evils. anybody wants feedbacks on the above, let us know and we can post reviews. *shrug* btw, the ultra competitive lesbian lawyer to whom we lost the bet... she had to wear a dress to firm's christmas party as she lost our previous bet. personally, we thinks Gromnir is getting off easy. HA! Good Fun!

how old? old enough to know better, and young enough (immature?) to ignore such wisdom far too often. HA! Good Fun!

okie dokie. have not bothered to read the last 8 pages, so am just gonna respond to firstest posts. take out your handy compass and draw some 4 inch circles on a sheet of paper. let the circles overlap a bit, but lets your circles end up pretty much filling the entire page of ordinary notebook/binder paper. now makes 1 more circle... a circle that represents where you got the most overlap 'tween and twixt the circles on your piece o' paper. that final circle, the one that represents the greatest common area of overlap between all your circles, is kinda like the Average Gamer. your other circles represent the wants o' different groups o' crpg fans. bio doesn't make their games for any one fan or any one group o' fans, they is most concerned 'bout the Average Gamer. "For example, Baldur

how much they give towards college nowadays? is enough to actually pay for stuff? Gromnir always recommends military service for folks coming out o' high school... 'less they gots a good academic or athletic scholarship offer. is not 'cause military service builds character... 'cause it don't. is not 'cause military service teaches discipline... 'cause it usually don't. is not 'cause you will learn a useful skill... 'cause very often it won't. the reason why Gromnir always recommends military service to high school kids is to get 'em away from their folks for a few years. gives you a chance to makes mistakes w/o mom and dad to help you. gives you a chance to make mistakes w/o mom and dad to hurt you. most kids is still kids at 18. gives you a few years to does stuff w/o having to consider first what mom and dad would say. our background were real different, but it always amazed us how many o' our college friends were going to a certain college or taking a specific major 'cause o' their parents influence (monetary or emotional blackmail?) recalls one roommate, a 6'4" 295 offensive lineman who were 'fraid of 'nothing, 'cept his dad. every time Dr. C visited his son, Gromnir would have to endure our roommate repainting our bathroom with peach schnapps and last night's dinner. is good that such visits only happened a few times a year. seemed likes half of or roommates

4-1 not really tell whole story though, does it? she woulda' had to sit through a live performance. travel times alone is considerable given the fact that she lives 'bout 30 minutes from nearest college campus, and 40 minutes from downtown. other possible venues closer to home is almost non-existent. no movie versions allowed neither. also, while it ain't like she is hurting for cash, she were gonna have to pay for her own expenses and ticket... no free ride from Gromnir. Gromnir can do the anime thing while seated in front o' tv or computer. possibly even multi-task to some degree. 'tween time and expenses... regardless, Gromnir lost. "so it goes." HA! Good Fun!

indeed. if she (our "friend") had lost bet, she woulda' had to actually sit through the performance o' 2 Shakespearian dramas. damned uncultured philistine. HA! Good Fun!

is possible that lennon changed mind later... however, as the interview we recollect were conducted in 1980... am gonna have to reread the interview again ourself as it has been many years since we last perused. typically Gromnir don't give a damn 'bout what artists thinks beyond their art. sure, we gots a beef with polanski, but typically it just not interest us what is the political views of an actor, or the philosophical motivations of a sculptor. nevertheless, we did read the lennon interview in part 'cause we is such a big fan o' walrus and we were informed that the interview in question set forth the artists motivations. to Gromnir it seemed as if lennon were having pulling a prank on folks with his walrus and we appreciated his sense o' whimsy. interview seemed to confirm. fact that he were taking a shot at dylan were just a bonus. keep in mind that over the years lennon seemingly contributed to the confusion surrounding walrus by coming up with differing explanations for the song. the interview in playboy may have come close to his death, but is possible that it is no more valid than any other o' his s'posed explanations. HA! Good Fun!

john lennon wrote i am the walrus in part to kinda lampoon dylan and to spit in the eye of any of those folks trying to find deep meanings in nonsense. responding to some statement 'bout the genius o' dylan, lennon opined, "I can write this $h!7 too." HA! Good Fun! Of course, world is full with **** opinions - and madness of Walrus had nothing to do with Dylan It was response to letter he got from his old school from student. He/She told they had been analysing Lennon's lyrics in the class and Lennon decided to make absolutely nonsensical song to "Let the ****ers work that one out." It had nothing to do with Dylan don't rely on wiki. do some actual research. yeah, the school thing were part of it, but not all. HA! Good Fun! ps Gromnir is unlikely to ever again suggest looking up old playboy issues, but this might be a noteworthy exception.

john lennon wrote i am the walrus in part to kinda lampoon dylan and to spit in the eye of any of those folks trying to find deep meanings in nonsense. responding to some statement 'bout the genius o' dylan, lennon opined, "I can write this $h!7 too." HA! Good Fun!

choose any crpg, no matter how realistic you think it is, and Gromnir will point out literal dozens o' implausibilities & impossibilities. if reality gets in way of fun, then reality must give way. HA! Good Fun!

is strictly anecdotal, but Gromnir believes another bit o' evidence suggesting the likelihood of the land-bridge migration of asians to north america long time ago is the fact that it seems like both asians and native americans will bet/wager on just about anything. in other words, Gromnir lost a bet... again. is strict policy that we never bet money, but so-called friendly wagers will be the death of us. long story shortened: Gromnir loses bet and now must watch FIVE new anime series. sadly the person we made bet with knew our profession, so we couldn't simply use bus gamer or straight jacket as options... gotta be at least 13 episodes. *sigh* lucky is Gromnir that we gets to pick the series in question, so no weird anime perversion needs be suffered, but we does gotta choose. our "friend" will provide us with the episodes on disc as they become available (ironic that a first amendment lawyer would get himself caught up in your rampant fan-subbing illegality, eh?) nevertheless, we still gotta pick 5 from the 30+ new series for spring. proviso #1: if we choose a continuing series, then we is able to watch previous incarnation as credit. example: code geas 2 is being released this spring, as such, Gromnir would be able to watch the original code geas for credit towards settling our wager. benefit of doing so would be that Gromnir not have to wait for weekly releases. waste a couple hours and manage to get through half a season o' crap? might be an option. proviso #2: Gromnir cannot exploit proviso #1 to be viewing any more than 2 seasons of any one given franchise. so, we cannot use pretty much all the previous macross incarnations to wipe out our debt in one shot as it were. proviso #3: we gotta choose somethingthat is actually being subbed... can't get out of bet by choosing all unsubbed. "Yeah, I watched the raws, but as it was in Japanese I didn't understand what was going on in this episode." rinse and repeat 13 times. not an option. etc. is all kinda stipulations and provisos, but basically we gotta watch 5 spring anime, provide weekly reviews of those anime, and answer some questions to prove that we didn't just read some on-line synopsis of the episodes. basically we is looking for some feedback... and possibly we will post our reviews here as well. am not gonna watch any ecchi(?) or gay romance stuff, and chances are that any insipid teen girlie romance will likewise be rejected, but as we pretty much hate anime en masse, there really ain't too many things we is gonna discriminate 'gainst. 5 series of at least 13 episodes. am serious considering xxxholic and xxholic kei as a writer friend o' ours actually recommended xxholic. any suggestions? HA! Good Fun!

"Ideal, if you want gridlock and inaction." am hopeful you ain't being dismissive of the notion. the Fed govt. were set up by the Founding Fathers to be largely ineffectual and self defeating. even elementary school kids is familiar with the notion o' checks and balances, no? heck, even the most vocal Federalists of the post Revolutionary War period would be shocked to see just how much power is wielded by the US govt. of this day and age. 'course the fed has evolved. compare 1787 to 2008 not really work so well. regardless, there is surely still a valid argument that the ideal Balance O' Power 'tween the three branches is only resulting when all three branches is largely antagonistic. HA! Good Fun!

the smiley shows that you either do understand what that means, or that you is complete unclear... am not sure which. HA! Good Fun!

... at home and abroad there is much misunderstanding 'bout what it is that the President does and how much impact they really got. as a single and identifiable entity within the Fed Gov., the President has a chance to set the agenda... but not so much beyond that. from a practical standpoint the executive branch is a more complex and extended bureaucratic beastie than can be comprehended. the Pres can appoint whomsoever they want and usually it not make a great difference to actual day-to-day operations... and maybe they does a Kemp and goes native, eh? is Congress that writes and passes Laws, not the Pres. all those things the Presidents promise is typically no more than so much bs. free health care for all americans or lower taxes? how exactly is a President gonna get that kinda stuff w/o Congress. President can veto stuff, but is not President who actually writes or passes laws. is common wisdom to note that the Pres has relative free license to do as he/she wishes regarding foreign policy... which is somewhat true in theory, but less so in practice. heck, w/o a 9/11, bill clinton's foreign policy actions really don't looks all that much different from any other President post Jimmy Carter. he had lots o' troops overseas effectively fighting numerous small wars, had same allies & enemies, and encouraged/discouraged similar global economic goals. Carter is a notable exception to general theme regarding non wartime presidents in recent memory, and he managed only a single term. ... on and on and on... a President, with party majority in Congress, and a Mandate from the People, can set the agenda and gets Congress to pass laws 'n such. if a President is lucky 'nuff to be around when a bunch o' Justices die or retire, then he/she might also have some greater lasting impact on the Judiciary as well... but those Justices have an annoying tendency to thinks for themselves after they get on the Court. here and abroad people gets worked up 'bout President elections to a disproportionate degree. Americans probably should be far more concerned with local elections and elections to Congress as those is the folks who is likely to have much more impact on your daily life than will election of a President... 'less there is a war. btw, the difference 'tween Republican and Democrat in the American system is, more often than not, likes distinguishing 'tween two shades of grey. blue v. red? bs. european and asian scholars who is usually more familiar with systems that got dozens o' viable parties, is often dismissive of the Democrat v. Republican distinction. degrees of moderation? shades of grey? why even split, eh? if you like Presidential impact, then simply vote for candidate whose party affiliation matches Congressional majority... and hope that a large % of Americans follow your lead. Presidents who get in with a mandate and a Congressional majority are the ones worth noting... otherwise you need a big war. *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

let Gromnir know what you think of witcher. a couple folks we knows says that witcher goes for some shock value during first hour o' gameplay... then settles into the same-old-same-old routine one would expect from an action-rpg. another drawback is that it is 'posedly a resource hog such that you will forget whatever complaints you had regarding nwn2. on the positive side, Di is playing long after the game were original released. you not gotta play the glorified beta version that seems to be common for many commercial releases nowadays. 'course Di liked divine divinity, right? am thinking that you is more open to action-rpg stuff than is Gromnir... though we did have some fun with mass-effect. regardless, let us know what your thoughts is. HA! Good Fun!

am not gonna quibble over minutiae on this topic as it really not matter no more. is never gonna be another commercial released game that could possibly face a 2e v. 3e problem. our input will therefore be unusually brief and to the point... iwd2 did many things wrong, though we has come to dislike it less as time and perspective has caught up with us. that being said, other than Targos and its associated quests and characters, the thing that we puts at top of our short list o' iwd2 positives, were the 3e implementation. for Gromnir, iwd2 had the most enjoyable d&d rules implementation o' any ie game. HA! Good Fun!