John Prezioso

quote:Politics as usual Prez. Have you forgotten Clinton too? Might as well add Bush Sr., Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon etc... No, I haven't forgotten. But the term "politics as usual" belies the fact that historically, in times of great national crisis, politics usually plays second fiddle to solidarity, if only for a little while. 9/11, for example. Now we don't even wait for the bodies to be counted before slinging mud. Pretty soon, we'll start blaming the president for things that haven't happened yet, but might. What the hay - I'll start. "Grrr! I'm so mad Bush did not do enough to stop the nuking of Baltimore!! And the dirty bombing of Giant's Stadium. And the stock market crash in November 2006. Damn him, that Bush!" But in all seriousness, there's not enough money in the world to make me want to be President. It is the most thankless job I can think of. To be perfectly honest, I think we right-wingers are at least partially to blame for the state of bi-partisan, political rhetoric today, but regardless, it needs to stop... or at least be put on hold.

I'm confused - we have clearly established the complete and total ineptitude of the Governor of LA and Mayor of N.O: quote: that case the MAYOR, the person who is in charge of the city, with the help from the govenor, should of grabbed every school bus, city bus, grey hound, tour bus etc in the state and rounded up the poor and those without transportation, and moved them somewhere in state out of the path of the hurricane. this is where the govenor comes in. she has the power to work with the evac crews and put these people somewhere. as for those who refused to evac... you cant forcibly remove someone... du mahn nieu and the fact that this type of catastrophe was known as a possibility a few years in advance, the city and state should have had a contingency plan to deal with it... a ready reaction force if you will. the mayor of new orleans is ranting and complaining, and he, as well as the governor, had just as much of a chance to do something than the fed govt before this thing hit. in fact it should of started on the state/city level first. ... and yet STILL bag on the administration, almost like it's a necessity to do so: quote:this administration's failure to respond quickly is inexcusable. Just inexcusable. The good news is, next year is the start of the election year facade. We'll just vote the whole gang out of office. Look, I'm as fed up with Bush for inaction (on a great many things) as others here, but I mean, seriously; EVERY SINGLE THING Bush does or does not do he is absolutely creamed for. The man can do NOTHING right, apparently. I think some people here would have a higher opinion of the anti-Christ. The failure is a failure of the city and state: for failing to prepare properly for 40 years, and for failing to make provisions for those unable to evacuate on their own. This is the job of local governments. This is what these people were elected to do. They did not, and now they are trying to hide their own fault by blaming the federal government, something that is vogue now, apparently. I have read the articles about the big mean Feds denied funding to Louisiana and New Orleans for building/upgrading their levyand pumping system. Excuse me, but since when is it the responsibility of taxpayers in other states to take care of Louisiana? The Federal taxation system is already used too much as a welfare system - now my family in New York has to pay for levies in NO? As far as the race issue goes, there is no issue as far as I'm concerned. That blacks are more visible looting and gang-banging is a function of demographics, nothing more. The reason the looters and bandits are predominantly black is because the city is predominantly black! Duh. I have live the better part of my life in the city (New York, Newark, NJ, and now Memphis, TN) and I can tell you, this is how it is in the city. So what? Are there disgusting bigots in the United States? Sure. Are there bigots in the media? Maybe. Again I say, so what? People are people, no matter what. There are poor people of every color, and poverty knows no race. If you are going to be ashamed to be an American, be ashamed at the behavior of your fellow Americans in New Orleans, who instead of behaving like the noble souls they can be in the worst U.S. natural disaster in recent memory, have taken the low road and have plunged the city into an indescribable hell. Where there should have been a fellowship of men working together; a brotherhood come together in the hour of despair, we instead see and orgy of violence and lawlessness that delayed rescue operations and were just as responsible if not more so for the slow aid to survivors. And even here on these boards, mostly all we do is bicker about who is to blame, my side or yours. I have never know such divisiveness and separatism as I do now in America. Sad, sad, sad.

It's about time someone did this. Source: NY Times

Man, I hope the whiskey outpost scene is as amazing in the game as it was in the movie.

An interesting plan. I think it MIGHT be implementable, but I have concerns: 1) The claim that the insurgency is made up resistance fighters and not terrorists could be true. The problem is, how can this be verified? Furthermore, how is the exorbitant number of suicide bombings explained by the "resistance to occupation" theory? What happens when the terrorists continue attacking innocents in Baghdad and elsewhere once the coalition leaves? We have to be ABSOLUTELY sure that the Iraqi army and special forces are capable of fighting the terrorists when we leave. I fear the country descending into chaos 10 times worse than what we are seeing in New Orleans right now. I would maintain a special forces presence and an intelligence contingent at the very least to help deal with terrorist threats. 2) One thing I have heard repeatedly about why we should leave immediately is the mounting casualty numbers. To be sure, one American soldier's death is a tragedy. When I hear that a GI is killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, it really hurts. I mean, it REALLY gets to me. I think about what my wife and kids would have gone through if I had been killed while I was in the military. The sacrifice of these brave souls (and their loved ones) must NEVER be forgotten. Having said that, ending a war based on a casualty report is a very dangerous proposition. It sends a message to the enemy that our will can be broken if they bloody our nose enough. If anyone has ever studied the Pacific Theatre in WW2, they know that this was the strategy of Imperial Japan. it is for this reason the Japanese fought to the last man on every island (that, and the perceived dishonor in surrender), hoping to inflict such grievous casualties on the US that the cost would be too much to bear, and we would seek a settlement long before we ever approached Tokyo. If the war in the Pacific were ended after 1800 casualties, we would have stopped at the first Island. We never would even made it to Tarawa. If the invasion of France were to have been stopped after 1800 casualties, D-Day would have lasted all of about 4 hours. In the interest of preventing more brazen enemies with misguided judgements on our resolve, the exit must be done on OUR TERMS. It cannot be perceived as cutting and running, or there WILL be more violence in the future as our enemies will think they have found an exploitable weakness. 3) The part about sending 30,000 troops to 'other Muslim nations ' is cause for concern in my view. I noted that Turkey was listed as one of the possible countries for this relocation. Last I looked, Turkey has recently taken a decidely anti-American stance. Regardless of the country they are relocated to, what we would have is a spread out, diluted, piece-meal force in several palces instead of a concentrated, solid force as we have in Iraq, possibly making them even juicier targets for terrorist attacks. Would we pulling the troops out of the line of fire in Iraq, only to place them in the line of fire somewhere else, where the possibilty of a strong counter-attack is diminished due to limited forces? All in all, none of these are deal-breakers to the Libertarian plan, but they are worth considering. I for one want our troops home as soon as possible, too. What I don't want is for the terrorists to win by plunging the country into hell after we leave, making the sacrifice of 1800 American heroes an empty one.

Nice and disrepspectful to the troops in Iraq. I personally know one who, if he saw this, would probably spit. Disgusting.

I'm hoping it's a modern day System Shock. I'm not playing the deom so I can experience the whole thing for the first time when it's released.

quote:I don't have much spare money, but I've sent a lot of clothes down to one of the direct aid centers managed by my company. The church administators at the shelter by me are begging for clothes. Some of these people have nothing but what they're wearing now. What's fortunate is that my wife and I had been stockpiling stuff for a garage sale in the near future, so we had quite a bit we were willing to part with.

Somehow, bickering about this amidst all the suffering and destruction seems a little wrong, so I have nothing to add. Down here in Memphis, in a church less than a mile from me, there's about 350 refugees, with more arriving every hour. My wife and I have been over there all day, bringing what we can. The looks on the faces of some of the people is sobering...

quote: This is why citizens need guns. To defend their property. They need to begin shooting to kill looters (even the police looters) and hang signs around their necks and hang them from a tree.Yes! I have to say, my opinion of humanity is at an all-time low with what I am witnessing. Edit: Of course, the rescuers accentuate the BEST side of humanity - kudos to them.

I thought he was saying Psirat had body odor and was suggesting Ban roll-on.

Dagnabbit. Since I'm not a MMO kinda guy, I have to wait 'til 2007(!) for Knightblade?! and 2008(!!) for BCMG? I can't do it - I'm gonna crack! Oh, tartar sauce! Flaming fish sticks! (Please excuse my language...)

Come on guys... all Nomad was doing was posting a link for people to send aid to the hurricane victims. You may not like him, but clearly he meant nothing by it other than reminding people how they can help. Apologies for butting in; I'd just like things to remain civil.

In the game, if you're shot down over Galcommie airspace, do they kill you outright or just hold you prisoner and wait for a public apology for spying?

quote:I think he was speaking figuratively. Give him a break. NO! err... okay. Lol! No worries - I don't think anyone here's gonna go postal. (But if they do, thank goodness for the anonymity of the interet!)

I guess it comes down to doing what is right versus what is convenient. If I was an immigrant I could blow off the immigration laws and just enter illegally - but I did not do "right". I broke the law. If I wanted to do "right", I would fill out the necessary forms, wait the necessary time, endure the red tape and slow turning-wheels as applicable, and eventually I would become a US citizen. Yeah, it took WAY longer, but I did it the RIGHT way. I remember being a kid in the 70's in NY during the energy crisis. I remember my pop having to wait in line at the gas station for almost 3 hours for half a tank of gas. It would have been MUCH more convenient to wait 'til dark, and ciphen gas out from the one of the busses sitting in an unguarded schoolbus yard across from my apartment complex. Who would miss a little gas out of 1 schoolbus? But here was my dad, waiting in line for 3 hours after an 11-hour work day so he could get some gas and be able to continue to get to work. There's convenient, and there's RIGHT.

quote: Vegitation DEFINITELY adds a level of realism to the game that it did not have before and anyone advocating the removal of it should be SHOT! Shot? Easy there, partner! It's only a game!

Darkling: I think you are taking this too personally. A secure border does NOT mean no immigration - it means we actually KNOW who is entering, and WHAT their purpose is. In the world we live in, how can you say this is a bad thing? The economy is NOT the issue and thus is irrelevant. The issue is security.

Buchanan was billed as an extremist by Dole and friends because of his closed border proposal. The media played it up, and even Republicans were ridiculing him as an extremist. The effort to destroy him became job one in the media once he became a legitamate contender for the nomination in '96. Don't get me wrong; I voted for Pat in the '96 New York Republican primary, when he beat Dole (with the help of Alexander). I stopped liking Pat when he joined the reform party. I can't respect someone who would throw his lot in with people like that. On this, I would love it if I were 100% wrong, and you were 100% right. Being wrong is miniscule next to the possibility of having secure borders; I just don't think it's a possibility with today's politically correct and demgoguery-filled Washington.

On the issue of the borders, if I may interject, the subject should have been brought up during the latter months of September 2001. Brought up and ACTED UPON. Given the climate of unity, patriotism, and sovereignty (that had an EXTREMELY short shelf-life, I might add), the stage was set for some radical but necessary changes in the border policy. Things have long since changed back to the status quo, and the first politician to even suggest we close the borders will die a quick political death, killed by a wall of inflammatory rhetoric from political foes and biased media. The only way it get fixed, in my opinion, is for the unthinkable to happen - another 9/11 style attack, or one even worse. No one tends to listen to the idiotic ACLU when something like that is fresh in the peoples' minds. Bah, people and their short memories...

That's okay - I just was starting to feel ignored.

Maybe you should throw us grunts a bone and PM us once in a while!

quote:That shot was horrible btw. What are you running the game on? An Atari?

Still waiting for my copy - it should be by Wednesday. By the way, Marc, I've tried to PM you a couple of times, but I get a message that says "Recipients maibox is full -unable to send private message.". So, clean up your box!