This was a local station backed up by some pretty big heavy weights in the media?
What it really says is, why do we assign ANY credibility of the old time media?
After all we saw what CBS did this election with the Guard papers AND the draft issue. We are even seeing some of this now with ABC and the voting issues. One of the most famous issues of the past was with the exploding pick up trucks. Yet people still watch Network TV and the newshows.
The first rule of the media is to make money and that unfortunately overrules the fact based reporting way way too often.
Photo ID would go a long way to helping some of this, many licensing departments will issue state recognized IDs with your picture.
However I would go so far as to allow the college issued photo ids to be acceptable along with military id.
A paper trail would be nice as well, even though PAPER ballots provide no trail either and both parties are well versed at how to commit fraud there.
Provide more than 12 hours for voting, perhaps 3 days or a whole week? The problem with more than 3 days is preventing people from forecasting the vote and causing local or regional distortion.
I still believe the requiring proof of identification is the most important part of voting. I cannot stand the twits out there who go out of their way to claim that requiring someone to prove who they are infringes on their rights! What about the rights of the voters to know that those voting are legally entitled to do so. Same goes for allowing ILLEGALS to vote - how preposterous can you get? What part of ILLEGAL doesn't anyone understand?
The people making a mockery of the system are the very same ones trying to bend it every which way they can.
The current age of portable music devices and Apple's position at the moment resembles the early Windows age and PCs.
Apple had the best goods and they got stomped in the end. They got stomped because the other guys were available in more configurations, better pricing, and had greater overall compatibilities.
I use an iPod and I have spent a good share of money on iTMS but to discount new players because they cannot use iTMS isn't fair let alone brite.
What keeps me using my iPod is the fact it is very easy to use as a hard drive (3rd gen here). Now comes a player with features many of the iPod owners have been asking for and what do people do? Dis it for not being an iPod.
Well damn, I would have much prefered a swappable battery or FM over the ability to show pictures. If I want to view my pictures on a teeny tiny screen I would leave them on the camera.
Who do tend to vote heavily democratic and are at the near bottom of the education ladder?
There are many ways to slice this and most do it where it favors their view. However the truth is that many people in those districts where Kerry or Bush got a majority had a very close number of people voting for the other guy. Even in 60/40 splits how can one declare which side the "smart" people voted for?
I see "IQ" questions about election results as yet another attempt by one side to discount the fact they lost because their message failed to appeal to the majority.
The key to winning an election is to realize why people don't like you and determine if you can change so that they do without violating the principles that make you whom you are. If you cannot then you must then learn how to work with the power you do derive to get your point across.
As Democrats proved the first 4 years it is not WHO controls thes the Congress (where real power is) who can determine what it votes on. (namely their stopping many judges and such). Unfortunately the Republicans understand this too meaning that unless a supermajority is achieved by either party nothing much other than increased spending will ever occur as we all know they can always agree to spend more.
I think this view is pretty much accurate but not all inclusive. There are many people in Europe who have reasons I do not know or understand for their beliefs but that is to be expected as I don't live there (but do have friends that do) and the/. portions are not truly representive either.
One thing I do know, you are not going to change our minds by constantly berating us. You will definitely not change the minds of those who voted for Bush, only harden their beliefs.
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In London's Daily Telegraph, Janet Daley reflects on Bush-hatred as an expression of European anti-Americanism:
He is hated because he is the embodiment of everything that the United States is, and Europe is not: not just enormously powerful, militarily and economically, but brashly confident and fervently patriotic. Where Europe is steeped in historical guilt and self-loathing--so immersed in its own unforgivable past that it is trying to fashion a constitution that actually prohibits national pride--America is profoundly proud of the success of its own miraculous achievement.
Sorry but I had to laugh at this article. Newbies, real definition - players, are ruining mmorpgs with their demands.
Get real.
Many MMORPGs succeed. There are just many more that will not. This is not the fault of the players. What this ranter totally missed out on is the fact that players are no longer accepting excuses.
Look at Horizons, look at AC2, or look at original AO. Simply put, if you try to pull one over on the users you will get caught and they will punish you for it. Funcom made right, Turbine and Artifact Entertainment never did, those two deluded themselves into believing they were right and the players were the issue.
We no longer have to accept half-assed attempts because we have so many more choices. We are also seeing some big names getting ready to debut in this arena (well FF is already out) and it will prove that games that are developed by professionals (read: they don't have a preconception that they are godly - and they have expereience in writing WORKING software) can and will succeed.
Blaming the users, hell I am surprised he doesn't work for the Themis group.
While I am on MY soapbox. Here is one other thing that kills game, designers holding discussion sites hostage. This happens extensively on VN (IGN) boards as Turbine requires VN mods to remove messages that criticize Turbine or its people. Its good to know mods who can pass along policies, it provided a better insight into the reasons behind my problems with VN and those of others who went through similar abuse.
Combine with fake interviews where developers require questions to be preapproved, IRC chats that only cover inane questions, and you have many of the issues that cause games to fail.
In other words, its not the players, it never was.
There are less provisonal ballots official issued by the state than the margin of victory.
The real issue is this, why if elections are so important why do we not require a picture ID to prove who you claim to be?
It seems fine to ask for identification when getting a loan, buying property, registering a car, and many other activities yet the most important is one where some seem to want to introduce fraudulent behavior.
than the fact that the 19 of the 20 counties with voting irregularities were run by Democrats and the 20th by an independant.
No more factual of an issue than using a football game to predict an election.
The only difference is that certain people needed something to blame and a conspiracy makes them feel better about it.
Besides, Florida's voting actually was less problemsome than Georgia's. Yup, the rate of issues was lower in Florida than many other states. However Florida was easier to tip using the courts. I fully expect this election to be no different, if a state has a difference low enough to affect the overall election I fully expect certain parties to be out in force in an attempt to claim voter fraud or similar.
Voter fraud only became an issue when it no longer worked.
There would be more death if everyone turned away.
on
Press freedom
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· Score: 2, Insightful
This claim that if some larger or more influential countries would take the attitude of the Swiss is ignorant.
It is attitudes like that that resulted in the massacres in Rawanda. It is that very same attitude that is resulting in the same thing occuring in Sudan. Want more, Bosnia, Afghanistan, China, and even Checyna.
Seems to me that the real issue is not that some countries are more influential but WHICH countries that are and what they are doing.
I will take the current attitude of countries that do take action. Far better they do than we end up with millions more dead just because we were afraid to we might offend someone by acting up. Perhaps we can avoid another Hitler if we keep acting, after all he was harmless until he invaded Poland, right?
The space program is full of good side effects that many never expected. You can get a whole lot more imagination going when you propose magnificent problems to scientist.
Mundane problems generate less interest which usually means they never get solved completely.
That is the key point you are missing. You could be dead shortly after going critical or before. There is also the issue of quality of life, if your quality of life is impacted by a 3 month wait what will you do? Go to America like my BC friend have? Sure thing, just hope they don't make it illegal to seek private care which is what some are trying to do.
The key issue with managed health care is that there is no reason for hospitals and others to compete with each other which does lead to lines. It also leads to abuse of the system by people who go in for every little stupid thing they have or imagine they have.
Finally it is NOT FREE. In some systems (notably Britains) you end up with two classes, those who have to use government insurance and those who get better treatment because they have private insurance.
In the end I will take our current system over any government managed system. Reports coming from Canada's own government show rising disatisfaction with their health care to the order of 40% and out of control costs. It also shows short cuts a government can take that no private entity would - that is using nurses in the place of doctors in certain cases.
Life ain't free and death doesn't have a waiting line.
and you have a education system ripe for failure. Numerous school systems across the country do not have honor rolls because it might offend someone who didn't make it. Some have gone so far as to remove Valedictorian titles or worse having dozens of them per class.
We coddle are children so much and insulate them so much from the real world through their schooling its no wonder when they get out they think they know everything and deserve anything they want. They are never forced to deal with the reality of live - which is, there are winners and there are losers. Which one you are depends on how much effort you put into yourself.
Right now they are worth 9 votes (I believe its 8 or 9)
If Colorado goes for a percentage based system for assigning their electorial votes Colorado will cease to exist on the radars of political parties when it comes to Presidential elections. With 8 or 9 votes margin it is useful, when its just a 1 or 2 vote difference which is the result you have on using percentages its useless.
This type of change dilutes the power of any state which follows it. Can you imagine the hoopla that would come about should a big state that normally leans to the left contemplated it? I guarantee if CA or NY wanted to go this route there would be claims of racism and disenfranchisement.
The electorial college prevents major population centers from governing the whole country. It gives a say to smaller states. It does a good job of preventing a tryranny of the majority. Which is a good thing considering that more and more people think they deserve everything for nothing. If anything ruins the US it will be when a majority gets in power that wants to give itself every imaginable benefit. (we already have social security - (Retirement) - health care will just break the bank)
What is wrong with providing an installer at the base package like the MS products?
I would have stuck with Delphi if I could match the feature set of Visual C#/C++ . Yet to get some of the more useful tools (like the ability to build installers) I had to buy the expensive versions.
Borland killed Delphi with their upgrade costs and constant downgrading what was packaged. The left behind the hobbyist who went to JAVA and C++/C# simply because better tools were available at a better price.
AC2 died before birth. A horrid beta where the developers ignored the constant and loud complaints that all proved true in release.
The hubris of the AC2 developers killed the game. Immense cities in which no building was enterable served no other purpose that being monuments to the developers. Even their first liason to the public spoke of coming down from the ivory tower to the unwashed masses (ie the players)
AC2 died because Turbine stopped responding to their fans. AC2 failed because Turbine made the story more important than the fans. They forced the players to adhere to the story instead of becoming the story.
Turbine, particulary Jessica (it) hates negative comments about their game. Going so far as requiring fan boards they deem to visit to remove the posts and posters else suffer exclusion from developer interaction.
Turbine is also where the phrase "Exploit Early Exploit Often" came about. They are the only MMORPG company to ACTIVELY allow attended combat macros (AC1). This software (know as decal) listens and acts on the incoming client stream to automate much if not all of the game. It reveals things not normally known to the client and all of this is done with the knowledge and tacit support of Turbine. The new expansion for their first game even caters to the abusers of attended combat macros by support levels unreachable by other means.
One big worry about MEO was that within a week everyone would have the ONE RING
Turbine is just proof that even the most inept can stay in business.
that others need to pay more or can afford more. That is a very selfish attitude you have.
Yes I said selfish. Real greed is telling others that they have more money than they need and hence should give some of it up.
The budget problem isn't because of the tax cut, government revenues are actually up, the real problem is that they won't stop increasing the spending!
It used to be that Republicans were fiscally conservative, but along came "Compassionate Conservatism" and all sense of budgets went out the door.
The key to fixing the spending is to rein in the ability to attach all sorts of crap to bills. A line item veto would be a great feature. To combat it the Congress would actually have to fess up to the American people just how many stupid things they waste money on.
Of course they would turn to "Omnibus spending bills" which hide lots of pork.
Worse things are to come, this tripe about a right to health care is nothing more than a play on words. Is there a right to make someone else your slave? If not how then do you propose to pay for this right to Health care if not from someone elses pocket? Someone who can "AFFORD" to pay more.
Your line of thought is EXACTLY what leads to more burdensome government. You are preaching exactly what they want to hear!
You do know that your taxes are actually nearly 7.5% higher than you see as your employer already kicks in an equal amount under FICA (might be wrong on the acronym)
Worse, if the Feds take over Healthcare you can kiss your income good bye. Why? Because current employer provided health care is one of the biggest tax free items included in many pay checks. See, health care is one of those benefits that you do not have to pay tax on! Take that money out of your true income and your tax burden grows.
Finally I would prefer the fairtax.org solution. A National Sales tax to replace the laws we have now or even a flat tax would be beneficial to the poor and the economy as a whole. The flat tax would actually mean people with large incomes would pay their fair share instead of dodging most obligations (like Kerry's 12.8 effective tax rate him and his wife paid on their income). Yet the best solution is the NST. Refunding monthly what the government deems the family needs and having no deductions, not tax forms, and no hidden burden.
Tax reform can lead to budget reform however politicians want neither because the more confusing it is the more power they have.
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aat12.tx t
According to the government's own statistics the full time employment count is over 112 million people and the part time employment is at 23 million leading us to 135 million plus or minus.
Not nearly the 50% you scream. Your anti-business, anti-capitalist screed is obviously not backed up by any facts and instead is just emotional driven with attempts to brand all businesses as the root of societies problems.
The most common businesses portrayed as cause are large corporations who DO NOT employ the majority of the people working in this country.
There are more people working in this country than at any other time in our history. October numbers , which the ones I posted are not, pushed the total employment numbers to 139.5M
I work for one of the fortune 100 and we are so swamped with work in our IT departments that we have had to expand our people. Sarbane's Oxley introduced who new levels of data retention and accuracy all of which takes coding. Most systems used by business cannot use off the shelf generic software.
We are already taxed to death, much of it under the guise of helping those in need. The trouble is, the only ones helped are those in power.
We carry such a ridiculous load that that real squandering of our future happens at the Government level. They already take in enough money to do everything we want and more. The key is removing NON-ESSENTIAL functions from the government. The key is removing the ability to attach RIDERS to any appropriation bill. All appropiration bills should be single purpose. Like a highway bill that stays strictly tied to the highway system, not a bill saddled with monuments, civic buildings, and swimming pools.
Its time for people to say, Ask not what my Government can do for me but instead, Tell my Government what it cannot do.
The Constitution granted specific rights to the government, it is time we reminded them of that. The Constitution did not grant us rights.
Amendment X. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
As it says, we give it rights. It is high time that people woke and realized that the government isn't the solution to our problems, we are the solution.
I spent 3+ years after exiting the service working a dead-end job. Finally got a few community courses under my belt and "bid" my way into a job in the career of my choice by asking for a low end salary.
After a few years I was where I felt I needed to be and have progressed further each year. There is work out there for those who want it, however too many overvalue themselves and thus lock themselves out of jobs.
The key is to get A job. From there it is a only a few years before your value should become evident to the people you work with. If that isn't happening either you aren't working to that perceived value or you are in the wrong place.
Blaming a President for your lack of job is about as brite as claiming one got you a job. The first rule of being successful in your career is to realize it is NOT YOUR JOB. It is your employers job and its in your damn best interest to prove you deserve to have it.
For those who hate that truth I am truly sorry as there is nothing I can do for you. You have to look at yourself and ask why you think you don't need to prove or earn your position in life. In the end you are accountable to yourself.
Fluff stories don't require any real work. Most are usually pulled from local affiliates to fill time.
The results of which usually are picked to coincide with the that particular channels ideaolgy (now I don't know what CBS broadcast, I don't care, I didn't need the debates to tell who I was going to vote for).
What I think the AC was after is that the networks (ABC.. CBS.. NBC..) see very focused on being anti-Bush to the extent they ignore any alternatives to Bush and Kerry unless it sufficiently aids their cause of ditching Bush. CBS is the most blatant for obvious reasons.
Which is all too bad. They don't care about choice, they made theirs and they are going to make sure that is all we focus on.
Fortunately BLOGs came to center stage for a while. Notice how the old media elites (anchors of the big 3) all dismissed BLOGS and the net, some more vicously than others? They know they are losing their monopoly on information but they aren't going to play nice about it. They will discredit anyone who conflicts with their purpose.
Just like when the papers finally started losing out to TV, TV is losing out to the printed word, however this time the printed word is on a webpage. The internet is the best chance to free ourselves from 2 party tyranny that we will ever have. We just got to hope we can do so before both of these parties destroy the country we live in.
The fairness doctrine was used to stifle free speech by putting forth unfair requirements on stations. The primary use, which the left wants to bring back, was to require that any show which presented ideas be offset by another with equal time.
Needless to say that is a great way to muzzle anyone. If you cannot make money off the opposing view why would you ever broadcast the original?
When it comes down to media ownership I don't mind some laws restricting it. After all I see the result of a monopoly everyday here in Atlanta, its called the paper. See, the papers were not caught up in this law yet they do nearly the same thing!
The airwaves are more public oriented ever that before. The key issue is that some people's ideas are not sustainable without intervention or lots of backing money. Why should they have the right to force themselves onto others when its clear the others don't want to hear them?
Sorry but I can't stand this slap at Wal-Mart or any other company. No where is it written, least of which the Constitution, that you DESERVE health care or that someone else must pay for it.
Wal-Mart does many of its employees a service by offering it at competitive rates. People and families who would never be able to obtain it anywhere else. Instead of dismissing Wal-Mart as such people need to realize that they insure a lot of people.
There is no such thing as free health care. If you want an example of government health care go look to Canada where there are wait times on simple procedures you can get here next day. Don't believe the hype spread by the lazy down here, go check Canada's own government statistics on wait times and operation availability. Want to see worse, go find their restrictions on who can what operation. Over 40% of Canadians in one survey expressed the opinion that their system was getting WORSE!
Government controlled health care can be seen in the latest flu immunization issues here. They are stating that only those under 2 and over 65 can get the shots for free. Such systems will have no problem telling you are too old for operation X, which several government run systems already do!
Get off their ass about health care. The number one thing I hate about Wal-Mart is that they use local governments to seize private property for their stores, property the owners didn't want to sell but some local government saw increased tax revenue and decided it was more important than the citizens.
Slashdot Mirror
This was a local station backed up by some pretty big heavy weights in the media?
What it really says is, why do we assign ANY credibility of the old time media?
After all we saw what CBS did this election with the Guard papers AND the draft issue. We are even seeing some of this now with ABC and the voting issues. One of the most famous issues of the past was with the exploding pick up trucks. Yet people still watch Network TV and the newshows.
The first rule of the media is to make money and that unfortunately overrules the fact based reporting way way too often.
Photo ID would go a long way to helping some of this, many licensing departments will issue state recognized IDs with your picture.
However I would go so far as to allow the college issued photo ids to be acceptable along with military id.
A paper trail would be nice as well, even though PAPER ballots provide no trail either and both parties are well versed at how to commit fraud there.
Provide more than 12 hours for voting, perhaps 3 days or a whole week? The problem with more than 3 days is preventing people from forecasting the vote and causing local or regional distortion.
I still believe the requiring proof of identification is the most important part of voting. I cannot stand the twits out there who go out of their way to claim that requiring someone to prove who they are infringes on their rights! What about the rights of the voters to know that those voting are legally entitled to do so. Same goes for allowing ILLEGALS to vote - how preposterous can you get? What part of ILLEGAL doesn't anyone understand?
The people making a mockery of the system are the very same ones trying to bend it every which way they can.
To put my comment into perspective.
The current age of portable music devices and Apple's position at the moment resembles the early Windows age and PCs.
Apple had the best goods and they got stomped in the end. They got stomped because the other guys were available in more configurations, better pricing, and had greater overall compatibilities.
I use an iPod and I have spent a good share of money on iTMS but to discount new players because they cannot use iTMS isn't fair let alone brite.
What keeps me using my iPod is the fact it is very easy to use as a hard drive (3rd gen here). Now comes a player with features many of the iPod owners have been asking for and what do people do? Dis it for not being an iPod.
Well damn, I would have much prefered a swappable battery or FM over the ability to show pictures. If I want to view my pictures on a teeny tiny screen I would leave them on the camera.
Who do tend to vote heavily democratic and are at the near bottom of the education ladder?
There are many ways to slice this and most do it where it favors their view. However the truth is that many people in those districts where Kerry or Bush got a majority had a very close number of people voting for the other guy. Even in 60/40 splits how can one declare which side the "smart" people voted for?
I see "IQ" questions about election results as yet another attempt by one side to discount the fact they lost because their message failed to appeal to the majority.
The key to winning an election is to realize why people don't like you and determine if you can change so that they do without violating the principles that make you whom you are. If you cannot then you must then learn how to work with the power you do derive to get your point across.
As Democrats proved the first 4 years it is not WHO controls thes the Congress (where real power is) who can determine what it votes on. (namely their stopping many judges and such). Unfortunately the Republicans understand this too meaning that unless a supermajority is achieved by either party nothing much other than increased spending will ever occur as we all know they can always agree to spend more.
I think this view is pretty much accurate but not all inclusive. There are many people in Europe who have reasons I do not know or understand for their beliefs but that is to be expected as I don't live there (but do have friends that do) and the /. portions are not truly representive either.
One thing I do know, you are not going to change our minds by constantly berating us. You will definitely not change the minds of those who voted for Bush, only harden their beliefs.
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In London's Daily Telegraph, Janet Daley reflects on Bush-hatred as an expression of European anti-Americanism:
He is hated because he is the embodiment of everything that the United States is, and Europe is not: not just enormously powerful, militarily and economically, but brashly confident and fervently patriotic. Where Europe is steeped in historical guilt and self-loathing--so immersed in its own unforgivable past that it is trying to fashion a constitution that actually prohibits national pride--America is profoundly proud of the success of its own miraculous achievement.
---
Sorry but I had to laugh at this article. Newbies, real definition - players, are ruining mmorpgs with their demands.
Get real.
Many MMORPGs succeed. There are just many more that will not. This is not the fault of the players. What this ranter totally missed out on is the fact that players are no longer accepting excuses.
Look at Horizons, look at AC2, or look at original AO. Simply put, if you try to pull one over on the users you will get caught and they will punish you for it. Funcom made right, Turbine and Artifact Entertainment never did, those two deluded themselves into believing they were right and the players were the issue.
We no longer have to accept half-assed attempts because we have so many more choices. We are also seeing some big names getting ready to debut in this arena (well FF is already out) and it will prove that games that are developed by professionals (read: they don't have a preconception that they are godly - and they have expereience in writing WORKING software) can and will succeed.
Blaming the users, hell I am surprised he doesn't work for the Themis group.
While I am on MY soapbox. Here is one other thing that kills game, designers holding discussion sites hostage. This happens extensively on VN (IGN) boards as Turbine requires VN mods to remove messages that criticize Turbine or its people. Its good to know mods who can pass along policies, it provided a better insight into the reasons behind my problems with VN and those of others who went through similar abuse.
Combine with fake interviews where developers require questions to be preapproved, IRC chats that only cover inane questions, and you have many of the issues that cause games to fail.
In other words, its not the players, it never was.
There are less provisonal ballots official issued by the state than the margin of victory.
The real issue is this, why if elections are so important why do we not require a picture ID to prove who you claim to be?
It seems fine to ask for identification when getting a loan, buying property, registering a car, and many other activities yet the most important is one where some seem to want to introduce fraudulent behavior.
than the fact that the 19 of the 20 counties with voting irregularities were run by Democrats and the 20th by an independant.
No more factual of an issue than using a football game to predict an election.
The only difference is that certain people needed something to blame and a conspiracy makes them feel better about it.
Besides, Florida's voting actually was less problemsome than Georgia's. Yup, the rate of issues was lower in Florida than many other states. However Florida was easier to tip using the courts. I fully expect this election to be no different, if a state has a difference low enough to affect the overall election I fully expect certain parties to be out in force in an attempt to claim voter fraud or similar.
Voter fraud only became an issue when it no longer worked.
This claim that if some larger or more influential countries would take the attitude of the Swiss is ignorant.
It is attitudes like that that resulted in the massacres in Rawanda. It is that very same attitude that is resulting in the same thing occuring in Sudan. Want more, Bosnia, Afghanistan, China, and even Checyna.
Seems to me that the real issue is not that some countries are more influential but WHICH countries that are and what they are doing.
I will take the current attitude of countries that do take action. Far better they do than we end up with millions more dead just because we were afraid to we might offend someone by acting up. Perhaps we can avoid another Hitler if we keep acting, after all he was harmless until he invaded Poland, right?
The space program is full of good side effects that many never expected. You can get a whole lot more imagination going when you propose magnificent problems to scientist.
Mundane problems generate less interest which usually means they never get solved completely.
That is the key point you are missing. You could be dead shortly after going critical or before. There is also the issue of quality of life, if your quality of life is impacted by a 3 month wait what will you do? Go to America like my BC friend have? Sure thing, just hope they don't make it illegal to seek private care which is what some are trying to do.
The key issue with managed health care is that there is no reason for hospitals and others to compete with each other which does lead to lines. It also leads to abuse of the system by people who go in for every little stupid thing they have or imagine they have.
Finally it is NOT FREE. In some systems (notably Britains) you end up with two classes, those who have to use government insurance and those who get better treatment because they have private insurance.
In the end I will take our current system over any government managed system. Reports coming from Canada's own government show rising disatisfaction with their health care to the order of 40% and out of control costs. It also shows short cuts a government can take that no private entity would - that is using nurses in the place of doctors in certain cases.
Life ain't free and death doesn't have a waiting line.
and you have a education system ripe for failure. Numerous school systems across the country do not have honor rolls because it might offend someone who didn't make it. Some have gone so far as to remove Valedictorian titles or worse having dozens of them per class.
We coddle are children so much and insulate them so much from the real world through their schooling its no wonder when they get out they think they know everything and deserve anything they want. They are never forced to deal with the reality of live - which is, there are winners and there are losers. Which one you are depends on how much effort you put into yourself.
Right now they are worth 9 votes (I believe its 8 or 9)
If Colorado goes for a percentage based system for assigning their electorial votes Colorado will cease to exist on the radars of political parties when it comes to Presidential elections. With 8 or 9 votes margin it is useful, when its just a 1 or 2 vote difference which is the result you have on using percentages its useless.
This type of change dilutes the power of any state which follows it. Can you imagine the hoopla that would come about should a big state that normally leans to the left contemplated it? I guarantee if CA or NY wanted to go this route there would be claims of racism and disenfranchisement.
The electorial college prevents major population centers from governing the whole country. It gives a say to smaller states. It does a good job of preventing a tryranny of the majority. Which is a good thing considering that more and more people think they deserve everything for nothing. If anything ruins the US it will be when a majority gets in power that wants to give itself every imaginable benefit. (we already have social security - (Retirement) - health care will just break the bank)
What is wrong with providing an installer at the base package like the MS products?
I would have stuck with Delphi if I could match the feature set of Visual C#/C++ . Yet to get some of the more useful tools (like the ability to build installers) I had to buy the expensive versions.
Borland killed Delphi with their upgrade costs and constant downgrading what was packaged. The left behind the hobbyist who went to JAVA and C++/C# simply because better tools were available at a better price.
Otherwise you are just asking for voter fraud.
Provisional ballots are probably one of the worst ideas ever. They seem tailor made to insure fraud does occur.
Gamespot is nothing more than a corporate shrill.
AC2 died before birth. A horrid beta where the developers ignored the constant and loud complaints that all proved true in release.
The hubris of the AC2 developers killed the game. Immense cities in which no building was enterable served no other purpose that being monuments to the developers. Even their first liason to the public spoke of coming down from the ivory tower to the unwashed masses (ie the players)
AC2 died because Turbine stopped responding to their fans. AC2 failed because Turbine made the story more important than the fans. They forced the players to adhere to the story instead of becoming the story.
Turbine, particulary Jessica (it) hates negative comments about their game. Going so far as requiring fan boards they deem to visit to remove the posts and posters else suffer exclusion from developer interaction.
Turbine is also where the phrase "Exploit Early Exploit Often" came about. They are the only MMORPG company to ACTIVELY allow attended combat macros (AC1). This software (know as decal) listens and acts on the incoming client stream to automate much if not all of the game. It reveals things not normally known to the client and all of this is done with the knowledge and tacit support of Turbine. The new expansion for their first game even caters to the abusers of attended combat macros by support levels unreachable by other means.
One big worry about MEO was that within a week everyone would have the ONE RING
Turbine is just proof that even the most inept can stay in business.
that others need to pay more or can afford more. That is a very selfish attitude you have.
Yes I said selfish. Real greed is telling others that they have more money than they need and hence should give some of it up.
The budget problem isn't because of the tax cut, government revenues are actually up, the real problem is that they won't stop increasing the spending!
It used to be that Republicans were fiscally conservative, but along came "Compassionate Conservatism" and all sense of budgets went out the door.
The key to fixing the spending is to rein in the ability to attach all sorts of crap to bills. A line item veto would be a great feature. To combat it the Congress would actually have to fess up to the American people just how many stupid things they waste money on.
Of course they would turn to "Omnibus spending bills" which hide lots of pork.
Worse things are to come, this tripe about a right to health care is nothing more than a play on words. Is there a right to make someone else your slave? If not how then do you propose to pay for this right to Health care if not from someone elses pocket? Someone who can "AFFORD" to pay more.
Your line of thought is EXACTLY what leads to more burdensome government. You are preaching exactly what they want to hear!
You do know that your taxes are actually nearly 7.5% higher than you see as your employer already kicks in an equal amount under FICA (might be wrong on the acronym)
Worse, if the Feds take over Healthcare you can kiss your income good bye. Why? Because current employer provided health care is one of the biggest tax free items included in many pay checks. See, health care is one of those benefits that you do not have to pay tax on! Take that money out of your true income and your tax burden grows.
Finally I would prefer the fairtax.org solution. A National Sales tax to replace the laws we have now or even a flat tax would be beneficial to the poor and the economy as a whole. The flat tax would actually mean people with large incomes would pay their fair share instead of dodging most obligations (like Kerry's 12.8 effective tax rate him and his wife paid on their income). Yet the best solution is the NST. Refunding monthly what the government deems the family needs and having no deductions, not tax forms, and no hidden burden.
Tax reform can lead to budget reform however politicians want neither because the more confusing it is the more power they have.
Buy the theater version to satisfy your LOTR fix and then pawn them off as gifts (Christmas and the like) after you obtain the extended cut version.
Now, I am curious if I can rip this new extended cut version and get it down to ONE DVD with just 5.1English Audio + film.
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aat12.tx t
According to the government's own statistics the full time employment count is over 112 million people and the part time employment is at 23 million leading us to 135 million plus or minus.
Not nearly the 50% you scream. Your anti-business, anti-capitalist screed is obviously not backed up by any facts and instead is just emotional driven with attempts to brand all businesses as the root of societies problems.
The most common businesses portrayed as cause are large corporations who DO NOT employ the majority of the people working in this country.
There are more people working in this country than at any other time in our history. October numbers , which the ones I posted are not, pushed the total employment numbers to 139.5M
I work for one of the fortune 100 and we are so swamped with work in our IT departments that we have had to expand our people. Sarbane's Oxley introduced who new levels of data retention and accuracy all of which takes coding. Most systems used by business cannot use off the shelf generic software.
Actually I was over thinking my search phrase. In other words, using too many words and the wrong ones.
We are already taxed to death, much of it under the guise of helping those in need. The trouble is, the only ones helped are those in power.
We carry such a ridiculous load that that real squandering of our future happens at the Government level. They already take in enough money to do everything we want and more. The key is removing NON-ESSENTIAL functions from the government. The key is removing the ability to attach RIDERS to any appropriation bill. All appropiration bills should be single purpose. Like a highway bill that stays strictly tied to the highway system, not a bill saddled with monuments, civic buildings, and swimming pools.
Its time for people to say, Ask not what my Government can do for me but instead, Tell my Government what it cannot do.
The Constitution granted specific rights to the government, it is time we reminded them of that. The Constitution did not grant us rights.
Amendment X.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
As it says, we give it rights. It is high time that people woke and realized that the government isn't the solution to our problems, we are the solution.
I spent 3+ years after exiting the service working a dead-end job. Finally got a few community courses under my belt and "bid" my way into a job in the career of my choice by asking for a low end salary.
After a few years I was where I felt I needed to be and have progressed further each year. There is work out there for those who want it, however too many overvalue themselves and thus lock themselves out of jobs.
The key is to get A job. From there it is a only a few years before your value should become evident to the people you work with. If that isn't happening either you aren't working to that perceived value or you are in the wrong place.
Blaming a President for your lack of job is about as brite as claiming one got you a job. The first rule of being successful in your career is to realize it is NOT YOUR JOB. It is your employers job and its in your damn best interest to prove you deserve to have it.
For those who hate that truth I am truly sorry as there is nothing I can do for you. You have to look at yourself and ask why you think you don't need to prove or earn your position in life. In the end you are accountable to yourself.
Fluff stories don't require any real work. Most are usually pulled from local affiliates to fill time.
The results of which usually are picked to coincide with the that particular channels ideaolgy (now I don't know what CBS broadcast, I don't care, I didn't need the debates to tell who I was going to vote for).
What I think the AC was after is that the networks (ABC.. CBS.. NBC..) see very focused on being anti-Bush to the extent they ignore any alternatives to Bush and Kerry unless it sufficiently aids their cause of ditching Bush. CBS is the most blatant for obvious reasons.
Which is all too bad. They don't care about choice, they made theirs and they are going to make sure that is all we focus on.
Fortunately BLOGs came to center stage for a while. Notice how the old media elites (anchors of the big 3) all dismissed BLOGS and the net, some more vicously than others? They know they are losing their monopoly on information but they aren't going to play nice about it. They will discredit anyone who conflicts with their purpose.
Just like when the papers finally started losing out to TV, TV is losing out to the printed word, however this time the printed word is on a webpage. The internet is the best chance to free ourselves from 2 party tyranny that we will ever have. We just got to hope we can do so before both of these parties destroy the country we live in.
The fairness doctrine was used to stifle free speech by putting forth unfair requirements on stations. The primary use, which the left wants to bring back, was to require that any show which presented ideas be offset by another with equal time.
Needless to say that is a great way to muzzle anyone. If you cannot make money off the opposing view why would you ever broadcast the original?
When it comes down to media ownership I don't mind some laws restricting it. After all I see the result of a monopoly everyday here in Atlanta, its called the paper. See, the papers were not caught up in this law yet they do nearly the same thing!
The airwaves are more public oriented ever that before. The key issue is that some people's ideas are not sustainable without intervention or lots of backing money. Why should they have the right to force themselves onto others when its clear the others don't want to hear them?
Sorry but I can't stand this slap at Wal-Mart or any other company. No where is it written, least of which the Constitution, that you DESERVE health care or that someone else must pay for it.
Wal-Mart does many of its employees a service by offering it at competitive rates. People and families who would never be able to obtain it anywhere else. Instead of dismissing Wal-Mart as such people need to realize that they insure a lot of people.
There is no such thing as free health care. If you want an example of government health care go look to Canada where there are wait times on simple procedures you can get here next day. Don't believe the hype spread by the lazy down here, go check Canada's own government statistics on wait times and operation availability. Want to see worse, go find their restrictions on who can what operation. Over 40% of Canadians in one survey expressed the opinion that their system was getting WORSE!
Government controlled health care can be seen in the latest flu immunization issues here. They are stating that only those under 2 and over 65 can get the shots for free. Such systems will have no problem telling you are too old for operation X, which several government run systems already do!
Get off their ass about health care. The number one thing I hate about Wal-Mart is that they use local governments to seize private property for their stores, property the owners didn't want to sell but some local government saw increased tax revenue and decided it was more important than the citizens.