"Why is learning the language and culture of the country you move to viewed as divisive?"
Why must it be mandatory? Is it not possible to be a law-abiding citizen without having to assimilate? Is it impossible to value democracy and republicanism unless you speak French?
"All of my grandparents came to the U.S. at around 1900 from eastern Europe. None of them expected to be able to continue speaking German or Lithuanian once they got here so they learned English."
Bullshit. A century ago there were any number of communities in states like Wisconsin and Texas where you could go through your day speaking only German (at least). Half a century before that, the number of German newspapers and periodicals in publication in those states rivaled those in English. Even today, it's not all that difficult to buy a Lithuanian newspaper in places like Baltimore.
Now, your family may have felt a desire to become more "American" by demanding their children speak only English, but there are just as many who have taken a different tack and insisted that only their native tongue is spoken in their home. Either way, a naturalized citizen is a naturalized citizen and there should be no distinction between how the two are treated.
Despite what the far right would have us believe, English is more widely spoken in the United States today than it has ever been in the history of the Union.
"My parents, aunts and uncles all spoke English and succeeded in taking part in the "American dream" (house, education, kids went to college if they wanted to, etc.). That wouldn't have happened if they were still acting like they were still in the "old country.""
So all the ethnic neighborhoods in cities across the country with names like "Little Italy" are all falling apart with no opportunity for businesses while only the WASPs and their imitators survive? It's impossible to have a Protestant work ethic without actually being Protestant yourself?
Ever read about the early history of Bank of America?
Republics like France and the United States cannot preach the universality of their ideals while simultaneously demanding conformity to cultural norms to reap the full benefits. If there is to be a conflict between the ideals of the founding documents of both nations and the vague notions of "culture," the former must win; it is for the culture to adapt and change, not the ideals.
'Insisting that immigrants learn the language and culture isn't divisive. It's the best way for them to fit into their new society and succeed."
The best way to succeed is decided by the market, not by the dictates of politicians.
"Not one french journalist dared mentionning it (are they all scared ?)..."
That, or nobody over there gives a fuck about a politician's love life so long as he does his job. It's the United States where our skewed view of "moral decency" calls for this kind of prying by "journalists" (for whom these "moral" directives don't apply) giving us political appointees who call for abstinence-only education while visiting a brothel.
Although I will say that a divorce is far more notable in France than it is in the home of "the sanctity of marriage."
"France is certainly one of the greatest allies this country has had, in fact we wouldn't be this large had Napolean not sold us the Louisiana Purchase to pay for his war with England."
Napoleon gave up North America because the coalition had him too bogged down in mainland Europe to realistically pursue his future plans of reclaiming France's former colonial glory in the New World. If he'd had this realization sooner, things would have gone a lot better for the Haitians.
Besides, what has joining the Union done for New Orleans lately?
"If anything we owe them quite a bit and their only crime is that they are just as patriotic to their country as we are to ours."
"Patriotic?" Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, which commemorates part of France's attempt to install a monarch (a freakin' Hapsburg, no less!) directly adjacent to the "dangerous, radically republican" United States while we were distracted by "domestic issues." And once things calmed down enough up here for US weapons to find their way into Juarista hands (in defense of a country we waged a war against not twenty years prior) and US warships had the opportunity to patrol the Gulf of Mexico again, France coincidentally decided it was time to pull out.
This wasn't the first or the last time that things got dicey between our two countries, and I believe it's safe to say that any and all lingering goodwill leftover from the efforts of folks like Lafayette and his ilk has been spent. There's little need for a moratorium against the US asking "But what have you done for me lately?"
This is not to say that knee-jerk francophobia isn't silly, but so is knee-jerk francophilia.
"Riiiiight. Because those Nips are just so damn predictably WEIRD, eh?"
If they weren't unpredictably weird, they wouldn't have made Metroid to begin with.
But you wouldn't see a steady supply of Japanese video games/manga/live action centered around cookie-cutter female characters with similar personalty archetypes and wardrobes if it didn't hit a nerve with Japanese consumers. If there wasn't so much of it and if it wasn't so popular, you wouldn't know what I was talking about when I mentioned the high school uniforms.
"Strange that more non-Japanese gamedevs aren't breaking into the Japanese market, given how simple and obvious their wants are, isn't it?"
If they were going to go that route to "break into the Japanese market," they'd be alienating other markets. First-person shooters do well in North America but alienate the Japanese. Dating sims do well in Japan but alienate the North Americans. It's a rare game that successfully caters to both tastes.
There are reasons why you won't see Idol Maker stateside.
"Perhaps one should infer from your post that Rule #1 of Selling Games to Those Crazy Japs should be "No women unless sluts.""
From the one sentence that you're choosing to harp on, perhaps, but right in the first paragraph I mentioned that Metroid does sell well in Japan, and the general gist of my post is that, while popular there, Metroid isn't a religion as it is over here.
Besides, "eye candy" need not mean "slut." In fact, "slut" doesn't match any of the generic personality archetypes popular in Japanese games.
"I think we've got something here. I hope Nintendo is reading this and taking notes."
"Am I to understand Metroid is not popular in Japan?"
Japan's reaction to Metroid has always been "meh," ever since the first game came out for the Famicom Disk System. It sells well, makes some reasonable lucre, but Japanese Nintendo fanbois tend not to mention "Metroid" in the same breath as "Mario" or "Zelda" as their North American and European counterparts do.
The Metroid Prime games are made by a studio based in Texas, so it's reasonable for these games to be released in North America first, but even Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission, developed in-house in Japan, were localized and released in North America before Japan saw them, because North America is where the games' core market lies.
"Or is their society that misogynist that a butt-kicking cyborg woman is taboo?"
Not if she's wearing full combat armor that all but hides the fact that she's human, let alone a woman. I'm sure the games would sell a lot better if Samus hunted down her enemies in a hybrid high school uniform with a too-short skirt and a bare midriff.
"Now that I think about it, though, most FPS games' credits are full of Americans"
Aside from the fact that Prime isn't quite an FPS (not with L-targeting, certainly), even the side-scrolling titles aren't as popular in Japan as they are elsewhere.
... was essentially rendered null and void by the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005, passed specifically to add the same "existing business relationship" loopholes previously enjoyed by telemarketers and spammers.
Be sure to thank your members of Congress, perhaps by fax.
"I'm fairly certain that getting up and walking into another room is a very effective tool against online harassment."
Therefore if you don't sign off you're asking for it?
"It's as much harm as watching a gruesome movie."
The applicability of your analogy depends on who is in control of the television. Harassment would be someone doing their utmost to invade your environs to show you gruesome imagery against your repeatedly stated wishes.
"Or get up from the computer."
So it is upon the victim to change their own behavior in order to end the harassment? Why should the victim be required to do anything beyond saying "Please stop doing that?" Your argument seems to be "We don't need the legal system involved because schoolyard justice is working just fine."
All elections in the United States are decided by the state legislators when they draw the district lines. Voting has little influence when the elected pick their electors.
"A person who so identifies with an imaginary character"
We're not talking about the acts of NPCs here, these are acts by player characters, controlled by other human beings in real-time. If there were no element of interpersonal interaction with other human beings, we wouldn't see these online games at all.
"you can either go somewhere these characters are not present,"
"Go someplace else" rarely works against harassment, whether online or in real life. That's why it's called "harassment."
"The failure to distinguish between fantasy and reality is known as PSYCHOSIS."
Again, these are real human beings (otherwise nobody would be online) performing real antisocial behaviors with the sole intent of causing the other person harm. If there is nothing to justifiably be offended about, then the offender wouldn't be doing it to begin with, for they'd derive no pleasure, no sense of domination from it.
A "thought crime" would be somebody penning a rape fantasy. Since what we're talking about is somebody actually imposing their will on their intended victim (regardless of the venue), this isn't a "thought crime," this is "sexual assault" (though perhaps not "rape" per se). Whether or not it should be prosecuted is another matter, but this stuff is clearly harassment of another individual, with the explicit intent to harass.
And maybe it's just because I've talked to more women than the average Slashdotter, but personally I think it'd be nice if internet communities didn't take this "boys will be boys" tolerant attitudes towards such acts, insisting that the victim simply isn't doing enough to protect herself.
"Some people clearly think it's a First Amendment issue. There is no intent from us to interfere with people's right to discuss copy protection."
Yeah, we can "discuss copy protection" as much as we want so long as the DMCA and the Sonny Bono Copyright Act still stand, hm?
It's funny how everybody agrees that speech should be free so long as that speech is completely impotent. It's the speech that empowers, empassions, that enables legitimate users to do with their purchased media what they will that suddenly gets declared "unprotected."
"We respect free speech."
This from the same industry that wants to ban cell phone usage from movie theaters not because they annoy the rest of the audience, but because they don't want to let people warn others just how bad a particular movie is?
I made absolutely no reference to the Scientology episode in my post, nor does any of the content I linked to. I'm not talking about laws, I'm talking about the abuse of editorial powers to quash unwanted discussion.
Heck, the only reason I found out about that little gem is because of the way it was on my meta-moderation list multiple times(!). It's been six years since that particular episode, but there's never been any sort of explanation or true discussion on the matter (and why, exactly, are moderations and karma no longer enumerated again?). But when it happens on another website, a competing website, it's fodder for the front page? I wonder if Slashdot would still be pointing to this if, instead of a DMCA violation, Digg was trying to suppress postings of some of the more interesting scripts the editors have access to on Slashdot's servers.
You mean everybody isn't running out and downloading Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, spending their money on Symphony of the Night in XBLA instead? Shocking!
Give me more (A) good games that (B) I don't already have in another medium and I'll spend my money. I already own Ocarina of Time three times, and all three of those versions work with the Stone of Agony. How about adding some overlooked gems like the Ys series (where's Sega Master System support, anyway?). Better yet, you've already tantalized us with the idea of releasing games on the VC that have never been released outside Japan before, if you give me Mother I will buy it.
But Wonder Boy in Monster World doesn't tickle my fancy.
At the very least, why not include the videos you include in your website in the Shopping Channel, so I have a better idea of what I'd be throwing away $8 on?
"Also, FF and Dragon Quest are played by a wide range of users, from children to adults, so there are limitations when you consider the problems that we would have with billing systems"
OK, we've seen the original Final Fantasy re-released on the WonderSwan Color, the PlayStation, the Game Boy Advance, mobile phones, and soon the PSP. Dragon Quest has had almost as many re-releases (SFC, GBC, mobile). The only "limitations" I'm seeing here is that Square-Enix would be limited in their ability to continue pumping out future rehashes and expecting all the fanboys to keep on repurchasing the same thing over and over and over again.
And as far as the "wide range of users" concern, kids can save up their yen coins and buy Wii points cards in Japan the same as in the US, so credit cards aren't strictly required (as opposed to, say, the mobile phone versions of these games). The only difference here is Square-Enix's inability to putz around with the supply chain as easily as with other forms of distribution.
And where's the precious physical medium in mobile phone distributions, anyway?
Square-Enix has been hanging out with Disney too long: they don't want legitimate copies of the original games available for $5 a pop when they're too busy trying to milk more profit out of yet another re-release that's supposedly even better than the last re-release. Contrast this to Konami having no problem with offering Symphony of the Night on XBLA while planning to sell it on the PSP.
"What other president lied to start a war that has killed more than 3000 American troops?"
The second Johnson.
"What other president's administration has called the Geneva Convention "Quaint" and "Obsolete"?"
Jackson would have had a good laugh. The second Roosevelt detained citizens of Japanese descent (but I suppose that's more Hague Convention than Geneva) and signed off on the Dresden bombing. The second Johnson and Nixon had some fun ideas for North Vietnam.
"What other president has actually defended torture?"
Again, I wouldn't be surprised if Jackson had something on the record about this. But the real question here is "Which other presidents have had to defend torture because they were caught?" Is this Bush the first to be supportive of torture, or simply the first one caught red-handed?
"What other president has overseen the arrest of innocent people (there have been "enemy combatants" released with their charges dropped), holding them for years as "enemy combatants" without any right to habeas corpus? "
Lincoln and the second Roosevelt. Expand to peacetime, it'd take more than one hand (if not two hands) to count the number of times a Nineteenth or Twentieth Century president has done interesting things to unionists/communists/blacks.
"What other president has overseen warrant-less NSA and FBI wiretaps?"
How many presidents did J. Edgar Hoover serve under?
Slashdot Mirror
"Why is learning the language and culture of the country you move to viewed as divisive?"
Why must it be mandatory? Is it not possible to be a law-abiding citizen without having to assimilate? Is it impossible to value democracy and republicanism unless you speak French?
"All of my grandparents came to the U.S. at around 1900 from eastern Europe. None of them expected to be able to continue speaking German or Lithuanian once they got here so they learned English."
Bullshit. A century ago there were any number of communities in states like Wisconsin and Texas where you could go through your day speaking only German (at least). Half a century before that, the number of German newspapers and periodicals in publication in those states rivaled those in English. Even today, it's not all that difficult to buy a Lithuanian newspaper in places like Baltimore.
Now, your family may have felt a desire to become more "American" by demanding their children speak only English, but there are just as many who have taken a different tack and insisted that only their native tongue is spoken in their home. Either way, a naturalized citizen is a naturalized citizen and there should be no distinction between how the two are treated.
Despite what the far right would have us believe, English is more widely spoken in the United States today than it has ever been in the history of the Union.
"My parents, aunts and uncles all spoke English and succeeded in taking part in the "American dream" (house, education, kids went to college if they wanted to, etc.). That wouldn't have happened if they were still acting like they were still in the "old country.""
So all the ethnic neighborhoods in cities across the country with names like "Little Italy" are all falling apart with no opportunity for businesses while only the WASPs and their imitators survive? It's impossible to have a Protestant work ethic without actually being Protestant yourself?
Ever read about the early history of Bank of America?
Republics like France and the United States cannot preach the universality of their ideals while simultaneously demanding conformity to cultural norms to reap the full benefits. If there is to be a conflict between the ideals of the founding documents of both nations and the vague notions of "culture," the former must win; it is for the culture to adapt and change, not the ideals.
'Insisting that immigrants learn the language and culture isn't divisive. It's the best way for them to fit into their new society and succeed."
The best way to succeed is decided by the market, not by the dictates of politicians.
"Not one french journalist dared mentionning it (are they all scared ?)..."
That, or nobody over there gives a fuck about a politician's love life so long as he does his job. It's the United States where our skewed view of "moral decency" calls for this kind of prying by "journalists" (for whom these "moral" directives don't apply) giving us political appointees who call for abstinence-only education while visiting a brothel.
Although I will say that a divorce is far more notable in France than it is in the home of "the sanctity of marriage."
"France is certainly one of the greatest allies this country has had, in fact we wouldn't be this large had Napolean not sold us the Louisiana Purchase to pay for his war with England."
Napoleon gave up North America because the coalition had him too bogged down in mainland Europe to realistically pursue his future plans of reclaiming France's former colonial glory in the New World. If he'd had this realization sooner, things would have gone a lot better for the Haitians.
Besides, what has joining the Union done for New Orleans lately?
"If anything we owe them quite a bit and their only crime is that they are just as patriotic to their country as we are to ours."
"Patriotic?" Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo, which commemorates part of France's attempt to install a monarch (a freakin' Hapsburg, no less!) directly adjacent to the "dangerous, radically republican" United States while we were distracted by "domestic issues." And once things calmed down enough up here for US weapons to find their way into Juarista hands (in defense of a country we waged a war against not twenty years prior) and US warships had the opportunity to patrol the Gulf of Mexico again, France coincidentally decided it was time to pull out.
This wasn't the first or the last time that things got dicey between our two countries, and I believe it's safe to say that any and all lingering goodwill leftover from the efforts of folks like Lafayette and his ilk has been spent. There's little need for a moratorium against the US asking "But what have you done for me lately?"
This is not to say that knee-jerk francophobia isn't silly, but so is knee-jerk francophilia.
"European conservatives generally cut taxes and also government spending"
While here in the United States, they only cut taxes.
"Riiiiight. Because those Nips are just so damn predictably WEIRD, eh?"
If they weren't unpredictably weird, they wouldn't have made Metroid to begin with.
But you wouldn't see a steady supply of Japanese video games/manga/live action centered around cookie-cutter female characters with similar personalty archetypes and wardrobes if it didn't hit a nerve with Japanese consumers. If there wasn't so much of it and if it wasn't so popular, you wouldn't know what I was talking about when I mentioned the high school uniforms.
"Strange that more non-Japanese gamedevs aren't breaking into the Japanese market, given how simple and obvious their wants are, isn't it?"
If they were going to go that route to "break into the Japanese market," they'd be alienating other markets. First-person shooters do well in North America but alienate the Japanese. Dating sims do well in Japan but alienate the North Americans. It's a rare game that successfully caters to both tastes.
There are reasons why you won't see Idol Maker stateside.
"Perhaps one should infer from your post that Rule #1 of Selling Games to Those Crazy Japs should be "No women unless sluts.""
From the one sentence that you're choosing to harp on, perhaps, but right in the first paragraph I mentioned that Metroid does sell well in Japan, and the general gist of my post is that, while popular there, Metroid isn't a religion as it is over here.
Besides, "eye candy" need not mean "slut." In fact, "slut" doesn't match any of the generic personality archetypes popular in Japanese games.
"I think we've got something here. I hope Nintendo is reading this and taking notes."
Hyperbole much?
"Am I to understand Metroid is not popular in Japan?"
Japan's reaction to Metroid has always been "meh," ever since the first game came out for the Famicom Disk System. It sells well, makes some reasonable lucre, but Japanese Nintendo fanbois tend not to mention "Metroid" in the same breath as "Mario" or "Zelda" as their North American and European counterparts do.
The Metroid Prime games are made by a studio based in Texas, so it's reasonable for these games to be released in North America first, but even Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission, developed in-house in Japan, were localized and released in North America before Japan saw them, because North America is where the games' core market lies.
"Or is their society that misogynist that a butt-kicking cyborg woman is taboo?"
Not if she's wearing full combat armor that all but hides the fact that she's human, let alone a woman. I'm sure the games would sell a lot better if Samus hunted down her enemies in a hybrid high school uniform with a too-short skirt and a bare midriff.
"Now that I think about it, though, most FPS games' credits are full of Americans"
Aside from the fact that Prime isn't quite an FPS (not with L-targeting, certainly), even the side-scrolling titles aren't as popular in Japan as they are elsewhere.
--Article I, Section 9, clause 3, Constitution of the United States
... was essentially rendered null and void by the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005, passed specifically to add the same "existing business relationship" loopholes previously enjoyed by telemarketers and spammers.
Be sure to thank your members of Congress, perhaps by fax.
Nobody drives in New York: there's too much traffic.
"I'm fairly certain that getting up and walking into another room is a very effective tool against online harassment."
Therefore if you don't sign off you're asking for it?
"It's as much harm as watching a gruesome movie."
The applicability of your analogy depends on who is in control of the television. Harassment would be someone doing their utmost to invade your environs to show you gruesome imagery against your repeatedly stated wishes.
"Or get up from the computer."
So it is upon the victim to change their own behavior in order to end the harassment? Why should the victim be required to do anything beyond saying "Please stop doing that?" Your argument seems to be "We don't need the legal system involved because schoolyard justice is working just fine."
"Vote them out."
All elections in the United States are decided by the state legislators when they draw the district lines. Voting has little influence when the elected pick their electors.
"A person who so identifies with an imaginary character"
We're not talking about the acts of NPCs here, these are acts by player characters, controlled by other human beings in real-time. If there were no element of interpersonal interaction with other human beings, we wouldn't see these online games at all.
"you can either go somewhere these characters are not present,"
"Go someplace else" rarely works against harassment, whether online or in real life. That's why it's called "harassment."
"The failure to distinguish between fantasy and reality is known as PSYCHOSIS."
Again, these are real human beings (otherwise nobody would be online) performing real antisocial behaviors with the sole intent of causing the other person harm. If there is nothing to justifiably be offended about, then the offender wouldn't be doing it to begin with, for they'd derive no pleasure, no sense of domination from it.
"rather than thought crimes"
A "thought crime" would be somebody penning a rape fantasy. Since what we're talking about is somebody actually imposing their will on their intended victim (regardless of the venue), this isn't a "thought crime," this is "sexual assault" (though perhaps not "rape" per se). Whether or not it should be prosecuted is another matter, but this stuff is clearly harassment of another individual, with the explicit intent to harass.
And maybe it's just because I've talked to more women than the average Slashdotter, but personally I think it'd be nice if internet communities didn't take this "boys will be boys" tolerant attitudes towards such acts, insisting that the victim simply isn't doing enough to protect herself.
University students ask Congress to shorten copyright terms.
"Some people clearly think it's a First Amendment issue. There is no intent from us to interfere with people's right to discuss copy protection."
Yeah, we can "discuss copy protection" as much as we want so long as the DMCA and the Sonny Bono Copyright Act still stand, hm?
It's funny how everybody agrees that speech should be free so long as that speech is completely impotent. It's the speech that empowers, empassions, that enables legitimate users to do with their purchased media what they will that suddenly gets declared "unprotected."
"We respect free speech."
This from the same industry that wants to ban cell phone usage from movie theaters not because they annoy the rest of the audience, but because they don't want to let people warn others just how bad a particular movie is?
Actually, my first thought was this.
I made absolutely no reference to the Scientology episode in my post, nor does any of the content I linked to. I'm not talking about laws, I'm talking about the abuse of editorial powers to quash unwanted discussion.
"mabe it just gets moderated down by moderators?"
/. was presented with a legal court order."
800+ times? That's a minimum of 170 moderators using all of their points on that one post alone, and that's before we get into the responses.
That, or a vindictive editor using infinite mod points.
"Digg was clearly... removing peoples accounts. Nothing of that sort happened on slashdot."
Really?
"The only time I remember a take down was when
Content need not be taken down in the strictest sense for access to it and discussion of it to be suppressed.
It's a good thing that never happens here!
"Search Google for a broader picture"
Thanks for the advice!
Heck, the only reason I found out about that little gem is because of the way it was on my meta-moderation list multiple times(!). It's been six years since that particular episode, but there's never been any sort of explanation or true discussion on the matter (and why, exactly, are moderations and karma no longer enumerated again?). But when it happens on another website, a competing website, it's fodder for the front page? I wonder if Slashdot would still be pointing to this if, instead of a DMCA violation, Digg was trying to suppress postings of some of the more interesting scripts the editors have access to on Slashdot's servers.
Healer, heal thyself.
"Virtual Console sales are down, apparently"
You mean everybody isn't running out and downloading Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle, spending their money on Symphony of the Night in XBLA instead? Shocking!
Give me more (A) good games that (B) I don't already have in another medium and I'll spend my money. I already own Ocarina of Time three times, and all three of those versions work with the Stone of Agony. How about adding some overlooked gems like the Ys series (where's Sega Master System support, anyway?). Better yet, you've already tantalized us with the idea of releasing games on the VC that have never been released outside Japan before, if you give me Mother I will buy it.
But Wonder Boy in Monster World doesn't tickle my fancy.
At the very least, why not include the videos you include in your website in the Shopping Channel, so I have a better idea of what I'd be throwing away $8 on?
"I'm sorry, but mathematics is useless as a defense mechanism"
You've never seen the ending(s) of Clue, then.
1+2+1+1
Only if the radius is the same as Earth's. The moon has roughly 1% of Earth's mass but 16% of its surface gravity because of it's much smaller radius.
Remember: gravitational acceleration is directly proportional to the mass of the planet but inversely proportional to the square of the radius.
If this planet is made of the same stuff as Earth, my guesstimate is that surface gravity would be something like 1.71 times what we're used to.
"Also, FF and Dragon Quest are played by a wide range of users, from children to adults, so there are limitations when you consider the problems that we would have with billing systems"
OK, we've seen the original Final Fantasy re-released on the WonderSwan Color, the PlayStation, the Game Boy Advance, mobile phones, and soon the PSP. Dragon Quest has had almost as many re-releases (SFC, GBC, mobile). The only "limitations" I'm seeing here is that Square-Enix would be limited in their ability to continue pumping out future rehashes and expecting all the fanboys to keep on repurchasing the same thing over and over and over again.
And as far as the "wide range of users" concern, kids can save up their yen coins and buy Wii points cards in Japan the same as in the US, so credit cards aren't strictly required (as opposed to, say, the mobile phone versions of these games). The only difference here is Square-Enix's inability to putz around with the supply chain as easily as with other forms of distribution.
And where's the precious physical medium in mobile phone distributions, anyway?
Square-Enix has been hanging out with Disney too long: they don't want legitimate copies of the original games available for $5 a pop when they're too busy trying to milk more profit out of yet another re-release that's supposedly even better than the last re-release. Contrast this to Konami having no problem with offering Symphony of the Night on XBLA while planning to sell it on the PSP.
"What other president lied to start a war that has killed more than 3000 American troops?"
The second Johnson.
"What other president's administration has called the Geneva Convention "Quaint" and "Obsolete"?"
Jackson would have had a good laugh. The second Roosevelt detained citizens of Japanese descent (but I suppose that's more Hague Convention than Geneva) and signed off on the Dresden bombing. The second Johnson and Nixon had some fun ideas for North Vietnam.
"What other president has actually defended torture?"
Again, I wouldn't be surprised if Jackson had something on the record about this. But the real question here is "Which other presidents have had to defend torture because they were caught?" Is this Bush the first to be supportive of torture, or simply the first one caught red-handed?
"What other president has overseen the arrest of innocent people (there have been "enemy combatants" released with their charges dropped), holding them for years as "enemy combatants" without any right to habeas corpus? "
Lincoln and the second Roosevelt. Expand to peacetime, it'd take more than one hand (if not two hands) to count the number of times a Nineteenth or Twentieth Century president has done interesting things to unionists/communists/blacks.
"What other president has overseen warrant-less NSA and FBI wiretaps?"
How many presidents did J. Edgar Hoover serve under?
Yeah, those backwards, undemocratic Frenchies only had an election turnout of around 85%. Clearly they're not fit for US-style democracy.