Vyce

Oh come now, Eric, be fair. I don't think I've ever referred to Obama supporters as a cult, except to poke fun at the inherent silliness that is how he's being touted as some sort of liberal Messiah. I mean, c'mon, Eric, there ARE those reports FROM OBAMA SUPPORTERS who said they've fainted at his rallies and said that listening to him speak (live) is something akin to a religious experience. But that's all just in good fun. No one really thinks that there's a cult of Obama, except a cult of personality. The "Paulbots" (aka moRons), on the other hand are really just creepy. I know you pretty well, Eric, and trust me, YOU would be genuinely freaked out by many of them. Especially when they start talking about gun rights. I got into a heated argument on another board with some Paulbots because I wasn't down with their assertion that the Founding Fathers intended for us to be able to own fully-automatic assault rifles (lots of them) without any sort of restriction such as licensing or registration. Most Paulbots belong in the tin-foil hat brigade.

I wrote out that response just an hour or so ago, and lo and behold, what gets published, but this article where Sadr offers to disband his army. If "the clerics ask me to", granted, but still, my earlier point stands: Sadr isn't in a position of strength, here, gents. He's holding on by his fingernails at this point.

Now how will they process my online orders for cheap, tax-free cigarettes?

Ron Paul went far beyond just "non-intervention" foreign policy (a concept which you yourself acknowledge isn't entirely practical in today's modern world), he full on advocated an isolationist foreign policy. That's just one of his looney ideas. As an aside, his followers can be pretty creepy too. I say followers, because the criticism that the "Ron Paul Revolution" was more like a cult is appropriate. I debated against some of them at other forums and it's disturbing the lengths they'd go to to defend the guy. They pretty much thought he spoke Truth to Power and anyone who disagreed with the man or his policies (even reasonably and politely) would be lashed out at. Apparently, if you disagreed with Ron Paul, you were part of the neocon military industrial complex ruining this nation, mmmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. Or some such nonsense.

Eric, the reason he keeps calling for a ceasefire is not because he thinks it's a cute little idea, it's because he practically HAS to sue for peace if he wants to continue to hold what he has left. He himself can't press the issue beyond that, because the support isn't there. The Iraqi people themselves are pretty much fed up with the bullshit, because they know he's funded largely by Iran, and Iraqis are beyond tired of foreign-funded extremists within their borders - it's why Al-Qaeda in Iraq has become a failure. In Sadr's case, even Shi'ites are about ready to wash their hands of him. However, I will grant you that this exposes he Iraqi military as being not-quite-ready-for-primetime players, but still, the fact that the Iraqi military is beginning to engage some of its internal threats and the continued marginalization of Sadr and his army IS actual positive progress, which I know some people don't want to face as reality, but there it is. It continues to underscore the need for American troops in the region for the forseeable future, a position, might I remind you, that Barack Obama's own advisers are now acknowledging is a necessity. But this is a far more deft play by Maliki than people have, or likely will, given him credit for. While the Iraqi military action against Sadr may have left a lot to be desired, Maliki has seemingly destroyed a significant portion of Sadr's political authority.

The new maps are good. Killhouse is only for Free-for-All and the occasional Team Tactical game, which is bullshit, but that's my least favorite of the new maps, so I'm not as incensed as I could be. The rest are all solid, though. Creek is fun, but hell to play if enemy snipers have the high ground. Chinatown is a lot more fun than it was made out to be with the previews, especially playing Domination or HQ on it. Broadcast is probably my favorite map - a huge fucking map, and great to play S&D and HQ on.

Are they going to fix the fucking hideous controls this year, or is that something which will get ignored in favor of new game features that we don't need at all. It's pretty shameful that a port of a several-years old, last generation Japanese wrestling game (i.e. Fire Pro Returns) managed to kick SvR 08's ass in just about every conceivable category.

Doering over Suzuki AND Nishimura is ponderous.

What the fuck is "Nim's Island"?

Sadly, Marney & I have never had internet sex. We don't have that sort of relationship. And I won't e-touch Taiga on account of her having kids. I'm not getting anywhere near that shit. I'm not being anyone's e-father.

Eric, you and I live in one of the major metropolitan hubs in the entire nation.

Oh, he absolutely believed in what he said. Sadly, though, he believes in some pretty fucking looney ideas, so I don't know if that's really a plus in his favor. For what it's worth, Paul was by far the most nauseating candidate of this race. BY FAR. You know the guy's fucking clownshoes when he can unite both neo-nazi white supremacists and 9/11 truthers behind his campaign.

These days, things aren't looking so great for Sadr.

Yeah, that was the one I was thinking of. I'd heard a whole lot about how lame Civil War was from a lot of people, so I'd only skimmed over a few random issues here and there. Spider-Man was the only one where I read the whole thing (he's still my favorite Marvel character, even after all the bullshit they've done to him), and it was just horrible, pissed me off to no end. After finishing that piece of shit, I never even picked up anything else that bore the Civil War brandname. Okay, if that's all the Civil War you've read, then I can understand why you'd think that. I agree that Stark was a bit too villian-esque in that series, but I always figured that was only due to it being Spidey's book, with his perspective and motivations at the front. If you read the Civil War mini-series, you will get a much more balanced look at how things were playing out, at least IMHO. I've read just about all of the Civil War that is out there, and Stark (not to mention Richards, and the rest of the pro-reg crowd) were written pretty offensively badly throughout the entirety of the storyline. There really wasn't a whole lot of balance being given throughout the series. I mean, my god, they wrote Tony as a guy perfectly willing to make deals with some of the WORST murderers & madmen in the Marvel rogues gallery (Bullseye, Norman Osborne, Venom, etc.) in order to take down Cap and the anti-reg crowd. You had Stark & Richards portrayed as fascists, allusions to McCarthyism, the whole nine yards. It was a joke. Jingus is right in that it was done in just about the most heavy-handed, ham-fisted way possible. Even the ending was bullshit. It was basically, "Well, Cap's RIGHT, of course, but public opinion just isn't on his side, thanks to Stark and his culture of fear." If that isn't some sort of bizarre, whiny allegory to the modern day war on terror I don't know what is. You may have found balance, but I don't think most people did. The Iron Man character got a really bad reputation right after Civil War and I don't quite think he's come close to overcoming that, yet. It's going to take the movie to make people forget all of that bullshit. Only BARELY did SOME of the writers really go in depth as to Stark's motivation, at least during Civil War. Here and there you had one or two writers basically pull the curtain back and show Stark as being the guy willing to become the most hated man in the country in order to protect everyone and make superheroes accountable for their actions. The absolute most human Stark was written was in the issue of Fallen Son when he's talking to Captain America's corpse. But then you ran into that inconsistent bullshit, where you had writers (I think JMS did this, in particular) basically making Stark's company an analog for Halliburton by insinuating that Tony was getting all sorts of defense contracts for the war.

Sounds like great news - a new COD - but I really would like more of modern warfare as opposed to WW2 again. I don't know how they'd make the multiplayer as awesome as it is in COD4 in that setting.

They may hate Zilla, but I think that fight had more to do with every fucking fight im Final Wars being ridiculously short, except for the final battle. Every other damn fight before that was a squash match.

Oh my.

You had to be searching for this kid. That is disturbing far beyond a level that mere words are capable of expressing.

It's all for you, Milky! It's all for you!

I almost want her to be right. The idea alone is so insane, but still, what if it was true? We'd have some egg on our faces, I tells ya.

Sweet, Lords of Dogtown is on sale!

Please don't give Quesada any ideas.

I actually own the CD that particular song is from.

That's not so much really the point as it is that some parents feel that the film (and the books) are an end-run by atheists trying to indoctrinate their children with a message they don't want them to receive. And judging by Pullman's remarks in the past, indoctrination really DOES seem like what he's going for. Which is his right, but I agree that people do have a legit complaint with regards to this movie and its message. The sensible thing to do, of course, if one does object to the film and its / Pullman's message, is to just don't go see it, or let your kids see it. They have that choice, and that's the best avenue of protest altogether.

No source on this, but I can believe it. I can also believe HHH pushing Hardy because he in no way sees him as a threat. Bottom line, Jericho's return is more interesting and exciting than HHH's was when he returned after several months off from injury. I'm sure that has to bother HHH on some level.