Doom Shepherd

Banned in order to re-start the Pig War. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_War

You have a VERY strange definition of "saved," given that after he was done, Germany was a bombed-out ruin, occupied by foreign powers, divided, depopulated, and with permanent damage to their national psyche. This is like saying that you can "save" someone from poverty by shooting them in the head. You believe entirely incorrectly. Ford is not, and never has been, state-owned. You mean in exactly the same way the Soviet government managed Ukraine's grain exports in 1932?

Banned because I have an itch.

Ha-ha. Poor pre-1966 Rick. It must be terrible to be old and grouchy. Space.com has ALWAYS reported on space-related entertainment. Especially Star Trek, since SO many space fans are Star Trek fans as well. Incidentally, I'm pushing 40, so... stick it.

I haven't insulted you YET. Yes. My eyes and ears work, and I am capable of accurately analyzing sensory input. (This is my way of saying that my evidence that the sun comes up in the East in the morning is "get your ass outside at dawn.") http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nlrb-accuses-seiu-affiliate-of-illegally-punishing-and-retaliating-against-sodexo-employees-who-opposed-union-106767943.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-burger/seius-latest-disgrace_b_96399.html And if you want to be entertained, you can always search "SEIU attack" on YouTube. Aas for my "own" union, AFSCME, (not that I really had a choice to join them or not, since I wanted a say in what happened to the money they were taking out of my paycheck anyway...) well... maybe next time I'll keep one of the screeds they send me instead of throwing it in the trash, but suffice it to say I've read things I know are false in them.

Banned for not being chipsiomega

You mean like... Volkswagen? You DO remember whose idea that was, right? Little Austrian guy, wannabe painter?

Which is rooted in human nature. Humans are paradoxes. We claim to want to be free and independent, but at the same time we are constantly trying to give other people power over us and the ability to tell us what to do. Kind of the way young teenagers will scream anout how they're individuals, and at the same time tend to be the first to join whatever Collectivist movements come along. "No one tells me what to do or say or think! Now get out of my way, they'll be pissed if I'm late for my Communist Party Meeting!" Likewise, people who are willing to take the blame for their own failings, rather than blame ANYONE else but themselves, are rarer than anyone admits. Hence, the existence of a vast range of scapegoats from "The Jews" to "The Rich" to "Mommy and Daddy" to "The Government," ad nauseum.

Advanced 4th generation reactors. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_IV_reactor So why is there a Plutonium shortage? People are stupid. I hope to change that.

Political power. And not your foreign enemies, your domestic political enemies. An example would be party in power changing a governmental procedure or a law to make it more advantageous to the party in power. But in the next election, due to some other issue, they get voted out, and now their enemy party has the power. Say, for example, one party in power (We'll call them "Demoblicans,") votes to give itself much more power over what gets put on television. Maybe they create a new "Department of Public Information" and give it sweeping censorship powers... But RIGHT before it can be utilized to its full effect, they lose the next election... and suddenly their mortal enemies the Republocrats suddenly have not only completely different views as to what should be allowed on TV, but the idea that they can also use that power to subtly propagandize against the Demoblicans, who are now screwed by the very power they tried to give themselves. The two main partioes in the US have not learned this lesson yet, and vote themselves new powers all the time, which is one of the reasons our system has gotten as unweildy as it has.

offtopic: I'm sorry, there was a country like that once... they tried to be as poor as they can so that nobody attacked them. They were called Sparta... Ever heard of them? Problem is, I don't see them around anymore... That's weird that you're quoting me, 'cause your comment doesn't seem to have any relation to anything I said.

No, I'm not counting that at all. Neither is the site above. "Vir, I have only seen political naïveté this complete once before – in a speech before the Centaurum by Lord Jarno. When he was finished, we recommended that he be sterilized in the best interests of evolution. But then we remembered that he was married to Lady Jarno, so really there was no need." Unions, especially public-employee unions (AFSCME, SEIU, etc.) bargain with Democrat-controlled legislatures for more money, then kick back support (contributions, rent-a-crowds, and campaign tactics of dubious legality) to those same Democrats. You may not want to hear that (or want anyone to say that) but it is true.

What?

Which can be greatly reduced or eliminated if the new reactor designs ever manage to get past the hippies and start getting built. Heck, we're running out of space probe fuel because there's actually a SHORTAGE of Plutonium.

False analogy? There are 130 million automobiles in the United States weighing about a ton each and confiscation would be impossible. We've seen gun confiscation and its results in many other countries. The analogy to automobiles also fails because cars are not used in self-defense to protect lives. Yet were we to truly treat guns like automobiles, we would have to remove most gun restrictions because guns are already regulated much more strictly than automobiles. It is legal to buy a vastly overpowered automobile... or a cheaply-make "Saturday night special." There are no "background checks" required to purchase an automobile. Or "waiting periods." Purchases are unrestricted, you can buy as many cars you want from just about anyone, anytime. A property owner whose driver's license is revoked can still drive his jeep all over the property without penalty. Indeed, he can drink a case of beer before driving around his property and still enjoy the ride knowing that he is not violating a single law provided that he does not injure an innocent person. And a whole lot more. False? It's harder to find examples where registration did NOT eventually lead to confiscation. Tell it to the Cubans. Before 1958, Cuban dictator Batista had all citizens register their firearms. After the revolution, Raul and Fidel Castro had their Communist thugs go door to door and, using the registration lists, confiscate all firearms. It's happened elsewhere, as well. Including Canada. (They did not confiscate ALL guns in Canada, just the ones they decided to ban, but the previously existing registration made this MUCH easier.) Turkey, 1911. Ask the Armenians. China, 1935. Cambodia, 1956. Guatemala, 1964. Ask the Mayan Indians what happened. Uganda, 1970. And of course we all know about the Soviet Union and Germany. (In Germany's case, the liberal Wiemar Republic established the registration, and the guys who came afterwards just made effective use of the lists. Does registration ALWAYS lead to confiscation? No. But it is an ESSENTIAL step in the proccess. (This is yet another example of one of my favorite personal axioms of government... "NEVER give yourself power that you don't want your enemies to have in a few years.")

Banned because the voices told me to.

Tiny Japanese girl You're my Tiny Japanese girl Tiny Japanese girl Get out my shoe box girl I need to put my shoes away. They're gonna' get all scuffed and that Why you in there girl? It doesn't even fit you I mean you're small but you're not a midget girl CH: But I'm tiny like a door mouse Short Like a bungalow house Minute like a pixie You can barely even see me I can ride around on a Shetland pony And people say I'm far away (Well you are quite small) But I'm pretty big in Tokyo. V: Tiny Japanese girl When I'm stood next to you You make me feel so tall Though I'm just 5' 2" It's like I'm stood on a wall Or a really big dog But it's just that you're small So there's no need for that dog Tiny Japanese Girl I find you perfectly sized And you fit in small places When you're needing to hide But don't hide from my love 'Cos it's hunting you down I know you've got a big heart I've seen you wheel it around CH: But I'm tiny like a door mouse Short Like a bungalow house Minute like a pixie You can barely even see me I can ride around on a Shetland pony And people say I'm far away (I'm far away) But I'm pretty big in Tokyo Pretty big in Tokyo I'm pretty big in Tokyo

It's a sign of how old I am that the only definition I can think of for "LP" involves vinyl records.

http://youtu.be/QvvVn7RFVYk

Why wait? But on the other hand, in direct campaign donations (lobbying, under the table), the Teamsters blew FedEx out of the water, 4.8 million to 1.0 million. In fact, the list of top all-time campaign donors tells quite an interesting (and top-heavy) story: http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php 1 ActBlue $52,443,515 2 American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees $45,237,853 3 AT&T Inc $41,197,490 4 National Assn of Realtors $39,707,910 5 National Education Assn $36,310,095 6 Service Employees International Union $35,873,039 7 American Assn for Justice $33,980,771 8 Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $33,475,254 9 Laborers Union $31,331,267 10 American Federation of Teachers $31,021,128 11 Teamsters Union $30,632,309 12 Carpenters & Joiners Union $30,572,687 13 Communications Workers of America $29,445,653 14 American Medical Assn $27,405,040 15 United Auto Workers $27,106,207 16 United Food & Commercial Workers Union $26,788,209 17 National Auto Dealers Assn $26,625,992 18 Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union $26,349,874 19 United Parcel Service $24,450,717 20 American Bankers Assn $24,105,244 FedEx is #32. Now here's something strange... AFSCME actually claimed to CBS to be spending a staggering $87.5 million on the 2010 election ALONE. For some reason this money isn't even counted here. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20020498-503544.html

I've become convinced that solar power is the way to go. And not just home solar power (though that's a good start) but space-based solar power, for many reasons: 1. It's unlimited. Space is big. And there's ALWAYS sunshine. No clouds. Your only limits are the size and efficiency of the collectors in orbit, and the one helps get over the limits of the other. We can collect the energy, transform it into microwaves, and "beam" it to a receiving generator on the ground. Clouds won't scatter the beam much, and we can actually set the beam to be diffuse enough that it won't harm living things passing through it (unless you have fillings. Then you'll need shielding.) 2. (and here's where I get nasty) Dual-use. Imagine what happens if we DO focus the microwave beam. Say, on a system of caves in Afghanistan that our soldiers can't get in to. Or on a formation of Iranian armored vehicles. Sizzle. The collectors are launched into space, as well as the equipment to convert the solar energy to microwaves for transmision (Not difficult, microwave ovens do essentially the same thing). The receivers are built on the ground, in open, usually fairly sunny places like Mojave. Besides the microwave recievers, the stations are basically just like any other electrical power generation plant, except that instead of using combustion to turn turbines, they reconvert the microwaves back into electricity. The only "launch-into-space" costs after the initial launch would be maintenance and upgrades to the orbital equipment, or adding new collectors (and receivers) as our energy needs continue to grow (or we decide to export some of the energy elsewhere for profit, which we should be able to do just as people with home solar collectors can currently sell their excess energy to the power companies. This would also offset any future costs.) We have, or are on the verge of developing, the technology for this. What's really holding us back are two things: 1) The startup cost is pretty high - we're talking a ratio of spending equal to the Apollo program, at least. 2) Oil would lobby against it like mad. However, I have two solutions to these problems. 1. Remember the X-Prize? We have the government and interested parties fund another one. Say... 5 billion dollars, and a guaranteed contract to supply the Federal government's energy needs for 10 years, to the first corporation to safely and successfully "beam" back 5 megawatts of power form an orbital station. 2. As my first official act as your Emperor, I hereby declare the United States's energy needs to be a matter of national security (because it is), and therefore I will do whatever is necessary to insure that those needs are met. If any Oil company executives or lobbyists want to object, a few days with my favorite CIA interrogators should cure them of these disloyal thoughts. That said, all I need to know about the modern enviro movement, I learned from watching this video:

I suppose that depends on whether or not you think the Iraq and Afhgan wars are "winnable." In guerilla warfare, personal stockpiles can go a long way. While even the NRA supports training courses, registration is always going to be a very sticky issue because lists of names can always be abused. They have been in the past. Because criminals usually obtain their firearms off the books, registration does not appear to have much use to the government, except to allow for the possibilities of (1) confiscation or harrassment of gun owners, and (2) to allow guns to be banned without taking them away from anyone who already owns one (which could get messy).

I'd only watch if Freeman narrates it. Is that Gordon Freeman or Morgan Freeman? Because really, both would work.... Like a twinkie... like a twinkie.

YES HE DID, PETER! I JUST SAW IT!!!

+Rep, because it's RVB, my other favorite Machinima series.