HeyYou

That is what elections are all about. Voting for someone to make decisions for you. A referendum is expressing your own opinion DIRECTLY. Should you choose NOT to express it, why should anyone worry about your opinion?

My bad. SSME

EnbBoost, and SIMM work really well together. Might try adding that too.... (alters how memory is handled.) Also, is your anti-virus running when you fire up the game?

Still, a majority voted to join russia. I am not all that familiar with the situation on the ground. I would just like to avoid a war here, no matter who is involved.

I think there was something in their constitution about seccession, that make it pretty much impossible under normal circumstances.... and that is contributing to the west having issues with it. Personally, I think Putin did exactly what he thought he had to, to protect not only the people in that area, but also, their naval base..... Given that (apparently) 90% of the residents there voted to join russia. I don't see a problem with that.

I gave up expecting anything that even remotely resembles 'intelligent behavior' from the american government. They have more than adequately demonstrated (many times...) that when it comes to foreign policy, they don't have the first clue. We overthrow a government, so that we can fight al-queda in one country, and then supply them arms in another. We overthrow legitimate, if distasteful... governments, that actually provided some semblance of stability, install our puppets, and mayhem, and sectarian violence ensues. In EVERY SINGLE country we have 'intervened' in, chaos and violence have followed. We give billions of dollars to countries that hate us. We spend billions on weapons systems that don't meet the design criteria, and the pricetag more than doubles before they are even half-way thru the initial testing phases. (and more often than not, they are failing most of the tests.) We have economic policies that favor the top 5%, at the expense of the rest. They outright refuse to deal with actual problems, and only poke around the periphery, dealing with symptoms, while ignoring the disease itself. We are so politically divided, that one half of the country considers the other half dimwitted morons. At best...... And the most depressing part? The american people KEEP ELECTING the SAME crooks. And those crooks are getting filthy rich, and laughing up their collective sleeve at the stupidity of the american people. We have a few intelligent individuals here, but, taken collectively, americans have got nuthin' on a box of rocks. Yeah, and we are supposedly "the leaders of the free world'.... If that's actually the case, my thoughts are: The world is in deep feces.

Don't recall bringing the american government into it, or stating that I thought they were 'intelligent'. The fact remains, that Putin is using the same arguments Hitler did in the late 30's to justify his annexation of various neighboring states. Do I see Putin rounding up jews, and putting them in gas chambers? Certainly not. He has successfully added Crimea to the Russian Empire. (or, maybe more accurately "Re-Added".....) Now he is making noises about Estonia. Will he repeat the same exercise? We shall see. The actions of the american government could have their own thread, though, I don't think it would really be much of a 'debate', as I think most of us are on the same page on that score. :D

When Americans compare Putin's actions to Hitler's, it is ridiculous. Where was America in WW2? For Americans no myth is more cherished than their awesome military brilliance and fighting excellence, and never is this pseudo-history more celebrated than in World War II. We were the Sleeping Giant, Americans pridefully note, and we cleaned everyone's clocks! In reality America exercised a fair bit of discretion in World War II, and when they did enter the fray they had the advantage of fighting enemies who were drastically overextended, caught up in multi-front engagements, and lacking crucial resources with which to wage an extended conflict. American troops were virtually always in a state of lavish oversupply, and had the big luxury of being too far away to counterattack. (When the Japanese attacked a couple of vacation islands a few thousand miles away from us, Americans were traumatized and still shudder about it like it was the most diabolical thing in history, until 9/11 of course.) I understand that playing the Hitler card is a pretty traditional American thing to do---Noriega was Hitler, for a while? And of course Saddam, and Milosevic, Gaddafi, and Karadzic, and Saddam again. The thing you have to understand, though, is that for Russia, Hitler is a pretty big deal. For most of the 20th century, Russia pretty much got handed the dirty end of the stick. Collapse of empire, that whole Soviet thing, the civil war that made us look like pikers. But the fight against the fascists, they could stand up and be proud of that. They were brutalized by the Wehrmacht, and kept standing . . . and then they hit back. Maybe one American in a hundred could tell you when VE Day is. Every Russian can tell you when Victory Day is. Playing the Hitler card is stupid, provocative and pointlessly inflammatory. It is also reasonably accurate. Resorting to insults doesn't do you arguement any good either. If you can't debate in an adult manner, I suggest you find someplace else on the site to hang out.

What I find amusing is all the folks that poo-poo the comparison to hitler, simply because hitler did some truly vile things later in his reign. He started out as the "benevolent dictator" as well. Why do you think everyone was so happy to just let him do his thing for so long? What's even MORE amusing is the articles I am seeing on various news sites now..... Mainly about how woefully unprepared the US military is to take on Russia, and the predictions of the "new cold war". The first part is quite true. Our military changed its focus from set-piece, large scale warfare, to counter-insurgency. We don't have the material, or manpower for a protracted, large scale engagement any more. Nor do we have the 'edge' in technology we once had. Sure, we are still somewhat ahead there, but, not so much as we used to be. Do I want a war with Russia? No. Not even remotely interested. Do I think we will see one anyway? That largely depends on what happens next. Currently, it is a war of words. Let's hope it doesn't escalate beyond that.

And now Russia is making the same noises about "protecting ethnic Russian speakers" in Estonia....... which IS a member of NATO. Is Putin this generations Hitler? He is using the same justifications for annexing territories......

informed democracy? What country you live in?? Certainly not America, land of the politically indoctrinated...... :D

Yeah, "tone of voice" (type?) doesn't really translate well in text. :) Should have seen the look of surprise on my face when the FCC actually APPROVED the sale of Al Gore's television station to Al-Jazeera...... That one just floored me. Al-Jazeera America.... isn't that an interesting contradiction.

I am actually quite surprised. Not something I would expect from them. Perhaps there is more to it than my preconceived notions. However, gotta bear in mind the rep they have in the west. (I have no clue where you are from.) To me, they are more associated with extremist muslims, than reasonable discourse on such a touchy topic.

On Al-Jazeera television? Seriously?

Try disabling SkyUI.

When has terrorism ever achieved its goal?

The odds of us being the *only* intelligent life in the Universe (with a capital U) are vanishingly small. Sure, the odds of life developing are pretty tiny, but, when you consider there are BILLIONS of worlds just within our galaxy alone that could support intelligent life (as we know it), denying the possibility is moronic. Why haven't we seen any evidence of such? Well, some argue that we already have...... various drawings on central american murals and such, depict would could possibly be space craft, with human shaped occupants. Have they actually been here? Don't know..... Recently? Probably not. We are not advanced enough to attract any unwanted attention yet, (unless some slavers happen to come by...... but, that would imply an interstellar civilization.... that, I don't know about.) Can we travel to other stars? Better hope we figure out a means to, otherwise, the human race is doomed, and will be snuffed out when our sun goes Nova. If we don't kill ourselves off long before then.

Keep in mind, a rather significant percentage of the leadership here in the US, were also in place DURING the cold war. Personally, I don't see Putin as the Hitler-wannabe that some politicians are trying to paint him as. Considering that Crimea held a vote, and apparently, WANT the Russians there..... I don't see that we have an issue to take up any longer.

EU gets a lot of its various heating fuels from Russia. Trade sanctions would cause prices to go thru the roof. No big surprise they aren't in a hurry to do that.

Quicksaves..... hhmmm..... Do you have a hard save you can go back to, and test? See if you still get crashing issues?

Or Canada? Or Australia? Or the UK? "Socialised" medicine, or, single-payer, (what it really is) would actually be better for us. Your employer has no control over your health care, doesn't matter where you work. It would also dramatically reduce the cost of health care that the government is now paying. That IS what is going to end up happening anyway. All those 'subsidies' for health insurance are going to come from somewhere, instead of going into insurance companies pockets, I would rather see them paid directly to health care providers. Insurance companies add nothing to health care, except cost. There have been numerous offices (private practice) that have decided they are NOT going to accept ANY insurance at all. You pay for the services you get, when you get them. Guess what happened? Prices DROPPED. Considerably. Why? Because the doctors didn't have to have a bunch of staff whose SOLE purpose was to deal with insurance companies...... Ok, so, people being insured IS a good thing, given current circumstances..... but, what is going to happen here? Are the younger generation going to sign up for obamacare right away? Start paying those premiums? Or, will they skip it, and pay something to the tune of a 95 dollar penalty on their taxes, if they even FILE taxes for a year or three. We are going to have a significant increase in demand for health care, but, staffing for providers has been on the decline for some time now, and the trend is only going to continue. What happens when demand increases, and supply decreases? If you guessed "prices go up", you win a prize. So, insurance policy pricing will also increase. Are the subsidies going to increase?? Nope. The ACA was a bad plan. They are addressing the WRONG problem. But then, its our government. I shouldn't be surprised.

With this type of attitude, makes one wonder why internationally America is falling behind in science and math. You can look at some places in Asia where as children are expected to learn English, Mandarin, Cantonese, and understand the Hangul alphabet as well as kanji, all before they are even out of primary school. There have been studies done where children learn their native language better when taught multi-languages at the same time. Students who have a better understanding of their native language will excel in other areas of education such as math, science, social studies, and history. If we are not willing to open our minds to how other countries are teaching their children across the world and take too much pride in being a country where as it being know to natively use the "Universal language of the world", our country will probably just keep falling behind farther as the rest of the world excels. This is what I meant when saying in order for America to keep up with the rest of the world our nation should encourage the use of multi-languages and probably throw aside this paradigm of English being the Universal language of the world. Science and Math have nothing to do with learning another language, and if anything making kids learn another language just pushes math and science further down the curriculum. They pack in as much learning as they can in school for kids, throwing more in there isn't helping the kids. http://www.multilingualchildren.org/getting_started/myths.html You seem to be misunderstanding why learning another language is helpful when being taught other subjects. If a child has a better understanding of their native language, they tend to be more receptive to what is being taught when a lecture is being given. Also Reading text in books a child will be able to absorb information more effectively if they have a clearer understanding to what they are actually reading. Teaching another language is actually being used as a tool for the sole purpose of understanding their own native language better. Which is why a student who has a better understanding of their native language will excel in other areas of education such as math, science, social studies, and history. When children are taught multi-languages at a young age they tend to have a better understanding of their native language more than a child who is only taught one language. Sadly the best time to start teaching a child more than one language is way before they even attend primary school. I can find research on this going as far back as 1962. Makes you seriously wonder WHY this hasn't been implemented.

No, I didn't use a CBO report to argue that healt care workers would be more in demand. I used economic laws. You just changed the conditions on your premise. You went from "low income people", to "people in low income jobs". Most low-income jobs around here don't even offer health care. They are also mostly part-time, which relieves the employers of the onus of providing insurance. The CBO is a government institution. From what I have seen of our government, they have serious difficulties operating within the confines of the truth. That doesn't apply to just one party, that applies to ALL OF THEM. It isn't in the CBO's best interests (or the governments, at this point) to actually tell us what the REAL effects of the ACA will be. Mainly because they themselves don't have a clue. Their 'predictions' of what the future holds on various government programs, (especially the financial aspects) have ALWAYS been WRONG. Not once have they accurately predicted the final costs of some government mandate. They consistently underestimate the costs, and negative effects. They are almost as reliable as Punxsutawny Phil with his weather predictions.

One of the religious rights major arguments against birth control, (aside from the religious aspects) is that it potentially promotes promiscuity. After all, one of the main reasons the younger set DON'T indulge, is the possible consequences. (getting pregnant) Remove that consequence, and you remove a fair bit of motivation to refrain. Sure, there are indeed beneficial uses for controlling cycles, etc, but, that seems to be a secondary concern. (to them)

Your logic is flawed. "Lower Income" people aren't going to quit their job, just because they don't need it for the health insurance any more. And those folks leaving the workforce is NOT creating jobs. There is still the same number of jobs, just one less person in the workforce. I am sorry, your justification here falls flat. The money for that health care needs to come from somewhere. If not the people being covered, then it will be from government subsidies. At least if the person is working, they are paying some taxes, if they quit, then the government foots the full bill. How is that in any way "good for the economy"? Also, lets look at the source for this report. The "Congressional" budget office. Do you REALLY think that these folks would actually TELL US that the ACA was going to cost us jobs, slow economic growth, drive up health care costs? Etc??? If you think they would, then you are far to trusting. Our governments biggest business is lying to us, to convince us that they are actually 'helping' us.... when in reality, they are ONLY helping themselves, and their major campaign contributors.