HeyYou

Politicians are all about 'appearance'. That is why we see major pushes for varying forms of legislation immediately after some tragedy or other. Sandy Hook was gun control, the Boston incident will relate directly to our right to privacy. There are numerous other examples. From my point of view, most, if not ALL, of the legislation brought about by these incidents will do absolutely nothing to reduce them. The older brother, and his mother.... were both on watch lists. Yet bro manage to drag his younger brother into this plot, and carry it off. Had it not been for the security cameras liberally sprinkled about Boston, these guys probably would have gotten away with it, and moved on to another target. Did the Patriot act make us safer? Does the NDAA make us safer? In my opinion, no. They do not. They just erode our rights, and give the government more power. Something that I would like to see changed.

I find myself in agreement with most of your points, except..... that the government can make us safer. :) Short of turning the US into a police state, with surveilance equipment in every room, we will never be completely safe. Giving up freedoms in the hope of some mythical promise of "increased safety" is a bad joke. Of late, it seems that our government ISN'T IN the problem solving business. They just like to poke around at the periphery, and treat symptoms of a larger ill. Gun Contrl debate is a prime example of such behavior. Quite frankly, I don't believe our government has been working in the interests of it citizens for a couple decades now. Why on god's little green acre would I trust them now?

Just because he is an american citizen, does not preclude him being a terrorist. I never did agree with the 'patriot' act. If anything, I feel even the name is an oxymoron. How is it patriotic giving up rights? In any event...... he is an american citizen, arrested in america, for a crime committed in america. ALL of his rights should be upheld. Distasteful as it is for me to say that, to do otherwise, would put the lie to our 'land of the free' statement.

Those that would give up liberty, for the illusion of safety, deserve neither liberty, nor safety. How could the government have prevented this? From my point of view, they couldn't. No legislation is going to be able to stop these kinds of incidents, probably not even reduce them. Granted, this isn't something that happens often here in the states..... My reasoning here: Anybody and their cousin can build a home-made bomb, from materials readily available at any department store. Improvised explosive are incredibly easy to make, and it is impossible to simply remove the ingredients from the market. Even laundry detergent can be mixed into a rather effective explosive....... If someone wants to build a bomb, you simply cannot stop them. More security cameras won't stop them either. Of course, it would hopefully make them easier to catch. But then, the police are a REACTION force. They don't prevent crime, they just clean up the mess afterwards. Banning various weapons/large capacity magazines/etc. aren't going to make a significant difference either. Nor will background checks. It has already been shown that background checks have zero effect on violent crime. Not to mention that violent crime has been on a downward trend for a couple decades now, even though in many areas, gun laws are becoming looser. In my view, the government simply cannot effectively prevent these types of incidents, therefore, passing laws, giving up liberties, in order to 'feel' safer, is pretty much useless.

One bomber dead, and the other hopefully soon to be. Left to my own devices, I would happily let the second bomber sucumb to his wounds...... save the taxpayers a few million in court costs......

I would also seriously consider updating video drivers..... no information on what version he has, but, I would guess, older....

Also, have you considered using this one instead?

If you disable this mod, does the problem go away?

Then they would scream about their first amendment rights, and "freedom of the press". Nah, I think the answer would more likely be something along the lines of "None of this is public record, until they are convicted." But, that won't fly either. Too many lobbists would fight that tooth and nail.

The press would never let that happen. After all, it's "public record", and makes for flashy headlines.

Are there suggestions for load order in the readme? have you tried posting in the mods comment thread?

I can agree on the possible long-term benefits to the US should relations with China break down. Personally, I fail to understand how supporting the economy of a nation that was once viewed as 'the enemy", and supporting their efforts to develop weapons that could easily neutralize our carrier groups, can be considered a 'good idea'..... Trouble is, the short-term consequences would REALLY suck... and might include another large scale war. That would be bad for everyone, and might preclude any possibility of long-term benefits for anyone.... as there wouldn't be many left..... I am of the belief that it is pretty much up to China to settle this matter, without massive loss of life. If a shooting war starts, the Koreas are going to be the ones to bear the brunt of the casualties. If the US simply agrees to talk, again.... and then some deal is draw up, easing sanctions, providing aid, for NK 'denuclearizing', we will just be back in the exact same position within a year. If we won't learn from history, we deserve what we get.

Lil' Kim doesn't want war. He wants food, money, and a peace treaty. Trouble is, he is going about it the exact WRONG way. Does he realize this? Apparently not....... At this point, a minor mistake on ANYONE'S part, will mean war. NK is considering launching a missile. Now, is it just a test? Is it nuclear armed? Or, will he actually try and hit something that will annoy some folks? If the latter, that will be all it takes, and off we go to another war. Should the US make some miscalculation, and 'fire the first shot', real possibility China (and perhaps Russia) will come down on the side of NK. That would be horrendously bad... putting it mildly. We have a great opportunity here to completely annihilate a significant percentage of the world..... Let's just hope cooler heads prevail. (I.E. China reigning in their wayward son.)

The voters aren't going to desert the party, the party is going to desert the voters. Consider: They have changed their minds about immigration reform, and are willing to accept a path to citizenship. They are openly discussing supporting gay marriage. (with a few notable exceptions....) The balance of power in congress really didn't change overmuch. Makes ya wonder what americans REALLY want..... I may have voted for Obama, but, I won't be voting dem in '14. I don't want EITHER party to be fully in control in washington......

NK Artillery might be crude by todays standards, but, they can still make up in quantity, what they lack in quality. When you have 8000 tubes, it doesn't matter if 90% of your shots miss..... you are still going to do MASSIVE amounts of damage. That said, You are indeed correct, it's all about "acceptable losses"....... When N. Korea pushes to the point where S. Korea is willing to accept taking a bit of a beating, just to shut him up..... THEY will fire the first shot.

And lil' kim steps up the rhetoric, and danger of war another notch. He pull the workers out of the kaesong industrial complex. Personally, I think S. Korea should have shut it down when the north refused entry to the southies..... kimmie gets points for this one..... Trouble we have here is, kim is painting himself into a corner. He is going to run out of threats, and various other gestures, and is only going to be left with one final option. Starting a shooting war, or, being seen as an ineffective leader, losing 'face', and finding his countrymen turning against him. Of course, for all we know, that might have been the plan all along. Get lil' kim to ratchet up tensions, only to stage a coup, take him down, and then start explaining that this 'wasn't their idea at all, it was all him', and now they want to go back to negotiations, and would you please help us rebuild our country..... It that happens... the international community will swallow it hook, line, and sinker.... and money will rain from the skies. At least, for a while. Then, we will be right back where we started. Is there going to be war there? Pretty good chance at this point. Is N. Korea going to win? Not a snoballs chance in hell. Of course, if China comes in on N. Korea's side.... that's a whole nother kettle of fish, and would pretty much spell doom for assorted economies.... and would generate a LOT of dead folks. I really don't think that is what China wants though. Now, we have various pundits, and ex-government employees all over the talk show circuit.... most of them are fed up with kim, and his bluster, and think 'something' needs to be done. Just what that something is though.... no one really wants to say. At this point, I think our best option is: Do Nothing. Let kim rant and rave, and see what his next move is. We can't be seen as the agressors here. Kim has to cut his own throat, publicly, before we can really take any action at all.....

Yeah, something to the tune of 62.5% of some folks accounts over 100K Euro's..... OUCH. That has GOT to annoy some folks, and if they aren't pulling the rest of their money out of those banks, that are stupid, as it WILL happen again.

Ooops, you are quite right. Two years..... I must not be paying enough attention to my elections. :D We can vote out our reps in two or four years (house or senate), but, incumbents are usually the ones running for our chosen party come election time. I haven't seen more than one dem, or repub, on the ticket in quite some time. In addition, sure, we can vote for someone else, but, we end up with the same thing. They promise us one thing when campaigning, but, deliver something different once elected. I have seen it happen way too many times. So long as big money is involved, voting has very little relevance for the common man. A fair percentage of our production has been moved overseas, along with a startling number of technical jobs. (phone support for example.) Free trade has given producers the opportunity to manufacture their products at a fraction the wage cost, and NO cost for benefits (as there aren't any), little or no environmental or worker protections..... and they have done so. We don't get better quality products, we get throwaway products, that lack in quality. This has become endemic to our society. Products that used to be made here, by americans..... aren't any more. Since corps don't have to pay imort taxes on items they produce elsewhere..... they make more profits, sell more products (at very slightly reduced prices.....) which have to be replaced more often..... Since these jobs are going to third world nations, where even making a few bucks per DAY is a significant increase in their income..... they are lining up for the jobs. (or, they are simply told "This is where you are going to work" by their government......) American workers can't compete with that. Therefore, their jobs go away, unemployment rises, the government spends more money on that, and then health benefits in the form of medicaid, as well as things like food stamps, rent susbsidies, and a host of other things these folks USED to pay for themselves, and then there is also the lost tax revenue the government ISN'T getting from them..... The folks that benefit most are the high end management that get their multi-million dollar bonuses every year, and, of course, any stockholders that happen to be around. For a majority of americans, this is bad news. But, for the folks with the money, it's great. These are the same folks with the money to throw around during election time, contribute to campaigns, and pretty much can determine who runs, and who gets elected. Once again, money and politics makes a bad mix. Throw in on top of that Tax Breaks for moving jobs to developing nations....... and you have corporations with every motivation to move jobs overseas, and zero incentive to stay. Doesn't seem to matter to them that they are undermining their own consumer base. Hard to sell products to folks that don't have jobs. Free Trade with third world nations is bad news for the american worker, it's bad for the government, and in the end, it will be bad for the corporations as well. But, since it seems that the only thing that is important is "how much money can I make RIGHT NOW", and nobody seems to give two hoots or a holler for the future..... we have been bleeding jobs for quite some time now. We have not been replacing them with similar paying jobs. The REAL unemployment numbers are going up. (even though the government manipulated number is going down....) Yes, I completely agree with you on that point. I am just not surprised that the government is basically lying to us to make us think they are actually DOING something. But..... I think we are WAY off-topic here...... wasn't that something about republicans? :D Right now, the republicans are scrambling to redefine themselves. To me.... it looks a lot like they are redefining themselves as democrats... what with the 'path to citizenship', gay marriage, and whatnot. Next, you will see them jumping on the 'gun control' bandwagon. (heaven forbid.....) It's hard to say just what the GOP is going to turn out as, when they don't even have a clue themselves. They are fractured, torn by infighting, dismayed how they could have possibly lost the election, and seem to be clueless that america is just flat out tired of them catering to big business, trickle-down economics, that have been proven NOT to work, etc. They, like the dems.... keep preaching the same old things they have been when it comes to the economy, and foreign policy, and america doesn't wanna hear it anymore. (imagine my surprise when the dems CONTINUED a significant percenatge of GWB's policies....... especially on the foreign front..) In all reality, the dems aren't any better. I keep hearing "most americans support this", yet, when I read comments on various news websites, a huge group of people, that normally don't all agree on ANYTHING, all seem to be able to agree that said topic is NOT what they want to see happen. (primarily immigration reform legalizing the current illegal immigrants.) Even the AP is jumping on the wagon, and discarding the "illegal" immigrant for "undocumented" immigrant. They wouldn't want to offend anyone after all.... I mean, seriously, "illegal" is so stigmatizing....... What a crock of feces. Our government in general is/has going/gone down the tubes. They are not in it for the good of the country, they are in it for THEMSELVES. That will remain the case until such time as we actually get some REAL campaign finance reform, and a few other of my favorite topics. :) (look at my history here, I think I enumerate them several times....) Unfortunately, the only folks that could actually implement such changes, are the very same folks that benefit most from NOT changing them. So, I don't expect anything at all to happen on that score.

That is all well and good, provided that your vote actually does make a difference. Currently, it is simply an illusion that we have some variety of control over our government. That is not the case. We don't get the choice of who runs. They are chosen for us. For the most part, we don't decide who wins. The folks with the money decide that. We need to get the MONEY OUT of government, before we can even begin to see some meaningful change in the way they operate. Currently, corporate america, and lobbyists have more say over the direction our country takes, than it's citizens. The minority is overruling the majority. We need to start with campaign finance reform. Limit campaign contributions to 5000.00 dollars per registered voter. Corporations are NOT people too, they should be banned completely from campaign donations, or any kind of political advertising. They DO NOT have the right of free speech. That is reserved for REAL people. (I will believe a corporation is a person, about the time texas executes one.) Political campaigns may only be persued within three months prior to the election for which they will be on. No more campaigning YEARS in advance of the election. It distracts politicians from doing the job they were elected to do. RUN THIS COUNTRY. Term limits for congress. Just like the president. No more career politicians in Washington. This is NOT the government our forefathers wanted. Ban paid lobbyists. Zero compensation permitted for those whose ONLY job is to attempt to sway government in one direction or the other. The more money you have, the more influence you have. Take them out of the equation. Tax exempt organizations may NOT lobby congress. You wanna participate in government? Then pay taxes for the privilege. That would be a start...... but, ONLY a start.

House terms are four years, with one third of electors being replace every two years. You get a very narrow band of choices on just whom you are allowed to vote for. Someone else chooses who runs, and then, the folks with money decide who wins. Sure, there are some folks that do their own research, to decide who they want to vote for, but, they are the exception, not the rule. Most folks just go by what they see on the TV, or various news sights...... Politicians say a lot of things to get into office. Please note, that 90% of campaign promises are NOT fulfilled. They tell you what they think you want to hear, and then, once in office, they do what the folks that got them elected (the ones with the money.....) tell them too, if they want to get RE-elected. We may be paying higher wages and benefits when compared to the rest of the world.... but, if you look at the numbers here at home, wages and benefits for MOST folks have been declining. Most of the jobs being created these days are in the service industry.... and are low paying, low benefit positions. Upper management may be seeing their wages/benefits increasing, but, for the average joe, that simply is not the case. America simply cannot compete on the global stage via free-trade agreements with third-world nations whose standard of living is WELL below what we grew used to in the 60's-90's. Not unless we want to LOWER our standard of living to theirs. Large corporations are posting huge profits, sure, but, soon, their very actions are going to ensure that they don't have anyone here in the states to sell their products to. Unemployment numbers declined recently, but, it wasn't because there were more jobs to be had, it was because almost half a million folks GAVE UP looking for a job...... had those folks been included in the numbers, unemployment would have instead, gone up. The government keeps telling us that 'the economy is improving'..... and they point at rising stock market prices..... I put forth that stock prices are a measure of how CORPORATIONS are doing, NOT our local economies. Around here, unemployment is still high, there are hundreds of folks that apply for a single opening at Taco Bell.... simply so they can get ANY job at all. We are still in decline here. I don't see that changing any time soon, nor do I think republican economic policy is going to help. (mainly because it hasn't since 2001....) I don't see our current dem controlled government talking about it much either, as THEY don't have any answers either. They are, in fact, contributing to the decline. Adding yet more 'free-trade' agreements..... and choking the life out of various industries with their "green" policies. The GOP IS in decline. At this point, they are changing their positions on a fair few of their 'core values', in the hopes of picking up a few votes. All of which will be in vain. Their BEST hope for a resurgence in '14 is for the dems to do something truly stupid, like draconian gun-control laws..... that will get folks more pissed at the dems, than they currently are at the repubbies.

HeyYou, I seriously doubt that the SK army is going to stand by and let the NK army pummel anyone with massed artillery. the SK have about 60% of the number of heavy artillery capability of NK but their targeting and counterbattery fire is going to be devastating to the much inferior aimed NK artillery. As the Iraqis found out in GW, the US can pretty much wipe out any prepared positions. Also, Thermobaric weapons are designed specifically to kill everything inside tunnels and prepared positions. Will there be a great loss of life in Seoul? Yes. It is doubtful that the aging NK armor will even penetrate into SK and the NK capture of Seoul scenarios collapsed by the late 90s. So, In your scenario, NK unleashes a firestorm of artillery and rockets at the south which the SK retaliates from their prepared positions. The fighting will rapidly devolved into vicious artillery duels until both sides exhaust their ammunition stores. At the same time, SK and US airpower starts the systematic destruction of every LOC and LOS for the NK military. All NK military C2 centers are destroyed and the NK has no where to maneuver as all choke points such as bridges and rail intersections will be destroyed. SK artillery units will resupply as they will not have to worry about air attack or anything from NK other than Spec ops forces. the NK will be pinned down by SK and US airpower and will be unable to resupply. The old days of long lines of people hauling supplies south to the NK army will come to a swift halt with the first application of artillery and airborne clusterbomb units. Or mines, nothing like sowing a half million mines across southern NK. And if the US is feeling nasty, the application of several environmentally friendly neutron bombs will create instant deserts in areas of NK that piss us off. Ever wonder why the Iraqi army never put up much of a fight during GW2. PGM. Look it up. For relatively little cost compared to other PGMs, every US dumb bomb can now be a GPS guided JADAM. The paralyzed NK army will die in place. If I were the commander in SK, I would sow mines and clusterbombs across the entire southern area of NK at the first round of artillery heading south. Last time I checked, NK artillery needed live people to fire it. They can't shoot when they're dead. The only option NK will have at this point is to beg for PRC intervention. Hey, it saved them the last time, and they are definitely creatures of habit. You bring up a lot of good points. But, the NK threat has steadily diminished over the years from credible military to an attempt at extortion through the artillery terror weapon. But, As always Just my opinion. Cheers!!! V/R MistTiger I will grant you that the NK artillery won't last long..... but, some estimates put the number of rounds they can lob into Seoul as high as 500,000, in an hour........ They have 8000 tubes...... Given that we ARE NOT going to be firing the first salvo...... NK is going to be able to get several volleys into the air before counter-battery fire can start taking them out. (counter-battery fire can only target the weapons AFTER they have already fired once......) Even if the guns only get one or two shots off...... Seoul has a population of 24 million people. Even if only 10% of the NK guns in range actually hit what they are shooting it, that is still 800 rounds..... That's gonna make a mess, and the loss of life will be tremendous. If NK actually uses chemical/bio weapons, it could be even worse. No matter how you look at it, it isn't going to be a good situation. Once the major fighting is over, yeah, I agree, not going to be a pretty picture.

What N. Korea really wants is a peace treaty, and billions in foreign aid. Since the sabre-rattling and rhetoric has worked so well in the past...... they are again taking that route. After all, Daddy, and Granddad used it to great effect. Trouble is, folks are bored with it. No one is really paying all that much attention, and the world isn't lining up to give them whatever they want, in the forlorn hope that they will suspend their nuclear program, again. (Note: I say "suspend", as opposed to "terminate", as that is all that ever happens. They make some noise, get what they want, are good for a while, decide they want some more, and start the process all over again.) So, at this point, we have a few choices. 1. Give in to their demands, go to the negotiating table, hammer out an agreement. N. Korea is good for a couple months/years, then, right back to the same old thing. 2. We attack first. World opinion then sees the US as the aggressor, and we are the bad guys. Seoul gets soundly trounced with artillery fire from the north. Hundreds of thousands die. N. Korea ceases to exist as an independent nation, when they are utterly overwhelmed by american/s. korean military. 3. S. Korea attacks first. World opinion would probably lean toward them being justified, as they are the ones in direct proximity, and most likely to suffer from any potential nuclear attack. Seoul gets soundly trounced by the norths artillery. N. Korea ceases to exist as an independent nation, when they are utterly overwhelmed by american and south korean military. 4. N. Korea attacks first, or does something stupid to set off the war. Seoul is soundly trounced by n. korean alrtillery.... etc. etc. etc. 5. China steps in, and deals with kim in whatever fashion they deem fit. No war involving the US, or N. Korea. N. Korea may survive as an independent nation, but, in name only. In reality, they will just be a protectorate of China. We can't do enough damage fast enough to the north's artillery to spare Seoul, and probably other cities in easy range.... from being basically pounded to powder. I believe this is one of the major reasons we haven't taken military action, even on a limited scale, as yet. As I see it, in three of the five possible scenarios, loss of life is going to be tremendous. N. Korea will do as much damage as they can, as fast as they can, as they are more than aware that they only have the resources to prosecute a war for a little more than a week. Then they will be out of fuel for their various vehicles. (including air power) They still have something to the tune of 700,000 soldiers though..... and they can make a heck of a mess before they are dealt with. If we cave, all we will be doing is postponing the inevitable. Having China and/or Russia deal with N. Korea would be the best possible outcome for all conerned. Whether they will step up and DO something though, remains to be seen. Edit: Or....... LAUNCH a missile at Pyongyang. Give little kimmie a call, and let him know that death is on its way. We can destroy the missile before it hits, but, ONLY if you UNCONDITIONALLY SURRENDER RIGHT NOW! You have 20 minutes before impact. What's it gonna be little man?

I was aware that this can happpen but I've never been able to find the guy. I think its a possible random encounter after completing the quest. I ran into them south of windhelm..... I took great pleasure in killing them.

Media in general is simply a circus. I don't get any variety of broadcast television, and I don't miss it. "News" programs are only about ratings. Folks watch on the off chance they get to see the next major blowup on national television, or whatever other drama the press is floating at the moment. There is no such thing as "unbiased" reporting any more. Every news program has their own slant, and make sure to put forward stories that reinforce that slant. Whether such stories would even have gotten a passing mention in the past, or not. Notice how ANY gun crime is headline news now? Stories you never would have heard before, are now front page, breaking news, storie of the moment..... simply because it gets ratings, and forwards whatever news organizations views on the matter. Not to mention that 'facts' are now mutable, depending on which news program you watch....... the press regularly publishes flat out lies, simply because it supports their view of any given issue. The stories change to suit their mood. What's REALLY depressing though, is the folks that eagerly lap up the BS that the press is handing out, accept it as gospel, and start hurling insults and such at anyone that disagrees with them. Can't attack the argument, so, attack the person instead. It's a truly sad state of affairs, and has only gotten worse over time. A trend that I see continuing. There is no hope for mainstream media.

Common Sense is an oxymoron, as it is anything BUT common.