Kantok

[quote who="Daiwa" reply="51" id="3409487"] Who said anything about 'bending' rules? If the playing field is level, may the best win.[/quote] And if it's not level, blame the people who set the rules for setting bad rules. If someone is cheating, punish them. But if everyone is cheating, that means the game sucks and the rules need to be fixed. Someone who gets ahead by working within the system isn't at fault, even if you don&#39

*drool*

[quote who="RogueCaptain" reply="69" id="3409090"] The blockbuster SKYRIM did not get marketed as The Elder Scrolls. Notice how the name change helped sales with new customers while fully retaining the old ones at the same time.[/quote] Correlation does NOT imply causation. Skyrim sold so well because it was AAA title, was hugely marketed and it found the perfect blend of deep RPG mechanics, open world exploration and accessibility.

Gotta love satire.

[quote who="gmc2" reply="44" id="3409415"] why not Phoon, everyone knows it's true but the liberals (such a term) don't control the enterprises, the corporations do. [/quote] If hospital costs were forced to be transparent and a real market existed this behavior wouldn't fly, because the hospital's prices would not be competitive. Anyone who thinks that single-payer or greater government involvement in healthcare is going to have any positive affe

I'd be happy to have a discussion on the merits and challenges of voucher programs and the horrendous state of public primary education in this country as well as the crap reasoning behind the DOJs lawsuit against Louisiana, but this thread isn't the place for it. Start a new thread about it and I'll happy contribute. As for: [quote who="gmc2" reply="34" id="3409270"] So, Like, what's your solution to ensure that all people have affordable hea

[quote who="smeagolheart" reply="31" id="3409229"] How do we know the republican billionaires aren't funding denial of service attacks and then walking to the pulpit and saying "lolz see I told ya Obamacare and abortion must be repealed!" Seems a likely scenario to me.[/quote] Umm.. probably because DDoS attacks are easy to identify for a large organization with infrastructure like the US Governments and if they had been identified the Obama admi

[quote who="gmc2" reply="28" id="3409192"] It's just possible that while you both appear to disagree and even though you're probably talking about the same coin, there are two different sides. One is that contractors are necessary to support the myriad of government activities and the second is those in government funneling of public funds into private business hands. School vouchers are a good example of the second part. IMHO, those that choose other than public educa

[quote who="Anthony R" reply="26" id="3409145"] I'm not so sure its all that far. Sure, it would be nuts for Obama to start bashing the system he set up and move to another idea, but when I see some liberals arguing online how "Obama was crazy to listen to conservatives" and how cooperative he was setting up a conservative health care system designed by Mitt Romney and the Heritage foundation rather than the single payer Canadian model he wanted I can see how such a move is possible.

[quote who="Daiwa" reply="21" id="3409063"] Until the 'kinks' get worked out, just call 1-800-F1U-CKYO. The helpful operator will give you the address of a special website where you can get ACA help: healthcare.gov. As far as the site being a clever, intentional 'faux' failure as a ploy by Barry's minions goes, same thing applies as did to the Truther theories - they're not competent enough to pull it off.[/quote] I agree. I think t

[quote who="Chibiabos" reply="4" id="3403622"] This is what we get for so many idiots voting for "small government," pro-privatization candidates who support outsourcing government projects to private contractors. :/ Unfortunately its become ubiquitous among candidates on 'both' sides (yes, I vote for third party candidates but the vast majority of Americans ignore them and even scoff at those of us who vote for the candidate we think best suits us instead of limiting ours

[quote who="Alstein" reply="14" id="3403758"] The Republicans really missed a big opportunity to get their one-year delay. If they had been a little smarter and punted on the whole shutdown stuff, they would have come off as reasonable, and this would have been the big news of the past two weeks. Then, they probably would have gotten their one-year delay of the mandate. [/quote] Was never going to happen. There was no way on earth t

This game is like getting random surprise presents in the mail. I forget I'm a backer for a while, remember, look in on it and find more awesomeness every time. Great video. Makes me wish I had a hornet. Of course, the next video will be just as good and will make me wish I had whatever ship that one features.

[quote who="Frogboy" reply="60" id="3408945"] We have a team working on a new fantasy game that is in the Elemental universe but it's a very different game.[/quote] *cough* RPG *cough*

[quote who="Heavenfall" reply="41" id="3408594"] No way should you go for Elemental 2, that's just dumb. Every time a post comes up on other forums about Stardock, be it Galciv3 being announced or anything else, someone (almost) always mentions that Elemental was a huge fail and that they are never going to preorder / buy from Stardock again. The Elemental name is etched firmly as a disappointment. Fallen Enchantress is your new IP, as far as I can tell. NOBODY speaks onl

[quote who="NorsemanViking" reply="28" id="3408469"] Go for Elemental II, and make it a great game. You Stardockians have learned how to make fantasy 4X now, and if it's great it will sell great, regardless of the name. The good thing is you keep the continuty, and saves the Elemental brand. [/quote] This. Elemental 2: Subtitle.

[quote who="hedetet" reply="13" id="3408373"] Call it Derek Paxton's Elemental: XYZ. It will distinguish it from the former failure, without discarding the brand entirely, and it has a nice "Sid Meier's AC" ring to it. And it's also basically true [/quote] Except this just adds another dimension to an already confused brand.

This topic has come up from time to time and I still maintain that you stick with Elemental. Getting all convoluted with E:FE:LH was a mistake. LH should have just been Elemental: Legendary Heroes. When people mention GalCiv, they're thinking of whatever flavor of GalCiv they most enjoyed. Most of them are thinking of ToA, but probably not everyone. But, as a brand, GalCiv encompasses the totality of what you've accomplished with the GalCiv franchise. &

Thought exercise about the treaty question: If the US and Russia signed a treaty regarding gay marriage agreeing to ban the practice everywhere within their own jurisdictions and not to honor other countries' gay marriages, is that acceptable? Is it constitutional? Legal? Assume the treaty was signed by the president and ratified by the Senate.

[quote who="Krazikarl" reply="144" id="3406974"] In a democracy, or at least a representative system like a republic, the current sitting government represents the people in some sense. Therefore, if your views strongly contradict those of the vast majority of the entire government over a long period of time, that is a very strong indication that your views are extreme. [/quote] There's a whole lot of qualification in there walking back your last statement. &

[quote who="Krazikarl" reply="141" id="3406921"] Correct. However, they ARE the ultimate arbitrator on what is Constitutional and what is not Constitutional. This is an argument about what is and is not Constitutional, not what is right and wrong. There may very well be a huge range of valid opinions on what is right and wrong in many of these cases. However, there can be very little doubt in many cases on what is or is not Constitutional. Don't conf

[quote who="Krazikarl" reply="137" id="3406869"] Quoting Kantok, reply 134The fact remains that constitutional interpretation is a discipline founded and based upon ideology and opinion. It's not science. It never will be, despite how much "experts" like to try to construe it otherwise. Yep, I agree. Brad is the one who has tried to present it in terms of absolutes. He listed the absolutes in his OP that could not be violate

[quote who="Krazikarl" reply="133" id="3406831"] Broad assertions with numerous counter examples don't exactly convince me.[/quote] Says the guy responsible for: [quote who="Krazikarl" reply="118" id="3406519"] With that being said, a lot of his positions are fairly extreme even by the standards of strict constitutionalists. Yes, I'm aware of Scalia and the like. But the simple fact is that the history of Supreme Court rulings weight extreme

Stupid double post.

[quote who="Krazikarl" reply="120" id="3406547"] Why must we arbitrarily constrain it to the OP? For example, maintaining that the Louisiana Purchase was illegal is a fairly extreme position. I've put my reasoning and support for that statement above.[/quote] You said: [quote who="Krazikarl" reply="118" id="3406519"] With that being said, a lot of his positions are fairly extreme even by the standards of strict constitutionalists. Yes, I&#