Republicans and the Rise of Fear

As Lou Dobbs brought to our attention, the GOP runs on fear.

1. This administration’s indiscretions are really indiscretions that began 30 years ago in a Republican administration, and were horribly abused in particular by the previous administration.
2. Jon Stewart purposely points out that the only reason we noticed it now during a Democratic administration (instead of during the last administration) is because the Republicans have capitalized upon reporting it now. They always point out the prolonged abused indiscretions of administrations and Congressmen during a Democratic administration, even if they are the worst abusers.
3. Logically, Republicans do such a good job of pointing out these problems because that’s their MO – to use fear to push their agenda.

You want a good example?

There’s this terrible blog called Objective Conservative. It is reporting that the Democrats in the Omaha city council plan on ousting a Republican city councilman with a medical condition using a rule that states that absent council people can be removed if they miss too much time. However, months before this blog even reported this bullshit, the mayor and fellow council people announced they plan to have a vote to KEEP Sigerson on the council. Because Sigerson has contributed to the mediation of the police and fireman complaints with the city. And tonight, the local news reported the truth.

However, the Republican idiot (or idiots) running the Objective Conservative will only report half-truths and bullshit in the hopes of spawning enough fear to create problems for the Democrats. Although this law was first used by Republicans to oust a previous sick Democrat from the City Council in Omaha. But I maintain that the OC blog will stick to calling people liars until the vote passes and Sigerson keeps his seat. I’d like to see what bullshit they spit out when Sigerson keeps his seat – perhaps some sort of moronic victory dance or ill-reported conspiracy theory.

Enough said.

Update: The Job Front

Contacted Lockheed Martin. They are interested in talking to me sometime next week in an informal interview. I contact Raytheon about a LAN admin manager job.

Things are okay. I think Omaha is one of the better places in terms of jobs.

Work Is Work, And Sometimes It Isn’t

Big announcement -

Today … I was laid off from my job.

Now before everyone goes beserk, let me tell you the whole story.

Today, my business reached a point where our owners decided to break up the company and sell the parts off. Not everyone at my work knows this (and I didn’t either), but I got that dreaded call from my VP to please come to his office. I knew when I walked in that there were layoffs happening.

I got that call to come to his office around 10, and I knew at that point that we were going to lose someone. He put two folders on the desk, and my only thought was, “Oh shit, two people???“

“This is going to be a really hard decision, and I want you to think hard about it,” he told me, “I hate this – I have to let either you or this other guy go.”

Now, the other guy is presently having a lot of issues. He has five kids, a wife who’s on the edge of divorcing him due to money, and a lot of debt. The other reality is that in April, they are going to fire everyone else anyway. My VP is leaving the company in the next month or so to avoid the death of my corporation. So these two things popped into my head:

1. I could not live with my conscience if the other guy’s life imploded from losing his job now (of all times).
2. I wanted to leave with a severance package while the company has money to give severance packages.

So I took the bullet for the other guy. It was actually harder on everyone else in my team than me when I packed up my belongings and walked out the door. The lady learning how to be a manager from me told me she has no direction, no idea what to do now. My coworkers felt their morale plummet, and they now have to do everything I was doing on top of what they were doing. One lady wouldn’t stop hugging me. “You can’t go,” she said, “There’s no more happiness in the office without you here.”

I feel worse for my coworkers, honestly. I didn’t like my job much, so it won’t hurt me as much. I have 21 weeks of severance starting in December, and I’ll switch to COBRA for awhile to keep my insurance. I have friends and connections to turn to to get another job. I have a lot of fight left in me, and I want to do something different.

I’m actually free now, so I’m going to use this as a positive experience to go on and actually get a job I like better than the one I had. And hopefully get paid for the work I do.

Don’t worry about me – I’ll be fine.

Washington DC Health Care Protest

Wasn’t as much as a protest as Hannity and the rest of Fox News wanted it to be. So they did what they always do – doctor footage to make the protest look bigger. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get past the scrutiny of Jon Stewart, who took time to point out that the supposed footage from the Health Care protest was actually footage from Glenn Beck’s 9/12 rally. Whoops!

Depending on how you decide to spin the story, an Associated Press poll either proves one of two things:

1. In the case of Yahoo! and CNN, the majority of the public still approves of Obama, although they are unhappy with the Congressional Democrats.

OR

2. In the case of Fox News and MSNBC, Obama’s popularity slips even more and the Democrats are the most hated people on the planet.

Considering Fox News’ track record, I’m more inclined to believe the first option (and after looking at the actual data from the poll, it is true that Obama hasn’t lost much support, just the Congression Dems). Why MSNBC feels the need to hop on the Negative Nancy bandwagon, I have no idea.

Being Wealthy and TOLERANT Makes You Happier

This study – while rather bland and stating the obvious – just proves further that religious tolerance makes you a happier person. Unlike some unhappy groups, who claim gay people are “terrorists”. If these people don’t lighten up, they’ll die from stress fairly soon.

The GOP claims that Democrats put their agenda ahead of the country. Then, when a reporter asked, “How is this different from when the GOP put their agenda ahead of the country prior to 2006?” they stopped taking questions. It’s kinda hard to say you’re not putting your agenda ahead of the country when your religious constituents take it upon themselves to get involved in politics.  What’s interesting is that the GOP’s approval did not even budge from 29% after that statement.

Glenn Beck is on Fox News because Rupert Murdock is racist himself. No matter how “right” a remark may seem, it’s still racism. It’s only good business to avoid racism, as the 10 sponsors that bailed on Beck proved. You have to wonder what it is about pop political stars – Sarah Palin said at one of her book talks that the dollar coin is a conspiracy to integrate black people as leaders. What the fuck is that?

Unfortunate Realities

My prayers go out to the people attacked and traumatized by the shooting at Fort Hood yesterday. It’s a dark day when a soldier turns on his fellow soldiers and kills them. The worst part of this was having to watch the different cable news channels discuss it. Once again, Fox News trumped the retarded list by immediately placing blame on his Muslim-sounding name before we had any details. And yet – somehow – Fox News is the most trusted news channel in recent polls. My country is full of empty-headed morons who like to watch Glenn Beck for the entertainment value.

Dick Cheney needs to go on a vacation. I mean, he’s clearly out of his league now, and it shows. Poor Dick – still wants to feel relevant in a world that’s passed by (and trying to keep a lawsuit against him from forming). I’m really ashamed of his horrible behavior.

Pakistan claims to be clearing out the Taliban, but that remains to be verified. I’m almost certain that this is all one giant propaganda campaign to keep India from getting involved. The US is clearly worried about India getting involved, since – you know – they haven’t signed a Nuclear Proliferation Treaty.

I sympathize with the gay people in Maine. But you people have to learn where to place the blame and focus when things don’t go your way. Be realistic – do you really think the President could have changed the course? I don’t – you had a very energized anti-gay organization using some very unethical and hateful tactics in your state. Go after those people, and earn some real sympathy.

If anyone doubted my previous sociological preaching that the rich get the most life choices in the US, here’s proof – the rich got the H1N1 vaccine ahead of the regular people who are at greater risk. I can guarantee this has to do with money and influence coming before pregnant women, young kids and at-risk elderly people. Which is embarrassing for the US and their claim that everyone is treated equally.

 

 

 

 

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying Game 3rd Edition

Time out from the blah blah blah of political douche-baggery that I normally write about to talk about something I’m involved in:

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying Game 3rd Edition

(or as some people are calling it, “Version 3″ or “WHRP v3″)

Apparently, there is a huge amount of purism pushing people to protest this game. Granted, it’s a new system and a new way of playing the game that draws from the successes of other popular RPGs in existence (D&D 4e, for example). What I’m seeing is a similar negative response from fanboys/girls that I saw in another re-imagined franchise.

Fallout 3

If you’ve read any of my previous entries about FO3, you’ll see that I basically was disgusted in the fantard reactions of old fans of the original series (for example, the negative Nancys of No Mutants Allowed). I’m starting to see the same problematic fantardism arise from the old WHRP fans. I understand some of the complaints, but there are others that just don’t hold water (and are basically people bitching about having to use a new system because they are old people sitting on their porch yelling, “Get off mah lawn!”).

Here’s what changed in WHFR 3e:

• Instead of percentile dice (2d10), it uses a lot of unique dice to generate results. Most of the action/result can be determined directly from what was rolled.
• Making a party an actual character with stats (and a meter to keep parties from bickering too much).
• Cards to indicate what actions or talents the PCs are presently invoking for the round. Cards can actually gain tokens that can be used to do different options on the cards.
• The four races available out of the core set is Reikland human, High elf, Wood elf and a dwarf.
• Careers are limited to the cards in the box.
• Skills work differently, much like the Dark Heresy system of progression (basic, trained, etc).
• There’s a Stance mechanism that allows players to determine how aggressive they are. Each class has a different stance set up. However, green always = calm and red always = fired up. It can affect how certain talents and actions work. Built out of small chits that link together, and tracked with a counter.

So, what are the issues that I see with the game (the legit issues, in my eyes):

• Price. The price for the core set is $100. Or $120 for the expansion that comes out at the same time that adds careers and more spells.
• Space. I see the space needed to play the game is restricted to a large area, with cards, sheets, dice and stance meters. Lots of parts involved.

And that’s it. Those are legitimate inhibiting factors when you look at WHFR 3e compared to all the other RPGs that use unique stuff. In fact, WHFR 3e isn’t even all that unique. So here’s the illegitimate complaints:

• It’s a boardgame. No it isn’t. There’s no boardgame mechanics in the game. You’re just bitching that it looks like one because you hate the fact that Black Industries isn’t producing the game and Fantasy Flight Games is.
• It’s fiddly (too many cards, too many counters, etc) to be effective/speedy. We don’t know that, since we haven’t tried playing it yet. What I see are tools – the GM only has to look at the table once to see what everyone is doing. New players can read from cards instead of having to bust out the rulebook and flip through dozens of pages to find out what which talent/power does what.
• The percentile dice system is better. I’ve never thought so, and a lot of GM’s agree with me. Here’s why – people who know the percentage of chance to succeed at anything will more likely weigh all their character’s decisions on that instead of roleplaying. Not knowing the chance of outcome forces players to instead rely on “what would my character do” decisions instead of “Oh, I have a 50% chance of failing so I’m not doing it.”
• It was great the way it was, why change it? Uh, that’s never an excuse for anything. Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight Games are businesses, and – like other RPG companies – move their games in directions of the money. Right now, card-driven, unique game systems that make it easier for new GMs and players to play are huge. So the games move that way. The old v1 and v2 of WHRP was not drawing in a lot of players, and was a bit of a pain in the ass for GMs.
• It won’t capture the gritty feel of Warhammer. That – again – is bullshit. GMs create and run the setting, so it’s the GM’s job to set a gritty feeling. Or maybe the players don’t want to play WHRP in the old gritty fashion, and want to run a more heroic, high fantasy version? GMs can do that as well. Even if the new mechanics are slightly tilted to a more dynamic, faster style than the old versions, it’s still the GM who sets the tone of the world and the other characters in it. The GM is also the final arbiter of the rules and how the world goes.

What kills me are all the “this is heresy!” and “it ain’t Warhammer if it has pretty bits and a more dynamic system” type complaints. These are aesthetic issues that have more to do with player and GM preference than anything else. Don’t like v3? Then play v1 or v2! You are the consumer, you tell the developer through your wallets! But don’t sandbag and boycott the fun of everyone else looking forward to v3. Stop being a complaining, threatening, annoying shitbird.

It’s not fucking rocket science people. It’s a role-playing game.

The GOP Needs to Get Rid of Mike Steele

Out of the three races I was interested in, there was only one GOP upset in my eyes. There was a Democrat upset, as well.

First, I knew Jon Corzine wasn’t going to win. He made so many errors as governor that I knew last year that he’d most likely lose to whoever ran against him, Republican or Democrat. Christie, no matter how much of a horrible politician he is, was a shoe-in.

Second, I was slightly surprised that Deeds lost as bad as he did. I had a hunch that McDonnell – who campaigned as a moderate – would win.

Third, I wasn’t sure that Bill Owens would upset Hoffman. I knew that Hoffman was an ultra-conservative businessman running for the Congressional seat, but I wasn’t sure that his hard right stances would hurt his chances. Apparently it did, and apparently the GOP should take a lesson from that.

But, as always, Mike Steele – GOP leader – thinks that the elections mean that they need to crank even farther to the right. It’s a WTF are you doing? moment. Someone needs to kick that asshole out. Again, Republicans refusing to see reality for their own ulterior motives.

And Bloomberg … fucking Bloomberg. What a hypocritical crook. Wins by spending $100 million after stating years ago that all politicians should have term limits (which, when it came time to give up the seat, helped remove the term limits so he could run again). Turning the NY mayor seat into something greasy like the Chicago mayor’s seat. If we’re lucky, he’ll choke on his own bile before he gets settled in for another term.

Also, fuck the anti-gay people of Maine. You may have won today, but I guarantee you’ll lose in the future. It’s inevitable, and being anti-gay is not preserving the institution of marriage in Maine and across the nation. What a load of crap that came out of the gay marriage opposition leader’s mouth.

 

 

 

Will Hoffman Hurt the GOP?

The more stringent conservative is running for NY’s senate seat today, but the fact remains – what kind of change does he spell for the GOP? Some? A little? A lot? None? It’s coupled with the Florida and Virginia governors races, but I really think this one election will tell the GOP what the regular Republicans want. It’s the fence-sitting, more moderate Repubs that will make a difference. And tell me if its even worth watching the party with any hope.

Iran is in an interesting position, and one we should all pay attention to. Civil unrest always speaks of a regime change in countries in the Middle East, mostly because the religious leaders require the support of the people to keep it together. Without religious leaders backing the current regime 100%, it usually falls to the opposition. This could be Iran’s chance for change.

Warren Buffett is sorta pulling a Charles Mitchell, trying to inspire investor confidence by buying a railroad. I’m not sure it’s working – as of right now, the market is slumping rather low.  I think Johnson & Johnson’s restructuring is a sign of more economic problems in the future, and investors feel it.