Hmmmm...I hear there are some people from NASA are looking for a job. I would say North Korea will have some openings in the near future.

Servant, you can't stay out that long, man. :P The brain forgets stuff...

It basically means:
We plan on being excessively land fat, and know smart grabbers will take our fluff. Therefore, we will make it a policy that we will regrab you until we have our fluff back, or just kill you.

OR

We support weak defensive strategies on the part of our players.

Wah, wah. I barely crossed 70 Mill, so I don't want to hear any whining.

...What's in the boxes??? :P

That's just trading one bats**t crazy religions theory for anothers...

Investing can only be considered to be gambling if the investor isn't doing the proper due diligence before making said investment, often referred to as "risk management."

With gambling there is little you can do to increase your odds. Just buy in and hope your number comes up.

However, I do acknowledge that no matter what, there is always an element of risk of loss with investing.

I agree. Gambling is not investing. And no (experienced) investor would ever take on an investment that had 1 in 176M chance of an ROI.

/me agrees with Vilse...Sad face, and NOT NICE...

Judging by what I've seen from both parties in the US, it is more likely we'll see the privatization of the SSF (more than likely in the next 4-8 years), quickly followed by a raise in the retirement age to 67, or possibly 68. They're are now at the phase where they are transferring the current military retirement structure over to a 401k/investment style. Next will be the SSF, I'm sure.

And everybody told me I was crazy 6 years ago when I said "They're trying to lower our credit rating..." :)

Grizz was just going for a bonus post.
Other than that, I agree with locket: Shoot him.

Seems fair to me. The Catholics seem to take the opposite approach to that situation...

Title 32 is a little lengthy, but here's the link:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/32

I think they're basically saying the activation the award was received under has to be for homeland defense and needs to be 180 days or longer (thus qualifying for veteran status as I understand it).

Not just the C/Is, resellers too. :)

A good read. I like how he breaks down the power structures and highlights each section of the pyramid. What I'm really waiting for is someone that comes out with an article naming names of the said "key players" at the upper echelons that are actually sitting by and calling the shots.

Nicely done...

Stop watching Fox News. I'm saving your life here. :) Anyway...As for the post topic:

While it is true they are "not CIA," they are used (along with other special forces units) internationally to assist in the quick and quiet arrest of war criminals, including HVTs inside countries we are publicly involved in, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as countries we're not publicly in. They accomplish the same tasks by forming specific teams depending on the mission profile. Sometimes forming these teams means selecting certain physical traits, such as skin color, hair type and height/weight. The US military is doing nothing wrong by "profiling" IMO. It's all about mission accomplishment. However, whatever tactical advantage they were attempting to gain has been outed by the brilliant fair and balanced minds at Fox News. Jackasses.

And for the off topic argument:

SEALs perform a variety of missions. Assault missions ARE included. They in fact train extensively for "behind the lines" operations where they ambush, sabotage and psychologically attack in various ways. Imagine being able to blend in with the locals for this. The value is enormous.

I have operated and trained with SEALs while I was in the US Marines and I can tell you a few things here:

I never knew a unit that used three round burst. It has a tendency to jam most NATO and Soviet made weapons resulting in a downed weapon. Nobody likes that in the middle of a firefight. The "hammered pair with failure to stop" is the preferred method (two quick shots, center mass, with one shot to the head if the target is up). While it is dependent on accuracy, it'll at least keep a well maintained weapon from jamming extensively.

That being said, superior firepower is a tactic used by any an all units to fight out of an ambush. I've been through a few, and it is possible. You don't need a lot of rounds. You just need a well placed team, training and an immediate action plan to get out of the kill zone and get back to your ORP and get set for EER.

"There's no squad either. Squads are for regular infantry made up of roughly 16 men or 4 fireteams with 4 members per fire team." -tduong

Unless something has changed in the few years I've been out, both of these statements are incorrect. SEALs form teams based on mission profile, so they vary in size. As far as regular infantry, it's three fire teams of four men each with a squad leader, making a total of 13 men. Due to personnel issues, most squads were reduced to 10 men while in theater. Again, this can vary depending on the unit mission. I deployed several times with a "squad" of only six of us.

Anyway, enjoy the thread. I think it's been knocked far enough off topic to scare most people off anyway.

Oh yeah: BONUS.

@Drow:

Agreed. Typical activity of a corporate sinking ship. Get the officers up on high, and screw the crew. I often wonder why they recommit managers of failing outlets to other struggling outlets and expect a different result...Or maybe they don't.

It's almost like putting a President in office after he bankrupts five oil companies...What could go wrong??????

-"The researchers argue that "the pursuit of self-interest is a more fundamental motive among society's elite, and the increased want associated with greater wealth and status can promote wrongdoing." However, they point out that their findings aren't absolute, and that philanthropic efforts such as those of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet buck the observed trend, as does research which has shown a relationship between poverty and violent crime."-

I think it's inherent in all of us, at any level of society. Those "in poverty" that don't understand the fundamentals of money/economic cycles have the same tendencies, but rather that exploiting an employee, they find an unattended vehicle with an unlocked door, or an unsuspecting passerby. They're not doing it for the thrill. They're doing it in "the pursuit of self-interest."

Life is struggle. It's a struggle to the top of the pile and ethical violations take place at all levels of it.

$0.02

I'm open to the possibilities, but based on their top feed policy I feel they will all be too fat for me. And I thought all marriage was a moot point?

And 80% land? Why not 80% net worth? Does Omega not recognize the term "land fat"? Just curious...

...and gay marriage? :/

And what is considered to be a "top feed" by Omega policy?

Not bad.

Sweet. Happy hunting.

Scode, I admire your courage and tenacity on this one. Top feeding, as a term, is irrelevant. Alliances with "top feed, L:L" policies are nurturing weak and lazy game play. Stick to your guns, and hopefully we'll see a change throughout the game over time.

Abortion and gay marriage are NOT important issues. LOL. What one person, or a couple does isn't going to change anything for the better or worse in the grand scheme of things. And while the war, health care and tax code are discussed, they rarely mention the important parts to it, and usually (I'd say 85% of the time) deflect by going into personal attacks on each candidates voting record. You need to pay more attention before you try telling someone who's right in the middle of the arena that they don't know what is going on.

You've completely deflected away from what I said, and missed my main point in that I agreed with you that there is "no conspiracy." Maybe you should spend more than 10 minutes reading from now on.

"You don't need an organized conspiracy when there are like interests at heart..." -George Carlin

I'll paraphrase the rest as he goes on to explain how these politicians all go to the same schools, belong to the same clubs,etc. Many are members of boards of the very corporations that are "blind" donors to various political interests. In fact, many donate money to both sides as a "just in case" policy.

Furthermore, these "significantly different opinions on many important issues" are rarely "important" and are meant to deflect from the real issues. If you honestly think abortion, gay marriage, legal marijuana, immigration and climate change are the throttles of the American plight, then you sir, are the moron (no offense intended). They deflect your attention from the real problems, such as a lop sided tax code, a multi-trillion dollar (still unjustified) war, crappy healthcare, a ponzi schemed social security system (that is about to be privatized), the fact they're trying to print their way out of a recession (hasn't worked, EVER), and so much other crap that you should REALLY be worried about. They keep the real issues quiet so the "right" people can keep going to the bank and you keep showing up to work on Monday.

Yeah, once you stop reading from the corporate overlord script, they pull the plug. Didn't the same thing happen to Glenn Beck? I seem to remember him spouting off about all the FEMA camps (that he was supposed to debunk, by the way) and next thing you know *poof*. No more Glenn Beck.

I agree with iScode here, this is going too far. I stayed silent while all the "top feeding" policies came into play, but now, I'm gonna blast off on this one.

You bigger crews just can't stand a challenge, can you? Power can shift a little, get over it. Every time certain larger alliances see a challenge in their face they try to adopt rules and policies to protect their position. I understand that once you get in a good position, you want to stay there, but this is going a little too far.

Now, making a policy to protect your land fat countries (referred to as "top feeding") is fully understandable and a completely internal undertaking. No harm done there as long as you can back the policy up decisively without breaking any rules.

But going on to change the entire game from the code on up to protect yourselves? Come on, that's just egotistical. Have some testicular fortitude for a fluffing challenge, and here's another idea: Stop doing things that create suiciders. You can't keep everyone happy all the time, I get that. Grudges can come from anywhere. But if you hit the same country three, four, five or more times in a row then you've earned a few missiles/ABs/BRs and your reset should be ruined. Because you're an idiot. So there's another challenge for you: Develop a policy that avoids creating problems rather than a policy that protects weak and unprepared game-play.

Are suisiders the problem? No, you just forgot the Golden Rule. Get over yourselves, accept a challenge (at least once in a while) and leave the suisiders that you created alone. The odds are already more than enough in the favor of the netters.

5

This is what happens when a system (be it socialist or capitalist) pays off the weak, lame, lazy and otherwise stupid investors (rich and poor) instead of valuing/rewarding hard work and smart investing. Banks across the board made bad loans, with fluffy analysis and then wonder why their money doesn't come back. These banks should be allowed to just fail. Smarter banks will do better. But I guess this is what happens when "everyone can be a winner."

It does beg the question though: Where did the money go? It didn't just vanish, so someone, somewhere has it...

I would love to see a list of people/corporations at the end of the money trail that are quietly counting their cash while a nation collapses on itself...

Oh yeah, and BONUS.

I can't stand it when someone in some government body gets on the "save the whole world" band wagon and decides to do it by taking money from the rest of the people that have earned it. If they're so passionate about this world hunger thing, they can fund it from their own, very well padded bank accounts.

Basically.

No song with that amount of keyboarding could be considered rock...Pop for sure...Although Boston could rock a keyboard in there pretty good, but I still say pop for "The Final Countdown."

Mileage is taken into account as well. I was simply isolating the fuel cost as an example of what a "deduction" can look like.

Rarely can you deduct 100% of anything. Usually it's a percentage of a percentage. I'd really have to ask the accountants to be sure what the actual figures are. I know in terms of my fuel cost for my vehicles I can write off 35% of half of what I spend. So, say I spent $100 on fuel, I can write off 35% of $50 dollars ($17.50). As far as the accounting costs, I'm not quite sure how much, but I'm sure the figure is similar.

Schilling

I know exactly what you mean! Although when I go over some the savings they've given me I find they're totally worth it.

@archaic: Agreed.

Businesses get good tax incentives, as long as they play the game right. I own two businesses right now, and I employ an accounting firm that I meet with once every 3 months for tax planning. They take a look at my companies income (keep in mind, my companies are private, not public like GE), assets on hand, among other things and tell me best how to spend my companies money to beat the tax monster at the end of the year. While I've never had a year where I've payed NOTHING, they do some phenomenal work to get it pretty close to zero, or at least where what I pay in taxes is minimal compared to what the companies pulled in. In GEs case, I'm sure they employ no less than 2500 people just to do their finances, including lawyers, accountants, and probably their own helpers from the IRS. When you have the kind of money they do, you can afford to spend a small fortune just to keep your money out of governments hands (which, in my experience, is for the best).

Side-note: All the money I spend (and GE as well) on accounting services is a tax write off. Cheers.

Schilling

I suppose we should just be happy that US Congress actually came to a decision about...anything?

As for the motivation for the change, I heard on the news that there was some lobbying going on from the companies that actually provide the food to a vast majority of the schools. No doubt, it was profit motivated. In the case of the pizza, only the sauce is actually considered the "vegetable" serving, but it's enough to get a highly marked up product into our schools in mass numbers.

Schilling

I live not to far from NOLA. I've only gone there once on any kind of sight seeing, but it is a cool town.

However, most important in your case is you want to know the places you SHOULDN'T go. Now, I don't know all of them myself, but if you find yourself on a street that isn't lined with "eat here" and or "drinks only $3" signs you need to turn around. Most commonly people not from around here find themselves on the "Ward" streets and wind up getting mugged, or in some cases killed. Nothing to worry about as long as you keep good tabs on where you're headed and stay where all the flashy things are. Use a cab if you need to go between neighborhoods as sometimes there can be bad spots between sights.

Other than that, anything you found on the web links will be neat to see. I wouldn't book anything in advance because there's free stuff going on all the time. 3-4 days isn't much time to see everything, but NOLA is one of those places that never sleeps, so you can pretty much rock on day and night. Definitely worth the trip. If I wasn't so busy so often I'd spend more time there.

Oh, and by the way, it can rain a lot in December, so be prepared for that.

Cheers.

Well...Screw it...

bonus

We can fight alright. :)

They've been around for a while. What they are used for is often used to substitute the WHY question. When you ask any official WHY you pay property taxes they will more than likely tell you WHAT they spend the money on, then the legalities behind it.

Short version is: The US Govn't defaulted twice in history. In order to raise (actually, PRINT) the money they needed, they needed to leverage something tangible (or real). So, they leveraged what the had close at hand, and plenty of: The land. Enter the property tax. Again, short version.

There are many reasons for this (the corporations running America), and I would be here all night typing the history of it. It is very confusing, and you pretty much need a law dictionary to understand 90% of the corporate register, which is mistaken for our Constitution. The US Constitution hasn't technically existed since 1861, and wasn't replaced until 1871.

http://www.youtube.com/..._H5V0Kw&feature=share

The above video explains most of it. What he doesn't go into is the seizing of US Land up in through 1933-1940 that was really the final nail in the US peoples coffin (why we pay property taxes).

In short, all the events from 1861 up to the repealing of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 have greatly contributed to the situation we're in now.

But, my main point here is that the US people have little "rights" at all. If you register to vote, you actually "give up" your rights under the old constitution (which remember, doesn't really exist anymore) for a set of "privileges" to reap the benefits of being attached to the said system. Benefits such as social security, driving and professional licenses. Basically, it gives you access to the dollar. NukEvil hit the nail on the head here: most of the population is so glad to have that paycheck, that dollar, that iPhone, the new TV that they'll just let most of their rights go.

It goes SO FAR that in fact in order for our politicians to serve at the head of the system, THEY HAVE TO BE REMOVED FROM IT, and many are paid a substantial amount to let it ride out with tight lips. Best example to date: Tea Party. You want to talk about a political 180?????

Furthermore, through not just one, but several provisions in legislation from April 5, 1933 to the Bush era (2002 and up) US Citizens (the privileged) can, at any time be declared as enemy combatants and detained at the will of the United States so long as they have given up their rights to exist under a free constitution.

I'll leave it at that, I've droned on to long. Watch the above video, fire up the law dictionary (they may have one online) and do some research for yourself. You'd be surprised, shocked and appalled at what you'll find. More-so at what these banks can get away with now, that "we the people" have basically allowed them to do.

Schilling

Wish I still lived in Jersey. I'd be game for a boozefest. As it is, I'm in Louisiana at the moment. Maybe next year. Have fun...

Correct on all counts. He hit one of our guys 11 times. That will get you on the kill list with any alliance.

As far as the other untagged we killed this set, he hit someone 7 times, unprovoked. Again, that will get you on a kill list, tagged or not. I'm still trying to figure out how defending ourselves puts us into the cowards category. Perhaps Mapleson can enlighten us further?

Cheers.

@qzjul: Noted. I failed to realize that under some stats "Natural Gas" and "Oil" are sometimes paired together and listed as fossil fuels. Would account for why I was under the idea that 71.6% of our electricity in the US came from oil. It doesn't, but some clever statistics manipulation sure as hell made me think it did.

And to think this was a discussion on "easy" fixes to the economy...

Schilling

It isn’t that simple, Deerhunter. The banks are good at finding the “free” money and closing shorts, calls, puts and straddles wouldn’t really fix anything. They will simply move on to a new mid to high-yield trade, and continue to hoard the money until they find qualified mortgagors to issue these loans to. I do agree, just based on sheer numbers that, they do need to start lending again and need to be encouraged to do so. I don’t think they’ll be as encouraged to take on the bad loans they did before, even though they made trillions in the process last time.

In terms of the housing market just rebounding after a few years, I hate to say it, but it isn’t going to happen. I own a company in the property preservation field and opened up my services to HUD, and various banks in the southern US last year. We are still sitting on more than 56 months of inventory, and we have several million houses that still have not been released. Also, every 3-4 months this drags on, we add another month to this inventory. So, in short, by November, we’ll have 57 or maybe 58 months of vacant inventory, PLUS the 3 months we waited for the new numbers to weigh in. So, let’s call it 60-61 months of inventory or FIVE YEARS before we reach the “magical” 1 million transitional households that Warren Buffett mentions so prominently (although, he does admit that it won’t be the fix all point that some media outlets boast).

As far as the oil goes: what Detmer said. I worked sub-sea operations in the Gulf of Mexico for a couple years working for several oil companies and it takes a long…looooong time to go from exploration to production. Even the Macondo Well that BP botched was in a plug and abandon step, and they were basically going to sit on the well for 3-5 years before producing. Alternative energy is definitely the way to go here, but with all the big oil subsidies coming in the form of $4B a year in tax dollars it will be a while before we see these really take a foothold.

Now, on to the comment about “back to $1/gal”…CAN’T HAPPEN. IMMPOSSIBLE. Two reasons, with one being just good old fashioned greed. These oil companies are seeing record profits while they sit on inventory for months on end. I doubt they’ll relinquish that easily. And 2: Peak oil. We hit it already. The cheap, easy to get to oil (mainly the WTI, or “sweet crude”) that is easy to refine has been used up. We’re drilling deeper for lower quality oil that takes more time and resources to refine. Simple equation: Time (money) + resources (more money)= more expensive oil/oil based products. And just a bonus point: What do you think we’re burning to produce the electricity for those electric cars? Yeah, Oil and Coal, which actually produces a net-energy LOSS in most cases (not all) which increases demand further which increases prices. So, I’m sticking by my prediction for $5 dollar gas by fall 2012.
That’s enough out of me for now. Peace.

Schilling

Yeah...I'm so white, when I bust a move, it stays busted.

Schilling

Don't be a menace to South Central while drinking your juice in the hood.

Schilling