Ashoka the Great

As a certified expert on rogue Senators, I can honestly say that there appears to be no reason whatsoever for these sanctions.

[quote name='Adam Suttler' timestamp='1294276054' post='2565064'] To be honest, I'm still baffled how we managed to screw this up... [/quote] /me pounds desk HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Oh God. Stop it. Please. You're killing me.

[quote name='Karl Peters' timestamp='1294275634' post='2565046'] [IMG]http://i51.tinypic.com/2dqt3l3.jpg[/IMG] There ya go. It wasn't months it was days! [/quote] Am I to understand that TGE's official position is now: "We had this information for months, but we didn't know we had it!" Really? Truly, your alliance is the gift that keeps on giving.

[quote name='Comrade Craig' timestamp='1294271678' post='2564934'] It feels like I fell asleep last night and woke up in 2008. Are we still engaging in witch hunts over people's extra-curricular activities? I'm not sure I have the stamina to go through all that again.[/quote] Neither do I, Craig. Neither do I. As our MoFA has said, our involvement in this is now concluded. [quote]Nonetheless, I'm very interested in the claims of blackmail (or if not exactly blackmail then something like it). If any Nordreich government officials feel like sharing the details, I'd love to have a private chat.[/quote] While I have known about the substance of this for a few days now, I did not take part in any of the conversations surrounding this particular event. (One of the perqs of being an ex-Kaiser, I suppose. You get briefed on things but don't really have to [u]do[/u] anything.) I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Zeppelin(?) may be the person who can fill you in. Our Kaiser is probably already in bed. (And if he isn't, he should be! tsk tsk tsk)

[quote name='Sabcat' timestamp='1294267871' post='2564818'] Have I got this right, TGE knew about this and said nothing but then planned to to discredit Nordreich?[/quote] Yes you have. [quote] How do Nordreich know this?[/quote] Ahh....good question. And this answer is: 'past experience'. You see, back when NoR was re-founded, TGE's Kaiser attempted to dictate who could and could not belong to the alliance and its government. Then, not long after I stepped down as Kaiser, it was discovered that a certain individual was spying on Nordreich. Several months later, this same spy attempted to coup a Nordreich protectorate, was expelled from said protectorate, joined TGE and was installed in their government [b]the same damn day[/b]. Nothing suspicious about that, right? Amazingly, although Nordreich approached both FOK and INT about this last incident, one individual who harbors a four-year grudge against Nordland insisted that this was all an elaborate plot on our part to go to war with TGE, INT or both. He of course ignored (or perhaps was unaware of) the fact that Nordreich had approached all of our 'traditional' adversaries before reforming, making it clear that we had no intention of re-hashing years-old drama. (Indeed, as an act of good faith, [url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=59685"]not long after reforming we worked with both INT and LSF[/url] to deal with spies and agents provocateurs in our midst.) Before our reformation we approached TGE with an open hand. Not only did they slap that away, but through their scheming they have repeatedly shown themselves to be a discredit to their allies, all of whom I respect btw. Anyway.... The intriguing part is that the information TGE presented to Nordreich clearly shows that they knew about this while tied to TKoI, but waited until said alliance was tied to Nordreich before showing off logs to various people. All of this shows that TGE continues to scheme like a group of brain-damaged vandals; the kind who would vandalize your car by scratching their name and phone number into the paint. My condolences to FOK, INT and WAPA.

Never dealt with you guys personally, but from what I've heard you were a good bunch. Good luck wherever you may end up.

I took part in one of these podcasts quite a while back. I believe it was shortly after the whole 'Rogue Red Senator' thing. It was fun, and I would suggest that all players might get something out of this. Merely saying something does not make it so. Besides, a true right-winger would not split an infinitive.

If the individual currently paying to host NoR's forum quit, took much of the government with him and proceeded to act in a manner that was generally hostile, you can bet we'd go looking for a new forum -- even if only one of those crappy free ones as a stopgap measure -- right away. We certainly wouldn't put it off for two or three weeks. I'm not trying to blame the victim here. What happened was incredibly childish. However, it was also 100% legal. All parties in this mess have come out of it looking a bit stupid.

I think I'm pretty much caught up now, and am prepared to issue my official statement on this matter: This is stupid. Thank you and good day.

I once lived in a part of Canada that is routinely -40C/-40F in the Winter and 40C/104F in the Summer. When it's cold out, you can always find a place to get warm. You can't always find a place to cool down when it's hot. So, if I have to choose between two extremes, I'll take cold. Otherwise, like most folks, I like my weather to be temperate.

I found re-rolling to be incredibly easy, but I can understand why some might have problems re-establishing themselves. /s/ kingzog

[quote name='SirBombAlot' timestamp='1294110300' post='2562587'] Visit UPN's boards and see what Peggy did to their boards, http://cnupn.net/ Then fill in a few blanks and BAM, you have this ridiculous thread. [/quote] Except that http://cnupn.com appears to be a-OK. So now I'm really confused. Who did what to whom? Seriously....I'm not getting it.

[quote name='JBone' timestamp='1294096068' post='2562348'] Just to clarify, TPF and FEAR are not treaty partners. I'm sure there are many other ways to hum the same melody, just using different words. [/quote] Oh damn. And yes, I'm sure I could have done the same thing with some other alliances. Curse you, CN Wiki and your outdated ways.

I look at this situation, compare it to the dozens of nations who flicked to Vox during the noCB War and think, "No big deal." One person's freedom fighter is another person's terrorist/mercenary/spy/rogue Red Senator or whatever. About the only constant we can expect is that peoples' perceptions about who's who will differ. From my vantage point, I can only repeat what I have said previously. Those who joined with NEW during this past conflict are precisely the kind of people that any alliance would be proud to call friends.

It's a shame we weren't included, although I can understand why. Allow me to explain what I mean: *ahem* [b][center]VE (PB) > RoK > NoR > Val > BAPS > TPF > FEAR > NEW > PC (PB) > VE (PB) > RoK > NoR > Val > BAPS > TPF > FEAR > NEW > PC (PB) > VE (PB) > RoK > NoR > Val > BAPS > TPF > FEAR > NEW > PC (PB) > VE (PB) > RoK > NoR > Val > BAPS > TPF > FEAR > NEW > PC (PB) > VE (PB) > RoK > NoR > Val > BAPS > TPF > FEAR > NEW > PC (PB) > VE (PB) > RoK > NoR > Val > BAPS > TPF > FEAR > NEW > PC (PB) > VE (PB) > RoK > NoR > Val > BAPS > TPF > FEAR > NEW > PC (PB) > VE (PB) > RoK > NoR > Val > BAPS > TPF > FEAR > NEW > PC (PB) > VE ( PB)[/center][/b] Neat, huh? Or, if you prefer, I could set it to music: [center][i] This is the war that never ends. It goes on and on my friends. Someone started fighting it not knowing what it was, and they'll continue fighting it forever just because, (repeat) [/i][/center]

The Rose Bowl was a great game. Or, rather, the first half was a great game. It slowed down quite a bit in the second half. I'm sure Wisconsin's kicker was up all night kicking himself for missing that 39-yard field goal.

[quote name='President Hardin' timestamp='1293562250' post='2556347'] i hope you are not defending NoR's decision to ZI Ty here. I would be extremely disappointed if that were the case. It's one of the worst decisions I have seen lately from any alliance. [/quote] I'll defend it. Ty's a moronic drama queen.

Congratulations to our friends in Valhalla and their friends in Exodus.

I've had a Netbook for over a year now. I installed Linux on it (Ubuntu Netbook version) and use it exclusively for Web surfing, reading e-books, and writing various documents like articles, reviews, etc. My Netbook has an 8GB SSD, which probably doesn't seem like much. However, it's fine for my purposes. I also have two 8GB flash drives. It's small, it's light, it's handy to have at airports and other places with free WiFi....and it cost me a whopping $199. Can't go wrong there.

Finally, something to compete with Pandora's Box for the 'Worst Name Ever' award. Kudos.

Funny, I recall similar questions being raised when Aerosmith released the video for Janie's Got a Gun about twenty years ago. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

From way up here in the Great White North, the Tea Party appears to be (almost) a Paleo-Libertarian group. That is, a group of Libertarians whose social views are generally conservative. They don't wish to impose those views on others, but they refuse to accept the idea that they must 'accept' (as opposed to 'tolerate') any social values that are outside what most people would consider to be the norm. This is a perspective that many on the Left have difficulty understanding, since anything less than full-blown acceptance is inconsistent with their worldview. Notwithstanding this confusion, the typical Paleo-Libertarian has difficulty relating with social conservatives, since the latter would support policies which would entrench a 'conservative' moral position within the law. (Something that would be anathema to Libertarians, who favor individual choice over legislative dicta.) Clear as mud, right? Well, at least it covers the ground.

I think you may be the only person who noticed that I'm almost (but not quite) like both Hitler and Stalin? Anyway, what this graph is missing is a Z Axis. Specifically, it should ask how many people you're willing to kill in order to bring your preferred policies about. If the answer is....well....more than zero, then perhaps it might be appropriate to tell the poor, unsuspecting test-taker that he/she is somewhere in-between two of the greatest monsters history has produced. Otherwise it really doesn't apply.

Good point. An example of the difference for Americans: In the United States, the discussion about health care focuses on how much of it should be controlled by the government vs. insurance companies. In Canada, the argument is centered on whether or not the private sector should run any part of the system. No politician, even the most 'conservative' by Canadian standards, has put forward the idea that we should ditch socialized medicine. The argument is about making it work better, not replacing it with something else. Years ago, I saw Preston Manning and Ron Jeremy on the same interview program. Ron Jeremy was on first, and then Manning came out and described his vision of 'Prairie Populist Conservatism' or however one wishes to put it. Manning went on at length, after which Ron Jeremy said to the interviewer, "If this is your idea of a conservative, I'm moving to Canada." And the truth is that this American porn star had a very good point. Mainstream Canadian politics does not include an American-neocon-style party, despite what opposition parties may say about Stephen Harper from time to time. From having lived across the country, I'm fairly confident in saying that the only province with truly polarized politics is British Columbia. There's virtually no political Center there. Everywhere else (except for Alberta, which is overwhelmingly conservative) has its politics clustered around the Center. This is how we're able to switch from one party's rule to another's with almost no noticeable change in policy. Or, as my ex-wife's uncle put it in a conversation with me, "The difference between the Liberals and the Conservatives is that one party is in power, while the other is not."

I have a feeling that I could do this test a month from now and get wildly different results. Many of the answers will remain the same regardless of my particular mood -- the one about astrology, for example -- but the fact is that some of them are (in my opinion) misleading in a 'Have-you-stopped-beating-your-wife' kind of way.