Ladywriter

My statement was self explanatory.

A persons opinion speak volumes to me as to what kind of person they are.

Continued surge could spark 'something worse than a mild recession' MSNBC updated 6:17 p.m. ET, Thurs., May. 22, 2008 As dire forecasts about runaway oil prices become reality, it’s impossible to know how much higher they’ll go. But the impact of the price surge already is being widely felt. And if prices go much higher, the damage to the U.S. economy will be deeper and wider than the fallout from the run-up so far.Oil prices have doubled in the past year and have shot up nearly 50 percent since January to a record $135 a barrel. Much of the rise appears to be driven by speculators betting that tight supplies — or outright shortages — will push prices even higher. Consumers — already hit with rising prices and flat wages — are being stretched further. As the Memorial Day weekend kicks off the summer driving season, gasoline prices are at record levels, reaching a national average above $3.83 a gallon. Some analysts predict the average will break past $4 as early as next week. In some parts of the country, prices are already closing in on $5. “We're already in a mild recession,” said Lakshman Achuthan, an economist at the Economic Cycle Research Institute. “I think if we go towards $150 (a barrel), we start talking about something worse than a mild recession.”

‘Laws of supply and demand are at work,’ Shell chairman explains WASHINGTON - Since regular people are scrimping to pay for gasoline to go to work, Sen. Patrick Leahy wanted to make it personal for the men of Big Oil.How much money did you make last year? the Vermont Democrat asked the top executives of the country’s five biggest oil companies. They had been summoned to a Senate hearing to explain the extraordinarily high cost of oil and gasoline and their companies’ profits. Three executives said their compensation was in the millions. Two said they didn’t know. It was the second time this year that the executives of Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., BP America Inc., ConocoPhillips Co. and Shell Oil Co. had been summoned to testify before Congress. When they came in early April oil cost about $98 a barrel. On Wednesday, it bounded past $134 a barrel for a time and gasoline cost a national average of $3.80 a gallon. The executives, whose companies reported $36 billion in profits during the first three months of the year, wanted to talk about tight supplies and growing global demand. They said that while the companies made billions of dollars, they also spent billions to find and produce more oil. But senators complained the executives were trying to come across as “hapless victims” while raking in record profits. They wanted to press the executives about public anguish over paying $60 or more to fill up a car’s gas tank. “Where is the corporate conscience?” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked. “People we represent are hurting, the companies you represent are profiting,” Leahy told the executives. He said there’s a “disconnect” between legitimate supply issues and the oil and gasoline prices motorists are seeing. Profits have been huge “in absolute terms,” conceded J. Stephen Simon, executive vice president of Exxon Mobil Corp., but they “must be viewed in the context of the massive scale of our industry.” And high earnings “in the current up cycle” are needed for investments in the long term, including when profits will be down. “’Current up cycle,’ that’s a nice term when people can’t afford to go to work” because gasoline is costing so much, replied Leahy with sarcasm. The exchanges got personal with Leahy wanting to know how much the executives earned last year. It’s $12.5 million in total compensation, said Simon, the Exxon executive. John Lowe, executive vice president of ConocoPhillips Co., said he didn’t recall his total compensations, nor did Peter Robertson, vice chairman of Chevron Corp. Hofmeister said his was “about $2.2 million” and not among the top five salaries at his company’s international parent. Robert Malone, chairman of BP America Inc., put his “in excess of $2 million.” The executives said restrictions on U.S. oil and gas development is adding to the tight supplies and that they’re worried about being targeted for possible new taxes. “I urge you to resist these punitive policies,” said Hofmeister. It was not what many senators wanted to hear. You have “just a litany of complaints that you’re all just hapless victims of a system,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told the executives. “Yet you rack up record profits ... quarter after quarter after quarter.”

Asian country says it is no longer a net oil exporter JAKARTA, Indonesia - Declining oil reserves and investment have forced Indonesia to quit the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries even as other members cash in on soaring global prices, the energy minister said Wednesday.Purnomo Yusgiantoro said Southeast Asia's only OPEC member no longer belonged among exporting heavyweights like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Kuwait. "Indonesia is pulling out of OPEC," he told reporters, days after his government slashed fuel subsidies that have long protected the poor, forcing prices at the pump to jump by nearly 30 percent. "We are not happy with the high oil price." Indonesia is the region's largest oil producer, but the nation of 235 million people has had to import for years because of aging wells and disappointing exploration efforts. A weak legal system and red tape has scared foreign investors away, even as consumption rises. Purnomo said the decision to leave OPEC was made by the Cabinet of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who said earlier this month the country needed to concentrate on increasing domestic production. Indonesia, which was among the first to join after OPEC was founded in 1960, will remain a member until the end of the year. It will leave open the option of returning if it can build up a surplus. But right now, the energy minister said, we "are a consuming country." The nation's oil production of roughly a million barrels a day is at its lowest level in 30 years.

Consumers will be spending even more for groceries this summer CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - In a year of rising food prices and high fuel costs that are creating pressure to produce more ethanol, the country could really use a perfect corn crop.So far, it isn't happening. And depending on the right mix of sun, heat, rain and cool, it could drive prices up even further. That may mean consumers will be spending even more for groceries like soda, cookies, cake or anything that contains high fructose corn syrup and for any meat that relies on corn as animal feed. A cold, wet spring put crop planting weeks behind schedule across much of the U.S. Corn Belt and drastically slowed growth where corn is already in the ground. Now, farmers in parts of Iowa, Illinois and Indiana are replanting corn that either sat under water in flooded fields too long to germinate or can't break through sodden, compacted soils. And the cool, soggy weather continues, the last thing a heat-loving crop like corn needs. *sigh*

U.S. consumers are moving to hybrids, high mileage models at a fast pace DETROIT - Detroit's automakers have been making the shift to more fuel-efficient vehicles, but consumers have been making the move even faster — to hybrids and high mileage models made overseas. Gas prices have accelerated the move away from trucks and sport utility vehicles at a furious pace, leaving the Big Three at the most critical crossroads in 30 years."In the early '70s, we were caught flat-footed, without smaller, fuel-efficient cars. We had nothing to sell," said Gerald Meyers, a former chairman of American Motors Corp. "That's exactly what's happening now." What could make this worse, says Lehman Brothers auto analyst Brian Johnson, is that the Detroit Three can no longer rely on import restrictions or raising prices, which helped pull them out of the slump in the 1980s. And if gas prices stay high, they can't count on trucks and SUVs coming back, either. "We believe that much of this reduction in full-size truck demand is structural, with many buyers downgrading to smaller vehicles who will likely not come back," Johnson said in a note to investors. Pickup, SUV sales down As of April, year-over-year sales of large pickups were down 17 percent and large sport utility vehicles were down 29 percent, while sales of subcompacts jumped 33 percent and the Toyota Prius hybrid was up 23 percent, according to Autodata Corp. The shift was exacerbated by a perfect storm of high gas prices — which soared 10 percent between March and April alone — as well as the weak economy, tightening credit and the slowdown in home construction. There isn't likely to be much improvement in May. Himanushu Patel, an auto analyst with JPMorgan, predicted sales will fall 10 percent in May from the same month last year, and that General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC will each see double-digit declines. Automakers report May sales Tuesday. Despite automakers' earlier hopes for a rebound in the second half of this year, many analysts are now expecting the pain to last well into 2009 and even beyond.

Activists vessel campaigning against overfishing in the Mediterranean ANKARA, Turkey - Turkish tuna fishermen rammed their boat into a Greenpeace ship Friday and pelted it with lead fishing weights, the environmental group said. No one was injured.The fishing vessel was among several that swarmed the Arctic Sunrise, which was carrying activists campaigning against overfishing in the Mediterranean. The boat rammed the Greenpeace ship at high speed, said Yesim Aslan, a spokeswoman for the group. The barrage of lead weights damaged a helicopter that the activists had used earlier in the day to document the vessels' activities, Aslan said. Activists on the ship also heard shots being fired and the Coast Guard in the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun was called to intervene, she said. No one answered telephone calls at a company in the Black Sea town of Giresun whose vessel Greenpeace said was involved in the attack. The head of a main bluefin tuna fishing company in the Mediterranean, Ak Tuna Balikcilik, was at sea and could not be reached for comment, a company secretary said. It was not clear if any of that company's vessels were involved in the incident. 'Fishing itself to death' The Arctic Sunrise was sailing between Turkey and Cyprus to draw attention to overfishing at a channel that Greenpeace says is a main breeding area for bluefin tuna. Greenpeace wants Turkey to immediately stop issuing bluefin tuna fishing permits in the channel and to declare the area a marine reserve. "We understand that these guys are angry and we're angry too," Greenpeace representative Karli Thomas said. "But the real problem here is being caused by the refusal of governments to take action to regulate a fishery that's fishing itself to death." "The population of tuna is close to extinction," Thomas said. "If we don't protect the breeding and spawning grounds now, there will be no fish for the future." Attack on tuna fishing Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks are under serious threat from overfishing. The European Union last year called for stronger protection of the bluefin tuna by extending the fishing offseason, reducing black market fishing and imposing new worldwide cuts in catch quotas. The vast majority of Atlantic bluefin tuna is caught in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, with a smaller percentage fished in the western Atlantic. The Turkish vessels fish in the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara in the winter and move to the Mediterranean to hunt bluefin tuna there in the summer.

Weapons’ biggest makers, users not among 111 countries to adopt ban Diplomats from 111 nations formally adopted a landmark treaty banning cluster bombs on Friday after futile calls for participation by the weapons’ biggest makers and users, particularly the United States.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged every nation in the world to sign the painstakingly negotiated pact “without delay.” Twelve days of negotiations ended after diplomats from scores of nations delivered speeches embracing the accord. It requires signatories not to use cluster bombs, to destroy existing stockpiles within eight years, and to fund programs that clear old battlefields of dud bombs. Key states didn't join talks However, the talks did not involve the biggest makers and users of cluster bombs: the United States, Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan. And the pact leaves the door open for new types that could pick targets more precisely and contain self-destruct technology.Participants plan to sign the treaty in the Norwegian capital Oslo in December. It would go into effect in mid-2009.

article BEIJING - Making good on a promise made in January, China is becoming the latest country to ban free plastic bags, part of a government-led campaign to cut down on waste and help the environment.The nationwide measure that goes into effect Sunday eliminates the flimsiest bags and forces stores to charge for others. Beijing has promised to hold a green Olympic Games this summer, giving extra impetus to a number of environmental policies and projects. Officials have vowed to cut down on the "white pollution" of discarded bags that choke China's cities, farms and waterways. The China Plastics Processing Industry Association estimates the measure will reduce the amount of plastic bags used by a third from 1.6 million tons a year. The Chinese now use 3 billion bags every day, according to the group, and they are virtually indestructible, taking years to break down and commonly ending up in China's clogged landfills. Yu Chuanjing, a college student interning at an investment company in Beijing, said he didn't have the discipline to change his habits alone. "Of course, there'll be trouble at the beginning, but it is a good policy in the long run," Yu said while buying onions at a grocery store. "It is everyone's duty to protect the environment."

Despite Texas Supreme Court ruling, judge demands changes in agreement SAN ANGELO, Texas - A Texas judge refused on Friday to sign an agreement that would have paved the way for the first large batch of children taken from a polygamist sect's ranch to return to their parents, dashing hopes raised by a Supreme Court ruling in the case. Texas District Judge Barbara Walther wanted to add restrictions to the parents' movement and broaden the authority of Child Protective Services to monitor the more than 400 children in foster care before signing an agreement by CPS and the parents that would have reunited the families. When several parents' attorneys objected and argued that Walther didn't have the authority to expand the agreement, she said she would only sign the initial document after all 38 parents whose case was considered by the Supreme Court signed off — a provision attorneys said would ensure the children stayed in custody at least through the weekend. The hearing's end was a stunning development after it appeared the parents and CPS had reached an agreement that would allow children to return beginning Monday. The tentative plan technically applied only to the mothers named in an appellate court ruling that found CPS was unjustified in sweeping up the children from the Yearning For Zion Ranch two months ago, but everyone agreed the order would be extended to all but a few specific children. "There was an opportunity today for relief in this, and it was not granted," said Willie Jessop, an elder for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which runs the ranch. More court filings likely Attorneys for several of the minors and mothers in custody said Walther's refusal to sign the order would likely result in more appellate court filings. While Walther said she would issue the order if all the parents signed, attorney Andrea Sloan said that would take days because parents have spread across the state to be close to their children in foster care. "It's not as simple as going across the street and setting up a booth," said Sloan, who represents several young FLDS women and minors who contend they should be reclassified as adults. Laura Shockley, an attorney for several children and mothers not part of the original appellate court case, predicted more filings in the Third District Court of Appeals in Austin on Monday. That court ordered Walther to allow the children to return to their parents in a reasonable time, a decision affirmed by the Texas Supreme Court on Thursday. Judge objected to deadline The agreement between CPS and parents said they would not be allowed to leave Texas until Aug. 31 but could move back to the ranch. It also called for parenting classes and visits by CPS to interview children and parents in the child abuse investigation. Walther wanted to remove the August deadline and provide for psychological evaluations of the children. All the children living at the ranch were placed in state custody in early April after CPS said the sect was forcing underage girls into marriage and sex and endangering all the children, including infants and boys. An appellate court ruled last week that CPS failed to show an immediate danger to justify taking the children from their parents, saying the state failed to show any more than five of the teenage girls were being sexually abused and offered no evidence of sexual or physical abuse of the other children. and so on... these people don't deserve to get their daughters back at all and they should be jailed like their leader for sexually assaulting minors

'Back to Future' set, King Kong exhibit, video vault destroyed UNIVERSAL CITY, California - A fire at Universal Studios on Sunday destroyed a set from "Back to the Future," the King Kong exhibit and a video vault containing more than 40,000 videos and reels. Los Angeles County fire Captain Frank Reynoso says the blaze broke out just before dawn on a backlot stage at the 400-acre property. The fire has been contained. Officials say the iconic courthouse square from "Back to the Future," has been destroyed, and the famous clocktower that enabled star Michael J. Fox's character to time travel has been damaged. NBC Universal President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Meyer says 40,000 to 50,000 videos and reels were damaged in the video vault, but there are duplicates in a different location. The King Kong exhibit is a stop on the studio's tram tour where the giant ape bellows at passengers and artificial banana scent fills the area, studio spokesman Eliot Sekuler said. Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Daryl Jacobs said at least one building had burned and as many as three blocks of movie facades were destroyed.

Compromise gives each delegate half a vote at convention updated 1:05 a.m. ET, Sun., June. 1, 2008 WASHINGTON - Democratic Party leaders agreed Saturday seat Michigan and Florida delegates with half votes into this summer's convention with a compromise that left Barack Obama on the verge of the nomination but riled Hillary Rodham Clinton backers who threatened to fight to the August convention. "Hijacking four delegates is not a good way to start down the path of party unity," said adviser Harold Ickes. Clinton's camp maintains she was entitled to four additional Michigan delegates. The decision by the party's Rules Committee raised slightly the total delegates Obama needs to clinch the nomination. Clinton advisers conceded privately he will likely hit the magic number after the final primaries are held Tuesday night, but said the ruling threatened to dash any hopes of a unified party. "Mrs. Clinton has told me to reserve her right to take this to the Credentials Committee" at the convention, said Ickes, who is a member of the Rules Committee that voted Saturday. The resolution increased the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination to 2,118, leaving Obama just 66 delegates away from the majority needed to secure the nomination. "Our main goal is to get this resolved so we can focus on winning Michigan and Florida," Obama said while campaigning in South Dakota. "There were compromises. ... I'm glad the DNC worked it through and I hope we can start focusing on substance as opposed to process." The deal was reached after committee members deliberated for nine hours, including three where they met privately and argued fiercely over their eventual deal, according to several people inside. They voted in front of a raucous hotel ballroom that frequently interrupted proceedings and reflected deep divisions within the party. "How can you call yourselves Democrats if you don't count the vote?" one of the many hecklers in the audience yelled loudly and repeatedly before being escorted out by security. "This is not the Democratic Party!" yada yada yada

I had my son for me. I even gave him my name. The father was just a sperm doner. I haven't spoken to the prick in 10 years.

so.... basically Sasuke becomes Orochimaru anyway...... eh

I bet they'll blow a hole right through the red line! X'D

confidentiality between you- a private citizen- n yer doc or lawyer is one thing. National(and global) decisions in a democracy...no place for secrecy. The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all. John F. Kennedy May 18, 1963 It is our duty and our right to police our government. If we don't then it ceases to be a democracy. Citizens should have priority over corporations and presently that is not the case in this country.

He's a loser and a Bush pawn. I have zero respect for the pud. Meeting in confidence is a nice way of saying conspirator gathering. The govt had to be sued to comply with a 1990 law which says that every four years the government must produce a comprehensive science assessment of global warming. I'm not giving props to anybody under control of this administration. They should be jailed not praised.

I don't regret my kids either but I wouldn't cross the street to spit in their old man's hair. Same applies to the ex husband.

By J.R. Pegg WASHINGTON, DC, May 21, 2008 (ENS) - The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stonewalled Democratic lawmakers Tuesday, refusing to provide information about the role the White House played in recent agency decisions involving the regulation of greenhouse gases and the finalization of a new federal smog standard. The defiance of EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson drew a sharp rebuke from the Democratic chair of the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee, who said the EPA chief has repeatedly bowed to pressure from the White House and become "essentially a figurehead." "My concern is decisions at EPA are not being made on the science and they are not being made on the law," said committee Chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat. "They are being made at the White House and they are being made for political reasons." Congressman Henry Waxman chairs the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee. (Photo courtesy Office of the Congressman) Waxman said senior EPA staff had told Congressional investigators that Johnson reversed course on the smog standard, abandoning a plan to set a secondary standard designed to protect natural ecosystems from ground-level ozone, the key ingredient in smog. The investigation by Waxman's committee found that the president weighed in with his opposition to a secondary ozone standard only hours before EPA finalized the new rule on March 12. The EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, CASAC, had recommended setting such a standard to better protect natural ecosystems from the hazards of smog. Documents show Johnson initially agreed with that recommendation. The final rule did not set a secondary standard. Waxman also pointed to depositions from agency staff that said Johnson caved to the White House in deciding to reject California's request to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles. He criticized the EPA chief for a second global warming decision, pointing to agency documents and testimony that indicate Johnson was prepared to push forward last December with an agency effort to begin exploring how to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant, only to abandon the plan due to White House pressure. "Three times in the last six months you have recommended to the White House that EPA take steps to address climate change and protect the environment," Waxman told Johnson. "In each case, your positions were right on the science and the law but in each case you backed down." Waxman added that Johnson and other administration officials have failed to fill in gaps about how the process for each of the decisions was completed and questioned the legality of the White House's involvement. "The president apparently insisted on his judgment and overrode the unanimous recommendations of EPA scientific and legal experts," he said "Our investigation has not been able to find any evidence that the president based his decisions on the science, the record, or the law. Indeed, there's virtually no credible record of any kind in support of the decisions." EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson (Photo courtesy EPA) Johnson defended his actions and repeatedly stymied Democrats looking for answers. He insisted that he was solely responsible for the decisions in question and declined to provide details about his meetings with the president and other White House officials. "I have routine meetings with the executive branch including the president … those meetings are in confidence," Johnson told the committee. Under a barrage of questions from New Hampshire Democrat Paul Hodes, Johnson refused to even acknowledge discussing the decisions with president or other White House officials. "If I did recall, I'm not sure it would be appropriate for me to get into who said what at what time," Johnson said. "I don't believe that it is appropriate for me to discuss the nature of those conversations." The EPA chief added that disclosing such information would limit his ability to have candid conversations with the White House about policy and regulatory matters. President George W. Bush stands beside EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson as he takes his oath of office, May 23, 2005. (Photo by Paul Morse courtesy The White House) Waxman grew visibly frustrated with Johnson during the nearly three hours of questioning. "It seems to me you are being awfully evasive," Waxman said. "No one is asking you what you said, but if there was a conversation." Johnson didn't budge, repeating that he has had "routine conversations" with White House officials on many EPA matters. Republicans on the panel rallied to the Johnson's defense, questioning the motives behind the hearing and arguing that White House involvement in EPA decisions is neither inappropriate nor rare. "Yes, there is undue influence … but no one administration has a monopoly on that," said Representative Brian Bilbray, a California Republican. The president is entitled by law to be involved in EPA decisions, said California Republican Darrell Issa. With regard to the ozone standards, Issa said, the president did provide his opinion and "made no pretense" that he did not. The president's role "does not reflect any unusual or improper action," Issa said, adding that setting a secondary standard would do little to further protect wildlife and vegetation. The EPA chief is not obligated to "simply rubberstamp" CASAC's advice, Issa said. "By definition recommendations can be rejected." But the head of CASAC, Dr. Rogene Henderson, and Democrats on the panel said they wanted to know the reasoning behind the decision and why Johnson gave in to the White House. The advice that appears to be trumping CASAC "is not transparent," Henderson told the committee. "Willful ignorance triumphed over sound science." Johnson replied that he made the decision "based on all the science before me" and praised the transparency of the process. "This is good government," he said. The EPA chief took issue with the report that he had initially supported partially granting the California waiver, saying he had considered a wide range of "legally defensible" options before denying the request. "I evaluated all options," Johnson said. He also told the committee that EPA does intend to move forward with a preliminary notice for options for regulating greenhouse gases next month. But Johnson said lawmakers should develop a new law to tackle carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, rather than relying on the Clean Air Act, which he contends is poorly designed to tackle the concern. "A legislative fix is a much better approach to working with the intricacies of the Clean Air Act and the likely litigation that would ensue," he said. That comment drew another rebuke from the committee chair. "Even if you'd like another law you have to enforce the law that is there," Waxman said. The California Democrat told Johnson he would continue to push for additional documents and information about the three decisions. "You are trying to shield the White House from reasonable oversight," Waxman said. "Unless you assert executive privilege … we expect compliance with the subpoenas."

Not everyone marries or has a child out of love. More often then not its stupidity.

Do your best!

well they are in the last stretch of the GL The 4 emp are here, powerful marines, mermen and giants! Dragon and the revolutionaries, the remaining Shichibukai.... they've prolly had it easy so far in comparison to what they'll face ahead. Look at Zoro after he took Luffy's pain. Anybody else would have died, even Sanji. Zoro is going to have to get that much stronger to endure that kind of damage and still fight ...and win....

Hunting for food, population/disease control are acceptable; its balancing and protecting the ecosystem. Trophy hunting is just egoism run wild. Owning a gun is less of a concern then what an individual does with the gun. Here we can buy long barrel guns (your shotguns and various hunting rifles) at Dicks or Wal*mart. These easily obtained guns are rarely used in street crime. Hunters must get licenses to go hunting (fishing too) to limit the number of animals they drag out of the woods. To legally obtain a handgun you must already have a pistol permit (requires gun safety course) and wait the 30 days for a records check. The gun is also registered. People with felony records can not buy handguns from a store. There are laws in place to keep criminals from buying guns. There are a few things that deter criminals from trespassing/ breaking and entering. A security system, a big barking dog, and knowing a person inside could shoot you injuring or immobilizing you before you could fight back or flee. If a place looks risky chances are they'll move on. Taking guns away from lawful citizens isn't going to help them. There are too many illegal guns on the streets. Not everyone can have a pet or afford a security system but birdshot is hella cheap and there is no long term commitment. Average Joe doesn't want to be the dumb motherfucker that brought a knife to a gunfight. A gun ban just empowers the criminals; they aint gonna give up their guns. Presently we have a sort of cold war style stand off with guns in this country. This place is flooded with illegal weapons; handguns semi auto weaponry etc. and more cross the border every single day. Street gangs and mafia are better armed then some countries military. If the citizenry give up their guns they end up in a position where the criminals and/or a tyrannical military can easily slaughter and dominate the population. People don't want to live with that kind of fear and uncertainty so they fight to keep the second amendment. Think last line of defense scenario... As far as rap... :barf2:can't stand most of it I see a lot of it as a media tool used to incite violence clannish/misogynistic behavior in poor urban areas. I'm not saying all rap artists suck or are evil. Look at who the music industry (corporations) picks out to promote and where they sell that artist the hardest. That can apply to all musicians but generally look for the messages and values the top rap pop country whatever stars are projecting and to what audience. Video games have a rating system for a reason. It's adult irresponsibility that puts these games in kids hands. Again like the music industry most games are directed at a specific audience. They are arguably giving people what they want and making a nice buck off of it.

Xbox is about 100$ more then the Wii. I'd guess that has something to do with it. I know I can't drop that kind of change on a toy.