Been having a blast in EVE, my favorite game (and online crack addiction), since joining Faction Warfare. My character has continued to grow in combat skills and experience and I am really enjoying this amazing game.

I recently moved from the 24th Imperial Crusade, the default militia for the Amarr Empire (my faction), and joined a player corporation with some of the best ship captains in this theater. Gunship Diplomacy has now recognized my contributions to the fight and Meridius Dex has been awarded the Amarr Faction Campaign Medal, my first step towards obtaining immortality in this campaign!

2008.11.20 09:26
The AMARR FACTION CAMPAIGN MEDAL decoration has been awarded to you by Gunship Diplomacy for gallantry pursuing Amarr Faction warfare objectives. This decoration has the following description:

Awarded by his Imperial Majesty Yonis Ardishapur in recognition of the contribution made by active pilots of Gunship Diplomacy. Recipients carry the blessing of the Archbishop of Dakba, keeper of the holy bones of Saint Aman.

I also just this past week received another promotion following a series of victories, including the Fall of Kourmonen. Kourm was one of our original systems long since conquered by our sworn enemies, the Minmater. After many battles, the system was finally retaken this past week.

As such, I received notice of the following in a communique:

2008.11.08 14:08
For your efforts in bringing Gods word to the heathens you have been promoted to the rank of Marshal Commander.

My corp, Gunship Diplomacy, was also recognized in a rare out-of-game manner by the developers of the game through a news bulletin:

Bones of St. Aman Transported to Dakba

This sort of role-playing element is a fun component of EVE and can help bring the game to life. Regardless, the fun of the game is the action itself. And I am getting a ton of action!

For the next 6 days, until December 1st, a new player giving EVE a try and get 21 days FREE instead of the usual 14. This is a great deal! Experience the community that they are part of and travel with them on dangerous missions, fierce battles and engaging journeys through the vastness of New Eden.

This is a no-hassle trial, so you will NOT have to enter credit card information to start playing. Then when the trial ends you will be able to start your subscription if you like and retain your characters.

Make a comment below if you’d like me to send you a link for the Special Offer!

This song has been rolling around in my head the past few days. So, once again, I’m passing it along to you to see if it does the same. Time for an 80s flashback!

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Today I bring you the following hilarious clip from British TV series Harry Enfield and Chums. Enjoy!

By Richard D. Lamm (reprinted from World Net Daily and other sources).

In 2004, Richard D. Lamm, former governor of Colorado, addressed a conference sponsored by the Federation for American Immigration Reform in Washington.

I have a secret plan to destroy America. If you believe, as many do, that America is too smug, too white bread, too self-satisfied, too rich, let’s destroy America. It is not that hard to do. History shows that nations are more fragile than their citizens think. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and they all fall, and that “an autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.” Here is my plan:

1. We must first make America a bilingual-bicultural country. History shows, in my opinion, that no nation can survive the tension, conflict and antagonism of two competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. One scholar, Seymour Martin Lipset, put it this way: “The histories of bilingual and bicultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension and tragedy. Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, Lebanon – all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with its Basques, Bretons and Corsicans.”
2. I would then invent “multiculturalism” and encourage immigrants to maintain their own culture. I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal: that there are no cultural differences that are important. I would declare it an article of faith that the black and Hispanic dropout rate is only due to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out-of-bounds.
3. We can make the United States a “Hispanic Quebec” without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently, “The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved, not by tolerance, but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentrically, and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.” I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with a salad bowl metaphor. It is important to insure that we have various cultural sub-groups living in America reinforcing their differences, rather than Americans emphasizing their similarities.
4. Having done all this, I would make our fastest-growing demographic group the least educated – I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50 percent dropout rate from school.
5. I would then get the big foundations and big business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of victimology. I would get all minorities to think their lack of success was all the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population. Read the rest of this entry »

Tom Adkins is feeling uppity. Now that white Americans have voted for a black President the Era of White Guilt is over. Now if only someone would mention to the 95% of black Americans who voted for a terrorist protégé that they should consider judging a man by the content of his character, not the color of his skin.

From this day forward, my tolerance level for having my skin color hustled is exactly ZERO. No more Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s “God Damn America,” Al Sharpton’s Church of Perpetual Victimization, or Jesse Jackson’s rainbow racism. Cornel West? You’re a fraud. All those “black studies” programs must now teach kids to thank Whitey. And I want that on the final.

Congressional Black Caucus? Irrelevant. U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.)? Shut up. ACORN? Outlawed. Black Panthers? Go home and pet your kitty. Black separatists? Find another nation that offers better dreams. To those Eurosnots who forged careers hating America? I’m still waiting for the first black French president.

No more quotas. No more handouts. No more complaining that “the man” is keeping you down. “The man” is now black.

Ugly the cat.

Everyone in the apartment complex I lived in knew who “Ugly” was. Ugly was the resident tomcat. Ugly loved three things in this world: fighting, eating garbage and, shall we say, love.

The combination of these things combined with a life spent outside had their effect on Ugly. To start with he had only one eye, and where the other should have been was a gaping hole. He was also missing his ear on the same side, his left foot appeared to have been badly broken at one time and had healed at an unnatural angle, making him look like he was always turning the corner. His tail had long since been lost, leaving only the smallest stub which he would constantly jerk and twitch.

Ugly would have been a dark gray, striped tabby, except for the sores covering his head, neck, even his shoulders with thick, yellowing scabs. Every time someone saw Ugly there was the same reaction: “That’s one UGLY cat!!”

All the children were warned not to touch him, the adults threw rocks at him, hosed him down, squirted him when he tried to come in their homes or shut his paws in the door when he would not leave.

Ugly always had the same reaction. If you turned the hose on him, he would stand there getting soaked until you gave up and quit. If you threw things at him, he would curl his lanky body around your feet in forgiveness. Whenever he spied children he would come running, meowing frantically to bump his head against their hands, begging for their love. If you ever picked him up he would immediately begin suckling your shirt, earrings, whatever he could find.

One day Ugly shared his love with the neighbor’s huskies. They did not respond kindly and Ugly was badly mauled. From my apartment I could hear his screams and I tried to rush to his aid. By the time I got to where he was lying, it was apparent Ugly´s sad life was almost at an end.

Ugly lay in a wet circle, his back legs and lower back twisted grossly out of shape, a gaping tear in the white strip of fur that ran down his front. As I picked him up and tried to carry him home, I could hear him wheezing and gasping and could feel him struggling. “I must be hurting him terribly”, I thought.

Then I felt a familiar tugging, sucking sensation on my ear. Ugly, in so much pain, suffering and obviously dying, was trying to suckle my ear. I pulled him closer to me and he bumped the palm of my hand with his head. Then he turned his one golden eye towards me, and I could hear the distinct sound of purring. Even in the greatest pain, this ugly, battled-scarred cat was asking only for a little affection, perhaps some compassion.

At that moment I thought Ugly was the most beautiful, loving creature I had ever seen. Never once did he try to bite or scratch me, or even try to get away from me or struggle in any way. Ugly just looked up at me completely trusting in me to relieve his pain.

Ugly died in my arms before I could get inside. But I sat and held him for a long time afterward, thinking about how one scarred, deformed little stray could so alter my opinion about what it means to have true pureness of spirit, to love so totally and truly.

Many people want to be richer, more successful, well liked, beautiful. But for me, I will always try to be Ugly.

…you got him.

Ah, well. It was a nice country while it lasted, wasn’t it?

USA 1776-2008 R.I.P.