Raiha

[quote name='Dirti_Munky']The entire collected works of anything to do with Final Fantasy games and Nobuo Uematsu 1.3 GB done, 6.55 GB to go[/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]I recommend the piano version of Besaid Island and The Travel Agency. Both were lovely. Right now I'm listening to artist Plumb's debut album, song "Willow Tree."[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Having enjoyed the first two movies and vaguely suffered through the third, I can safely say that I will not be watching T4 in theaters unless my boyfriend pays for it. However I am not adverse to paying for a rental when it's out on Dvd.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Here's dear old me at Sac Anime 2009. Battle Angel Alita AND Dion Rogers Rinoa. Yes, it was cold. Yes, I was cold. Yes, private photoshoots. [IMG]http://images.cosplay.com/photos/18/1865537.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://images.cosplay.com/photos/18/1865497.jpg[/IMG][/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Now now, it's just some mental paraplegics on the intarwebs making fools out of themselves. Internet hoaxes are so abundant these days I'm sure there's a hate website for everything. It just so happens that retards and goths are more popular. No reason to be upset with some people who sleep alone in mommy's basement. Besides, there are innumerable Christian bashing websites and that doesn't get me steamed. Then again they aren't hoaxes, people actually hate all of us whether it's legitimate or not. Might as well remind yourself gently that not everyone went to school and graduated from high school. That and not everyone is capable of putting one thought together with another thought and getting two thoughts.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]According to the local scuttlebutt in the news files, this move by Putin is more or less him preparing for a cold snap that's apparently going to last at least 5-10 years. He's either stockpiling, or just trying to be prepared, depending on if 'global cooling' actually happens. And that whole Georgia invasion thing was perhaps Putin's way of saying: "Hey you dicks! I can take over this pipeline any dang time I want to!" But that could just be crazy talks.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='Shy'][size=1]This is just another example of Russia exerting its' dominance in the region once again; ultimately it's going to come to a head somehow; either with the U.N. stepping in (unlikely) or former Soviet states rebelling in a futile effort to maintain indepdence. [/size][/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]I suppose the only good news is that most of those areas aren't quite the same as far as size goes as the U.S., which means that they won't be quite as stranded as we would be if we had no gas. 50 miles is a long way to bike to work and back every day. Not that it's any consolation. And the only thing I can see the UN feasibly doing is sending a "strongly worded letter" which will have all the impact and importance on the situation as everyone on the OB wearing the color purple on Tuesdays to protest.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='Darren']While I do agree with the statement that everyone has the right to advertise their beliefs, (and I am an atheist) I think that it wasn't a smart idea. I've heard non-religious people complaining all the time that christians push their views on other people... And then they go and do the same... atheists aren't even an organized religious group... So they need to quit acting like one.[/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Well there ARE the organized atheist lobbies trying to ensure that Obama doesn't use the word 'God' ANYWHERE in his inagural swearing/address/afterspeech/afterparty, etc etc etc. And they're kinda like a religious group in that they have a set of core beliefs, even if they're "God is a white guy trick." OR something like that. But either way they'll continue to act like one as long as they get a response out of people. Just ask Santa Claus, Christmas Trees, and Easter. [/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='Drizzt Do'urden']I know this is not always avoidable, and maybe they were housing rocket sites, but there are other ways and Israel knows it. They just prefer the pure unadultrated agression approach.[/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]I'm not sure I'm following your logic here. Rockets into Israel. Clearly the response is to talk things through with people who have no intention of making peace in return. Everyone's laying the blame as Israel's feet as if they haven't tried the peaceful approach. They gave up Gaza, they gave up territory and what was their reward? More rockets. Into the homes of Israeli civilians. So you'll pardon me and most other logic embracing people for calling the 400 killed a casualty of war. War is never pretty, but it's necessary to end a greater evil, and in this case that's Hamas using their own people as posterboys to build up sympathy in the national press and get what they want. A picture of a crying Palestinian child gets you more international aid money which won't go to the people, it'll just go to fund more rockets and more terror on the part of Hamas. You can't complain about an aggressive response when Israel has quietly laid themselves down and let the rockets get fired into their behinds for years without a response. Israel is doing exactly what it has to do to ensure that their people will no longer be threatened. You don't have to like it to understand it. And all this noise about 'disproportionate' response is just the mindset of someone who doesn't understand how wars have to be won.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='Tophel']As for the OP question about breaking international laws, etc. Well few people actually care about that. The US breaks those laws all the time. In this particular case, Israel is breaking the law, both the letter and the spirit. Every country is allowed to defend itself but its actions must be PROPORTIONAL to the threat. In 7 or 8 years of pestering Israel with its pathetic rockets, Hamas has killed about 7 people in those attacks. In over a week of operations, Israel has slaughtered over 500 so far, and counting. The numbers don't add up. [/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Retaliation to threat, in this case rockets, is perfectly legitimate under any law. Furthermore, there is no provision ANYWHERE in the HISTORY of war for "proportional" response. I heard that nonsense on ABC and MSNBC, and ever other mainstream news outlet that's never had to fight a real war before. A proportional response to any threat just means nobody will win. You lob a rocket, I lob a rocket, and the score is 1 to 1. You lob a rocket, and I murder your family, children, relatives, uncles with beards, and all the next door neighbors means that I win. Score is 1 to -10,000. The point of war is for it to be so one sided that the opposition can't rise up to threaten you anymore. See: Dresden and Hiroshima for examples of how disproportionate responses work.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Actually there are disputes that the Palestinians even owned their land. But on the other hand, citing international law, as so many people are fond of doing would mean that when Israel defeated Hamas last time and obtained the Gaza strip by right of conquest, it's theirs. Which means they were under no obligation to give it back. In the same vein, you could ask the US to give back California [like some skulls-full-of-oatmeal are asking right this very minute. Also New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, and some parts of Nevada. I'm not going to even dignify that claim though. As I recall, the US kicked Mexican *** for the land, so they get to keep it. Same goes for Israel. The only difference is that now Israel is so obsessed with getting it right, they are actually e-mailing and texting their next targets before the bombs fall. When their targets stay put and get blown up to build national sympathy, one can only wonder. Why even bother?[/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='Boo'][size=1] [*][b]Daft Punk[/b] - [i]Something About Us[/i] [/list][/size][/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Agreed. Totally. 100%. Also undeniably romantic are Anberlin's "Inevitable" and Kevin Max's "On And On." [/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]I was having a weird day yesterday, so I was mainlining Korn's "Issues" album, no particular song really, just them in general. Right at this second though I'm listening to libertarian talk radio, Quinn and Rose's Warroom in the morning.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]What I wouldn't give to be the judge on that case. To quote Chaos/Neil: "We have chosen the bus for you. Farewell and may God kick you off of the first cloud you land on." [IMG]http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/tindo-bus-2.jpg[/IMG][/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='SaiyanPrincessX'][SIZE="1"]I agree with you James. This battle between the two countries has been going on forever, and its going to keep going. I don't see a long lasting peace treaty coming anytime soon, or ever. It is indeed a sticky situation. It is odd though thinking about it, I was in Israel some months ago and I was so close to all of this.[/SIZE][/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Glad you made it back in one piece. It's almost sad how desensitized the people in the country have grown to the violence. Not that I don't understand, but everyone is so ready for disaster that it's simultaneously a good thing and at the same time horrifying.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='summercrane']Wow, your post started off so well! To bad it turned hostile...tbh I havn't formed a full opinion yet...though I don't consider myself completely in the dark, I do after all have a degree in history and was also living in Jerusalem during the Gaza pull out a few years ago haha...the purpose of this thread is not for me to try and argue a certain point, in fact I am the first to admit I am not partial to either side as of yet. I don't believe my post is one sided and it's purpose was to merely cultivate discussion on the issue which in turn could give us all perspective on both viewpoints...[/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]This Just In: Raiha is Hostile. If you have a degree in history, that's nice. If you can put a logic train together, that's more useful. If you weren't going to argue a point or if you wanted a fair and non opinionated thread, it would've helped if you didn't start off your entire post with a completely biased opinion of how meanie wenie Israel has killed 400 civilians. Call me hostile, call me a crazy conservative, but if you can tell me that your intro post gave any consideration to Israel's side I'll happily give you that. Unfortunately, unless you radically edit, I'm going to tell you that you are in fact firmly on the side of Hamas. Or at least that's how you've portrayed yourself. Whether that was intentional or not is entirely up to you to fix. If you wanted to 'cultivate' it's best if you don't leave the gate accusing ISRAEL of all countries of breaking international law, especially when, as James just pointed out. They. Didn't. Addendum to James: Well the land thing is definitely debatable, the point is that Hamas/Palestine should have probably cut with the rockets thing once their territory was returned, or ceded, whatever you want to call it.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='summercrane'][url]http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/04/2458651.htm[/url] So it's the eighth day of Israel's attack on the Gaza Strip, and four hours ago they deployed their ground forces in direct military response to Hamas. So far 400 civilians are dead. Riots and protests are happening all over the world, so what do we here at otakuboards think? Is Israel permitted to break International law as defined by the Geneva Convention in their aim to break the back of Hamas?[/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]It's hard to say. Were those 400 civilians dumped their by their radical leadership for cannon fodder to make the other side look bad and build unnecessarily stupid sympathy for a cause that's ruined millions of people's lives? Is indirect military response better? Do you even know the history of the situation or are you just responding viscerally to an issue clearly designed to make people go: "Oh Israel is SO mean!"? Because by all means, if you can please tell me what the best course of action is for Israel, who GAVE up that land to the Palestinians, please do. It didn't make peace, as you can clearly see, it just meant that Hamas [Radical Islamic Totalitarian Jerks] could launch their rockets into Israeli CIVILIANS from a slightly closer distance. Get a better background on the situation please before citing that oh so popular refrain of 'international' law.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"][i]Welllll, me being who I am and that is to say someone who is finally dating someone popular... Well not that I'm not popular too. I've been invited to an adult party, a family gathering that involves a lot of time spent praying for the future, and another kickback with beer pong. Then my boyfriend's been invited to one party in posh San Francisco area, one in downtown Chinatown, another in the area we live in, two in the city just south of us, and another on a boat. Our plan is to go north to San Francisco and work our way down across the bay so the drunker we get [not really], the closer we are to home. IT'S GENIUS![/i][/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Bag of minty M&Ms even though I dislike chocolate, stick of gum, roll of tape [mom is NOT creative here], three sets of dangly earrings [better], and then a rain check for my actual present which was repairs for my car. Apparently the parts are held up in shipping. *headdesk* My boyfriend gave me two pairs of 9mm shell earrings in both federal [silver] and regular gold. Also Wall-E, and a tray of persimmons. The persimmons were more for my family though. What else... Grandmother gave me an old fashioned Chinese robe with stiff embroidery [probably an heirloom], and money. Money is good. My dad gave me an REI card to make up for the fact that neither the books he ordered me, or the car parts arrived in time for Christmas. And another friend gave me "Supreme Courtship" by Christopher Buckley. Judging by the way the first line made me laugh so hard I almost peed... I'll save it for when I'm feeling nice and depressed. [b]"Supreme Court Associate Justice J. Mortimer Brinnin's deteriorating mental condition had been the subject of talk for some months now, but when he showed up for oral argument with his ears wrapped in aluminum foil, the consensus was that the time had come for him to retire. Thank God, his fellow justices agreed -unanimously, for once- camera weren't allowed in the Court."[/b][/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='Kenso'][FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=1][COLOR=#2e8b57]Some eight-year-old girl is going to have Christmas ruined for the rest of her life. How unfair is that? I don't even know what to say to this...[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Not necessarily. Some people are capable of getting over tragic situations, and others aren't. It's a little early to assume she'll be 'scarred for life' as so many are saying. On the other hand, she may end up a psychotic drug abuser or in destructive relationships to cope with the situation she never faced while still young. So who knows? Either way this is another example of what happens when people decide to abandon social morality in exchange for their own 'personal' beliefs that what happens to others because of them is somehow not something they can be held responsible for. And now he's dead, so the bereaved family's revenge is taken from them. Kinda like the final straw now isn't it. [/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]It poured the entire week up to Christmas, and now, Boxing day, December 26th, it's sunny and windy, but the point is that it's SUNNY. Christmas day itself sale gale force winds that rocked the house and took a few shingles with it. Yeah, I'm over this winter thing already. The only good news is that the weather keeps me indoors and straight into my boyfriend's bed. From there we can play Wii, watch movies, drink cider, and cuddle like errant bunnies.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='TimeChaser']I can understand Obama's desire for inclusion, but I really think he should have picked someone else, especially after the recent defeat of rights in several states during the election. He could have picked someone less controversial.[/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Actually this may come as a shock to you and indeed everyone else who doesn't religiously follow Lexis Nexis [not that I blame you, it's usually dull as dishwater]... Rick Warren is disliked by many 'evangelicals' and otherwise decent, boring, conservative, and otherwise non offensive Christians. It all started [not really] when he made a trip to Syria and complimented the government's thoroughly corrupt and generally twistedly evil family on their "moderate" and "peaceful" ways. And then there's his long tradition of not condemning terrorism, and indeed reaching out to radical Muslims [watch how I said radical and not 'everyday' or 'peaceful']. Most Christians approve of peaceful relations with Muslims, just as many Muslims do in return, but Rick Warren has made a mistake [or perhaps deliberately decided to] for refusing to condemn radical Islamic terrorism and decided to hop into bed with it instead. It'd be another thing if he'd praised say...Egypt for their moderate ways. Because indeed, that would be a far more fitting term. Instead he saved it for good ole Syria. Human rights violators extraordinaire. If you want to see more on the nice steaming hot Rick Warren/Syria connection, google will serve you if you type in just "Rick Warren Syria." Whether or not you agree with the slant of the articles you find, his quotes are pretty hard to spin. I never thought I'd be saying this, but Rick Warren does no credit to Obama, and is too radical to be allowed to circle around him. It pains me to see that Obama's staff, or perhaps he himself, has decided to pick such a morally ignorant monkey right out of the starting gate. He could have picked any number of the less controversial and slightly less insane clerics in the country, but his picking of Rick Warren was a [b]Very Bad Thing[/b].[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Well, poor Macey needs something to cheer her up, so a visit to a foreign country would be nice. Her twin sister is probably off taming lions and riding elephants and whatnot. It's true you know, Macey needs a serious happy ending. James does give good ideas, although it'd be nice to see his own home country for a change as well as other lands that aren't plagued by class warfare.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]No no Chibi, you had to LIKE them before you couldn't stand them. There's a difference. I used to have a thing for Linkin Park, but now whenever I hear them I want to shove my head into a freezer and continue to breathe normally.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]I don't believe in the destruction of language for any reason, and political spinelessness is just another reason to keep using words that are going out of fashion. It's disgusting to take out words out of a dictionary that some people might not like or feel comfortable with. Not only is it, to me, the first step on a nice long dwadle down 1984 street, next we'll find ourselves all fluent in Newspeak and saying words like unthink, and ungood.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[quote name='Shy'][size=1]Congratulations, of course. And if you invited Raiha and I, we'd probably go out of our way to show up... just sayin'... -Shy[/size] :whoops:[/QUOTE] [COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]Yes, it would totally go down that way. Shy would drive up to my place, and then we'd cut across the mountain Tahoe pass to make it to the wedding. I can see that working. Oh road trips to weddings are sooooooo romantic! Not that we WERE invited. Anyway congratulations. Hah! I sent her that drawing. It's like a mini-congratulations on your engagement/Christmas gift. Sometimes it's like I'm prescient...[/FONT][/COLOR]