Zeta

[QUOTE] So basically doing a planned PR stunt rather than a spontaneous one is going to draw more warm feelings toward this guy? Yeah, I got ya.... And I don't like it.[/QUOTE] I don't know about you, but I would rather do something out of my own free will rather than someone demanding me to do it. *shrug* But again, what will it accomplish? Hundreds of other parents camping outside of his ranch? I fail to see what it would accomplish.

[QUOTE]Well, seeing that he's the reason that their sons and daughters are over there fighting and dying the least he can do is offer some sort of appology since she took the trouble to go over there. I know for a fact that when he was here visiting he took time to see the local family of a fallen soldier. It was a very good PR move and he should be glad that someone told him to do it. Maybe if he saw the woman who's camping outside his ranch his rating would go up.[/QUOTE] There is a difference between him visiting someone while he is on the road than someone demanding him to visit him by camping outside of his ranch. [QUOTE]Did he go there by choice or by "choice?" Because somtimes people have no choice but to join the millitary, and once your there you have no choice but to go to Iraq (See: People crossing over to Canada to avoid the war) Maybe he was just there to get an education and than, ta-da, Bush goes and createst his magical little war and he gets killed. Hey, I'd be pretty ******* pissed at Bush (Moreso than I already am) if that happened to me or my relatives. [/QUOTE] So you are saying that just because someone joined the army for an education, means they shouldn't be called upon to serve if the time arises? I am sure that a vast majority of the people who enlist join for just that reason, someone to pay for their education. Her son knew, or should have known what he was getting into when he joined the armed forces. You don't join and expect to never be called upon. And saying that is is Bush's reason alone that he is there is ridiculous. There are many more people who work with him, helped him make the decision, and so on.

I don't believe that he should stop and talk to her, I agree with his actions here. Imagine if he did stop and meet with her. How many other fathers and mothers would come and camp out on his ranch, demanding a visit for their dead sons and daughters from the war? And as Morpheus and Retribution said, he joined the armed forces by his own choice. There will always be the chance you will be called into duty, and could possibly be killed. You don't go into the armed forces expecting to never see any military action, which comes with the possibility of death. [QUOTE]As for pulling out of Iraq. Terrible idea in this stage of the game. We came into Iraq, uprooted their government, knocked out their electricity, and in general threw the country into a state of chaos with this war. We need to restore order, by instating a new, stable, centralized government that can handle things for themselves before we pull out. Leaving now would be extremely cowardly. Really, you have to finish what you start.[/QUOTE] Couldn't have said it better myself Retribution.

[QUOTE=Morpheus]Is it really that hard to buy a song for 99 cents? I know some artists make large amounts of money, but what if you went to get your paycheck and found out that a large chunk was missing? Just missing. Never to return. Can't pay for rent or food? Who cares? I've downloaded about 2 dozen songs ilegally in my life, and they were all deleted 2 years ago. I decided it was worthless. Why not just support a band and pay a frickin dollar for the song that cost them a lot of money to record? Just because you will buy the DVD doesn't make it right. The box office is the main source of income for the motion picture industry. Saying you can't live without a movie for a few months is rediculous.[/QUOTE] I get this is directed towards me, so I suggest you go back and read what I said. No it isn't that hard to buy a song for 99 cents. But if you are going to do that, you might as well just go out and buy the cd if you decide to download 15-20 songs from a band. I will download the songs yes, but I will also go and buy the CD, which means I do support them ;). I just don't delete them, I am a lazy guy, so sue me. There is no difference than downloading 15-20 songs and just buying their cd is all that I said. Why is it ridiculous? It is a movie I really like and which I would like to watch from the time it is taken out of theatres to the time it is released. I will download it yes, and then I will go and buy it when the time comes for it to be out. I don't download movies and never go and buy them. That is the only way I download things. And I suggest you go back and read my post. I [i]never[/i] said it was right. It is just what I do. I even asked if my way of doing things would still get me in trouble. I never said it was right, don't assume. lol

I myself am not going to go into a rant about it being wrong, one because it has been done, and two because I download things all the time. I am surprised that there are actually people out there who don't download things, not even a little. *shrug* I download music, all the time, Three fourths of my i-pod was full of downloaded songs. But usually, usually I will also own the CD that the songs have come from. It is like the anime preview thing earlier, I usually download a few songs and see if I like. I just don't take the time to delete the files after buying, lol. Can I still get in trouble even if I legally own the CD? o0 And things like iTunes are no different than buying a CD if you look at it. What, it costs 99 cents right? You download 15-20 songs you just paid for a CD anyways. Movies...guilty as charged. I've got movies that include Episode 3 and [i]Batman Begins[/i], to older movies such as[i] A Beautiful Mind[/i] and [i]Gangs of New York[/i]. The same thing applies here. I own[i] A Beautiful Mind[/i] and [i]Gangs of New York[/i]. And when Episode 3 and BB comes out, I will own them as well. But they are both such good movies I couldn't live without. :p

[spoiler] Ehhh....I myself doubt that. Voldemore went into the Potters house that night with the expressed purpose to kill Harry and he had no doubt in his mind that he would succeed. The most powerful dark wizard of his time being defeated by a mere baby would not have crossed his mind.[/spoiler]

Morpheous......I direct this part to your second prediction. If I am not mistaken we have been given a clear cut answer to where Harry's scar came from. From Dumbledore and others if I am not mistaken. No need to go come up with predictions for it, heh. Having finished the book a few days ago I must say....I am still in a bit of shock. Great book, yet very sad, at least for me. :animecry: Snape is good. [spoiler] We go all the way back to the Unbreakable Vow chapter.Snapes hand flinches, obviously this concerns him in some way, seeing as how he knows of the plan. *Fast forward to the argument that Hagrid mentions overhearing between Snape and Dumbledore. This right here is where I believe it all came into play. Snape has just told Dumbledore what he has all ready suspected about Malfoy and the Vow that Snape has taken. Dumbledore doesn't want any of his students to be hurt/killed and therefore orders Snape to follow through with his Vow. Not only will this protect Malfoy, but it will also ensure a good guy in [i]very[/i] good standings with Voldemort. Just in case the argument part is a little hard to understand, here is a simplified version of the argument itself.[i] "Dumdledore all ready knew, and Snape confided in him about the situation. And my guess is Snape told Dumbledore he was not going to kill him, which started the argument, and ultimately having DUmbledore order Snape to follow the Vow to save Malfoys life"[/i]) *And when the time comes for Snape to follow through with the Vow, Dumbledore's pleading is not for his own life, but for the life of Malfoy (Malfoy was obviously not going to do it, and would thus be killed by Voldemort if Snape didn't go through with the Vow). *Now onto Snapes escape. Just look at the duel between Harry and Snape. Snape is [i]still[/i] giving him lessons on how to stand up to Voldemort, telling him he will never get anywhere if he doesn't learn to close his mind. Why would a loyal supporter keep racking this into his head, even after killing Dumbledore, a way to defeat Voldemort. *Now, people will be going "but oh, no one else in the Order knows he is still a good guy, so how can he give them information, yadda yadda yadda." Simple. He doesn't give them information. He makes it possible for Harry to continue on with the quest for the Horcruxes in subtle ways. He makes sure that others do not interfere with Harry's path to Voldemort, and Voldemort alone.[/spoiler] [spoiler] Harry being a Horcrux.....is a very cool idea, but I don't think it will actually be. The Horcruxes have to be destroyed in order for them not to work. There will be two paths here with this. 1) Harry will realize this before facing Voldemort and will take his life, and hopefully have someone else destroy Voldemort. BUt the problem with this is is that the prophecy plain says this " 2) Harry will realize this before or after facing Voldemort, defeats him, and then takes his own life. I myself don't like the idea of Harry having to commit suicide to destroy the last Horcrux. I just don't think JKR will actually write a suicide in the books, *shrug*. That is the main reason why I don't think this will come to pass. And anyways, I believe it is all spelled out all ready.[/spoiler] Horcruxes [spoiler]*We have the ring, Riddles diary, the lockey, Hufflepuffs cup, A possible Ravenclaw/Gryfindor object,a mysterious number 6, and Voldemort himself as number 7. *The Gryfindor object (as far as Dumbledore is aware) is safely in his posession (the sword from CoS.) *And Dumbledore says that Voldie entered Harry's house that night with the intent to make his last Horcrux after killing him, implying that he has at least 5 of them all ready finished (since Voldie himself is one of them). And if he was planning on making his 6th [i]after[/i] his death, how would he become the Horcrux at all? Remember, Harry was going to be dead. So how would Harry be the horcrux is what I ask you. *Dumbledore then goes on to say he believes the 6th is to be Voldie's snake Nagini.Makes sense. He wasn't able to get his last Horcrux with the death of Harry, and therefore makes it when he kills the dude in the beginning of GoF(a significant death by the fact that it is his death which ultimately begins his track back to his body and power). He has had no chance to make Harry a horcrux, and still has one horcrux remaining. Why not make a pet he seems to "love" (for lack of better word) and a symbol that shows the Slytherin connection as Dumble so speaks.[/spoiler] So, that is all I really have to say. A lot of what I have said has probably all ready been said, seeing as how I haven't really read anything earlier than a few posts on this page, heh. So if it is repeats, just ignore it. ^_^;;

Hit ctrl. alt. del. and go to File > New Task (run) and type explorer in the window that pops up. I had that same problem awhile back and htat is how I fixed it, was surprised that it was such an easy way to fix. Try that.

I believe he was trained by the US to fight the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Sorry to hear about your dad, but I am sure he knew what he was getting into when he joined up. You don't join the army and never expect to be called on. That is just my opinion, *shrug*.

Graduation was something I was looking forward to. I was looking forward to the little scenes in movies where you see friends hugging and smiling and jumping in slow motion, the parties...and all the fun associated with it. Unfortunately I did not get to experience any of that. :-( I did graduate yes. But with like a month left of Junior year my mom moved for the most bogus reasons to Georgia. So, I had about a month of school down here before summer hit. And then come Senior year. I have classes up the wazoo and realize that people down here are idiots, no offense to those who live here. I made friends yes, but not like my friends back home in Wisconsin. These were just people to "chill" with for a year. Come college, I am never going to see nor talk to them again. Hell, I all ready don't even talk to them. Because of all that, I decided not to attend the ceremony with the diploma and what not. Partly because I didn't want to graduate with these people, but also to deprive my mom the happy moment of crossing the stage and getting my diploma. *shrug* She was mad, but she didn't say too much about it. ^_^;; I've never really liked my mom, as you can probably tell. But I am happy that I am no longer going to have to see these people ever again. *cough* Again, aplogies to those who live here.

[QUOTE]ust remember that once you're famous you're always going to be even after you die.[/QUOTE] And that my friend, is the key to immortality. In my mind at least, lol. I would want to be known for my stories, and only that. I am going to come out and say it that I think my writing is pretty dang good. I've been writing since I was about 7 years old. I have gone from the little ole' stories concerning things all ready created (such as DBZ, Star Wars, etc...) to writing things my own. Naturally I draw inspiration from other things, but I try and keep it myself as much as possible. I've been given many a comments concerning my writing from teacher who wish that someday they will read a book by me. *shrug*

Can't you just go to Star>programs>said program> and then check if there is an uninstall option right there? I know there are some programs I have on my computer that I am not able to remove through the regular add/remove, but in when I do the above there is a special uninstaller for the program.

I also agree that his acting was fine, except in a select few parts. I do agree with Dagger concering the whole "you are so beautiful" scene. I literally cringed and shut my eyes through that part, couldn't stand it, heh. The conversation right before Anakin and Obi-Wan began to fight was fine, in my mind. I really liked it. But the party right before Anaking gets [spoiler]every limb other than his mechanical hand chopped off[/spoiler] by Obi-Wan was the only thing that really bothers me. His "you underestimate my power" was just so bleggh. If he had said "power" any differently, I am sure it would have been much better. For all the EU readers out there at OB, which do you prefer, The OT books and those after, or the prequel books? I am torn between the two. After having just read a great many prequel ones, and then picking up [i]Shadows of the Empire[/i] I don't know which I prefer. I am going to go back and read some OT books this summer, since it has been a good half a year to a year since I actually read one.

I am going to repeat what I have said a few other times; you and I will get nowhere with this argument. I wish to regard the EU and all Star Wars books not labeled as Infinities as relevant material because I am able to do so, since they are canon, and are only regarded as bogus if they contradict something from the films. And I assure you; nothing I have said has been contradicted in the films. And if it has, you have no provied ample proof to show it contradicts something in the films. Have you read the Episode 3 novelisation? I am assuming you at least regard [i]that[/i] as relevant material to draw upon? Hopefully you do, otherwise this will fall on deaf ears. Near the end, when the decision of where [spoiler] Luke and Leia will be hidden, we see a little conversation between Yoda and Qui-Gon. We have Yoda blatantly blaming him and the Jedi order for their fall. He goes on to say that they have been training for the [i]last[/i] war with the Sith, a failure in their teachings (which if you remember, I said at the beginning of the debate). Qui-Gon, whom Yoda holds as a much more powerful Jedi at this time, blatantly tells him to not blame himself. That it is not only his fault. Which is what I have been saying as well. Yes, the Jedi brought upon a lot of the hardships they faced by themselves. But as Yoda said, their teachings have remained the same, and not once has the Republic fallen. Only when the Dark Side and Palpatine come into play within the Republic itself, do they fail.[/spoiler] it is a 50-50 situation. I have yet to see a situation in SW and real life where there is only one person at fault. *shrug* though I guess that is just me. [quote]But if the ability is available to the Dark Side, why would a switch to the Light Side even matter? The switch wouldn?t change anything, because there?s nothing to be changed in the first place. And again, what happens in the EU is irrelevant, because going by the films themselves, the premise of the EU post-mortem material is broken, so any reference to the EU is useless at this point.[/quote] Who says it is Dark Side ability as well? You haven't given any concrete proof that is is Siren. You are basing this off of the fact that Anakin has a Force Spirit at the end. That isn't proof enough. If Palpatine does indeed have the same power, Lucas would not have ended the saga with how he did. With the destruction of the Sith. With the Force being brought into balance, regardless of your take on the matter, Lucas said it was in balance and I am taking his word over interpretations. He would give you inkling that Palpatine does indeed have a Force Spirit. We do not see it, anywhere. He obviously does not know the ability to the extent that we see with Obi-Wan, Anaking, and Yoda. Do I know how Anakin can do it and not Palpatine? No. I am making a guess. But that fact that we see no shred of evidence that Palpatine also has the ability to have a Force Spirit, it is obvious he does not have the ability. There is obviously something that Anakin knows and Palpatine doesn't. Again, why is it impossible that Anakin is not naturally inclined to have the ability? It is entirely possible that he doesn't even know he has the ability. And could this not be another form of the manipulation of Palpatine at work? Making Anakin believe that he, like everyone else is mortal, and that the only way to continue his existence is to search it out? Which ensures that he stays loyal to Palpatine so that he can "find" the way to do it. We know Anakin has this thing with stopping people from dieing, and I see no reason Anakin wouldn't want to live himself. By making Anakin think that the only way he can cheat death, is with Palpatine's help, is the perfect way to make him go on a "goose hunt" on how to figure out, without even knowing he already has the ability. Just because Palpatine says they will both find the answer, doesn't prove that he did indeed find the answer in the end as well. Instead of finding the answer to immortality in the "shape" (for lack of better word at the moment) of a Force Spirit, Palpatine finds his way to immortality by inhabiting clones. I hardly see Lucas trying to mesh [i]anything[/i] in with the films. The only "meshing" I have seen is him taking the name of Coruscant as the capital planet. The dates with the Clone Wars aren?t meshing. The comment in Episode II ( I believe) from that old guy on Naboo about a full-scale war with the Republic goes against events from the EU that tells otherwise. He isn't meshing the EU in, he is unmeshing. And that is entirely within his power to do so. But does that mean all EU is unreliable? No. And again onto your comments with the EU. Entirely your choice. But I can safely draw upon the EU when talking about SW. Your canon link only proves that I can. But you are entirely up to your own devices if you want to be a movies only person. [quote]And just examine it in the context of the films. What are the films telling us? Everything points (damn near confirms, really) that Palpatine has a Force Spirit, established through plot developments throughout the Saga.[/quote] Where? What? A single sentence damn near confirms it? [quote] But Anakin does learn it from Palpatine. There?s no other way.[/quote] Where does it say this? [quote]But it?s the Order of Whills or nothing. The only reason anyone has a Force Spirit in the Saga is Order of Whills. And since it?s only Order of Whills, if Anakin has figured it out, Palpatine has, as well.[/quote] Is it not possible that he could have figured it out himself, if he had to actually figure it out at all? Palpatine said himself that Vader will become more powerful than himself and Yoda. With that in mind, assuming of course Anakin has to figure out how to do it, he could easily figure it out and leave Palpatine in the dust about it. [quote]But see, you?re basing this on the idea that the EU is accurate because Palpatine wouldn?t have the same ability as Anakin, but Palpatine would (and does) have the same ability, according to the films themselves.[/quote] Again, where? Where does it say/show/what have you say he has the same ability. Just because he says they will find a way, does not provide concrete evidence that he figures out how. Take it all with a grain of salt. Some stuff was drawn from the official novelisation, some from EU books, and some from the movie. *shrug* Just curious, but what was your profession in Galaxies? I'm on my way to be a Bounty Hunter myself. Game has picked up now that I can actually kill things, heh.

Quick reply, meeting at school for graduation crud. [quote] What ample evidence is there, Zeta? Is there any concrete proof the Dark Side was playing a part in the Jedi failure? Think about it. The Jedi Council let their abilities go soft; they became too comfortable with the idea that they were the ultimate cognition in the galaxy; they acted as if they could do no wrong (and boy, did they get quite the wake-up call)...they brought the ****storm down upon themselves. They were stagnant, like the Republic, and out of stagnancy comes destruction.[/quote] Is there concrete proof that it wasn't Siren? You haven't provided me proof of this either. What I have been saying, and have been saying all along, is that it is a half and half fault. The Jedi for allowing themselves to think extrememly high of themselves, diminishing their abilities, which allowed the Dark Side to effectively cloud what little control over their abilities they had left. The Jedi Order has basically stayed the same in its fundamental beliefs and teachings, and not once has it resulted in the Republic being overthrown and the galaxy being thrown into the darkness it is. But when a Dark Lord of the Sith is on the scene in the Jedi's backyard, only then does it occur. It is a 50-50 laying of the blame Siren. Proof? Read the novels. Read the Clone Wars books, specifically [i]Labryinth of Evil[/i] and [i]Revenge of the Sith[/i] itself. As you said it yourself Siren. Lucas stresses points that are important. He stressed the importance in the movies, and it is stressed in the books. [quote]...by Force-ghost I'm assuming you mean Force Spirit, and I don't have the time right now, but earlier in this very thread you stated (quoting the EU, I believe) that the Force Spirit is a Light Side ability...but it's nowhere near a Light Side ability, as shown by Episode III.[/quote] Who/what said this? After going through my posts I have failed to find where I make the claim that it is a strictly Light Side ability, and by quoting the EU. Are you talking about my post where I say that Palpatine coming back to life and taking over a clone body is the parallel to the Jedi Force Spirit? If so, then I can answer. [quote]Fact of the matter is, Anakin could only have learned how to attain a Force Spirit while serving Palpatine, which would classify the Force Spirit itself as "universal" ability, so Dark Siders and Light Siders alike can possess one, provided they have the training.[/quote] [quote]And since it's an ability that can be found in the Dark Side as well as the Light Side, "compassion instead of greed" becomes inaccurate, because the Dark Side is hardly compassionate, yet Dark Siders can have the Force Spirit ability same as Light Siders, which would effectively nullify any conjecture that Anakin had found a "loophole" of sorts in his redemption in RotJ. There is no loophole. There's just sloppy writing that doesn't "fix" anything, instead just ends up breaking things even more. lol[/quote] How is it an ability found in the Dark Side? Palpatine doesn't come back as a Force Spirit. Anakin does, but he isn't part of the Dark Side any longer. Palpatine found a way to cheat death, not become immortal. How he is not immortal? Because his new body can still be killed and he has to transfer to a new body quickly, otherwise he will be lost forever. Why is it so hard to believe, that Anakin being the Chosen One, the most powerful Jedi and the one who brings balance to the Force, cannot become one with the Force for exactly that reason? [quote] Careful here. If the Force Spirit is a reward for doing good things, being on the Light Side of the Force, then we would see many more Force Spirits in the films--and I'd think many other Light Side Jedi have studied the Order of Whills...and we don't see any of them. Becoming one with the Force being a type of benefit of being Light Side? I don't think so.[/quote] Simple answer? George Lucas didn't want anymore Jedi to dissapear after death. He stopped it from happening in the later NJO books, and the Jedi that die in the prequels. He wanted to explain to us the mystery behind the Force Spirit. In all technicality, that is why we do not see them. Anyways...a more...on the topic answer. Where do I say it is a reward for doing good things? lol. I said Yoda and Obi-Wan become one with the Force. How? We now have the answer that Qui-Gon taught Yoda and Obi-Wan. And I repeat what I said above. Why is it so impossible to believe that Anakin, the Chosen One, who brings balance to the Force and is the most powerful Jedi has this ability for exactly that reason? What did Lucas pull in the Prequels to match with the EU? I am curious. We know that he completely ignored the original Clone Wars dates set forth in the Thrawn Trilogy. Why would he ignore something has important as that, but make adjustments for other things? Unless I am missing the add-ins you are talking about concering his adjustments to accomodate the EU, please point them out to me. EDIT: Addes some stuff. All right, in this small part I am going to be on your side. Lets only take the movies into play here, seeing as how that seems to be the only source you will accept, regardless of what we can safely assume as canon. You and I both know of Palpatine's line in ROTS that says something along the lines of "to cheat death only one has mastered, but together we can find a way." And at the end of ROTJ we have Anakin coming back as a Force Spirit, but not Palpatine, but you say that Palpatine [i]should[/i] have one too correct? At least that is what I get from this statement: [i]Light and Dark both possessing the same Force Spirit ability, which seems to be the case now.[/i] Why do you say this? Where is your basis? Because Palpatine says they can figure it out? And because Anakin has a Force Spirit at the end? Palpatine does not. Why? He should right? Not necesarily. Palpatine does has not figured out the secrets of the Force Spirit. Otherwise I am sure Lucas would have put [i]something[/i] in there correct? But no he doesn't. Palpatine is "destroyed" on the Death Star. Which means that Anakin doesn't learn it from Palpatine. How else can Anakin then become a Force Spirit after death? He naturally has this ability. Not because he does good deeds as you claim I have said. But because he is the Chosen One. The one who brings balance to the Force. And now, using this, we can bring the EU into play. Palpatine [i]never[/i] comes back as a Force Spirit. Not once do you see a Force Spirit of him. You have him die, and then he transfers to a clone body right away. He [i]needs[/i] a clone body to survive. Why? Because he hasn't figured out the true secret to immortal life as Obi-Wan, Yoda, Qui-Gon, and Anakin have. If Palpatine had taught Anakin the secrets of become a Force Spirit, Palpatine would have no need for the clones. All Palpatine has done is found a way to prolong his life. A life that he is not immortal in, because he can still be destroyed. My apologies if there are spelling mistakes, my word program is going whacko and I keep having to send error reports. -_-