Joe Biden had the audacity to say that it's time for the rich (those making $250k or more according to him) to be more patriotic and pay more taxes for the sake of the country.

Of course, what Biden, like most clueless government types doesn't realize is that the government is an anchor, a parasite living off the earnings of patriotic Americans who actually make our country successful.

The more we tax, the more we bog down our economy. Hence, a responsible government should try to be as small as possible, focusing on things that just don't make sense for the private sector to handle (roads, national defense, police, fire departments, courts, and non-partial regulation of business).

What's amazing about Biden, Democratic vice presidential candidate, is that while he has averaged making $250k per year for the past 10 years, he has averaged only a few hundred bucks a year in charitable giving.

Read the whole thing here:

http://www.reason.com/news/show/128900.html

It's hard to believe 2008 is starting to come to an end.  The yearly snapshot of Object Desktop is starting to come together. This year, however, we're doing to do some things differently.  First, we're going to release a lot of updates/new features with the snapshot instead of releasing putting things out bit by bit in the months leading up to it.  This way, the release is more of an event.

Object Desktop Today

Let's first start off with Object Desktop as it is today:

Object Desktop is a suite of desktop enhancement utilities that allows users to transform their Windows experience. It comes in two forms: Object Desktop and Object Desktop Ultimate.  The Ultimate Edition is designed for power users while the standard

edition is designed for everyone else.

The key parts of Object Desktop are:

• WindowBlinds - which can change the Windows GUI.
• IconPackager - which can change the icons of Windows all at once
• DeskScapes - which can provided animated wallpaper
• SoundPackager - which lets users package and share sets of sound schemes
• DesktopX - which lets users create and use widgets and desktops
• MyColors - which lets users apply professionally created themes that completely change the Windows experience. And Object Desktop users get 4 free ones per year.

Object Desktop Ultimate adds:

• TweakVista - a utility for getting the most out of Windows Vista
• WindowFX - a utlity that lets Windows XP users add special effects to their PC
• SkinStudio - an application that lets usres create skins
• IconDeveloper - an icon creation utility
• ObjectBar - let users create and use their own replacement UI elements to Windows
• IconX - Lets users enhance the Windows XP desktop icons
• LogonStudio - lets users create and use their own Windows XP or Windows Vista logons
• Keyboard LaunchPad - lets users assign hot keys to common actions
• RightClick - lets users replace the desktop right-click menu with one of their own creation

So that's where we are today. Anything not listed above is something that is already probably set to legacy already.

Object Desktop Tomorrow

Now, someone who purchases Object Desktop right now gets everything we do for an entire year which includes Object Desktop 2009.  Below are the things we're working on for Object Desktop 2009. All of this is subject to change but this gives you an idea of what we're hoping to accomplish/do within the next year when Object Desktop 2009 is released.

Things that are going to go away...

Some programs are going to be phased out (existing users will still be able to download the latest version):

- IconX is going to go away. Sorry. I like this program too but making it work on Vista would be virtually impossible.

Things that are going to go into maintenance mode (no longer updated):

- ObjectBar. This is one of my favorites but we need to rewrite this to keep it up to date and at that point, we would release a new program based on today's requirements.

So there's the bad news.

Things that are going to get attention for Object Desktop 2009

+ DesktopX.

+ RightClick.

+ Keyboard LaunchPad.

+ SoundPackager.

Things that are going to get a lot of attention but may not be available on the release of Object Desktop 2009 but should be released within a year depending on Windows 7's release date.

+ DesktopX 4.0 (Vista/XP/Windows 7)

+ WindowFX 4.0 (Vista/XP/Windows 7)

+ WindowBlinds (Vista/XP/Windows 7)

+ SkinStudio (Vista/XP/Windows 7)

+ DeskScapes 3 (Vista/XP/Windows 7)

Also, anything that doesn't work on Windows Vista 64-bit by the time Object Desktop 2009 ships gets pulled (other than WindowFX). 64-bit is the future.

NEW THINGS we hope to have available either on the release of Object Desktop 2009 or shortly after:

+ Theme Manager 3.0. Major update, everything everyone was hoping for.

+ BootSkin Vista.

+ StyleVista 1.0. (Ultimate Only)

NEW THINGS that are in development

+ Fences (Ultimate only)

NEW FOCUSES IN DEVELOPMENT

We are looking at Windows 7 closely and one of the things we are going to be looking to do going forward is developing more software that improves system performance and usability as well as improving productivity.  Keep a close eye out on Impulse.  It's not just a download manager, it's a platform. Expect to eventually see a lot of "cloud" features in Object Desktop that help make Windows faster and easier to use.

To learn more about Object Desktop, visit www.objectdesktop.com.

Stay tuned!

Stardock has been busy this summer enhancing Galactic Civilizations II with lots of new features. Most of those features will be for players who have purchased Twilight of the Arnor. But Dark Avatar users will also see a revamped espionage system as well.

We've put together an on-going preview of GalCiv II v2.0 at the link below: Check it out!

https://forums.galciv2.com/324858

Galactic Civilizations II v2.0 is scheduled to go into beta this month with general availability next month.

Galactic Civilizations II v2.0 is a major free update to Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar and Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor.

Galactic Civilizations is a turn-based space strategy game set in the 23rd century. In it, humans have begun colonizing the galaxy and have encountered several alien civilizations, some friendly, some hostile. Players must guide humanity by building fleets of ships, researching new technologies, negotiate treaties, fight wars, and much more. It is a game of epic scope and depth. Each game is different since the galaxy is randomly generated, the computer AI in the game behaves differently and the game has an immense number of setup options to give players a great deal of variance.

To get an idea of what a game is like, read the PC Gamer Diary which gives a detailed account of one such game.

Galactic Civilizations II encompasses 3 chapters:

1. Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords (2006)
2. Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar (2007)
3. Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor (2008)

Most of the new features in v2.0 are for users who have Twilight of the Arnor but a few biggies are for Dark Avatar as well.

If you don't have Galactic Civilizations II, you can get the full saga here: https://www.galciv2.com/Purchase.aspx 

PART I: FIRST IMPRESSIONS...

Loading up the internal beta of 2.0 brings up an updated intro screen:

Players can now design their own star ships right from the main game screen.

Selecting Ship Designer:

Going back to the main screen I decide to start a game.

PART II: A BRAVE NEW UNIVERSE

Release time: Wednesday September 17th, 2008 at approximately 1pm EST.

Free political strategy game gives players a chance to run the Obama or McCain campaigns

The Political Machine Express released

September 17th - Plymouth MI. Stardock, the company behind such games as Galactic Civilizations, Sins of a Solar Empire, and Demigod has made available The Political Machine Express.  This free strategy game, puts players in the role of the campaign manager of either John McCain or Barack Obama in a quest to win the white house.

Players play on the electoral map of the United States with the goal to gain the 270 electoral votes necessary to win the election. Players get 21 weeks (approximately the time candidates have between the primary season and the general election) to make speeches, raise money, buy advertisements, hire political operatives, appear on cable TV shows in order to woo voters to their side.

The game also includes a print shop which allows players to create their own bobble heads, campaign pins and bumper stickers and print them out on their home printer.

The game requires a Windows PC running either Windows XP or Windows Vista along with an Internet connection. Players can play against either the computer or other people via the Internet. The game includes Impulse, Stardock's free digital distribution platform that allows for multiplayer match making, free updates, and access to hundreds of games and applications.

The Political Machine Express is based on Stardock's hit new strategy game, The Political Machine 2008 which is available at most retail outlets.

Visit www.politicalmachine.com to download the game.

Screenshots:

Sarah Palin on the "Coldcut Report"

Title Screen

Making a campaign pin

Players can use the build in editor to create their own characters that can be turned into an avatar for on-line forums.

  or

Players can find opponents either in game or from Impulse

Selecting a candidate

The main game map zoomed in

Campaign 2008 projected results (whoever wins Colorado wins the election)

Obama in Ohio

The issues in the game are based on real-world data

Making a bumper sticker

The game has a built in tutorial

Controversial celebrity photographer Jill Greenberg, a self-professed "hard-core Dem," deliberately took a series of unflattering shots of Republican nomineeJohn McCain for the current cover of The Atlantic - and then bragged about it on a blog.

Read the whole thing here:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09142008/news/politics/mac_hater_has_a_lousy_image_129007.htm

It grows tiresome in every political season when inevitably someone says that "both sides" do reprehensible things. Yet, there is no right-wing equivalent of the Daily Kos or Democratic Underground. And you don't see "right wingers" of  a remotely mainstream level pulling this kind of thing.

Maybe some of those NYTimes reporters currently digging through back alleys in Alaska might want to come back down and perform some..journalism?

More here:

http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/6217.html

More and more you can find out whether someone is a liberal or a conservative (in the American sense of the words) by getting the answer to a simple question:

Do you think the average person is too stupid to do the right thing?

If you answer yes, you're probably a liberal. If you answer no, you're probably a conservative. 

Obviously it's not a 100% truism but in most discussions with people in "real life" (or on-line) the inevitable root distinction between the two philosophies is whether the government is there to rule us or whether the government is there to serve us. Few liberals would agree that the government is there to rule us, because they don't think it is there to rule them just all the stupid yokels who make up the majority of the country.

Here's a conversation I had recently:

Friend: We need to make sure all Americans are ensured a certain basic standard of living.

Me: I support your right to your opinion, but why does the federal government have to be the means to make your belief a reality? Why not work through charities and volunteerism so that those who believe as you do can work towards your goal?

Friend: Because people aren't smart enough to do what's right.

From Hotair:

Elitism is a sense that the hoi polloi are simply incapable of governing themselves, let alone a nation, and that a small group of “experts” have to take control of everything they do.  That goes far beyond mere matters of state.  Elitists see people getting more obese and believe that government has to intervene to remove food choices from individuals, as one rather timely example, as in New York City.  They believe that removing personal choices will keep people from making bad decisions, because they — in all their wisdom — will make the right choices for them.

This describes perfectly the policy direction of the Democratic Party, and perhaps even a part of the Republican Party as well.  That’s why the charge of elitism sticks so well to Democratic candidates in national elections.  Their humble origins are immaterial to the concept of elitism.  Candidates who want to grow the federal government in order to increase its nanny-state power are by definition elitists, because they believe individuals cannot make choices for themselves.

For Obama, the trappings of his ego make this even more obvious than perhaps it should be.  He can’t understand why a man who makes his own presidential seals before being elected, gins up a rally of cheering Germans in an attempt to impress the yokels back home, and creates a Greek temple to his wisdom can be seen as elitist if he had to struggle in his early life.  I don’t think anyone doubts the struggles of his childhood, but part of the problem is that his struggles really aren’t all that exceptional.  He came from a broken home; probably half of all adults his age do now, or close to it.  He traveled the world, grew up in Hawaii, and got scholarships to Columbia and Harvard Law School.  That’s not that tough of a start in life.

Forest de Rothschild notes that McCain has at least one event in his life when he rejected his own privilege in favor of his nation.  He could have accepted the North Vietnamese offer of early release, based on his status as an admiral’s son.   At the risk of his life and certainly at the risk of more torture, he refused.  She believes that’s why McCain can make the elitist argument against Obama, and perhaps that’s true in terms of credibility.  However, the real reason it sticks is because Obama and his allies want to govern us as though we were idiots, and McCain and Palin appear more likely to treat us as adults.

While 82% of voters who support McCain believe the justices should rule on what is in the Constitution, just 29% of Barack Obama’s supporters agree. Just 11% of McCain supporters say judges should rule based on the judge’s sense of fairness, while nearly half (49%) of Obama supporters agree.

Read the whole thing:

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/09/rasmussen-only-29-of-obama-supporters-think-supreme-court-should-decide-cases-based-on-constitution/

I think this pretty much puts to rest the argument as to who believes in freedom and who prefers we be ruled by a dictatorship.

I prefer that our laws be voted in by elected representatives that conform to a written standard that has been agreed to.

Apparently most Obama supporters prefer that wise judges rule us.

Oye.

Good lord.

Something to keep in mind next time someone argues that we need to care what other countries think.

One of the things the Gas Powered Games team is working on is the end-game screen. At the end of a match (as well as in-game in real-time to a lesser degree) players are going to want to see statistics on how each player did.

One of the things we've been playing around with is having achievement points be based on how many categories you led in.  In this way, the statistics aren't just interesting, they become part of the game play itself since achievement points are what help you become victorious in the overarching scheme of things as well as allowing you to purchase ever superior persistent items.

We're hoping to release beta 1-A in a week or two that will include things like more strategic elements to the maps, potentially a new Demigod to play with, and a number of new gameplay changes.  I think people will be surprised at how quickly these betas will improve the game play and "fun" factor of the game. Stay tuned.