text:
Republican Congressional Leadership in Historical Context
Nicol C. Rae
Florida International University, Miami
The post-1994 Republican regime on Capitol Hill has been characterized by high levels of party loyalty and a powerful and highly visible party leadership. Yet while these features may have become more apparent in the decade since January 1995, both were well underway in the final decade of Democratic rule.1 This article compares the contemporary Republican congressional leadership with previous eras of Republican control of Congress, and assesses the extent to which today's Republican leaders are "different in kind" from their historical predecessors. Given the fundamentally different nature of party leadership in the House and Senate, each chamber is discussed separately, followed by a conclusion highlighting tendencies common to both chambers and continuing points of contrast between the chambers as far as Republican party leadership is concerned. One underlying theme is that today's Republican congressional leaders – at least in the case of the House – are not as different from their partisan predecessors in the 1890s and 1920s as might first appear.
The House
As a far larger chamber the House has traditionally required more formal rules and stronger leadership than the Senate. The House Speaker provided for in Article 1 of the Constitution has functioned as a party leader since serious political parties developed in the U.S. rather than as a nonpartisan presiding officer as in the British House of Commons and most parliaments in contemporary democracies.2 Yet strong, partisan Speakers have still been more the exception than the rule in the course of US history. Since the Civil War two figures (both Republicans) stand out: Thomas "Czar" Reed of Maine (1889-91, 1895-99), and Joseph Cannon of Illinois (1903-11) whose overweening leadership provoked the Republican Party split in 1910 that ushered in the era of the committee-seniority system and a generally weak speakership until the mid-1970s. During this long period, Speakers – even when serving for a relatively long period of time such as Democrats Sam Rayburn of Texas (1940-47, 1949-53, 1955-61) and John McCormack of Massachusetts (1962-71) – operated more as brokers between party factions and committee chairs than programmatically-oriented party leaders. Possible exceptions to this norm were Republicans Nicholas Longworth of Ohio (1925-31) and Joseph Martin of Massachusetts (1947-49, 1953-55).
Interestingly, since the Civil War the more assertive and more partisan House Speakers have almost all been Republicans. This is probably not accidental. Since its inception the Republican Party has been more homogeneous in terms of race, ethnicity, religion, social class, and ideology, while the Democratic Party has been a coalition whose components cut across the lines of cleavage just mentioned. From the Civil War to the New Deal, the Democratic Party was composed of groups such as white southerners and northern Catholic immigrants who were united on nothing else but a mutual dislike of the prevailing Republican, northern, white Protestant political regime. Given these conditions it is hardly surprising that the Republican Party would generally be more programmatic and more likely to submit to strong and assertive congressional leadership, while Democrats would prefer a more coalition-building, consensual approach.3
Following the New Deal the Democratic coalition expanded to encompass more groups such as African Americans, farmers, and northeastern progressives who had become alienated from the Republicans due to the Great Depression. Given the internal contradictions and conflicts within their New Deal majority coalition, a consensual style of congressional leadership became even more imperative for congressional Democrats By the same token, as the Republican coalition shrank to a northern, rural and upper middle-class, WASP core, it became even easier to lead the party in Congress, although securing congressional majorities with such a narrow electoral base became more problematic.
All this having been said, the Republican congressional majorities that prevailed between the civil war and the New Deal, and even the post-New Deal Republican party had clearer regional and ideological diversity than the Republican House majority elected in 1994. Since the Civil War, a clear division had existed within the congressional GOP between the economically WASP conservative elites of the urban, industrial Northeast and Upper Midwest, and the small city and farm voters of the Midwest and Plains.4 During the Progressive Era, a further division opened up within the dominant northeastern faction between the "old guard" corporate and machine politicians and patrician progressive reformers such as Theodore Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge: a division that led to the revolt of 1910 in Congress and the split between Roosevelt and Taft in 1912. Right up through the 1920s the GOP retained an extremely radical bloc of congressional members from the Plains and western states, while the party's presence in the most conservative section of the country – the South – was negligible. Still grounded in the Civil War, the congressional Republican Party reflected the electoral and governmental order created by that war: northern, white, Protestant, and capitalist (although tempered by mild reformism after the progressive era). The Great Depression and the New Deal electoral earthquake shattered the dominance of that political order, but the congressional Republican Party still reflected it for another generation. Joseph Martin's narrow House majorities in 1947/48 and 1953/54 included a sizable fraction of northeastern progressives who were as liberal (if not more so) than most northern Democrats.
The Republican predisposition to award more power to congressional leaders continued after the New Deal. In 1949, for example, the House Republicans reinforced their leadership structure – leader, whip and conference chair – by creating a Policy Committee to do research on policy and establish party positions on legislation. But while House Republicans have been inclined to award more power to their party leadership, they have also been ruthless with leaders whom they have perceived as failing to deliver the goods. Joseph Martin in 1959, Charles Halleck (Ind.) in 1965, Robert Michel (Ill.) in 1993, and Newt Gingrich (Ga.) in 1998, were all unceremoniously dumped by the House GOP, a fate endured by no Democratic Leader, with the exception of former Speaker Jim Wright in 1989, in the post-World War II era.
The long-term electoral impact of the New Deal finally caught up with the congressional Republicans in the 1950s as the party slipped into a forty-year period (1955-95) of minority status. During that time, however, the composition of the House Republican minority changed dramatically both in terms of region and ideology. Since the 1950s the Republicans have been making gains in House seats in the formerly Democratic Solid South to the point where it is now the majority party in the region. At the same time, the party has suffered long-term decline in its numbers in the pre-New Deal heartland – New England and the Middle Atlantic states – while just about holding its own in the Midwest. The southern surge has solidified the conservatism of the party on economic and foreign policy issues and turned the congressional Republican Party in a much more conservative direction on social and cultural issues such as civil rights. Other factors, such as the role of single-issue and ideological interest groups in modern American election campaigns, the rise of national political news media, and the overwhelmingly partisan and noncompetitive nature of contemporary congressional districts, have led to a much more homogenously conservative Republican congressional party, with the surviving, largely northeastern, progressive or moderate members increasingly marginalized. All of this reinforced the pre-existing Republican tendency to give more power to their House leadership, since a more ideologically homogeneous House membership is more likely to surrender individual member prerogatives to party leaders in order to meet common policy goals.
As southern electoral realignment also led to more ideologically homogeneous congressional Democratic majority, they too began to accord more power to their leaders with the goal of passing a party policy agenda through the House. When the Republican minority saw the wings of the committee chairs being clipped in the 1970s and their own minority privileges ignored or rescinded, they responded by becoming more stridently partisan than ever. This new ideological context explains the rise of Newt Gingrich on the basis that the Georgia firebrand could fight the necessary partisan battles better than Robert Michel, a legislative craftsman typical of the committee-seniority era. Gingrich, by contrast, epitomized the House GOP of the early 1990s: increasingly "new south", ideological, partisan, message-oriented, and media-savvy.
Once in control of the House in 1994, the Republicans reverted to type in presenting a disciplined ideologically homogeneous majority to the public, while consolidating the more partisan and leadership-oriented House power structure already well under construction in the last of Democratic control. At the start of the 105th Congress, Gingrich literally named the chairs of the House committees and blatantly disregarded seniority in several cases. (At the same time, the new majority also set a six-year term limit on committee chairs and an eight-year limit on the Speaker.) He also made use of leadership task forces to write legislation and often used the class of 74 new Republican freshmen to put pressure on their elders to implement the 1994 Republican manifesto: "The Contract with America."
In the increasingly majoritarian House, Gingrich was able to get most of the Contract implemented, but it ran aground in the Senate and under Bill Clinton's veto pen. Gingrich's defeat in the 1995-96 budget battle with Clinton permanently undermined his authority with his Republican troops and particularly with the freshmen, many of whom thought he had quit the field of battle too quickly. Gingrich's unpopularity with the wider public also reduced his clout over his membership. In 1997, a group of freshmen and some of his own leadership team nearly mounted a "coup" against his leadership, and following the disappointing election results of 1998, Gingrich was summarily dispatched from the Speaker's chair (like other "failed" twentieth century Republican House leaders). When his likely successor, Bob Livingston (La.), looked like being another electoral liability due to the revelation of an extra marital affair (the House Republicans literally were impeaching Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair when the story broke) he too was forced to stand aside. Republicans tend to accord great authority to their leaders – as long as they are successful.
The Dennis Hastert style of leadership has been more collegial – at least in tone – than that of Gingrich. Hastert (Ill.) accords more respect to committee chairs, other members of his leadership team such as Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Texas) and Whip Roy Blount (Mo.), and even to the Democratic minority. The tough partisan public image of DeLay has also probably helped Hastert by allowing the Speaker to assume the role of "good cop" with press and public by comparison with his controversial deputy. Yet while the leadership has been somewhat more collective under Hastert, House Republicans maintained high levels of ideological homogeneity, party unity, and overall cohesiveness in opposition to Bill Clinton in his final years and have rallied strongly behind the programs of Republican President George W. Bush since he took office in 2001. The increased party polarization of contemporary American politics has encouraged this, of course, but the Republican attitude toward party unity and leadership since 1994 also reflects the long-standing leadership-oriented "culture" of the GOP on Capitol Hill.
The Senate
The much smaller Senate has always been more informal in its procedures and less disposed to seek strong leadership than the House (in fact the Senate did not create formal floor leader positions until 1924.) Of course the Senate had great informal leaders as far back as the days of Clay, Webster, and Calhoun, and at the same time as Speakers Reed and Cannon dominated the House, Senator Nelson Aldrich of Rhode Island was a commanding figure among Senate Republicans. Such power as these legendary Senators attained was based on their personal authority and experience, and until relatively recently these qualities appeared to generate more respect and deference from senators than formal party leadership positions.
Since the Senate is a body that has repudiated strong party leadership and discipline for most of its history, discerning a specifically Republican leadership tradition is harder in the Senate than in the House. Nevertheless, there is some evidence for a more specifically Republican tendency to render more status to their informal and (latterly) formal Senate leaders. At the beginning of the twentieth century Senator Aldrich and Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr. (Mass.) clearly had superior stature among Senate Republicans. Similarly, during the 1940s Robert Taft (Ohio) and Arthur Vandenberg (Mich.) functioned as de facto Republican Senate leaders in domestic and foreign policy respectively. Senate Republican leadership became more formally structured after World War II when Taft established a Policy Committee (1947), and later assumed the formal party leadership himself shortly before his death in 1953. Under his successors William Knowland of California (1953-59) and Everett Dirksen of Illinois (1959-69), the Republican leadership structure in the Senate became more established (as in the House, the Republicans elect a leader, a whip, a conference chair, and a Policy Committee chair) and, with the advent of national television news, the role of the Senate leader as party spokesman grew.
After a partial reversion to a more subdued and service-oriented model of leadership under Pennsylvanian Hugh Scott (Republican Leader, 1969-77), increasing ideological homogeneity within party ranks and pressure from within and without the Senate for increased party unity behind a policy program led to the emergence of a more powerful and assertive Republican Senate leadership. As in the House, the impact of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in the South and the slow decline of the GOP in the liberal Northeast were producing two more ideologically consistent Senate parties with definite policy agendas. This became dramatically evident after the election in 1980 when a Republican Senate majority under Howard Baker of Tennessee (Republican Leader 1977-85) committed to support President Ronald Reagan's conservative policy agenda.
But while Senate party unity scores rose dramatically in the 1980s and 1990s in tandem with the House, the supermajoritarian requirements (60 votes) to end debate on most legislation and the looser rules for floor debate usually means that party unity per se is not a very effective strategy for passing legislation in the Senate. So Senate leaders, in addition to managing their party's legislative agenda, frequently must try (unlike their House counterparts) to engineer bipartisan coalitions. Senate leaders must also serve as national spokespersons for the party on television: part of what Olezsek and Evans have referred to as "message politics." In this latter role the party leaders may not even be concerned with passing legislation but merely at making debating points or forcing awkward votes for the other party's members with an eye to the next Senate election campaign.5
Among recent Senate Republican leaders, Robert Dole of Kansas (1985-96) was probably the most adept at playing all three roles (manager of the party agenda, bipartisan broker, and party messenger) required of contemporary Senate leaders, but while Dole clocked up a record for appearances on Sunday morning television news shows, by the time he returned as majority leader in 1995, he found it impossible to pilot the "Contract with America" through the Senate's procedural roadblocks. Dole also had to deal with a Republican freshman Senate class including several members schooled in the partisan, ideological environment of the Gingrich House. This group pushed successfully for the adoption of a formal policy agenda by the Republican Senate Conference at the outset of each Congress, and also six-year term limits for Senate committee chairs and party leaders (except the majority leader).
Dole's successor, Mississippi Senator Trent Lott (1996-2002), had a flurry of initial bipartisan legislative success in the summer of 1996 when the Clinton administration and the Republican Congress, with an eye on the forthcoming November elections, realized they had a mutual interest in passing some substantive legislation (most notably welfare and immigration reforms) to demonstrate their effectiveness. In 1997 Lott also negotiated a budget balancing deal with Clinton, but afterwards the Democratic minority and the Clinton White House thwarted most of his legislative initiatives. At the same time, Lott's need to maintain his bona fides with the conservative majority of GOP senators alienated Vermont moderate James Jeffords, whose departure from the GOP led to the Democrats taking control of the chamber in 2001.
When the Republicans returned to the majority after the 2002 elections, Lott's impolitic public compliments to retiring former Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond (S.C.), led to his replacement as majority leader (also indicating a ruthlessness in discarding "damaged" leaders on the part of Senate Republicans akin to their House counterparts) by another southerner, Dr. William Frist of Tennessee. Frist has found the demands of the position equally frustrating, as the Democratic minority now routinely uses the threat of filibusters to block Republican initiatives, including, most controversially, federal Appeals Court nominations. Republican gains in 2004 promised easier passage of some items of President George W. Bush's policy agenda (such as bankruptcy and tort law reforms), but the Republicans lacked the Democratic votes to pass the president's Social Security reform, and the partisan impasse over federal court nominations continued unabated.
The Republican predilection for strong party leadership, while discernible at certain points during the past century in the Senate, is not as consistently apparent as on the House side of the Capitol. And while the Republican Senate leadership have gained in power and visibility in the last half-century, this has been equally true of Senate Democrats. As both parties have become more programmatic and ideological they have empowered leaders to help promote and pass a party legislative program. Senate leaders' powers, however, are still circumscribed by the antimajoritarian nature of the institution. Even in a more ideologically homogeneous party, then, Senate Republican leaders, perforce, must also be both bipartisan brokers and effective party messengers to be effective.
Republican Party leadership on Capitol Hill has become much more formidable since the days of the "partyless" House and Senate of the mid-twentieth century when southern Democrats held sway, and more comparable to the authoritarian party chieftains of the late nineteenth century. Even during the lengthy mid-century period of non-ideological congressional parties and weak party leadership, House Republicans appeared both to defer more to their leaders and to be more ruthless in dumping them if they were perceived to be ineffective: a tendency that persists to this day. The emergence of programmatic, ideological parties in both chambers over the past thirty years has created a demand for a more assertive leadership to pass the party policy agenda, and the high degree of ideological and social homogeneity of the House GOP has reinforced the pre-1994 tendency towards a more powerful policy-oriented leadership in that body. In the Senate by contrast, antimajoritarian rules have entailed that Senate leaders, in addition to being responsible for passage of the party agenda, must also still play the role of bipartisan brokers no longer required of their House counterparts. Moreover, the Senate leaders' generally greater visibility in Washington and national media mean that they must also act regularly as party messengers and spokespersons.
As a parting thought, we can surmise that if Speakers Reed and Cannon were to return to the House today they would see a Republican Party that, aside from a more ideological tone and more southern accents, still shares much of the social attributes and leadership-oriented party "culture" of the troops they led at the turn of the last century. While Congress has undergone deep changes since 1900, when viewed from a party perspective, there is a recognizable continuity in Republican attitudes toward party leadership, particularly on the House side of Capitol Hill.
1. See David Rohde, Parties and Leaders in the Postreform House (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991; and Barbara Sinclair, Legislators, Leaders, and Lawmaking: The U.S. House of Representatives in the Post-Reform Era (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995).
2. Ronald M. Peters, Jr., The American Speakership: The Office in Historical Perspective (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990).
3. On the differing "cultures" of the two congressional parties, see Ronald M. Peters, Jr., "Institutional Context and Leadership Style: The Case of Newt Gingrich," in New Majority or Old Minority: The Impact of Republicans on Congress edited by Colton C. Campbell and Nicol C. Rae (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1999), 43-65.
4. See Nicol C. Rae, The Decline and Fall of the Liberal Republicans From 1952 to the Present (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989).
5. Barbara Sinclair, "The Senate Leadership Dilemma: Passing Bills and Pursuing Partisan Advantage in a Nonmajoritarian Chamber," in The Contentious Senate: Partisanship, Ideology, and the Myth of Cool Judgment edited by Colton C. Campbell and Nicol C. Rae (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001), 65-89.
6. C. Lawrence Evans and Walter J. Oleszek, "Message Politics and Senate Procedures," in The Contentious Senate: Partisanship, Ideology, and the Myth of Cool Judgment edited by Colton C. Campbell and Nicol C. Rae (Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001), 107-27.
Nicol C. Rae has an M.A. degree
from the University of Edinburgh (1982) and a D. Phil from Oxford
University (1986). He is the author most
recently (with Colton C. Campbell) of Impeaching Clinton: Partisan
Strife on Capitol Hill (Lawrence KS: University of Kansas Press, 2003).Professor
Rae is also the author of The Decline & Fall of the Liberal
Republicans: From 1952 to the Present (Oxford University Press,
1989), Southern Democrats (Oxford University Press, 1994), and Conservative
Reformers: The Republican Freshmen and the Lessons of the 104th Congress
(M. E. Sharpe, 1998), and co-author (with Tim Hames) of Governing
America (Manchester University Press, 1996). In
addition Professor Rae is co-editor, with Colton C. Campbell, of New
Majority or Old Minority? The Impact of Republicans on Congress
(Rowman & Littlefield, 1999), The Contentious Senate:
Partisanship, Ideology and the Myth of Cool Judgment (Rowman &
Littlefield, 2000), and with Campbell and John F. Stack, Jr. of Congress
and the Politics of US Foreign Policy
(Prentice-Hall, 2003). Professor Rae was awarded a Congressional
Fellowship by the American Political Science Association in 1995-1996,
and served as a Capitol Hill aide to Congressman George P. Radanovich of
California, and Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi. Professor
Rae's email address is firstname.lastname@example.com.
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Syracuse Creates Lava in a Parking Lot
While Syracuse University can offer a lot of great amenities on its college campus, it wasn't until a recent project began, headed by a professor of Earth Sciences, that it could boast its own controllable lava flow.
As part of a collaborative experiment, artistic medium, and educational tool, the lava flow, located in one of the campus' parking lots, offers faculty, students,...
- Museum Hours
- through November 30:
Monday - Wednesday: 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Friday - Sunday: 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Open daily except Thanksgiving and Christmas
- through November 30:
- Museum Location
Museum of Science+IndustryGetting Here5700 S. Lake Shore DriveChicago, IL 606371 (773) 684-1414
- Art and Culture (3)
- Attitude and Behavior (9)
- Chemistry (9)
- Computer and Digital Technology (7)
- Earth Science (6)
- Education and Policy (4)
- Energy (5)
- Engineering (8)
- Environment and Sustainability (9)
- Health and Medicine (17)
- Manufacturing and Industry (7)
- Math (2)
- Museums (2)
- Physics (8)
- Space and Astronomy (16)
- Technology (18)
- Transportation (3)
- Happening Now
Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives
Explore nine decades of The Walt Disney Company's history and artifacts.
D-Day: Normandy 1944
Seventy years ago, a historic landing changed the world.
Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light
Celebrate with the entire family at the Museum's beloved holiday tradition.
- Coming Soon
Anatomy Academy
Learn about human anatomy with the help of special guest stars: real human organs.
Science Works
Meet STEM professionals at this Museum-wide science career fair.
Science Snoozeum
Enjoy a rare opportunity to visit the Museum after dark!
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Town Square
Park Boulevard landowners eye back-up plan
Original post made on Sep 21, 2007
Read the full story here Web Link posted Friday, September 21, 2007, 10:54 AM
Comments (3)
a resident of College Terrace
on Sep 21, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Makes perfect sense. Now, let's get 195 Page Mill built.
a resident of Charleston Gardens
on Sep 21, 2007 at 4:13 pm
This should get the City moving on presenting their back-up plan if the voters reject the $50 Million Bond Measure for the Public Safety Building on Park Boulevard.
They should offer the voters the alternative of selling some surplus land in the City to raise the money for the Bond Measure. Perhaps part of the Palo Alto Airport. It's time for Staff to get creative.
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Sep 22, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Long ago the city "down-zoned" what is about half of the city to prevent property owners from using it and developing it.
This land was largely bought up by what is now the Regional Open Space District. and at a greatly reduced/bargin price.
The city could do the same thing along Park Blvd.. Then the city could buy it at a greatly reduced price and save millions of $$$.
If it worked before it can work here.
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Grab a Bowl of Heaven soon in Mountain View
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text:
Tom: I wouldn't rule out the possibility that someone with sensitive ears, who pays attention to such things, can make a distinction between cars by the sound of the door closing.
Ray: I usually can tell cars by their starter motors' sounds. And I certainly can remember a time when I could tell, just by the sound of the running engine, what make of car was limping into the garage. Not as much anymore, but they used to have unique engine sounds.
Tom: The same probably is true of door sounds: They've likely become a bit more similar over time because every door now has pretty much the same equipment in it and has to meet the same safety standards.
Ray: So I think it's possible, but not easy, Doc.
Tom: That said, I'd advise against guessing at all in this case. If the truck was screeching as it pulled away, it's more likely that he needs a belt rather than power-steering fluid. And you need to know more than just "make and model" to get him the right belt for his car.
Ray: So, here's what you do: Next time he's hanging out with you, building up that bar tab, go outside and look near the bottom of the windshield on the driver's side for the 17-character vehicle identification number (VIN). That's a unique identifier that provides all kinds of information, including year, make, model, trim level, engine type, place of assembly and the truck's birth order in the assembly line.
Tom: So if, for instance, you write down your friend's VIN, then call the Chevy dealer and ask for a belt for a truck with "this VIN," they'll be able to look it up for you and say, for instance: "Hey, dummy, this is a Ford. Call the Ford dealer."
Ray: But since belts are unique not only to years, makes and models, but also to different size engines in the same vehicle, you really need the VIN, or all of the other information, to get him the right one.
Tom: Or you could just pay his bar tab and be done with it, Doc. Up to you. Happy trails.
Auto repairs can be costly! Save money by ordering Tom and Ray's pamphlet "Ten Ways You May Be Ruining Your Car Without Even Knowing It!" Send $4.75 (check or money order) to Ruin, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475. Get more Click and Clack in their new book, "Ask Click and Clack: Answers from Car Talk." Got a question about cars? Email Click and Clack by visiting the Car Talk website at www.cartalk.com.


text:
August 2, 1951: Kansas City receives formal notification that the NAACP will bring suit against the municipal segregation policy at the swimming pool in Swope Park.
August 2, 1951: Kansas City receives formal notification that the NAACP will bring suit against the municipal segregation policy at the swimming pool in Swope Park.
July 17, 1981: One hundred fourteen people die as two skywalks collapse at the Hyatt Regency Hotel during a tea dance.
July 12, 1963: Stanley H. Durwood, chief executive of Durwood Theaters (later American Multi-Cinema and then AMC Entertainment), builds the country's first multiplex movie theater in the Ward Parkway shopping center.
July 3, 1869: Forty thousand people gather along the banks of the Missouri to celebrate the opening of the quarter mile long Hannibal Bridge, designed by Octave Chanute, which makes Kansas City a commercial hub for the railroads that are rapidly expanding to the west.
June 25, 1951: Kansas City's Starlight Theatre kicks off its first season with a performance of The Desert Song.
[1] http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/This+Week+in+Kansas+City+History/feed
[2] http://drupal.org/node/11816
[3] http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/week-kansas-city-history/water-rights
[4] http://www.kclibrary.org/comment/reply/6192#comment-form
[5] http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/week-kansas-city-history/hotel-horror
[6] http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/week-kansas-city-history/hotel-horror#comments
[7] http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/week-kansas-city-history/multiplex-born
[8] http://www.kclibrary.org/comment/reply/10168#comment-form
[9] http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/week-kansas-city-history/bridge-future
[10] http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/week-kansas-city-history/bridge-future#comments
[11] http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/week-kansas-city-history/starry-starry-nights
[12] http://www.kclibrary.org/comment/reply/5885#comment-form
[13] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/1980
[14] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/1980?page=2
[15] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/1980?page=1
[16] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/1980?page=4
[17] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/1980?page=5
[18] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/1980?page=6
[19] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/1980?page=7
[20] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/1980?page=8
[21] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/1980?page=16


text:
Camp firefly
Animals are amazing. Join us on our Zoofari as we learn more about some of them as we travel the world through drama, science, and arts and crafts. The camp fire may draw the attention of some and send others scurrying off. And who or what can we find in the woods at night, when animal eyes and other things glow in the dark. There's more than Fireflies out there.
Session I — July 28 — August 1, 2014 — 6:00 — 9:00 PM
Session II—August 4 — 8, 2014 — 6:00 — 9:00 PM
Camp Firefly is an evening camp that is open to:
* Girls in 2013 – 2014 Current Grades K – 6
* Girls in 2013 – 2014 Current Grade 7 as Aides in Training (AIT)
* Girls in 2013 – 2014 Current Grades 8 – 11 as Aides
* Younger children and sons of Adult Volunteers
Camp Firefly is a GSCNC Evening Summer Camp.
Note: If you use Internet Explore, the pages may not display properly. Please upgrade to IE11 or use Google or Firefox.


text:
Hirschsprung's disease is a blockage of the large intestine due to improper muscle movement in the bowel. It is a congenital condition, which means it is present from birth.
Congenital megacolon
Muscle contractions in the gut help digested materials move through the intestine. This is called peristalsis. Nerves in between the muscle layers trigger the contractions.
In Hirschsprung's disease, the nerves are missing from a part of the...Read more
To kick off Scleroderma Awareness Month, twenty-four athletes will swim, bike and run to spread awareness about scleroderma and pulmonary... Read more »
It's cold and flu season again and, unfortunately, most school-aged children will also have some kind of stomach virus this time of year. ... Read more »
When someone is aspirating food and drink, and they don't improve with exercises or drink thickeners, their doctor may recommend they don't... Read more »
A stomach ache here and there might not be something to worry about but if your child is constantly complaining about their stomach there... Read more »
This is another in my ongoing series of articles for caregivers of people with COPD. In many ways, our jobs are relatively thankless,... Read more »


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Metroid: Other M
Review by Ian_Kovich
"What makes a fun game? A reward system. Other M doesn't have one."
Metroid was a series that followed a fairly similar formula to Nintendo's Legend of Zelda franchise. In both series, you'd start off with virtually nothing, but then get stronger as you played the game, obtaining weapons and items as you navigated levels and beat bosses. This formula is what gave both series a long lasting appeal, because they gave you instant, tangible rewards that let you know that you're making progress. It's one of the oldest, most fundamental forms of gameplay that enticed the player to keep playing.
Not only does Metroid: Other M ditch this form of rewarding gameplay, but it fails to replace it.
An Action Game with No Reason to Fight
The one topic you'll hear me refer to a lot is 'reward.' After all, that's why we play games: to feel rewarded. Whether it be through overcoming challenges, achieving unlockables, progressing in a story, or discovering more in the game world, our favorite games are those that give us a true sense of accomplishment.
As previously mentioned, Metroid had the formula of starting the player off with virtually nothing. As you explored the game, you'd be teased with blocked off passages and locked doors. Then you'd encounter a power-up, either by finding it or achieving it by defeating a boss. Then you'd realized that that blocked off passage you saw is suddenly an obstacle no longer. You head back at your own pace and discover the world at your leisure.
However, Other M drops this formula of gameplay and instead opts to be a fast-paced action game. This would have been acceptable if the gameplay had been a worthy replacement or, more preferably, better than what we had before. After all, Resident Evil 4 barely has anything to do with the original titles, story, gameplay, and whatnot, but is often considered to be one of the best of the bunch. Unfortunately, not only does Other M's switch make it worse than other Metroid games, it puts it below every other game of its kind.
Simplicity Leads to Compensation
Part of this has to do with the strange decision to have the entire game played with only the Wii Remote. Though this doesn't mean that the controls are broken by any means, what it does mean is that the gameplay is almost entirely automated. After all, you're playing an action game with only a D-Pad and three action buttons, as well as a pointer.
In order to dodge, you hit the D-Pad as the enemy attacks, making Samus auto-dodge, which is called Sense Move. This is certainly more simplified than other action games where you had to time dodges, especially on higher difficulty settings, by hitting the proper button. What's worse, there's nothing stopping you from just mashing the D-Pad until you pull off a Sense Move. To top it all off, you're completely invincible as you dodge. It doesn't matter if you dodge towards or away from an enemy; you won't take any damage, and as long as you're hitting the D-Pad constantly, you're guaranteed to almost never take damage.
To attack enemies, you hit the 1 button. This fires your arm cannon. You can hold down the 1 button to charge your shots, but when you dodge attacks, you gain an instant charge. I'd like to go into more detail, but this is as simple as the game gets. You wait for an enemy to take you, mash the D-Pad until you Sense Move, then fire your charged shot. You don't even need to worry about aiming, because, as I said above, the game is so automated that it does the aiming for you. The only real time you have any control is when you enter first person mode by pointing at the screen. This allows you to fire a homing missile at an enemy, but you lose your ability to move.
Ultimately, the game proves to be insultingly easy. Your main method of attack, or rather, your only method of attack, grants you almost complete invincibility while simultaneously hitting enemies with your strongest attack; as soon as you gain the beam upgrade that causes damage over a wide area, which is very early on, you're virtually unstoppable.
No Penalty for Deserters
With the gameplay being this simple and easy, I wound up wanting to avoid fighting enemies as much as I could. The sad part? You actually can. There's nothing stopping you. In most rooms and hallways, you can run right past enemies without any penalty. Another element that's dropped from the Metroid franchise is enemies dropping health and ammunition. Instead, you recover both by reaching save rooms, which there are a lot of, and by using a move called 'Concentration,' where you hold the A button and tilt the Wii Remote up. This also recovers a tank of your health if you're in the red. That said, you're not missing out on anything by avoiding fights: no recovery items, no power ups, nothing. You only need to fight when the doors lock on you. Though Other M may be more combat friendly than its sidescrolling and first person counterparts, it loses any reason to fight at all.
With no real, tangible reward for fighting, combat immediately loses all purpose. That's why games like God of War and Devil May Cry use experience points, currency, or a combo system. It's not just for show; it's to act as a marker to show players visually how far they've progressed. You can see how much stronger your character got over time, and you have control over your character's growth. That's how those games make players feel compelled to keep fighting, even if you use similar tactics on each enemy. In Other M, there is no progression. You use the same tactics on every enemy throughout the game. What's worse, the only thing Other M retains from the franchise, mainly the older titles, is that your abilities stack, meaning you don't need to worry about switching between weapons to accommodate for various situations. But it doesn't end there: most power ups act as a deus ex machina just to get Samus out of dangerous, scripted, and sometimes improbable situations, which I'll go into further detail later. Power ups barely serve any real or practical use in combat, and by the end of the game, you don't feel any stronger than you did when you first started.
A Complete Lack of Anything Metroid
As I said earlier, Metroid games were usually about Samus starting off with very little, then ending with a whole lot, obviously becoming more powerful than before.
In this game, however, Samus is fully equipped with all of her weapons and abilities, but doesn't use them because her ex-CO told her not to. I'm not going to complain about this plot point, but I will come back to it later. Though this may mix up the usual 'Samus loses her abilities' scenario that happens in almost every Metroid game, what this inadvertently does is create yet another sense of unsatisfying gameplay.
In Other M, you don't get stronger by defeating powerful enemies or navigating life-threatening areas; you get your abilities when you find yourself in a pinch, a trap where you can only escape by activating the piece of equipment you already have. As I mentioned previously, usually these events are highly improbable and obviously implemented at the last minute. In one instance, Samus gets her wave beam, the weapon that penetrates physical objects, because three glass walls shoot up out of the ground in the space lab's hallway, preventing her from escaping incoming enemy fire. I'm not going to go into detail about how unlikely this kind of situation is, but that's just how the power up system works throughout most of the game.
There are only two instances where you gain power-ups by defeating enemies, but the disappointing part is that these enemies don't make up for the lack of bosses. You get the diffusion beam, a beam weapon that causes area effect damage, by destroying three small robot enemies. You also get the seeker missile by defeating this one enemy that you encounter a few times throughout the game; unlike most enemies, this one will retreat and return to attack you somewhere around three times, but you use the same tactics on it during each confrontation. I'm probably going to repeat this in my story section of the review, but these two items create a story problem: near the beginning, Samus' ex-CO restricts the use of some of her more deadly weapons until he authorizes them, but he doesn't seem to have a problem with her using area effect weapons that she finds on the ship.
Another staple in the Metroid franchise that's now gone is exploration, having large, somewhat blocked off worlds that become more open as you explore and figure things out. Other M basically throws that aside and puts you in one long hallway. Generally, each room only has two doors: the one you came in and the other where you leave. Sometimes the door behind you locks, preventing you from going back. This kind of linearity actually leads to a game-breaking glitch where, if you backtrack through one particular door, it will lock on you permanently, forcing you to either restart the game from scratch or send your save file to Nintendo. In short, whereas previous Metroid games, even Fusion, gave you the opportunity to deviate and explore at your leisure, Other M ensures that you don't. The only time you get to explore is after you've beaten the game, after you've seen every room in the game.
Arbitrary Mechanics
Probably the worst aspect to Metroid: Other M, as far as gameplay goes, is the inclusion of gameplay elements that serve absolutely no purpose. That is, they serve no purpose to the gamer, but instead serve solely to pad out the game's length as much as possible.
The first element is the over-the-shoulder segments. During some instances in the game, the camera locks itself over Samus' shoulder, Resident Evil 4 style. This would have been a really interesting perspective to explore for gameplay, but that's not what it's there for. When you find yourself in this mode, you can't jump, you can't shoot, you can't enter morph ball mode, and you can't even move properly. Samus goes from a lightning quick run to a painfully slow crawl, and to make matters worse, you're controlling Samus like a tank. You can only move forward, backward, and turn while moving forward. In other words, the controls are more restrictive than the aforementioned Capcom title. What purpose does this mechanic serve? Truthfully, I have no idea. I wanted to say that it was meant to bridge gameplay sequences to cutscenes, as that happens a lot throughout the game, but there are some instances where the camera moves to this position for no real reason. Probably the most annoying aspect to this is that there's one instance where you have to navigate a two and a half minute long hallway in this mode, and once you're done, you do it all over again. Regardless of what this mechanic was added for, all it does is annoy you.
Then you have the scanning sections. I've heard people complain about them in Prime, but never understood why. It's not like you had to scan every individual thing in the game unless you wanted to unlock all the bonus content. At the very least, Prime had the decency to show what you could scan and what you couldn't, as well as what needed to be scanned as opposed to what didn't.
In Other M, not only does scanning return, but it's forced on you in the middle of cutscenes, and you can't proceed with the game until you find what it is the game wants you to scan. However, the game never tells you what you're supposed to scan, and the only way to find out is to hover the pointer over the target spot for a few seconds while trying to lock onto it. Basically, it really is a game of 'Where's Waldo' where you don't know who or what Waldo is. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes it's not, and the fact that the game prevents you from continuing until you find that arbitrary item is annoying. What's worse, it's completely unnecessary: it's not fun, it's not rewarding, and all it does is make the story continue. To add insult to injury, you aren't really 'scanning', per se; you're not scanning something to get data on it like in Prime, you're just making Samus look at something. You don't learn anything about it, and it doesn't reveal anything important. Again, it's just an arbitrary attempt at adding gameplay elements. If that's not bad enough, sometimes this element nudges itself into gameplay, and you're left totally clueless as to why you can't continue or why the game ends, not knowing that you were supposed to manually go into first person and scan something despite not being in a cutscene. It's just one of many instances where the game establishes certain 'rules' about the gameplay, but then goes against it entirely without letting the player know. Speaking of
Rules are Apparently Made to be Broken
The biggest no-no in game design is to tell the player that the game must be played one way, but then throw a twist with no heads up. That's exactly what Metroid: Other M does.
Going back to the aforementioned example, scanning was set up to be a series of set pieces. If you need to scan something, you're forced into first person. However, there's not one, but two instances where this rule is broken. The first is when you have to manually go into first person, and the second is during a boss fight that isn't actually a boss fight.
I should mention that, at one point in the game, you fight a boss entirely in first person, because Samus is pinned to the ground. I would point out the inconsistency that, somehow, Samus isn't able to throw this boss or kick it off, because it's actually a common enemy you've encountered before that Samus can whip around like a lasso, but that's not the important thing right now. Near the end of the game, another supposed 'boss' appears along with several enemies and they begin to attack. Samus is protecting someone, and you're forced into first person. My first thought was that this was another fight like the one where Samus was pinned to the ground, so I attacked. However, once I died, I realized that wasn't the way to win. By complete accident, I figured out that you were supposed to scan the boss, who spends most of its time hidden behind a cluster of enemies, which triggers a cutscene that, sadly, shows Samus standing back as other, non-important characters kill it. The main character to this story doesn't even get to kill the mastermind behind the whole affair.
I'm beginning to complain about the story again, so let's go back to this rule-breaking fault in the game. Another instance of this actually happens quite close to the end of the game. At this point, you see Samus activating her equipment every time she's authorized to. The game will cut to a menu screen showing her weapons and items as each one is activated along with an explanation on what each one does. You're in that mindset that, whenever you obtain something, you actually see it. Not so for the second to final boss. In order to kill it, you need to figure out within the span of a few seconds that the needed weapon is available, or else you die. There is absolutely no indication whatsoever that you can use it. Not only do you have to guess that you have it, but if you don't, you have to fight the boss all over again. It's annoying, and it's stupid. There's absolutely no excuse for it.
Ultimately, Other M tries to be an action game but fails to incorporate the necessities to make it work. Not only does the gameplay fall short of every Metroid game, it also falls short of action games in general, even those that came out more than five years ago. The gameplay mechanics and formula in prior Metroid games were just far more solid, purposeful, and rewarding. Though combat was never a focus, you still had a reason to fight: to obtain health and ammo to keep you going. Though there are many reasons why people call Metroid Prime 3: Corruption the weakest in the Prime Trilogy, one big reason (my big reason, at least) is its stronger emphasis on combat without any elements to make it worthwhile. Other M takes this fault and pushes it to a much greater degree.
Combine all this with a game that just feels so empty with very few boss fights, very few enemies, and so little content, and Other M is just a colossal let down as far as gameplay goes. For a series that sets the bar in terms of gameplay and content, it's disappointing that it can't even outdo third party efforts on other consoles.
A Very Static, Artificial-Looking Game
The Metroid series has always set the bar when it came to visuals, at least on Nintendo platforms. Entries like Super Metroid had so much attention to detail that Samus even had two sets of sprites, one for her left side and one for her right, to give a sense that she's a physically three dimensional character. The Prime trilogy had a fantastic art direction, making every location from decrepit space ships to frozen wastelands feel real and organic.
At first glance, Other M may look like a fantastic game. Character animations are much more fluid now that they use motion capture, and character details are much more sharp thanks to the inclusion of what looks like bump and normal maps. But that's really as far as the presentation goes.
No Art Direction
To put it simply, Other M just looks flat. The game takes place entirely in a decrepit space station and makes very little effort to make the place look interesting. Super Metroid and Metroid Prime started off with exploring a decrepit space station, but added tons of detail, sound, and effects to push the atmosphere. Other M's space station is just one long, gray corridor after another with the occasional simulated environment, and it really does come off as only simulated.
It doesn't help that the game is just so dark and desaturated. There's so little color on display that it's just depressing to look at, even during the instances that are supposed to simulate flora and forest scenery.
Too Many Presentational Transitions
Games have become really sophisticated over the years, delivering fairly solid presentations as far as story-telling goes.
But there were speed bumps along the way. The most prominent example I can think of came from Final Fantasy X. In this game, there were a total of three different presentational styles: real-time, post-processing, and CGI. The first is the gameplay presentation, where the character models from the gameplay segments are used for cutscenes. The second was a technique that allowed developers to use higher poly, higher res models in controlled environments that would otherwise not work in gameplay. The last is CGI, the pre-rendered sequences meant to showcase everything in detail so high that not even the most powerful home computers today could run them in real-time.
In Other M, you have all three of these presentational styles, as well. It's not the fact that they're there that bugs me, but rather that the story to gameplay ratio is so great that that you jump between the various looks all too often, way too quick. It's very obvious at some points when a graphical change occurs that that's all I notice.
But what's worse is the complete mishandling of CG cutscenes. CG needs to be used sparingly, to show off fantastic cutscenes to wow' the viewer. The first cutscene is a good example, because it's filled with explosions and dazzling effects, but the wow' factor wears off once the CG is used just to show Samus walking down a grey, empty hallway. This kind of thing happens very often throughout the game, making the CG more of a distraction than a visual treat.
To put it simply, Other M is the polar opposite of what Metroid Prime could achieve. Although Other M has much better cinematics and animations, the game is just very depressing to look at. There's very little on display to differentiate one area from another, and the enemies, and to some extent, the character models themselves, have a very artificial look to them.
The Mark of the Auteur
This is the story section of the review. Be warned: this part is going to be very lengthy and address a ton of aspects in no particular order. Considering how long the game has been out, I don't believe I need to add spoiler tags, but I'll avoid giving away certain plot elements unless I believe they absolutely need to be addressed.
But I want to get one thing out in the open first: I have heard people say that having so much criticism on the story is unfair and detrimental to its other elements like its gameplay. That is completely untrue. Considering how long and pervasive the story is as well as how many gameplay elements had to be sacrificed in order to make the story work, Other M practically begs to have its plot carefully examined and dissected. Let's not forget that you can't skip the cutscenes during your first go. On top of that, I already gave plenty of reasons why the game doesn't hold up on its gameplay alone. The story itself is now fair game.
A Story That Tells, Not Shows
In juxtaposition to Nintendo's epic E3 reveal trailer, the game itself has a lot of dialogue. Generally, a good story can tell a tale, an emotional one at that, just through its visuals. Pixar's 'Up' had a five minute long opening montage showing Carl and Ellie's life after they got married up until Ellie's death. Without a single word being said to each other, everyone knew that these two characters loved each other, and we understood why Carl took up the insane task of flying his house to South America.
Other M isn't capable of doing this, however. Instead, it ops for telling the story through spoken dialogue. This would be okay if the characters talked to each other more often and grew and developed through their interactions. However, there's almost none of that in the game. Instead, we hear Samus narrate everything. I really mean everything. During the instance where she meets up with her ex-CO and friend Anthony, instead of hearing them talk, she narrates in the past tense about their meet up. When a traitor appears, she narrates about how she coined the nickname 'the Deleter' for him. Trust me, I'll have more on this subplot later, but the fact of the matter is that this is how the story is told to you throughout the game. We never even learn what the narration is supposed to be, if she's telling a certain someone about what happened or what.
It doesn't help that the writing is, to put it simply, bad. The game is just bloated with overdramatic dialogue, most of which is just characters stating the obvious or restating things that happened only seconds prior. Couple this with subpar acting and the entire experience is almost unbearable.
Authorization Produces Weak Gameplay...
I've already discussed how the authorization mechanic doesn't work from a gameplay perspective, so I won't dwell on it too much, but it needs to be stated once more: obtaining a power up after overcoming a challenge is far more satisfying than getting one just because you were pushed into a corner. By the end of Other M, you don't feel stronger than you did before, but that may be due to the fact that most power ups don't serve any practical use: not for exploration, and rarely for combat.
Weaker Story
But even if we were to excuse this gameplay flaw, we run into another issue: the authorization system produces a story problem. Adam says Samus can't use her equipment unless authorized to do so because her weapons may pose a threat to innocent bystanders on the ship. That, I can understand. What I don't understand is everything else that happens afterwards.
For one, Samus can't use her non-lethal equipment. There's absolutely no reason to explain this. Secondly, once Samus is authorized to use certain pieces of equipment, she continues to use them. If her weapons are too dangerous to use with civilians running around, wouldn't she be told to stop using them once she's out of a particular pinch? Lastly, there are two weapons Samus finds on the ship, both of which are area-effect weaponry, but she's allowed to use them without authorization.
Weakest Character
It's very clear exactly what this whole authorization system is meant to be, but before I get to that, I need to explain the third, and possibly biggest, problem that this whole thing entails: it makes Samus come off as a weak and possibly stupid character.
As I just mentioned, she's not allowed to use her non-lethal equipment: this includes her Varia Suit, Grapple Beam, Space Jump, and Gravity Suit. The reason I say she's not allowed to use them is because there are several instances in the game where you run into either a dead end or a life-threatening area requiring said items, but Samus doesn't activate them because Adam hasn't told her to. At one point in the game, you enter an area called Pyrosphere, a room filled with magma and heat so intense that it slowly but surely drains Samus' health, as we see her suffering inside her suit at one particular point. There's another instance where you run into a dead end where the only way to advance is to use your Grapple Beam, but you can't. Instead, in order to advance in the game, you leave the room, in which Adam chimes in and tells you to take the elevator to another sector.
What these instances tell us is that Samus won't use her equipment, even if it's solely to protect herself, unless Adam tells her to. She doesn't even ask if she can use them, even during one instance where she needs a certain power-up to save a friend. Either that, or she didn't remember that she had these pieces of equipment ready for use. This tells us that Samus is either a submissive character that doesn't take any initiative or is just stupid.
But like I said before, there is one explanation for this: the authorization mechanic is meant to mimic finding items in previous games where you'd move through restrictive, and possibly life-threatening, environments before you get the equipment to make traveling easier. That said, it simply doesn't work. From a gameplay standpoint, it's no fun. From a storyline perspective, it makes no sense. Sakamoto clearly did not take the time to think about the repercussions of having a storyline-heavy game and how it affects, and gets affected, by the gameplay.
Subplots that Go Nowhere
About a quarter of the way through the game, Samus learns that someone within Adam's team has betrayed the group. This person, which Samus starts calling 'the Deleter,' manages to kill one soldier and slowly proceeds to erase other members of the squad.
Ignoring the completely pointless nickname, I really can't say much about this subplot other than it never gets resolved. Not only do you never learn who the traitor was, but everyone also seems to forget that he even existed.
In the end, it just feels like an excuse to have some of the characters killed off. However, considering that one of them gets killed by an alien creature, there's no reason why that could have been the reoccurring event. Having this Deleter subplot only leaves holes in the overall story.
An Old, but Apparently More Frightening, Nemesis
For those that aren't in the know, Metroid: Other M is the second to last title in the timeline. Samus must have encountered her nemesis Ridley at least three times at this point, five if we're counting the Metroid Prime Trilogy.
This may be a tired out point, but considering how much I'm putting into the story section of this review, I feel obligated to talk about it. At this point, everyone should know that Samus has a little freakout after seeing Ridley in this game. She freezes up to the point that her suit actually falls off, Ridley grabs her, and she gets rescued by her friend Anthony, who winds up dying for his heroic effort.
I'm not sure where to begin here, so let's just get it out: you don't freak out over seeing an old foe that you've killed, or at least defeated, about five times. I've heard the PTSD' excuse, but it doesn't add up: it's not just something that appears randomly. It's something that sticks with you for a long time. Even going by the Metroid manga canon (which was never localized and thus very difficult to reference), the characters themselves say she doesn't have PTSD, just showcasing similar symptoms that she gets over almost immediately after defeating Ridley for the first time. Speaking of, if it really were PTSD, Samus gets over it in Other M all too quickly for it to make any sense.
The point I'm getting at is this: this scene was just an excuse to shoehorn Samus' backstory into the plot and to put her friend Anthony in harm's way. You're about three fourths of the way through the game, but haven't learned anything about Samus' past outside of the military. It was clearly meant to tell us that Samus encountered Ridley as a child and that may have left lasting impressions on her ever since. This would have worked if not for a couple reasons. One is that this scene barely lasts a couple minutes and is probably one of the only times where the story is actually told through visuals instead of words; it's left entirely up to interpretation and is never clarified. It's too fast and confusing to take in. Secondly, it's just another inconsistency. Samus has defeated Ridley enough times that she shouldn't be scared of him anymore. Again, it's just a last ditch effort to get Samus' backstory into the plot and to knock off Anthony.
Had we gotten more foreshadowing, maybe a less dramatic showcasing of Samus' fear, or at least some reflection on the event, it'd be easier to take in. As of now, there's plenty of reason to call out this scene.
An Undesirable Relationship
Metroid Fusion introduced us to Adam Malkovich, Samus' ex-CO and apparent father figure who died due to unknown events. Other M was meant to show us who this person was, how he died, and why Samus looked up to him as much as she did.
Unfortunately, not only do we never get any reason why Samus considers him a father figure, but we're given almost every reason to believe that he shouldn't be, only proving further to be detrimental to Samus' character.
When Adam first appears, he doesn't say hello or give any kind of greeting. He says, "What are you doing here?" in a cold, upset manner. Samus monologues about how this is a 'typical' response from him, telling us that this is how he always behaves around her. He proceeds to call her an 'outsider,' and continues to speak to her in a condescending manner, telling her that she doesn't do anything unless he says so: you don't move until I say so, you don't fire until I say so. Even when he asks for Samus' help, he doesn't sound too happy about it.
In other words, Adam is your dime a dozen, stereotypical, stoic male lead. He never gives any reason for us to believe that he's someone to like, let alone consider a role model. However, Samus constantly hammers home that this is the case, and it simply does not add up.
Adam never once shows any form of compassion or emotion towards Samus, constantly treating her like the unwanted member of the group. As mentioned before, he practically latches a ball and chain onto her as she's forced through the space station without her equipment, which almost causes her to burn to death. If that's not bad enough, he actually shoots her.
Before I go any further, I need to put this event into perspective: during one instance in the game, Samus encounters an old, familiar type of enemy, and after a brief pause, she tries to shoot it. Before she takes the shot, she gets shot in the back with a Galactic Federation ice pistol. Ignoring the fact that the most powerful bounty hunter in the galaxy gets taken down with a single shot from a side arm, at this point, the Deleter subplot hasn't been resolved yet. This was clearly an attempt at making the player think that whoever shot her was the Deleter. But when she wakes up, it turns out to be Adam. Is he the Deleter? No, he was just trying to stop her from shooting the enemy she was about to kill so he could kill it himself. He claims that these enemies are reengineered so that Samus couldn't kill them, but since Samus was about to shoot it with a more powerful version of Adam's sidearm, this makes the whole event completely pointless, an incredibly weak attempt at creating a twist.
As I said, not only does this make Adam come off as more of a jerk than an actual father figure, it makes Samus appear incredibly submissive and weak overall. Not once during any point in the game, not even at the end, does she reflect upon everything that's happened to her and questions it. She just takes it, no matter how nonsensical it is. In the end, after all is said and done, we're just supposed to accept it, that this is how Samus has always been and this is how she was always treated by Adam. And she respects him and calls him a father figure?
This is, quite frankly, a relationship that can't be justified.
An Ultimately Unrewarding Narrative
I said the subject of 'reward' would reappear throughout this review, and this is ultimately where Other M falls short. It's abundantly clear that the narrative makes up the bulk of the game. Everything else is so underwhelming that the only thing that could save it would be a strong story with a cast of likable characters. I've pushed my way through games with weak gameplay but strong storylines because I was anxious to see what happened.
But as stated above, the story is possibly the weakest aspect to Other M. What's worse, you're forced to take in the story. You can't skip cutscenes on your first playthrough, and one of the only things you unlock outside of a Hard Mode is a Theater Mode that lets you watch all the cutscenes with pre-recorded gameplay stringing them together.
That said, Other M's story wasn't just added because the developers could; the story was meant to be one of the key features of the game. It was meant to be appreciated even by itself. Not only can I not appreciate the story, but I just want to outright reject it. The story is so prevalent that it strips out the core gameplay that made the franchise great and is so poorly written that it makes one of gaming's oldest female heroines a completely unlikable character.
The story is easily Other M's weakest element, but considering that it's the key feature to this entry in the Metroid series, it brings the game down even further. It's clear that Sakamoto had penned the story before even beginning to think about how a game could come out of it, or if it would even work at all. The gameplay suffers terribly to the plot's pervasiveness, and Samus suffers even more to the plot's incoherency.
But now to address a question that I've seen tossed around here and there: do I think this game is sexist? At this point, the only way to know is to hear it straight from the horse's mouth. I write as a hobby, and I can say without hesitation that it's not easy; some of my very first stories are so hilariously bad that I'm glad I never shared them with anyone; I may do so at some point for laughs, but I'd never publish them. Looking at Sakamoto's track record as a game designer, Other M may have very well suffered from just being an inexperienced writer's first work. Even if that's the case, it's simply inexcusable. In this day and age, I expect solid writing in games, especially when they're coming from some of the biggest studios in the industry.
I can't recommend this game to anyone. No matter how hard I try, I can't figure out who this game would appeal to. If you like good stories, you should hate this game for its embarrassing writing and acting. If you like good action games, Other M sets the bar for being an incredibly shallow, repetitive, unrewarding game, somehow worse than other games of its kind that came out more than five years ago. If you like Metroid games, Other M is a no brainer: you need to stay as far away from it as possible. Exploration is gone completely in favor of ramrod straight linearity, combat serves no purpose other than being tiny, but frequent roadblocks, and the power-up system is a joke.
Again, the more I think about it, the less I can understand why anyone would like it. I could understand non-Metroid fans liking it since there's almost nothing in common, but to hear people say that this is like Super Metroid with a story' still baffles me. The only thing Other M does more than its previous entries is show Samus outside of her suit, and boy, do you see her outside of her suit. The voyeuristic camera shots of Samus give the B&B characters from Metal Gear Solid 4 a run for their money.
Reviewer's Score: 2/10 | Originally Posted: 04/05/11
Game Release: Metroid: Other M (US, 08/31/10)
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Combat Fatigue Lyrics - Ultimate Fakebook
We don't have to start a fight,
Cuz I'll be down on my knees all night,
When it breaks it's the same old thing,
it never changes anything.
The lessons I know best seems it's the one that's easy to forget,
Didn't think I had to tell you, I thought you'd know,
You're not insane or alone.
It's too late for my tired eyes,
Yeah we could go around like this all night,
if we'd just end it where we left it,
Yeah in the morning we'll forget all about it.
I wonder what I said there,
Seems like everything I say is all wrong,
And those words don't mean anything,
I don't see why they live so long.
And we don't have to start a fight,
No we don't have to start a fight,
Oh we don't have to start a fight,
Oh let's not start a fight.
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Savage Ancient Seas: Dinosaurs of the Deep
May 24, 2014 – January 4, 2015
Enter the deep, dark prehistoric world of carnivorous marine reptiles, gigantic flesh-eating fish, flying reptiles with 3-foot skulls and the biggest sea turtles to have ever lived.
Bring the entire family for a Dinosaur exhibition like no other!
Monday - Saturday: 9 A.M. to 5 P.M.
Sunday: 11 A.M. to 5 P.M.
Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas (12/25)
Museum Members receive Free Admission.
Admission includes the entire Museum.
The Mariners' Museum is wheelchair accessible.
Wheelchairs are available for visitors upon request.
Prices are subject to change.
Group rates are available for groups of 10 or more.
Interested in becoming a sponsor for this exhibition? Please contact Page Stooks at (757) 591-7702 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
Bring the Savage Ancient Seas: Dinosaurs of the Deep exhibition to life through 3D in our new Super HD cinema Explorers Theater.
This permanent, high-definition theater allows visitors to transcend the museum experience into the world of undersea exploration. With this theater, visitors will be able to: Watch a short film on how maritime exploration has shaped mankind's history; Interact with live feeds from exploration vessels around the globe; Experience thrilling 3D films and other feature films covering a wide range of maritime topics; Participate in our award-winning Interactive Video Conferencing programs.
3D Movie Prices:
Tickets to Explorers Theater are in addition to the price of Museum admission.
Now ShowingClick for Showtimes
Now ShowingClick for Showtimes
Through the power of 3D, experience a wondrous adventure from the dinosaur age. Join Julie, an imaginative young woman, in a unique voyage through time and space. Explore an amazing underwater universe inhabited by larger-than-life creatures which were ruling the seas before dinosaurs conquered the earth. See science come alive in an entertaining manner and get ready for a face-to-face encounter with the T-Rex of the seas! Rated: G. Runtime: 41 min.
Preview Sea Rex 3D below:
May 24, 2014 – January 3, 2015
Monday – Saturday
9:30 am, 11:30 am, 12:30 pm, 3:30 pm
11:30 am, 12:30 pm, 3:30 pm
Show times subject to change without notice
June 6, 1944: The largest Allied operation of World War II began in Normandy, France. Yet, few know in detail exactly why and how, from the end of 1943 through August 1944, this region became the most important location in the world. Blending multiple cinematographic techniques, including animation, CGI and stunning live action images, D-Day 3D: Normandy 1944 brings this monumental event to the world's largest screens for the first time ever. Audiences of all ages, including new generations, will discover from a new perspective in breathtaking 3D how this landing changed the world. Exploring history, military strategy, science, technology and human values, the film will educate and appeal to all.
Narrated by Tom Brokaw, D-Day 3D: Normandy 1944 pays tribute to those who gave their lives for our freedom. A duty of memory, a duty of gratitude. Not rated. Runtime: 45 min.
Preview D-Day 3D: Normandy 1944 below:
May 24, 2014 – October 2014
Monday – Saturday
10:30 am, 1:30 pm, 4:30 pm
1:30 pm, 4:30 pm
Show times subject to change without notice
Interested in becoming a sponsor for this exhibition? Please contact Page Stooks at (757) 591-7702 or email@example.com.
Students had a great time in our PaleoCamps this past summer. Check back for information on our 2015 summer camps. Registration will open in February.


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Love Your Library Book Sale - POSTPONED
Start Date: February 07, 2014 10:00 AM
End Date: February 07, 2014 2:00 PM
Location: Willennar Administrative Annex
Due to the impending weather, the Friends Book Sale will be postponed and take place sometime in March.
$1 a bag on gently used books, CDs, and movies.
Open to public.
|Tuesday, December 9th
|6:00 PM Board of Trustees Meeting - December
|Friday, December 19th
|4:30 PM Game Day
|Tuesday, December 23rd
|5:00 PM Library Closing Early: Christmas
|Thursday, January 1st
|10:00 AM Library Closed: New Year's
|Saturday, January 10th
|2:00 PM Literary Doctor Who Series
|Monday, January 19th
|10:00 AM Library Closed: Martin Luther King Jr. Day
|Saturday, January 24th
|2:00 PM Literary Doctor Who Series
|Monday, February 16th
|10:00 AM Library Closed: Presidents' Day
|Friday, April 3rd
|10:00 AM Library Closed: Spring Break
|Tuesday, May 19th
|10:00 AM Library Closed: Memorial Day Week


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Buyers Guide
2015 brings more value-priced ATVs, bigger side-by-side UTVs
Manufacturers of traditional ATVs and the increasingly popular side-by-side UTVs are expanding their lineups at both ends of the spectrum.
|August 2014
Fathers Day 2014 Gift Guide
Getting the best gift for the guy who got you started
|June 2014
So many great lines... so little time to fish
In 2014's new fishing line, choices abound for any style of angling
|April 2014
Wireless fishing electronics: A look at the brave new world of on-the-water Wi-Fi
Where once Lowrance's iconic "Green Box" revolutionized fishing by showing anglers what lies beneath the surface
|March 2014
The year in boats: the best and brightest for 2014
For 2014, anglers have some great options to choose from, whether they want a NASCAR-sexy walleye boat or simply a modest 16-foot fishing rig
|March 2014
New Outboard & Trolling Motors for 2014. The whole works: Gas and Electric
It seems like four-stroke outboard motors continue to be the major push by most manufacturers
|March 2014
Outdoor Steward: Outfitting your ATV for field work
Reaping the greatest benefit from your wooded land or other rural property requires employing good stewardship practices
|February 2014
Best of the Best: 2013's New Archery Accessories
|August 2013
The basics of buying an AR.
The ultimate in rifle-shooting versatility?
|August 2013
New Lures for 2013
What lies beneath and up top for this fishing season
|May 2013


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What Manhattan Restaurants (Hi, Mid, and Cheap) do you keep going back to?
- k
- kobetobiko Apr 25, 2007 07:39 AM
Hi Manhattan Chowhounders!
I am in a curious mood today, so I want to ask this question to eveyone to get some inspirations for my restaurant "to-go" list. With so many restaurants to choose from in NYC, what are some of your favorites that keep you going back? I am separating them into 3 categories:
Hi-End (Over $100 per person) - You go at least once a month
Mid-Range (Between $50 - $100 per person) - You go at least once or twice a month
Low (less than $40 per person) - You go at least 2 times a month
The price accounts for dinner per person (unless it is a breakfast / lunch only place), and can include drinks or not (if you normally drink, then include it in the bill; if not, then just the final bill).
Please limit to no more than 5 picks per category.
I will start first!
Hi End - Eleven Madison Park, L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon (mainly for their desserts =D)
Mid Range - Momofuku, Kanoyama, Degustation
Low - Otto, Yakitori Tottos, Dim Sum Go Go
Love to hear from you!
re: CRAZYFOODLOVER
Both Curry in a Hurry and Chinese Mirch served me food that was stomach-turningly oily and not particularly tasty. Granted, that was a while ago, but you can understand why I would never give either a 2nd chance.
re: ChefJune
Hi ChefJune,
Thanks for your input. I have yet to try out several of the restaurants you listed, so now you did give me inspirations!
I wish I am as skillful as you (as from your name I guess you are a chef?). I sure like to cook and entertain, but my cooking skills and time is the limitation. Next time can I join your party at home? ;) Just Kidding..
This is an interesting topic.
High End: Eleven Madison, though I really can't afford to do it once a month, but it is my choice all the time
Mid-range: Compass, Ouest, Blue Smoke
Low End: Tasty Dumpling, Black Pearl, Oms/b
A note: I have a feeling that Landmarc TWC will be in there in a few months.
re: selizara
Blue Smoke has consistently disappointed. I am giving up on needing a restaurant setting and going to Daisy Mae's and Dinosaur from here on out. Even though I am from Texas, I am not a bbq snob, I just don't like getting ripped off for mediocre bbq. Opinion on 'go to bbq' may change after I try Fette Sau in the next few weeks.
re: josefr
You know, for me it isn't even their BBQ that is the huge draw. There are so many other things on their menu that are really well-prepared that the inauthenticity and mediocraty of the BBQ that people on this board chide incessently doesn't really register with me.
Plus, they're the only place in the city that has Fitz's Root Beer.
re: Foodman53
We frequent NY a few times a month.
High end: Giovanini's (near Met Museum), Per Se
Mid Range: Vice Versa, Shun Lee (near Met Opera), Centolire
Low range: Any Upper West Side diner, Zeytin, La Fenice
Midrange - Gabriels, Arqua, Periyali
Low - 'Ino, Col Legno, Pylos, Los Dos Caminos, Kefi if I lived nearby
Hi-End (Over $100 per person) - You go at least once a month - None.
Mid-Range (Between $50 - $100 per person) - You go at least once or twice a month - None. I go to mid-range restaurants (according to your category) more like a few times a year.
Low (less than $40 per person) - You go at least 2 times a month
To me, "low" would be under $25. That said, in your category, more or less in order of frequency:
Grand Sichuan St. Marks
Soba Koh
Yeah Shanghai
(I might go to Han Bat more frequently; I'm not sure, but you said you want only 5 picks)
These are all restaurants I can walk to, so that's a big factor. And they're inexpensive. Teresa's is very convenient for me. All of them serve food in a different style, but four out of the five (5 of 6, if you count Han Bat) can be broadly described as East Asian. If you want to know anything else, just ask.
I don't go to mid- or high-end restaurants, and I go out to low-end places maybe twice a week (I'm not counting takeout places). My standbys:
Vegetarian Paradise 2
Cafe Con Leche
Café Mogador
Congee Village
Hi - Eleven Madison, Gramercy Park, Blue Hill
Mid - Telepan, Crispo, Roberto Passon
Low - Shimizu, Atlantic Grill, JG Melon, Fuleen
Wow, like some of the others, your criteria only allows me to contribute to the low end and of course restaurants only visited more than twice a month. But nonetheless, here they are:
Low: Mandoo Bar, Basilica, Afghan Kebab House, Q2 Thai, Patsy's Pizzeria, PJ Carneys (Gaellic Burgers).
Well, from your standards of each criteria, I would stick with mostly on the mid-range to low end even though some are considered high end since I eat these places for lunch. I don't normally go out for dinner but I'll give it a shot.
High end: The Modern Bar (thanks to 'hounders tips it made my life easier to pick some things, and I'll write a review shortly on the Board but it's on my blog) and Eleven Madison Park.
Mid-range: Telepan
Low range: Bouchon Bakery, Landmarc in Time Warner, Otto
I'm with Pan. We eat out a LOT, so tend to frequent your low to mid range restaurants far more often than we do high end places. You have to save something for special occasions!
Also, frequency is more a testament to geographic proximity than it is evidence of what we think are the best restaurants in Manhattan.
With that in mind....
Mid: Spiga, Cafe Frida, Ouest, Cafe Gray
Low: Sobre Ruedas (taco truck on W. 97th), Saigon Grill, Gabriella's, Pair of 8s
re: kobetobiko
this is all low:
rai rai ken, menchanko tei, hop kee, sophie's cuban, that takoyaki place on 9th.
re: Linda
High End--Masa (from start to finish--simply put, a perfect dining experience (assuming, of course, sitting at the counter in front of Masa)). PerSe--same as Masa (although you need to be in it for the long hall). Robuchon--like Masa, one must sit at the counter (what happened to the chestnut soup with foie gras).
Midrange--Aquagrill and Crsipo
LowRange--Rafiqi's Halal Cart off Park and 52nd
re: DiscreetTaste
hi-veritas, degustation
low-flor de mayo


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Narrow your search
The online retail giant launches Zocalo, a storage and sharing service designed for companies.
With Crowd Companies, Jeremiah Owyang is hoping to help companies develop business models and best practices around the shared economy, the maker movement, and more.
The cloud storage company wants to power the editing and collaboration behind all software, starting with integration within Microsoft Office applications.
As part of its group-wide restructuring plan to focus on electronics, finance and construction, Samsung is selling its defense and military affiliates for almost $2 billion to South Korean compatriot Hanwha.
The first details have emerged about the board game Portal: Uncooperative Cake Acquisition Game, a collaborative effort between Valve and Cryptozoic.
This mobile word processor makes it easy to create and share text documents.
Built by ex-Facebook CTO Bret Taylor, Quip helps you create and share documents from your iPhone. And now you can use it on Android too.
The world's largest social network has created a separate mobile app to help group users plan and collaborate. But don't worry: Facebook says it won't force users to download it.
The company releases an iWork update that adds Google Docs-like collaboration features that Apple announced last month.
Facebook at Work would keep your drunken updates and embarrassing selfies away from your colleagues and professional contacts.


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As we celebrate American history, the Swann Galleries offer us an opportunity to own it. On Thursday, March 27 Swann Galleries will offer a rich assortment of historical material related to the African experience in the Americas in their 19th annual auction of Printed & Manuscript African Americana. Continue Reading →
Tag Archives: Civil War
Descendants Of the USA Colored Troops Celebrate 150th Anniversary of the Civil War In Harlem
The New York Chapter of the Sons & Daughters of the United States Colored Troops inaugural Diaspora Awards held on Saturday, May 19th at the Faison Fire House Theater was a huge success! Continue Reading →


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So, like the title says, just looking for some feedback here. I only know a few warriors and would like a broader spectrum of insight. I realize some pieces (shoulders) are in some serious need of an upgrade, but slam away if needed. Currently, I've tanked up to Shade in Kara. Tonight I might be thrown against Prince.
The Armory
Specifically interested in certain upgrades, like a rep upgrade vs a close drop from an instance, etc. so I don't end up spending time grinding for one or the other.


text:
At first I did not have the correct file path in my image info box and could not get the module to work. I emailed the developer and he replied quickly with the correct file path that I needed.
Very impressed with the plugin and the support from the developer. Great work! Thank!
you are welcome :)
thanks for the great review and rating :)


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My Profile
Baltimore, Maryland
Member since Mar 2010
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Reviewed louisiana style shrimp
Mar 22, 2014 on FoodNetwork.com
Reviewed turkey-apple swedish meatballs
Mar 13, 2014 on FoodNetwork.com
"I halved the recipe, but made all the gravy and it was delicious. I omitted the apple and cinnamon, and added a few pinches of ground fennel to the meatballs and to the gravy. Shame on me for rating an altered recipe, but the meatballs were so light and the gravy was so flavorful, that my slight changes did little to alter the basic recipe which..."
Reviewed Online Round 2 Recipe - Cajun Red Bean and Rice Soup
Dec 16, 2012 in Food Network Community Toolbox on FoodNetwork.com
"It is cheating to review a recipe you have altered, but in this case, it is the method I am complimenting. I made the original recipe with shrimp and andouille sausage and it was delicious! I kept the reserve ingredients in the freezer for a couple of months, and one evening I made this soup for a hearty dinner in a snap! I did add a can of dic""
Reviewed Seafood Potpie
Aug 13, 2012 in Food Network Community Toolbox on FoodNetwork.com
"This was one of the best meals I have ever served! I did not have lobster so I just used the same total quantity of seafood with scallops and shrimp. I used white wine in place of the Pernod and it was delicious. When I warmed some leftovers, I used a little sherry to loosen it, and that was a great flavor, as well. Next time I may lightly sau""
Reviewed Hot Legs with Spicy-Ranch Sauce
Jun 11, 2011 in Food Network Community Toolbox on FoodNetwork.com
"I love hot wings--the hotter, the better!....not so my loved ones. I made these wings today and they were the hit of the event! However, I doubled the sauce and used a total of 4T Frank's (which has way less bite then my staple Tabasco). I set some sauce aside and stirred in a good amount of honey and used as a glaze. The flavor was great and ""


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Department of Energy:
Savings from Deactivating Facilities Can Be Better Estimated
RCED-95-183: Published: Jul 7, 1995. Publicly Released: Aug 7, 1995.
Additional Materials:
- Full Report:
(202) 512-6082
Office of Public Affairs
(202) 512-4800
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Energy's (DOE) plans to deactivate surplus facilities, focusing on the: (1) proportion of the Nuclear Material and Facility Stabilization Program's fiscal year (FY) 1995 budget that is allocated to projects that could reduce the program's future costs; (2) difference between the savings that the deactivation projects could generate and the costs DOE could incur to obtain these savings; and (3) reliability of DOE savings estimates from major deactivation projects.
GAO found that DOE: (1) has allocated about 31 percent of the program's available FY 1995 funding to 24 deactivation projects at three key sites to reduce future program costs; (2) could realize a combined net savings of $458 million from 11 projects over 10 to 30 years; (3) has not developed a process for consistently estimating the net savings from deactivation projects, resulting in its inability to develop reliable or complete estimates of potential net savings from these projects; and (4) must be able to target funds more effectively, since it expects that the number of facilities managed by the program may increase from 1,560 to about 5,900 facilities by 1997.
Recommendations for Executive Action
Status: Closed - Implemented
Comments: DOE's Office of Environmental Management is preparing a new plan, known as the 2006 Plan, to reduce environmental risks and complete projects within 10 years. To implement GAO's recommendation, as part of preparing the 2006 Plan, program officials have prepared guidance that would require field offices to use discounted costs when estimating savings from deactivating surplus energy facilities, as well as, savings from other cleanup decisions. Program officials expect that the next draft of the 2006 Plan will use this guidance and the program will begin to use the approach to prepare its fiscal year 1999 budget request.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should issue guidance that defines how to prepare reliable and complete estimates of potential net savings from deactivation projects.
Agency Affected: Department of Energy
Status: Closed - Implemented
Comments: As discussed under the status section for the first recommendation, program officials expect that guidance for estimating cost savings from projects will be used to prepare the fiscal year 1999 budget.
Recommendation: The Secretary of Energy should require Office of Environmental Management officials to use estimates of projects' net savings, in addition to other information such as health and safety risks, to determine priorities for deactivating facilities.
Agency Affected: Department of Energy
Explore the full database of GAO's Open Recommendations »
Nov 14, 2014
Department of Energy:Interagency Review Needed to Update U.S. Position on Enriched Uranium That Can Be Used for Tritium ProductionGAO-15-123: Published: Oct 14, 2014. Publicly Released: Nov 14, 2014.
Nuclear Commerce:Additional Actions Needed to Improve DOE's Export Control ProcessGAO-15-124: Published: Oct 14, 2014. Publicly Released: Nov 14, 2014.
Nov 12, 2014
Spent Nuclear Fuel Management:Outreach Needed to Help Gain Public Acceptance for Federal Activities That Address LiabilityGAO-15-141: Published: Oct 9, 2014. Publicly Released: Nov 12, 2014.
Oct 30, 2014
Energy Policy:Information on Federal and Other Factors Influencing U.S. Energy Production and Consumption from 2000 through 2013GAO-14-836: Published: Sep 30, 2014. Publicly Released: Oct 30, 2014.
Oct 20, 2014
Changing Crude Oil Markets:Allowing Exports Could Reduce Consumer Fuel Prices, and the Size of the Strategic Reserves Should Be ReexaminedGAO-14-807: Published: Sep 30, 2014. Publicly Released: Oct 20, 2014.
Oct 1, 2014
Natural Gas:Federal Approval Process for Liquefied Natural Gas ExportsGAO-14-762: Published: Sep 26, 2014. Publicly Released: Oct 1, 2014.
Sep 22, 2014
Oil and Gas Transportation:Department of Transportation Is Taking Actions to Address Rail Safety, but Additional Actions Are Needed to Improve Pipeline SafetyGAO-14-667: Published: Aug 21, 2014. Publicly Released: Sep 22, 2014.
Sep 10, 2014
Federally Funded Research Centers:Agency Reviews of Employee Compensation and Center PerformanceGAO-14-593: Published: Aug 11, 2014. Publicly Released: Sep 10, 2014.
Aug 11, 2014
Electricity Markets:Actions Needed to Expand GSA and DOD Participation in Demand-Response ActivitiesGAO-14-594: Published: Jul 11, 2014. Publicly Released: Aug 11, 2014.
Jul 17, 2014
National Nuclear Security Administration:Agency Expanded Use of Some Federal Oversight Reforms, but Is Still Determining Future PlansGAO-14-588: Published: Jul 17, 2014. Publicly Released: Jul 17, 2014.
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about me
Salt of the Earth , I am happy, let me make you happy.
I'm an Honest,upfront guy, who really enjoys life and values my friends.
I'm always laughing and love nothing more than seeing people happy. Although a lot of the time that's up to them . I tend to mix with positive people ,I find life is more fun that way. I am easygoing lay back guy , I'm respectful and know how to treat people for fortunately have been brought up with good morals and values.
I love good food ,great restaurants and long lunches which is why the gym beckons about 5 mornings a week. I can go from the bush to the beach, from barefoot to a suit and sleeping in a swag (very occasionally) to a 5 star hotel.
If you would like to know more send me an email and let's see what happens.
At a glance
|LovinTheSun7's details
|LovinTheSun7's ideal partner
|48 years old
|30 - 50 yrs old
|Gold Coast, QLD
|Body type
|6'0/183 cm
|Smoking habits
|Don't smoke
|Relationship status
|Have children
Yes, have children living at home sometimes
|Wants children
|Don't want any (more) of my own but yours are fine
|Eye colour
|Hair colour
|Light Brown
|Sign of the Zodiac
|Leo Check compatibility »
|Drinking habits
|Occasionally / socially
|No special diet
|Have pets
|Yes, have pets
|Education level
|High School
|Sales / Marketing
|Job role
|Management, Professional
What I'm looking for
Someone ready to grab life's chances , and have fun along the way even if that is just chillin
- Female, for a relationship or dating
My interests
- Music
- Good Charlotte, Green Day,Maroon 5, lots
- Reading
- Newspapers anything that improves me .
- Movies & TV
- Kingdom of Heaven
- Sport
- I love T/bred horses and Equestian sports. I essentially like and play all sports , Golf, Beach volleyball, swimming, too old to play football any more as I have realised I don't bounce I plough but you name it I will play it
- Other Interests
- Kicking Back, fishing, making my family happy
My groups
Contact LovinTheSun7
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