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Comment For those that have a cooler head... (Score 1) 760

This is just one proposal.

Currently up for vote, to be submitted to the house:
Eliminate Unnecessary Congressional Printing -- Potential savings of $35 million + over ten years
Refocus National Archives Activities On Preserving Federal Records -- Potential Savings of $10 million next year and $100 million over ten years
Terminate Broadcasting Facility Grant Programs that Have Completed their Mission -- Potential Savings of $25 million in the first year, $250 million over ten years

If these aren't to your liking, then you can go and submit your own suggestion here:
http://republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut/YourIdea.htm

And again for those that can't RTFA or even visit the site, here are the previous ideas that were presented to the House to be cut:
Week One: Cut the New Non-Reformed Welfare Program ($25 Billion Savings)
Week Two: Eliminate Federal Employee Pay Raise ($30 Billion Savings)
Week Three: Reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ($30 Billion Savings)
Week Four: Sell Excess Federal Property ($15 Billion Savings)
Week Five: Prohibit Hiring New IRS Agents to Enforce Health Care Law ($15 Billion Savings)
Week Six: Taxpayer Subsidized Union Activities ($1.2 Billion Savings)
Week Seven: Prohibit Stimulus Funding for Promotional Signage (Tens of Millions)
Week Eight: Prohibit Sleeper Car Subsidies on Amtrak ($1.2 Billion Savings)
Week Nine: Bipartisan Proposal to Terminate AEITC ($1.1 Billion Savings)
Week Ten: Require Collection of Unpaid Taxes From Federal Employees ($1 Billion Savings)
Week Eleven: Reduce Government Employment to 2008 Levels ($35 Billion Savings)
Week Twelve: Terminate the TARP Program Prohibiting Any Additional Bailouts
Week Thirteen: Terminate Taxpayer Funding of National Public Radio
Week Fourteen: Eliminate Unnecessary Congressional Printing

This is one of the first weeks where I did not see ideas that would cut billions out of the federal budget.

Interestingly, or rather, not surprisingly, the votes to make these cuts were nearly down party lines. I am not going to say that Republicans are more or less fiscally responsible, but rather it seems to me that no matter which party brings in the good idea, the other votes against it, almost in spite because the didn't think of it first.

There are always too many Democratic congressmen, too many Republican congressmen, and never enough U.S. congressmen. ~Author Unknown

Businesses

Failed Games That Damaged Or Killed Their Companies 397

An anonymous reader writes "Develop has an excellent piece up profiling a bunch of average to awful titles that flopped so hard they harmed or sunk their studio or publisher. The list includes Haze, Enter The Matrix, Hellgate: London, Daikatana, Tabula Rasa, and — of course — Duke Nukem Forever. 'Daikatana was finally released in June 2000, over two and a half years late. Gamers weren't convinced the wait was worth it. A buggy game with sidekicks (touted as an innovation) who more often caused you hindrance than helped ... achieved an average rating of 53. By this time, Eidos is believed to have invested over $25 million in the studio. And they called it a day. Eidos closed the Dallas Ion Storm office in 2001.'"
Role Playing (Games)

Looking Back At Dungeons & Dragons 189

An anonymous reader sends in a nostalgic piece about Dungeons & Dragons and the influence it's had on games and gamers for the past 36 years. Quoting: "Maybe there was something in the air during the early '70s. Maybe it was historically inevitable. But it seems way more than convenient coincidence that Gygax and Arneson got their first packet of rules for D&D out the door in 1974, the same year Nolan Bushnell managed to cobble together a little arcade machine called Pong. We've never had fun quite the same way since. Looking back, these two events set today's world of gaming into motion — the Romulus and Remus of modern game civilization. For the rest of forever, we would sit around and argue whether games should let us do more or tell us better stories."

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