when I try to go into either the domain controller security policy and/or the domain security policy I get the red x with the error: "MMC could not create the snap-in". when looking through the technet articles, I find information about this...add the snap in by....., well, to make it short, there is no snap in to select for the domain/domain controller security policies. I really need to get this up and running, so what can I do?

Try using the GPMC. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0a6d4c24-8cbd-4b35-9272-dd3cbfc81887&DisplayLang=en