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Blackwater would probably do it.

There's something to be said for this. Many of the major spammers have been identified (see ROKSO). The anti-spam community needs "boots on the ground" to do something about them. There are private companies in that business. Blackwater is one; Kroll is another. Spammers today are part of larger criminal enterprises, which makes them vulnerable to private investigators.

It is a question of movement, do I want a government that will move toward more social spending and a larger public sector?

I'm pretty sure the contractors hired by your conservatives are more expensive than the proposed government employees you're talking about.

http://www.blackwaterusa.com/

...now try to prove that they set you up. Not to be pessimistic, I believe you, but big business knows big dirty tricks. They enlist armies of those schooled in the dirty arts and they use them on a daily basis, on a much greater scale than you do. Could you think of a bigger and better schemer than the cancerous offspring of Hollywood? Why is it so easy to launch bullshit-campaigns against people?

Easy answer: War by proxy...or, to put it in /. terms, being an AC modded -5 troll and still getting away with the same shit every day ;)

The industry is going at this all wrong. There are only a few players left, and they're all crooks. We need a consortium of companies with spam problems to hire Kroll, Blackwater, or one of the other big international security companies to deal with the people behind the problem.

If 5% of the money spent on dealing with spam went into finding the people behind it and making them go away, the problem would go away.

and in France the violence has turned to urban warfare

But I'll come back to that later. First:
It's people like you who are responsible for the rise of Sadam, Hitler, Bush and other despots. You justification is: there are "good" reasons to persecution. Hitler shared your point of view.
Instead of going after the people who failed to act (or juts let things happen that 9/11 to get the convenient war propaganda), you let your rights burn, you justify your own oppression, you take the lies about terrorism in Iraq as granted (the only terrorists active in Iraq were backed by the US and were acting to replace Sadam by a more cooperative dictator, just like in the very well documented coup against Mohammed Mossadegh which led to the current Iranian situation). You support the american terrorism. You can't recognise a failed leader when you see one, Bush speaks in YOUR name, he acts in YOUR name.

they have developed a reputation for it.

Americans have developed a reputation: a short summary of things done in YOUR name: You call others nations terrorists if they don't support in your holly war, you invade a country under false pretexts, plan the chaos (disbanding the government and army http://www.cfr.org/publication/7853/iraq.html) which will justify the presence of your army in the country. You steal all the oil you can while people argue about the effectiveness of your strategy. You kill people at random (just for fun, a video) and you create laws to avoid being prosecuted... You kill more people cause it's fun It's bad you broke rules but no laws, because killing people is not a crime (the killers will walk free and proud in your streets). You have a strong tendency of acting like criminals at every level of the state and you make your own law how and where it pleases you; As Bush said "He tried to kill my dad". And so you bombed a nation with radioactive waste (twice http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/95178_du12.shtml, http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0515/p01s02-woiq.html). Also, giving false evidence about mass destruction weapons to bring other nations into your jihad is another strategy in you sick failed-state. And this reputation of being christian fanatics who create your own private (out of the law) saint armies http://www.blackwaterusa.com/ counts for something... Your leaders are a reflection of yourself.

I think there are valid reasons for millions of people around the world to seek vengeance against the US. So stop complaining, having a 1984 like system at the airports and having your laptop stolen by greedy TSA officials is a low price to pay for your own security when you are too lazy to act responsibly. You don't deserve freedom if you can't fight for it... It's up to you as a citizen of a country to watch where your freedom goes... You are just like russians, happy to give away your rights by fear of loosing some of this daily comfort. At the airport you are treated like cattle, because you are... Your country and its officials (from top to bottom TSA agents) consider you as such... it gives you

I think I'd have to agree with you there. I can certainly understand why some people might be dissatisfied with the situation.

Seriously, the US used to have a moral high ground on these sort of issues, but those days are gone. It's all "pot, kettle, black." now.

Some famous guy once said "Judge not, lest ye be judged" and "You see the mote in your brother's eye, but you do not see the beam in your own eye. When you cast the beam out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to cast the mote from your brother's eye." and a few other often ignored things. Maybe we can learn a thing or two from this guy? Like clean our own house before we try to clean everyone elses? I don't hate the US. I just want it to be better than it is. Recognition is the first step to redemption (followed closely by positive action).

Since when did the leader of a country threatening to wipe an ally of the United States off the map not constitute a real threat?

I do not speak Arabic, so I don't know. Do you speak Arabic? And, when did the ability to tell the veracity of a politician by seeing if their lips are moving change?

Via
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3211#comment-260805

This link exists:

http://www.blackwaterusa.com/btw2004/articles/0503arabs.html

Which says:

"Arabs are forced to overassert and exaggerate in almost all types of communications, as otherwise they stand a good chance of being gravely misunderstood. If an Arab says exactly what he means without the expected exaggeration, other Arabs may think that he means the opposite. This fact leads to misunderstandings on the part of nonArabs who do not realize that the Arab is merely following a linguistic tradition."

If Blackwater is correct - Was there a threat, or just overrated lingal/political hype?

Now that Blackwater has had to cut back in Iraq due to their excessive violence, they may have some excess capacity available that could be hired out to deal with spammers.

Companies kill me

So? Companies kill many people.

Unfortunately, they didn't have the resources

I have heard, from a moderately credible source in the security industry, that the people behind BlueFrog stopped because they were sent threats, along with pictures of their home and children, by the spammers they were attacking.

Someone may try this again, but it may have to be one of the security companies that handle lethal threats, like Blackwater or the Kroll division of Garda.

1. Bush has issued signing statements indicating that he can take full and absolute control over *any* and *all* branches of government in the time of catastrophe. What a catastrophe is, is not defined - this JFK episode could be defined by him as a catastrophe and he can take absolute control.
   
   http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/05/20 070509-12.html
   
   Read through the document carefully - you can see that there is not a *single* mention of any role for congress or any elected representative except the President and the Vice President. Also note that the person second in command in times of "catastrophe" would be the head of the HLS. A scary thought.
   
   You may claim that this can be fought on the ground by rallying the support of the people. Bush and his henchmen have already thought of this - which is why they have secret prisons, illegal wiretapping (to dig up dirt), private armies (to deal with dissenters) etc.
2. The government can send you to G Bay or any of the other secret prisons around the world without even *informing* law enforcement, your family or the judiciary. You have no recourse to any legal options. So if you are the one who is going to be trying to rally up the people to go against the government:
   • They can try and destroy you because I am guessing that you may have something in your past which you don't want to be publicised.. and the intelligence community can find that information and use it against you.
   • If you cannot be silenced like that, they can try the same technique against your family members / friends etc.
   • If you still won't shut up, you can be moved to any of the secret prisons on a trumped up charge of terrorism. Actually, they don't need to charge you at all.
   • Or they can arrange an accident.
3. You may claim that even if the people by themselves are unable to stop it, the law enforcement .. and perhaps the armed forces can stop the designs of Bush and his henchmen. However, Bush already has a very large private army (Blackwater being one part of this). Their numbers are not made public, but all we know is that they are very heavily armed, are authorized to use plain clothes, can use arms not available to the general public and they operate across the continental US (and other parts of the world). They were already used in the New Orleans in the aftermath of the Katrina disaster.
   
   NOTE: Read this link below from the Blackwater website. It is an eye opener to realize where Blackwater sees itself in the scheme of things.
   
   http://www.blackwaterusa.com/btw2005/archive/09050 5btw.html
   
   Blackwater is not under *any* congressional review or supervision. They can be used against you and there is very little that you can do against it.
   
   In New Orleans, Blackwater could enter in while the Red Cross couldn't:
   http://www.boingboing.net/2005/09/09/katrina_autho rities_.html/
4. If by some freak accident, they do allow you to rally up the kind of support you would need to take this on, and if you get to the point where an inquiry is ordered into the allegations raise by you and your friends, they can se

http://www.blackwaterusa.com/airship/

Coming soon to a police state near you.

That's funny. The origin of my sig, if you didn't know already can be found here. It presents an apt analogy of human reactions to danger (wolves).

It -is- a killer business model... you're just a little too late. http://www.blackwaterusa.com/

> unless the president manages to get a budget item through for "BILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO HIRE MERCENARIES", he won't have any money to do it with.

You mean these folks?

A government can arrest you, imprison you, and even kill you. Governments all around the world are waging wars, rounding people up, and torturing them. What business can do that?

You mean like the government contractor Blackwater? Or Coca Cola? Or Exxon?

Why is this any different than any other organization pulling my credit report?

Maybe because, contrary to recent efforts to make you think otherwise, the government isn't "like any other organization"?

Of course, those things the government can't do themselves, they just hire contracted corporations to do for them.

I recommend reading the whole essay, it actually puts it much better than the summary stated in the GF post.
See here:
http://www.blackwaterusa.com/btw2004/articles/0726 sheep.html

The sheep dogs, by definition, must police themselves. Is it easy? Of course not, and that is why the world is in the state it currently is.

Although to be fair, it is a statement of ideology and puts everything into a black and white (or sheepdog, wolf, and sheep) classification, which does not always hold up when you compare to the real worlds shades of grey.

While I agree that the analogy from Team America is similar, I think it is a much more pessimistic view of the situation. Not to mention it goes out of its way to be as vulgar and offensive as possible. (but hey... that's funny)

Interesting. Not a typical stance for the Bush administration since it's a bit anti-business

Where does Bush being antibusiness come from? It's more like he is pro corporatist. More than any other president he has been handing other to corporations business that the government used to do. For instance he has expanded corporate military operations bigger than was previously done. Many of the critical operations in Iraq are handled by corporations like Blackwater USA, If I recall right Afghan President Hamid Karzai's security force, bodyguards, are or were US mercenaries. Bush and behind him, Cheney are pushing to open up ANWAR to big oil companies for drilling. And he wants to open up Yellowstone for natural gas exploration, which seeing as how Yellowstone is a supervolcano is a bad idea. And his economics advisor said outsourcing jobs is good for the economy.

Tell that to people joining the military or these mercenary outfits.

At least with elections, the governments ability to impact our freedom is limited (so long as we recognize the need and vote the bums out) but with private corporations working behind the scenes, there is no such accountability and every day private influence over the public sphere grows.

I'm pretty sure that sort of thing can be outsourced these days.

I just wish I was the sort of consultant that got to kill people.

Anyway, I agree that private entities should not be granted police / military powers. Which is why I was so pissed when those Blackwater mercenary thugs were given special treatment in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Regular citizens were disarmed by police, in violation of the 2nd Ammendment, while Blackwater's forces were allowed to keep their weapons in order to protect corporate interests. Blech.

As Zi Mei's affidavit points out, the RIAA has no solid evidence any crimes were even committed! As someone else on this forum pointed out, the RIAA itself has planted bogus mp3 files on p2p services which would have looked the same as pirated mp3s. The evidence the RIAA does have is extremely flimsy, and would never compel a decent judge to make the ISPs hand over server logs.

Say someone in an apartment building had a birthday party, and at that party there was an unlicensed performance of the "Happy Birthday" song that a lawyer happened to hear while walking past the building. Then say that lawyer tried to have an ex parte order to get a list of all the building's tenants, to determine who had a birthday on that day. Would anyone take him seriously? And even so, would having a birthday on that day prove you had illegally performed the "Happy Birthday" song?

If you want a criminal rather than civil example, pretend it was marijuana smoke drifting out of the building instead of music, and that a police officer wanted a warrant to search every apartment in the building.

I trust the US Military with my security (We could argue about the military and privacy all day so lets not bring that up), but why is our security being contacted out? That is what worries me. Where is the accountability???

Because there's a big push to privatize our security and the military. An example is Blackwater USA. They got some big contracts in Iraq. These contractors got their gravy train and they're not about to give them up.

Then why are we using so many mercenaries in Iraq? Especially when Army troops are much, much cheaper?

Because Blackwater USA has former military and intelligence personel on it's board. Many of it's trainers, the military uses them for training the military too, are former SEALs or Special Forces and they make a lot of money.

Be careful there. If he had run at you, you'd have been in a world of hurt unless you are the fastest draw in the West. It's easy to underestimate the time it takes you to be ready to fire or overestimate the time it takes someone to reach you.

Well said, and I absolutely agree. Too many people think a gun is a magic device you drop in your pocket, and one sunny day when threatened, they can draw, fire and the "bad man will go away." BULLSHIT.

I have taken many HUNDREDS of hours of training, am a Three Weapon Master, a Distinguished Graduate of ASAA (Advanced Level), and a Graduate of the toughest level at Blackwater (Tactical Pistol II). I was the only civilian in a class of SWAT and Military Special Ops personnel and finished in the top 20%. I am repeating the course for fun in May. (How sick is that?)

My fastest time on the ASAA "Nutcracker" was 2 center hits on 4 sillouette targets at 5 meters in 1.6 seconds. That's from holster under a concealing vest, .45 ACP. And that was with Ranger Talons. My usual time is 1.7-1.8 secs. Fast enough? B) Against one guy, it would all be over in less than half a second...probably less, I already had the vest open.

But I know I'm unusual. Most people don't train for shit and it infuriates me. Your advice is extremely sound. It's all about the practice and training. If you don't have it, your scenario is right on the money.

Well done man, but the syringe portion gave me a chill. The syringe part is more than just evidence...what the cop did was both illegal and insanely dangerous. "Sharps" are considered hazardous medical waste and in every state MUST be disposed of in a proper labeled container (NOT a Coke bottle.) They must be given to a company licensed to dispose of hazardous or medical waste and destroyed, usually in these massive incinerators. (I was a med student once...)

Ironic as this sounds, what the cop did with those sharps (syringes) was more dangerous than your identity theft. Most likely, the manager chucked the bottle in the trash, and those needles are possibly now being reused by some dumpster diving junkie. Who knows what viruses, bacteria, whatnot those kids had lurking in their blood.

I'm insanely proud of your victory but I gently suggest calling the Red Lion, and TELL them that 'dirty needles' are somewhere in their trash. Two asshole identity theives in jail is small change compared to a trash collector or Red Lion employee getting Lyme, AIDS or septicemia, and spreading it to his family.

Also, those guys know who you are, are obvious heavy druggies and probably don't like you very much right now. They'll be out one day. Consider a pistol permit. I ALWAYS carry, and that's saved my life twice. Get some professional training , and practice every week, too. My close scrapes: Three guys went at me with crowbars (carjacking attempt in a parking lot...liked my M3) and their eyes got as large as frisbees when in under half a second they saw the business end of my Les Baer .45. Never had to fire a shot, but I was absolutely ready to drop all three of them and they knew it. The other time I just opened my vest to a knife wielding mugger, we both smiled and he ran off like Carl Lewis doing the 100. Protect yourself!

Lets not forget about BlackwaterUSA which IS a business military, currently hired by our government.