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A much wiser man than me once wrote "Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains."

You believe that you can "count on your fellow Americans to do the right thing" and I would point out that many of the megacorps that control so much are NOT Americans, they hold nothing dear to their hearts but wealth, and rotting in the fields? If you haven't noticed this will NOT be a global meltdown, the BRIC are doing quite well in this and will be happy to buy that food for THEIR people while YOURS starve.

Between the corps at the top and waves of illegals at the bottom which in case you've not been informed of current events might want to look at "Aztland video" to see illegals in as far north as Utah using this crisis as an excuse to burn the flag and push their agenda of "Yankee go home the west coast is ours now!" who have NO reason to be civil and EVERY reason to cause as much destruction as they can so they can run the people off their lands and claim it for themselves?

Well I wished I held your belief in your fellow man but frankly I do not sir. Here all the cops are on the take and snitches get fed alive to the chipper, you can yell "immigra!" at any construction site and watch them scatter like deer, and I see endless waves of houses empty because the banks would rather let them rot and take a tax break or a bailout on the property than let the former owner have a roof over their head. And in case you haven't noticed the majority live in cities now, have since the late 60s. you know, those big piles of concrete and asphalt where nothing grows? What do you suggest they do, eat tires?

No sir things are gonna get seriously nasty. The militias and supremacist groups are having their ranks swell like never before, you have the illegals on the west coast wanting nothing more than to take control away from the US, and the south has people with their number painted on the back of their cars because they can't find any work. The turnover in my own building has been more than half these past 6 months not because they found a better place, but because they lost everything including the roof over their head. the lucky ones are sleeping on someone's couch, the unlucky? in their cars in 105 degree heat.

I'm sorry sir but I haven't see any "Americans pulling together" what I have seen is either "fuck you pay me!" or "fuck the poor!" or "We must give teh rich more MONIES nom nom nom". No coming together, no helping each other out. The ideals you speak of? Long since dead I'm afraid. Hell look at congress right this very minute where the teabaggers won't be happy unless they can slash the hell out of aid to the poor at the very worst possible time. Where is their "caring for their fellow Americans"?

And that is why you'll soon see "made in Malaysia" stamped on everything, as the corps can always find SOMEONE to abuse. Who knows in 40 years this country may be so bankrupt both morally and financially that you'll see the government happy to let the CEOs create more superfund sites just to have less than 50% unemployment.

Since this is the day after Independence Day maybe a little wisdom from one of our Founding Fathers is in order: "Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains." which is of course why the corp owned MSM says nationalism is "bad" because giving a shit about your own country might cause the CEOs to not make 500 times the workers.

At least in traditional Italian 'fascism' which frankly is the ONLY fascism that has openly tried to work as a governmental philosophy, by and large the corporations do the will of the state. This is important because this brings in nationalism which by and large brings up the lives of many and not just a few at the top. There is a reason why they made jokes about how the trains always ran on time, and how there was little unemployment in those fascist states before they decided to take over the world.

While corporatism on the surface looks similar, it has one underlying difference that is a BIG fucking difference, in that the corporations control the state not the other way around. As a great man that helped found this country said "Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains." and that distinction makes all the difference in the world. It is why we actually have the government giving tax breaks to those that offshore all the jobs away, it is why we have companies declared "too big to fail" and why we have the lowest taxes on the top 1% while we are looking at a possible default.

So you see the big difference is a fascist state wants to keep the state strong as they wield the power of the state. That is why fascist states are typically VERY nationalistic to the point of xenophobia, because they don't control what is outside the state so the state is all. In corporatism the corporations ONLY care about making as much money as they possibly can, after which they can simply move on like locusts in search of bigger and better profits. A line from a great movie fits the current corporatist philosophy perfectly "It doesn't matter. It's all profit. And then finally, when there's nothing left, when you can't borrow another buck from the bank or buy another case of booze, you bust the joint out. You light a match." and that is what we have been seeing here in the USA. they are stripping out everything of value that ain't nailed down and when they can't wring another drop of profit they'll light a match and walk away. And THAT is the difference between fascism and corporatism my friend.

You know sometimes they call that insanity.

No, "they" don't. Albert Einstein never did. Only AA (and maybe Rita Mae Brown, though I think she used it after AA did) makes that claim, and AA is idiotic and full of shit. (http://www.hulu.com/watch/207926/family-guy-friends-of-peter-g :) http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2006/07/alcoholics-anonymous-doesnt-work.html ) http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein

"Now compare this with academia, where they have no real customer base to speak of. They can constantly push the boundaries, try new technologies, change their infrastructure etc."

Or they, in the ivory tower, can constantly build from scratch and reproduce what is already known and done before. You know sometimes they call that insanity.

When I was in jail, I was a lot of people's favorite person. I practically ran the jail. I had more freedom than the police.

I think he would have gotten along well with the dog who's flossin' a titanium grille. Now to get him a giant clock collar.

I think this says it all: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/n/napoleonbo108401.html

Would you like some cheese with your w(h)ine?

"
Government "help" to business is just as disastrous as government persecution... the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off. Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/ayn_rand.html#ixzz1I6JtufZD "

Funny, GE seems to be prospering .

"The company, led by Immelt, earned $14.2 billion in profits in 2010, but it paid not a penny in taxes because the bulk of those profits, some $9 billion, were offshore. In fact, GE got a $3.2 billion tax benefit. "

Randroid teabagger says what?

Instantly resort to obcenities? The first fucking line of your reply called me a dumbass. I didn't read the rest of your post, as the first couple lines were a pretty good indication of the kind of dumbshit I'm dealing with, and the rest will likely just annoy me and make my day that much worse.

Before I go though, one last troll.

Government "help" to business is just as disastrous as government persecution... the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off. Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/ayn_rand.html#ixzz1I6JtufZD

But the fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright Brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.
- Carl Sagan

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/c/carlsagan163043.html#ixzz1HulWeDOT

Why would you want to buy this? I'll tell you why: Because that first week or so the sheep will cause the price to shoot like a rocket (because they have heard of FB and know it is big) before it crashes hard when reality sets in. Kinda like how you can make a mint on a "pump and dump" if you get in at the bottom and drop them right before it starts to freefall.

But frankly when I hear the words "evil corporation" I automatically think GS. They are the kind of slime that ruin everything they touch while engorging themselves at the same time. Look at their history and you'll see bubbles as far as the eye can see going back almost to its foundation. Frankly the best thing we here in the US could do for the world is dissolve GS and throw as many of those swindlers under a jail as possible, but sadly our government is riddled with GS "alumni" that make sure their beloved GS ALWAYS comes out ahead. GS is living proof that even after 200 years the words of the great Thomas Jefferson still ring true. How sad that all those years ago he could see the truth when so many today simply bury their heads in the sand and scream "free market!" as the answer to all of the USA's ills.

This is who you are all clamoring to have deciding if the internet is being used "fairly" or not. Mark Lloyd the White House appointed FCC Diversity Czar: He would love to bring back the fairness doctrine and insert central planning into the marketplace to decide what people should be allowed to say on the air and what consumers should be allowed to hear. He will say that he looks to improve "localism" and promote diversitywhich will unsurprisingly silent voices he disagrees with and promote like minded thinkers. Since he doesn't like the fair competition in a free marketplace he believes in total Government control of the market. Which has proved disastrous over and over again in history. The free market has created the most fair distribution of wealth and highest standard of living of any economic system in the history of man. Not a theory... not some idea an elitist intellectual cooked up to better control us sheep but a practical and natural allocation of resources based on individual rights, product/labor value, and supply/demand. Below are his opinion about the American idea of freedom of speech and ultimately individual rights... These are the type of people you are trusting with your information with the first step being labeled "Network Neutrality". "In Venezuela, with Chavez, is really an incredible revolution - a democratic revolution. To begin to put in place things that are going to have an impact on the people of Venezuela. The property owners and the folks who then controlled the media in Venezuela rebelled - worked, frankly, with folks here in the U.S. government - worked to oust him. But he came back with another revolution, and then Chavez began to take very seriously the media in his country. And we've had complaints about this ever since." - Mark Lloyd "It should be clear by now that my focus here is not freedom of speech or the press. This freedom is all too often an exaggeration. At the very least, blind references to freedom of speech or the press serve as a distraction from the critical examination of other communications policies." - Mark Lloyd "The other part of our proposal that gets the 'dittoheads' upset is our suggestion that the commercial radio station owners either play by the rules or pay. In other words, if they don't want to be subject to local criticism of how they are meeting their license obligations, they should pay to support public broadcasters who will operate on behalf of the local community." - Mark Lloyd "This... there's nothing more difficult than this. Because we have really, truly good white people in important positions. And the fact of the matter is that there are a limited number of those positions. And unless we are conscious of the need to have more people of color, gays, other people in those positions we will not change the problem. We're in a position where you have to say who is going to step down so someone else can have power." - Mark Lloyd Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mark_lloyd.html#ixzz18j9oIxxw "[T]he purpose of free speech is warped to protect global corporations and block rules that would promote democratic governance." - Mark Lloyd at the FCC.from his book http://www.amazon.com/Prologue-Farce-Communication-Democracy-America/dp/0252073428 Here he is praising Chavez's crackdown on the media during a speech at a media reform seminar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9ffAP5ixhg "President Obama's diversity czar at the Federal Communications Commission has spoken publicly of getting white media executives to "step down" in favor of minorities, prescribed policies to make liberal talk radio more successful, and described Hugo Chavez's rise to power in Venezuela 'an incredible revolution.'" - Washington Times

"KUNG-FU TERRORISTS TO TARGET WEMBLEY"

What the hell? You are afraid that a few terrorists with kung fu powers can overpower hundreds of passengers on a plane. You coward.

We hijack planes and they are then converted into bombs that can be dropped on to crowds packed into football stadiums, or rammed into skyscrapers during prime-time, killing a quarter of a million in a quarter of an hour.

There is no way even a mass hijacking will kill quarter of a million. The article says, talking of a reinforced door that "the cabin crew removed it from its hinges", but when we look at the original articles it's pretty clear that there were crew on both sides and so the door was removed from the cockpit side (where the screws are). What you are spreading is pro-terrorist bluster propaganda; giving the terrorists the oxygen of publicity they need; if we were in a war (and we are not) then you and the daily express should be treated as the Quislings you are. Refuse to be frightened. Refuse to be afraid.

Robert A. Heinlein

IIRC, George H. W. Bush did not like broccoli. Green to be sure, but draw your own conclusions.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgehw110377.html

When the banks and other business interests have the government
in their pockets the government tends to pass what the banksters want.

Mussolini was a prophet.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/benitomuss388775.html

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power."
~Benito Mussolini

Well, this experiment in mob rule that we call democracy isn't working so well either, judging by what we've elected over the past couple decades, and how they've screwed over the very people who elected them. :(

I like the way Winston Churchill put it: "It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." Partially because of mob rule we have bad laws.

By "qualified pool" I didn't necessarily mean by merit, but by citizens of voting age (something like jury duty, except this would be congress duty).

I don't know about everywhere in the US but in states like Florida people are added to the potential jury pool by registering to vote. I was called to show up twice. When I went I was hoping to be called to serve on a jury for a drug offense or other victimless crime. I believe in Jully Informed Juries and Jury Nullification and wanted to send the message that these laws were bad and unconstitutional. Unfortunately for 2 days each tyme all I did was sit there waiting to be called for questioning.

If you can't tell, I've become somewhat disaffected with the entire concept of democracy; as was pointed out centuries ago, it starts falling apart as soon as the voter realises that he can vote himself largesse from the public treasury.

Oh, I agree but no government leads to chaos. Some say anarchy can work but I don't see how. So instead I try to limit the size, and power, of government.

Falcon

As long as corporate fascism is ok with millions of dead for ISS,
then who needs real government reform.

The snobs can just keep having lavish dinners, lavish cars,
Mc mansions while the slave labor class dies from cured diseases,
starvation, lack of water wells, or get bombed into oblivion
because they won't cut a deal for their resources with the jackals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTbdnNgqfs8

Mussolini nailed it.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/benitomuss388775.html

Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.

We incorporated it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasces#The_fasces_in_the_United_States

There is a lot of volume in space.

I believe this is what you meant to say.

Yes, clearly tools can be too simple - a rock can still pound nails, but it's just not very good. That doesn't mean you need that hammer so specialized that it can only be used for one kind of nail (note for those involved in woodworking, specialized hammers are task-specific). The idea behind KISS has always implied that if it's too simple to be used to perform your task efficiently, it still doesn't work.
Einstein had a similar quote that may resonate with you, and is worth keeping in mind by those who take KISS too far: Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler. Quoted from here.

Maybe it's different in other countries/societies, but here in the USA, most of the people don't want anyone to go any faster than they choose to go.

"Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?" - George Carlin (from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/george_carlin.html, and as far as I remember, he also had a more profane version of the quote)

Yes I do, you obviously don't though. Yes, people and businesses are due due process when their property is taken, however none of BP's property has been taken yet. BP voluntarily setup an escrow account and deposited money in it. There was political pressure but BP could have told Obama to take a hike. As New Orleans' federal judge proved, which TFA is about, a court of law can declare the government does not have the ability to take something.

As for the victims of this spill, they have claim too, but you can't ignore the laws, constitution, and set procedures contrary to them just to satisfy your sense of empathy or anger. IF we did that, we could see things like a right to a fair trial or trial by a jury of our peers disappear just as easily when someone else finds the need convenient.

The Constitution lost meaning many years ago. Today politicians use it for toilet paper, both Democrats and Republicans. Obama is just the most recent example. His predecessor, Bush, trashed the Constitution as well. There was no due process for prisoners at Gitmo. Hell there was no due process in the invasions of Afghanistan or Iraq. The feds have been denying states states rights. Bush went after CA after the state approved medical marijuana.

If the USA's Founding Fathers were alive today they'd be calling for another revolution. As Thomas Jefferson said "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Falcon

Think of it this way. Unlike NASA, SpaceX has been building the majority of everything in-house. That means unlike NASA spacecrafts, SpaceX crafts are not build by the lowest bidder.

Of course NASA has had a pretty good track record in recent years, but I think we will find that SpaceX will as well.

"I will cut taxes--cut taxes--for 95% of all working families. In an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raising taxes on the middle-class." From here
"I can make a firm pledge, under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes." From here

Just admit that he lied to us and all will be forgiven.

That query (albert einstein's birthday) worked when I tried it just now:

Albert Einstein — Date of Birth: March 14, 1879
According to http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/alberteins148864.html

Because they want to make money just like the corporations who will sell the software based on those open standards?

Apparently by competing with said corporations in the halls of the bureaucrats, rather than in the open market.

Shame on you, Microsoft. You used to say 'I'm sorry that we have to have a Washington presence. We thrived during our first 16 years without any of this.' Now you're buying governments just like Larry Ellison does.

"Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take, and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different." -T. S. Elliot

"Bad artists copy. Great artists steal." -Pablo Picasso

"Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal." -Igor Stravinsky

"Good artists copy, great artists steal." -Steve Jobs

"Good coders code, great coders reuse." -anonymous

If you owe the bank $100, that's your problem. If you owe the bank $100 million, that's the bank's problem. -- John Paul Getty (according to here)

And this is devastating for the Chinese government. After keeping their populace docile and stupid,

Clearly, you've never met an actual Chinese person. Do you honestly think they don't know what's going on? No, they know. They just don't care. They're lives have been massively transformed for the better. Especially for those on the coast. (The western interior is another story.) They don't want to rock the boat. Everything is going swimingly for them. Why change?

what they want more than anything else is to be taken seriously as an economic player, sit at the big boy's table and rake in some of that fat global trade cash.

As the world's largest exporter, and fastest growing economy, aren't they already?

So, when one of the biggest companies around says China's market is more hassle than it's worth, it shows them up for the bumpkins that they still are.

Yeah, but Google isn't the biggest in China. It's Baidu. Blogging? That's MSN Spaces. I've yet to meet a Chinese student that does not have an MSN Spaces account. Twitter? I'm sorry. Did you mean Plurk?

Seriously, it's a whole other world outside the US, and you don't seem to know its players.

But we knew this was coming (and hopefully Nixon did too). Can't have all the benefits of capitalism without losing some of the "benefits" of totalitarianism. You can have some of one and lots of the other (like most Western democracies), but not lots of both.

Well that's the line Wall Street sold us back in 1989 while the Tianamen Square was still damp wasn't it? It's been 20 years. While some may argue the jury may still be out on that one (I wouldn't.); it's been long enough to get some indication of how its leaning, Let's examine the facts shall we?

China's GDP growth was at 11% last quarter, for year-over-year growth of about 8%, and just now replaced Germany as the world's leading exporter. (Funny, how does a "Socialist" European Free Market(tm) democracy be former world's largest exporter, but the US can't be? The mind reels. Oh wait. No it doesn't.) Now China is luring back it's top talent, by offering them better opportunities. Allow me to quote from that article:

These scientists were not uniformly won over by the virtues of democracy, either. While Dr. Rao said he hoped and believed that China would become a multiparty democracy in his lifetime, Dr. Shi said he doubted that that political system “will ever be appropriate for China.”

As a Tsinghua student, Dr. Shi joined the 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square. As a registered Democrat in the United States, he participated eagerly in elections. “Multiparty democracy is perfect for the United States,” he said. “But believing that multiparty democracy is right for the United States does not mean it is right for China.”

Such is the sweet taste of liberty, eh?

No, I believe that China has found it's third way. Not only "To be rich is glorious", but "Sometimes when we [Chinese] have the faith we have to take different approaches to realize our beliefs. The ultimate goal is the common prosperity, but we have to let a group of people to get rich first." Or as Slate put it, "How do you say 'trickle down' in Mandarin?"

I say no.

"If Microsoft ever does applications for Linux it means I've won." - Linus Torvalds

Colonists heading to the new world were heading from a place of high resource (to live) contention to a place of low resource contention.

Actually, a lot of people moved to find freedom — such as freedom from religious persecutions. (Including those, who went on to persecute other religions here.)

If the Martians get to set up their own government over there — including writing their own Constitution — it could be quite tempting... I just thought, I'll be moving to Antarctica first (with my great-grandchildren flying off to other planets) — Antarctica is just as deserted, but a lot closer to (the current) home, and a lot easier to colonize...

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.

Thomas Jefferson

oh don't sweat it. It gives your fellow /. readers a warm feeling of "hey I've been here a while... and apparently so has this guy!".

And don't forget, (even Picasso hated to finish work)

All of the above can be taught in any language, including one made up by the professor (RIP Edgar Dykstra.)

Edsger Dijkstra maintained that anyone who was first taught an unstructured language like BASIC was completely and totally brain damaged from there on. See:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/edsger_dijkstra.html
I hope he rots in hell and I'm glad you totally mangled the spelling of his name.

The rest of your post was +5 insightful.

My CS 101 in college was in FORTRAN on punchcards, though by that point I already knew an assembly language and four or five flavors of BASIC. I've lost count of the number of different languages I've been paid to write code in. I've lost count of the number of languages I've forgotten. When I was very young I kept count of the number of computer languages I had learned until I, well, lost count at something like 20.

I think a better example is Donald Knuth. I can't find one of his intro quotes to _The Art of Programming_, but he maintained that dealing with code in several different languages before lunch was something one had to deal with. I fully agree. I also like:

The most important thing in the programming language is the name. A language will not succeed without a good name. I have recently invented a very good name and now I am looking for a suitable language.

Ref: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/donald_knuth.html

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with traditional BASIC or traditional FORTRAN, and traditional FORTRAN is extremely important historically - it proved that compiled languages could produce better code than skilled assembly language coders. Just keep in mind that learning *programming* as versus the FOTM computer language is the most important thing and you'll be fine.

All of the above can be taught in any language, including one made up by the professor (RIP Edgar Dykstra.)

Edsger Dijkstra maintained that anyone who was first taught an unstructured language like BASIC was completely and totally brain damaged from there on. See:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/e/edsger_dijkstra.html
I hope he rots in hell and I'm glad you totally mangled the spelling of his name.

The rest of your post was +5 insightful.

My CS 101 in college was in FORTRAN on punchcards, though by that point I already knew an assembly language and four or five flavors of BASIC. I've lost count of the number of different languages I've been paid to write code in. I've lost count of the number of languages I've forgotten. When I was very young I kept count of the number of computer languages I had learned until I, well, lost count at something like 20.

I think a better example is Donald Knuth. I can't find one of his intro quotes to _The Art of Programming_, but he maintained that dealing with code in several different languages before lunch was something one had to deal with. I fully agree. I also like:

The most important thing in the programming language is the name. A language will not succeed without a good name. I have recently invented a very good name and now I am looking for a suitable language.

Ref: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/donald_knuth.html

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with traditional BASIC or traditional FORTRAN, and traditional FORTRAN is extremely important historically - it proved that compiled languages could produce better code than skilled assembly language coders. Just keep in mind that learning *programming* as versus the FOTM computer language is the most important thing and you'll be fine.

It is attributed to Yogi at this site
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/y/yogi_berra.html. His quotes often have a signature mental disconnect in them... and it makes many of them quite funny. Some examples of quotes attributed to Yogi are:

A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore.

Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours.

Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.

Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken.

Even Napoleon had his Watergate.

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true.

He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious.

I always thought that record would stand until it was broken.

I just want to thank everyone who made this day necessary.

I never blame myself when I'm not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn't my fault that I'm not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?

I never said most of the things I said.

I wish I had an answer to that because I'm tired of answering that question.

If people don't want to come out to the ball park, nobody's gonna stop 'em.

If the world was perfect, it wouldn't be.

If you ask me anything I don't know, I'm not going to answer.

If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

It ain't over till it's over.

It ain't the heat, it's the humility.

It gets late early out there.

It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.

It's like deja-vu, all over again.

And on and on and on... forever redefining the plain spoken guy.

The problem with non-violence is not that it doesn't work, it's that it requires more courage than most people have to execute it. Non-violent resistance is enormously effective, and anyone who chooses violence over it as an avenue for political conflict resolution is either a coward or has no interest in actually resolving the conflict. In most real cases it is probably a bit of both.

The problem with non-violence is, you're at the mercy of people who don't believe as you do. And when those people control the media, your non-violent message will not be heard. To bring it home to us Americans, 'Free Speach zone', anyone?

(what's the opposite of coffee?)

Powdered water?
Perhaps we've solved Stephen Wright's problem!

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.
- Thomas Jefferson

And he in large part wrote the constitution!
So perhaps you can rethink your previous statment? Or maybe you can link to a credible reference to back up your assertion?

Ask anyone who has lived in New York about pizza, or public transportation, or pretty much anything else for that matter and the conversation will eventually turn to how much better New York is than wherever it is they currently happen to be. One wonders why they don't just go back and stay there.

Pizza is Ok, although I had better while in Boston. Public transportation sucks royally with bad trains, mumbling announcements, unapologetic route-changes, rude and LOUD "fellow passengers", and ugly advertisements. Despite being on an ocean-shore (and saddling two sizable rivers), the air quality is pretty bad too.

We are renovating a newly-bought house in New Jersey, and every time I get there, I'm amazed, how much better the air is, and how much nicer people are. I mean, sales-clerks are not only polite, but also tend to know their wares!

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.
Thomas Jefferson

That "Democrats" keyword next to this story is quite justified...

Alexis de Tocqueville

I think Congress has known this and been operating on it for a while. We're really starting to see the fruits of this.

All in all a decent post, however with the following quote you are being way too wishful while ignoring history.

They better start working on IE 9 which should be open source and standards compatible for starters.

This will never happen. It did not happen back in the day and how many versions of I.E. need to come and go before we all admit this? Since 1995 there have been how many versions; 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 7.0, now we are looking at versions 8.0 and eventually 9.0. Thats at least four versions, probably more, up to version 4.0, what a disaster that was! At least three more versions, again probably more, to version 6.0 and now versions 7 and 8 and they are still not compatible with standards...lol, I do NOT need any more proof and you should be ashamed if you do!

The first thing an addict must do before they can seek help is admit that they have a problem. According to a Drug Rehab director friend of mine, most alcoholics MUST lose everything (job, family, friends, etc...everything) a minimum of six times before they will admit they have a problem.

Until a person admits they have a problem, you can NOT help them, only enable them.

I for one am tired of being an enabler! They should have been standards compliant years ago, enough excuses.

When are we going to admit to ourselves that not only are they NOT standards compatible, they do NOT want to be; nor will they ever be!

We are way past three strikes and your out. And this applies to any vertical that you look at: Operating Systems; Word Processors; Spreadsheets; Databases, Office environments, Graphics, eMail, Web Browsers, and now they are getting ready to provide a death neal to anti-viral third party software vendors. Enough already!

They will be just compatible enough to placate the majority and will come up with some rationalization for not being 100% compatible that they know the majority of the market will accept... so that you will not switch away from them, their OS, their browser, their media player, their office environment, etc....ad nausea.

What is it called where you keep doing the same thing and always expect a different result, yet you get the same result...next time they say the right words, you expect a different result, only to get the same result again...next time they say the right words again, with a little minor twist and you expect a different result, yet once again you are disappointed and get the same result....ad nausea.

Enough is enough. They could have been compliant with standards years ago, yet they are not, duh moment here. Wake up; they do not want to be compliant, nor will they ever be.

Specifically should be open source and standards compatible anyone who believe that Microsoft wants to be open source or standards compatible is dreaming.

Their business model dictates that they NEVER become 100% standards compatible, else they lose profit when their customers can more easily switch to other options, namely open source, FOSS, Linux, OOo, etc...

Its business as usual, nothing more.

Ah yes, Insanity, if Albert Einstein did say this, regardless it is very true.

I've been meaning to ask, this is as good a time and place as any - where did you get this quote for your sig?

All difficult things have their origin in that which is easy, and great things in that which is small. ~ Lao Tzu

I have studied The Old Man for 35 years and have no idea where he said this. It's not in the Tao Te Ching. Neither are these quotes:

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage." http://www.whatquote.com/quotes/Lao-Tzu/1399-Being-deeply-loved-b.htm

"Ambition has one heel nailed in well, though she stretch her fingers to touch the heavens." http://www.whatquote.com/quotes/Lao-Tzu/24946-Ambition-has-one-hee.htm

It would be ludicrous to attribute either of the above to Lao Tse.

Your quote is more akin to this passage from the Hagakure:

Among the maxims on Lord Naoshige's wall there was this one: ''Matters of great concern should be treated lightly.''
Master lttei commented, "Matters of small concern should be treated seriously."

http://www.rosenoire.org/archives/Hagakure.pdf

In fact, I dispute virtually all of these quotes attributed to The Old Man - http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/l/lao_tzu.html - cleverly, there are a few of his actual quotes there - not very many.

In keeping with the spirit of the Hagakure - GirlInTraining wrote that if you have to scroll a comment, chances are good it's a religious/fanboy posting. To which EarlyMon commented that if you believe ahead of time that long comments are religious/fanboy ones, you will scroll them.

Forget to source that?

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
-Ronald Reagan

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/ronaldreag109938.html
http://www.presidentreagan.info/speeches/quotes.cfm
http://www.quotegarden.com/taxes.html

It was Dwight Eisenhower: "We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security."

The last of the great Republicans...

Perhaps future Mars colonists will be republicans escaping the Obama administration.

There is a part of joke in every joke, you know... I'm seriously eying Antarctica, as the polls run me into gloom. It is far closer than Mars and far more hospitable.

Then, as — in the time of my great-grand-children — large cities appear in Antarctica and citizens of that by-then-greatest country on Earth get piled up upon one another, Mars will become the new frontier, where "spreading the wealth" will remain a sick joke for several more generations...

When I download the latest X-Files movie, I'm not stealing because I'm not making off with a physical object. However, the memories in my mind are a physical object, and therefore not metaphysical mumbo jumbo. ...Wait, what? What is this sudden stench of hypocrisy?

Maybe information is not physical, but some sort of abstract collection of relations between bits of data, and more or less separate from the media which contains the data? Maybe something along the lines of Russell's definition of mathematics...

He said a lot of really smart things. Here's a bunch of them:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/bertrand_russell.html

I fail to see why someone who isn't the original creator of a work should continue to have the sole use of that work

Oh, that's very simple. Because the original creator transferred their rights to whoever holds them now. The transfer — like with tangible property — can be in exchange for money, through inheritance, a donation, etc.

And if, as seems most likely, you object to the main one of them — for money — well, you've just removed most of the incentive to hire musicians and other artists for recordings. And you haven't solved your original problem anyway, because there are plenty of the beloved original creators, who fight for their property rights themselves, rather than leaving it to **AA.

To me the creators' right to do with the creation as they see fit is self-evidently fair. They ought to remain free to sell it, give it away, burn it — anything. And it ain't any of your business — even if you happened to really like it as a child, or experienced your first orgasm listening to it:

Tully: Think of doubloons, Gordon.
Fester: They are not yours, Tully. Back off!

and it seems that various other /.ers agree with me

That's a rather weak argument, regardless even of whether it is true or not... Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/thomas_jefferson.html
Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.

No, in a country with this much employment rather than self-employment, he would have expected it ...

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

I own that I am not a friend to a very energetic government. It is always oppressive.

Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence.
... and did expect it ...

In response, Plato said: "Justice means minding one's own business and not meddling with other men's concerns."