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save for some missing wireless drivers, etc.... the penguins may have already waddled their way into wwworld domination. let yOUR conscience be yOUR guide. you can be more helpful than you might have imagined. there are still some choices. if they do not suit you, consider the likely results of continuing to follow the corepirate nazi hypenosys story LIEn, whereas anything of relevance is replaced almost instantly with pr ?firm? scriptdead mindphuking propaganda or 'celebrity' trivia 'foam'. meanwhile; don't forget to get a little more oxygen on yOUR brain, & look up in the sky from time to time, starting early in the day. there's lots going on up there.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071229/ap_on_sc/ye_climate_records;_ylt=A0WTcVgednZHP2gB9wms0NUE
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080108/ts_alt_afp/ushealthfrancemortality;_ylt=A9G_RngbRIVHsYAAfCas0NUE
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31mon1.html?em&ex=1199336400&en=c4b5414371631707&ei=5087%0A

is it time to get real yet? A LOT of energy is being squandered in attempts to keep US in the dark. in the end (give or take a few 1000 years), the creators will prevail (world without end, etc...), as it has always been. the process of gaining yOUR release from the current hostage situation may not be what you might think it is. butt of course, most of US don't know, or care what a precarious/fatal situation we're in. for example; the insidious attempts by the felonious corepirate nazi execrable to block the suns' light, interfering with a requirement (sunlight) for us to stay healthy/alive. it's likely not good for yOUR health/memories 'else they'd be bragging about it? we're intending for the whoreabully deceptive (they'll do ANYTHING for a bit more monIE/power) felons to give up/fail even further, in attempting to control the 'weather', as well as a # of other things/events.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=video+cloud+spraying

dictator style micro management has never worked (for very long). it's an illness. tie that with life0cidal aggression & softwar gangster style bullying, & what do we have? a greed/fear/ego based recipe for disaster. meanwhile, you can help to stop the bleeding (loss of life & limb);

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/28/vermont.banning.bush.ap/index.html

the bleeding must be stopped before any healing can begin. jailing a couple of corepirate nazi hired goons would send a clear message to the rest of the world from US. any truthful look at the 'scorecard' would reveal that we are a society in decline/deep doo-doo, despite all of the scriptdead pr ?firm? generated drum beating & flag waving propaganda that we are constantly bombarded with. is it time to get real yet? please consider carefully ALL of yOUR other 'options'. the creators will prevail. as it has always been.

corepirate nazi execrable costs outweigh benefits
(Score:-)mynuts won, the king is a fink)
by ourselves on everyday 24/7

as there are no benefits, just more&more death/debt & disruption. fortunately there's an 'army' of light bringers, coming yOUR way. the little ones/innocents must/will be protected. after the big flash, ALL of yOUR imaginary 'borders' may blur a bit? for each of the creators' innocents harmed in any way, there is a debt that must/will be repaid by you/us, as the perpetrators/minions of unprecedented evile, will not be available. 'vote' with (what's left in) yOUR wallet, & by your behaviors. help bring an end to unprecedented evi

Mr. Gruber finds that a plan without mandates, broadly resembling the Obama plan, would cover 23 million of those currently uninsured, at a taxpayer cost of $102 billion per year. An otherwise identical plan with mandates would cover 45 million of the uninsured -- essentially everyone -- at a taxpayer cost of $124 billion. Over all, the Obama-type plan would cost $4,400 per newly insured person, the Clinton-type plan only $2,700. That doesn't look like a trivial difference to me. One plan achieves more or less universal coverage; the other, although it costs more than 80 percent as much, covers only about half of those currently uninsured.

just can't gather enough of the required momentdumb from those few remaining 'fans' of greed/fear/ego based warmongering megalomania eye gas? in fact, nobody's heard much of anything out of dick lately. let yOUR conscience be yOUR guide. you can be more helpful than you might have imagined. there are still some choices. if they do not suit you, consider the likely results of continuing to follow the corepirate nazi hypenosys story LIEn, whereas anything of relevance is replaced almost instantly with pr ?firm? scriptdead mindphuking propaganda or 'celebrity' trivia 'foam'. meanwhile; don't forget to get a little more oxygen on yOUR brain, & look up in the sky from time to time, starting early in the day. there's lots going on up there.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071229/ap_on_sc/ye_climate_records;_ylt=A0WTcVgednZHP2gB9wms0NUE
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080108/ts_alt_afp/ushealthfrancemortality;_ylt=A9G_RngbRIVHsYAAfCas0NUE
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31mon1.html?em&ex=1199336400&en=c4b5414371631707&ei=5087%0A

is it time to get real yet? A LOT of energy is being squandered in attempts to keep US in the dark. in the end (give or take a few 1000 years), the creators will prevail (world without end, etc...), as it has always been. the process of gaining yOUR release from the current hostage situation may not be what you might think it is. butt of course, most of US don't know, or care what a precarious/fatal situation we're in. for example; the insidious attempts by the felonious corepirate nazi execrable to block the suns' light, interfering with a requirement (sunlight) for us to stay healthy/alive. it's likely not good for yOUR health/memories 'else they'd be bragging about it? we're intending for the whoreabully deceptive (they'll do ANYTHING for a bit more monIE/power) felons to give up/fail even further, in attempting to control the 'weather', as well as a # of other things/events.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=video+cloud+spraying

dictator style micro management has never worked (for very long). it's an illness. tie that with life0cidal aggression & softwar gangster style bullying, & what do we have? a greed/fear/ego based recipe for disaster. meanwhile, you can help to stop the bleeding (loss of life & limb);

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/28/vermont.banning.bush.ap/index.html

the bleeding must be stopped before any healing can begin. jailing a couple of corepirate nazi hired goons would send a clear message to the rest of the world from US. any truthful look at the 'scorecard' would reveal that we are a society in decline/deep doo-doo, despite all of the scriptdead pr ?firm? generated drum beating & flag waving propaganda that we are constantly bombarded with. is it time to get real yet? please consider carefully ALL of yOUR other 'options'. the creators will prevail. as it has always been.

corepirate nazi execrable costs outweigh benefits
(Score:-)mynuts won, the king is a fink)
by ourselves on everyday 24/7

as there are no benefits, just more&more death/debt & disruption. fortunately there's an 'army' of light bringers, coming yOUR way. the little ones/innocents must/will be protected. after the big flash, ALL of yOUR imaginary 'borders' may blur a bit? for each of the creators' innocents harmed in any way, there is a debt that must/will be repaid by you/us, as the perpetrators/minions of unprecedented evile, will not be available. 'vote' with (what's lef

Mr. Gruber finds that a plan without mandates, broadly resembling the Obama plan, would cover 23 million of those currently uninsured, at a taxpayer cost of $102 billion per year. An otherwise identical plan with mandates would cover 45 million of the uninsured -- essentially everyone -- at a taxpayer cost of $124 billion. Over all, the Obama-type plan would cost $4,400 per newly insured person, the Clinton-type plan only $2,700.

That doesn't look like a trivial difference to me. One plan achieves more or less universal coverage; the other, although it costs more than 80 percent as much, covers only about half of those currently uninsured.

"To me, cutting cables seems like something some people in the U.S. government would do, testing its control over communications before invading a Muslim country."

"I can tell you from personal experience that many Iranians are very good people."

"Another influence toward unbalance are Jews in the U.S."

"A further unbalancing influence is many of those in the U.S. who call themselves evangelists; they believe they are superior to the rest of us"

it's ?safe? & easy to conclude, if we were derived from (frozen) muck. &, as in the randoidian 'school' of lazy-is-fair, every man for himself, there's just no responsibility for any illegal/immoral behaviors. let yOUR conscience be yOUR guide. you can be more helpful than you might have imagined. there are still some choices. if they do not suit you, consider the likely results of continuing to follow the corepirate nazi hypenosys story LIEn, whereas anything of relevance is replaced almost instantly with pr ?firm? scriptdead mindphuking propaganda or 'celebrity' trivia 'foam'. meanwhile; don't forget to get a little more oxygen on yOUR brain, & look up in the sky from time to time, starting early in the day. there's lots going on up there.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071229/ap_on_sc/ye_climate_records;_ylt=A0WTcVgednZHP2gB9wms0NUE
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080108/ts_alt_afp/ushealthfrancemortality;_ylt=A9G_RngbRIVHsYAAfCas0NUE
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31mon1.html?em&ex=1199336400&en=c4b5414371631707&ei=5087%0A
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/01/military.suicides/index.html

is it time to get real yet? A LOT of energy is being squandered in attempts to keep US in the dark. in the end (give or take a few 1000 years), the creators will prevail (world without end, etc...), as it has always been. the process of gaining yOUR release from the current hostage situation may not be what you might think it is. butt of course, most of US don't know, or care what a precarious/fatal situation we're in. for example; the insidious attempts by the felonious corepirate nazi execrable to block the suns' light, interfering with a requirement (sunlight) for us to stay healthy/alive. it's likely not good for yOUR health/memories 'else they'd be bragging about it? we're intending for the whoreabully deceptive (they'll do ANYTHING for a bit more monIE/power) felons to give up/fail even further, in attempting to control the 'weather', as well as a # of other things/events.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=video+cloud+spraying

dictator style micro management has never worked (for very long). it's an illness. tie that with life0cidal aggression & softwar gangster style bullying, & what do we have? a greed/fear/ego based recipe for disaster. meanwhile, you can help to stop the bleeding (loss of life & limb);

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/28/vermont.banning.bush.ap/index.html

the bleeding must be stopped before any healing can begin. jailing a couple of corepirate nazi hired goons would send a clear message to the rest of the world from US. any truthful look at the 'scorecard' would reveal that we are a society in decline/deep doo-doo, despite all of the scriptdead pr ?firm? generated drum beating & flag waving propaganda that we are constantly bombarded with. is it time to get real yet? please consider carefully ALL of yOUR other 'options'. the creators will prevail. as it has always been.

corepirate nazi execrable costs outweigh benefits
(Score:-)mynuts won, the king is a fink)
by ourselves on everyday 24/7

as there are no benefits, just more&more death/debt & disruption. fortunately there's an 'army' of light bringers, coming yOUR way. the little ones/innocents must/will be protected. after the big flash, ALL of yOUR imaginary 'borders' may blur a bit? for each of the creators' innocents harmed in any

it is a take on DIGG, read Slashdot Founder Questions Crowd's Wisdom

[loafula wrote] The pope just shit a brick

The fact that you wrote a joke like this (and that it was given a moderation score of 3 by other readers) indicates confusion amongst the Slashdot populace.

The media have tossed about the word "stem cells" very irresponsibly, making it seem like the religious institutions and others (US President Bush) oppose "stem cell research". What the churches and Bush oppose is embyronic stem cell research, which requires the destruction of the embryo.

This article is talking about Mesenchymal stem cells --- adult stem cells, which are not controversial. In fact, religious groups and Bush and others vigorously support adult stem cell research. Bush in 2001 stated the following:

URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/08/print/20010811-1.html
Date: August 11, 2001

I also believe that great scientific progress can be made through aggressive federal funding of research on umbilical cord, placenta, adult and animal stem cells, which do not involve the same moral dilemma. This year the government will spend $250 million on this important research.

Here are some examples of confusing headlines that the media have deliberately chosen:

"Bush vetoes stem-cell funds bill" (from the BBC at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6224134.stm)

"President Bush's cynical stem-cell policy." (an editorial from Slate at http://www.slate.com/id/2090244/ )

"Bush to stem cell community: drop dead" (an editorial from MSNBC at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13935219/).

All of these headlines are addressing the vetoing of bills to fund embryonic stem cell research, but the headlines misleadingly make it seem like ALL stem cell research is under attack.

In addition, it should be noted that Bush et al were restricting United States government funding of embryonic stem cell research. Unrestricted private funding (not provided by the federal US government)of embryonic stem cell research has always been allowed in the United States, such as that provided through the (private) Howard Hughes Medical Institute http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/03/040304074237.htm , and now state governments such as California and New Jersey. (That's the same Howard Hughes that Leonardio DiCaprio portrayed in the movie "The Aviator" directed by Martin Scorsese.)

Are the ethics of embryonic stem cell research to be taken lightly? Dr. James Thomson was one of the first two laboratories to successfully extract them from embryos:

Publisher: New York Times
Article: Man Who Helped Start Stem Cell War May End It
Author: Gina Kolata
Date: November 22, 2007
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/22/science/22stem.html?em&ex=1195966800&en=3d24427925954325&ei=5087%0A

Dr. Thomsons laboratory at the University of Wisconsin was one of two that in 1998 plucked stem cells from human embryos for the first time, destroying the embryos in the process and touching off a divisive national debate.

And on Tuesday, his laboratory was one of two that reported a new way to turn ordinary human skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells without ever using a human embryo.

The fact is, Dr. Thomson said in an interview, he had ethical concerns about embryonic research from the outset, even though he knew that such research offered insights into human development and the potential for powerful new treatments

it would not be surprising to find the 'doors' to other worlds closed to us. let yOUR conscience be yOUR guide. you can be more helpful than you might have imagined. there are still some choices. if they do not suit you, consider the likely results of continuing to follow the corepirate nazi hypenosys story LIEn, whereas anything of relevance is replaced almost instantly with pr ?firm? scriptdead mindphuking propaganda or 'celebrity' trivia 'foam'. meanwhile; don't forget to get a little more oxygen on yOUR brain, & look up in the sky from time to time, starting early in the day. there's lots going on up there.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071229/ap_on_sc/ye_climate_records;_ylt=A0WTcVgednZHP2gB9wms0NUE
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080108/ts_alt_afp/ushealthfrancemortality;_ylt=A9G_RngbRIVHsYAAfCas0NUE
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31mon1.html?em&ex=1199336400&en=c4b5414371631707&ei=5087%0A

is it time to get real yet? A LOT of energy is being squandered in attempts to keep US in the dark. in the end (give or take a few 1000 years), the creators will prevail (world without end, etc...), as it has always been. the process of gaining yOUR release from the current hostage situation may not be what you might think it is. butt of course, most of US don't know, or care what a precarious/fatal situation we're in. for example; the insidious attempts by the felonious corepirate nazi execrable to block the suns' light, interfering with a requirement (sunlight) for us to stay healthy/alive. it's likely not good for yOUR health/memories 'else they'd be bragging about it? we're intending for the whoreabully deceptive (they'll do ANYTHING for a bit more monIE/power) felons to give up/fail even further, in attempting to control the 'weather', as well as a # of other things/events.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=video+cloud+spraying

dictator style micro management has never worked (for very long). it's an illness. tie that with life0cidal aggression & softwar gangster style bullying, & what do we have? a greed/fear/ego based recipe for disaster. meanwhile, you can help to stop the bleeding (loss of life & limb);

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/28/vermont.banning.bush.ap/index.html

the bleeding must be stopped before any healing can begin. jailing a couple of corepirate nazi hired goons would send a clear message to the rest of the world from US. any truthful look at the 'scorecard' would reveal that we are a society in decline/deep doo-doo, despite all of the scriptdead pr ?firm? generated drum beating & flag waving propaganda that we are constantly bombarded with. is it time to get real yet? please consider carefully ALL of yOUR other 'options'. the creators will prevail. as it has always been.

corepirate nazi execrable costs outweigh benefits
(Score:-)mynuts won, the king is a fink)
by ourselves on everyday 24/7

as there are no benefits, just more&more death/debt & disruption. fortunately there's an 'army' of light bringers, coming yOUR way. the little ones/innocents must/will be protected. after the big flash, ALL of yOUR imaginary 'borders' may blur a bit? for each of the creators' innocents harmed in any way, there is a debt that must/will be repaid by you/us, as the perpetrators/minions of unprecedented evile, will not be available. 'vote' with (what's left in) yOUR wallet, & by your behaviors. help bring an end to unprecedented evile's manifestation through yOUR owned feloni

Yeah, the RIAA sucks. They're predatory. But they can't hold a candle to the tobacco industry.

Read this.

This is an industry that tries to hook people by marketing to children, adding adjuncts to tobacco so it's more addictive, and putting 4.9 million people per year in an early grave. By a painful death too - I got to watch my father die from cancer. It's horrific. And these people do it to millions every year.

For money.

And they're not the only ones. Big business has been dumping toxic waste next to day care centers, clear cutting rainforests, and blocking access to AIDS medications for a long time now.

You will never see the evil that human beings are capable of until you mix big money and big business. It's astonishing that these people are even the same species as the rest of us.

I guess that's why I'm not shocked and outraged about the RIAA. I won't get really surprised until they start shooting people in the head over a $15 cd. That'd be about par for the course, IMHO.

let yOUR conscience be yOUR guide. you can be more helpful than you might have imagined. there are still some choices. if they do not suit you, consider the likely results of continuing to follow the corepirate nazi hypenosys story LIEn, whereas anything of relevance is replaced almost instantly with pr ?firm? scriptdead mindphuking propaganda or 'celebrity' trivia 'foam'. meanwhile; don't forget to get a little more oxygen on yOUR brain, & look up in the sky from time to time, starting early in the day. there's lots going on up there.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071229/ap_on_sc/ye_climate_records;_ylt=A0WTcVgednZHP2gB9wms0NUE
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080108/ts_alt_afp/ushealthfrancemortality;_ylt=A9G_RngbRIVHsYAAfCas0NUE
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31mon1.html?em&ex=1199336400&en=c4b5414371631707&ei=5087%0A

is it time to get real yet? A LOT of energy is being squandered in attempts to keep US in the dark. in the end (give or take a few 1000 years), the creators will prevail (world without end, etc...), as it has always been. the process of gaining yOUR release from the current hostage situation may not be what you might think it is. butt of course, most of US don't know, or care what a precarious/fatal situation we're in. for example; the insidious attempts by the felonious corepirate nazi execrable to block the suns' light, interfering with a requirement (sunlight) for us to stay healthy/alive. it's likely not good for yOUR health/memories 'else they'd be bragging about it? we're intending for the whoreabully deceptive (they'll do ANYTHING for a bit more monIE/power) felons to give up/fail even further, in attempting to control the 'weather', as well as a # of other things/events.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=video+cloud+spraying

dictator style micro management has never worked (for very long). it's an illness. tie that with life0cidal aggression & softwar gangster style bullying, & what do we have? a greed/fear/ego based recipe for disaster. meanwhile, you can help to stop the bleeding (loss of life & limb);

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/28/vermont.banning.bush.ap/index.html

the bleeding must be stopped before any healing can begin. jailing a couple of corepirate nazi hired goons would send a clear message to the rest of the world from US. any truthful look at the 'scorecard' would reveal that we are a society in decline/deep doo-doo, despite all of the scriptdead pr ?firm? generated drum beating & flag waving propaganda that we are constantly bombarded with. is it time to get real yet? please consider carefully ALL of yOUR other 'options'. the creators will prevail. as it has always been.

corepirate nazi execrable costs outweigh benefits
(Score:-)mynuts won, the king is a fink)
by ourselves on everyday 24/7

as there are no benefits, just more&more death/debt & disruption. fortunately there's an 'army' of light bringers, coming yOUR way. the little ones/innocents must/will be protected. after the big flash, ALL of yOUR imaginary 'borders' may blur a bit? for each of the creators' innocents harmed in any way, there is a debt that must/will be repaid by you/us, as the perpetrators/minions of unprecedented evile, will not be available. 'vote' with (what's left in) yOUR wallet, & by your behaviors. help bring an end to unprecedented evile's manifestation through yOUR owned felonious corepirate nazi glowbull warmongering execrable. some of US should consid

Uninformed, perhaps. (which is why I related a story about getting some information!)
However, with your reply you seem to have missed some of the points about how the US system was designed to work. Granted the country pretty far from it now, so it is understandable, but I'll explain.

Certainly I'm not resorting to personal attacks to make my points. Where, exactly, was there a conspiracy theory?

The 4th amendment issue I have (above the problem of the current system) is the search I would receive when traveling without presenting an ID (and the one I get now even with an ID). The intent of the amendment is extremely clear: the government will leave you alone unless you are doing something wrong. If a private business is conducting a service that only works technically if participants are searched, then it is up to them to ensure the safety of their service, NOT the federal government.

To think there are not privacy issues with the current system is absurd.

I'm not concerned with the Airline policies. These are private organizations and I have choice to engage or participate with them. I do not have a choice to participate in the federal government which is why we have (rather, had) so many protections against abuses of its power.

You wrote: So Best Buy, the grocery store, hotels, and bars are part of the government now? I must have missed the passage of that bill. That seems a non sequitur. How do you conclude that? They are obviously not part of the government, which is why their requirement for ID is wrong when offering private services to individuals. Bars do scan id numbers now, and other businesses may well follow suit.

You wrote: to show that you are the party authorized to represent yourself as the named party. What kind of legal blather is that??? What does "authorized to represent myself" even mean? I have a physical body and that is really all the authorization one needs to represent ones self. Think: "Hi, I'm me!" As for my name, if I'm doing nothing wrong, then it's none of the government's business. The points you so eloquently omitted are the data gathering, filtering, and overt surveillance activities that the "named party" is now a-partyin' in because of this system.

And, in a final note, "talking to my representative" does not work: it is simply not a functional activity. Not only do they have neither time nor interest in communicating with the populous, they have thoroughly abrogated their responsibility to uphold the law.
For example, see
http://baltimorechronicle.com/2008/020108Lindorff.shtml
and
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/opinion/30wed1.html?hp

What's amazing, is you wrote a reply with the clear implication that you were refuting my points, and calling me a "conspiracy theorist", but in fact, my main points remain untouched:

1) ID is not required to fly
2) The USA TSA agents at airports lie to your face about it

Furthermore, the US federal governement does conduct searches in obvious violation of the 4th amendment for everyone who flies.

While some may try to minimize my choices as "meaningless", I will continue to stand up for my rights in any way I still can.

With at least 36 ads lined up averaging 30 seconds each that comes out to $97.2 million.

it's really hard to make a profit on the Super Bowl.

With money like that it would be really hard not to make a profit. Now if the teams actually payed for their own stadiums...

After all, it's really hard to make a profit on the Super Bowl.

After all, the advertisements were set at an as low rate as $90,000 per second.

Seriously, let's think of the NFL for once. :-(

You're right that the US is trying to change the situation there (the ruling was overturned by the US backed government) and it will take at least a generation to make an impact - but to see it as a problem of religion, IMHO, is a bit nieve as it wasn't long ago that Catholics were viewed in a poor light (it is possible to pick any religion and find similar issues).
Afghanistan has a history of being conquered (this would make any country unstable) - the time before was USSR and hence the birth of the Taliban (AFAIK they are from Pakistan - "an important ally" I have heard... Politics makes strange bedfellows.... ), and were assisted and trained with US assistance). The "people" have had no real say as to their destiny for a long time. Sharia law is just another tool to keep them in line (in this case it is being used to suppress information).
In the US you have anti terror laws now that are being used to manipulate people, the US is locking up people without trial for prolonged periods and quietly letting them go without trial or even charging them.
The blame is placed on the likes of Bin Laden but IMO to remove the protections of Western society and imprison and, by some peoples definition, torture people that are subsequently proven that they were not involved in any terror related activities is giving succour to Bin Laden and his ilk.
Benjamin Franklin said "that it is better one hundred guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer." (lucky they didn't have IP laws in those days... the idea was from Blackstone: "Better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.") - I wonder what his take on the current trend would be?
I do not know a lot about sharia law, but I suspect that, like all legal systems, is open to abuse from all sides (no I do not want to live under sharia law - I know very little about it and am comfortable in my little Western cocoon). I hope the Western world persevere with rebuilding Afghanistan with an altruistic agenda as it could give hope to people living under oppression elsewhere in the world - as any other way (including insulting their beliefs based on the actions of corrupt despots) would send the wrong message.
Oh and yes you are allowed to say "that", just as the other side has a right to express their view... sadly we seem to be approaching a situation where people are judging individuals based on race (middle eastern != 'muslim terrorist', US != 'ignorant warmonger' islamist != 'extremist') instead of the actions of the individual.

Housing prices have been out of whack since the dot.com bust of 2000.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/08/26/weekinreview/27leon_graph2.large.gif
http://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/house-prices-stable/2008/01/31/

ets return to Robert Shiller. His research shows that house prices in America, in real terms, are remarkably stable. For 100 years - from 1890 to 1990 - they went nowhere. In real terms, they barely changed in the entire century. Then, suddenly after 1997, house prices shot up by 71% in real terms.

What this tells us is that housing prices are not likely to remain up so high for too long. Historically, they kept up with inflation, nothing more. America is still a big place; there is no obvious reason why all of a sudden housing should occupy a bigger percentage of the nations assets and earnings.

Most likely, the gains of the last 10 years will be given back. But the process is long, slow and hard.

Were talking about trillions of dollars, so much bigger than the losses weve seen from subprime so far, says Shiller. He is not talking about the losses in implied wealth by the write-down of Americas housing stock, but about the real losses to financial institutions and investors who have bet on continued housing price increases. As housing rose, ordinary consumers adjusted their spending habits to the increase of wealth they thought they had. Lenders extended them credit - also based on the increase in perceived housing wealth. And then, the mortgage credits were packaged into various derivative instruments and sold all over the world - eventually bankrupting everything from Norwegian fishing towns to French pension funds.

We're not just talking sub-prime here ... a lot of ordinary people with good credit will also find themselves upside-down on their mortgages as houses continue to fall in value.

Jan Hatzius (right), chief economist at Goldman Sachs, made waves today with a note released last night that put possible credit losses from mortgage defualts at $2 trillion, due to leverage. Hatziuss anlaysis have drawn attention before: Back in March 2006, Hatzius said U.S. housing was overvalued by about 20%, based on historical relationships between monthly mortgage payments and median household incomes.

Of course, as interest rates rise, so do mortgage payments, changing the relationship between the monthly mortgage payment and median household income. According to that formula, we can expect that any house bought after 2001 will be upside-down before the decade is out, since, despite the feds best efforts, mortgage rates WILL rise, since they are now seen as a very risky investment unless the purchaser has at least 20% "skin" in the game.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/connection-accomplished/This NYTimes blog describes the fantasy world: "Broadband" is a measly 200Kbps and a zip code is mapped if even a single home has a connection available.

That's how things are done in Bushworld.

Amen. It's downright creepy how often this comes up on Slashdot. There are *at least* several dozen major issues that are far more important right now, including: health care, the economy, environment, and of course the most egregious abuses of the Bush administration involving civil liberties, the Constitution, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not to mention becoming a credible world leader again.

Personally, I have no idea how I'm going to vote on 2/5. Obama's health care policy is an abject disaster, and I've seen nothing to indicate he'll actually push for meaningful "change". I don't need to enumerate Clinton's downsides, but she's strong on policy where it matters (health care, economy), and she knows how to play the game. For any Obama supporters who aren't sure what I'm talking about, read pretty much anything Paul Krugman has written in the past few months.

Hillary will use every technological means at her disposal to instigate class warfare, bleed the middle class dry with tax hikes to fund pork for her buddies in Congress (Democrat and Republican alike), micromanage your daily life (because liberalism is founded on the principle that the good of the government trumps the good of the individual), and to keep anyone from uttering a word in the public square about how she had her accountant Vince Foster whacked for being squeamish about committing a felony and filing the Clintons' blind trust paperwork knowing full well the depth of their corruption regarding Whitewater.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE3DC163EF937A15754C0A963958260

"Whitewater is a can of worms that you should NOT open!" --Vince Foster, voicing his concern in a written memo over the Clintons falsified tax return.

has caused so much death/debt & disruption. let yOUR conscience be yOUR guide. you can be more helpful than you might have imagined. there are still some choices. if they do not suit you, consider the likely results of continuing to follow the corepirate nazi hypenosys story LIEn, whereas anything of relevance is replaced almost instantly with pr ?firm? scriptdead mindphuking propaganda or 'celebrity' trivia 'foam'. meanwhile; don't forget to get a little more oxygen on yOUR brain, & look up in the sky from time to time, starting early in the day. there's lots going on up there.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071229/ap_on_sc/ye_climate_records;_ylt=A0WTcVgednZHP2gB9wms0NUE
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080108/ts_alt_afp/ushealthfrancemortality;_ylt=A9G_RngbRIVHsYAAfCas0NUE
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31mon1.html?em&ex=1199336400&en=c4b5414371631707&ei=5087%0A

is it time to get real yet? A LOT of energy is being squandered in attempts to keep US in the dark. in the end (give or take a few 1000 years), the creators will prevail (world without end, etc...), as it has always been. the process of gaining yOUR release from the current hostage situation may not be what you might think it is. butt of course, most of US don't know, or care what a precarious/fatal situation we're in. for example; the insidious attempts by the felonious corepirate nazi execrable to block the suns' light, interfering with a requirement (sunlight) for us to stay healthy/alive. it's likely not good for yOUR health/memories 'else they'd be bragging about it? we're intending for the whoreabully deceptive (they'll do ANYTHING for a bit more monIE/power) felons to give up/fail even further, in attempting to control the 'weather', as well as a # of other things/events.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=video+cloud+spraying

dictator style micro management has never worked (for very long). it's an illness. tie that with life0cidal aggression & softwar gangster style bullying, & what do we have? a greed/fear/ego based recipe for disaster. meanwhile, you can help to stop the bleeding (loss of life & limb);

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/28/vermont.banning.bush.ap/index.html

the bleeding must be stopped before any healing can begin. jailing a couple of corepirate nazi hired goons would send a clear message to the rest of the world from US. any truthful look at the 'scorecard' would reveal that we are a society in decline/deep doo-doo, despite all of the scriptdead pr ?firm? generated drum beating & flag waving propaganda that we are constantly bombarded with. is it time to get real yet? please consider carefully ALL of yOUR other 'options'. the creators will prevail. as it has always been.

corepirate nazi execrable costs outweigh benefits
(Score:-)mynuts won, the king is a fink)
by ourselves on everyday 24/7

as there are no benefits, just more&more death/debt & disruption. fortunately there's an 'army' of light bringers, coming yOUR way. the little ones/innocents must/will be protected. after the big flash, ALL of yOUR imaginary 'borders' may blur a bit? for each of the creators' innocents harmed in any way, there is a debt that must/will be repaid by you/us, as the perpetrators/minions of unprecedented evile, will not be available. 'vote' with (what's left in) yOUR wallet, & by your behaviors. help bring an end to unprecedented evile's manifestation through yOUR owned felonious corepirate nazi glowbull

Perhaps we should institute state-sanctioned death penalty for taunters, to be carried out at the hands of the taunted using whatever tools are at their disposal? That's where your logic is leading after all.

A more sensible position is to say: what happened is *what is to be expected*, not *what is deserved*. The tiger did not deserve to die for doing what comes instinctively and naturally to it. The two injured males did deserve a punishment (such as a banning from the zoo and whatever the law prescribes regarding drunken behavior - in keeping with their actions); and the dead male did *not* deserve to die because he did not taunt the animal.

Doesn't mean they deserve to live either.

That fucking idiot got exactly what he deserved, it's a crying shame that the other two got away.

Most animals I know are better than most people I know.

one can pretend it's still not time to get real yet. let yOUR conscience be yOUR guide. you can be more helpful than you might have imagined. there are still some choices. if they do not suit you, consider the likely results of continuing to follow the corepirate nazi hypenosys story LIEn, whereas anything of relevance is replaced almost instantly with pr ?firm? scriptdead mindphuking propaganda or 'celebrity' trivia 'foam'. meanwhile; don't forget to get a little more oxygen on yOUR brain, & look up in the sky from time to time, starting early in the day. there's lots going on up there.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071229/ap_on_sc/ye_climate_records;_ylt=A0WTcVgednZHP2gB9wms0NUE
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080108/ts_alt_afp/ushealthfrancemortality;_ylt=A9G_RngbRIVHsYAAfCas0NUE
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31mon1.html?em&ex=1199336400&en=c4b5414371631707&ei=5087%0A

is it time to get real yet? A LOT of energy is being squandered in attempts to keep US in the dark. in the end (give or take a few 1000 years), the creators will prevail (world without end, etc...), as it has always been. the process of gaining yOUR release from the current hostage situation may not be what you might think it is. butt of course, most of US don't know, or care what a precarious/fatal situation we're in. for example; the insidious attempts by the felonious corepirate nazi execrable to block the suns' light, interfering with a requirement (sunlight) for us to stay healthy/alive. it's likely not good for yOUR health/memories 'else they'd be bragging about it? we're intending for the whoreabully deceptive (they'll do ANYTHING for a bit more monIE/power) felons to give up/fail even further, in attempting to control the 'weather', as well as a # of other things/events.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=video+cloud+spraying

dictator style micro management has never worked (for very long). it's an illness. tie that with life0cidal aggression & softwar gangster style bullying, & what do we have? a greed/fear/ego based recipe for disaster. meanwhile, you can help to stop the bleeding (loss of life & limb);

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/28/vermont.banning.bush.ap/index.html

the bleeding must be stopped before any healing can begin. jailing a couple of corepirate nazi hired goons would send a clear message to the rest of the world from US. any truthful look at the 'scorecard' would reveal that we are a society in decline/deep doo-doo, despite all of the scriptdead pr ?firm? generated drum beating & flag waving propaganda that we are constantly bombarded with. is it time to get real yet? please consider carefully ALL of yOUR other 'options'. the creators will prevail. as it has always been.

corepirate nazi execrable costs outweigh benefits
(Score:-)mynuts won, the king is a fink)
by ourselves on everyday 24/7

as there are no benefits, just more&more death/debt & disruption. fortunately there's an 'army' of light bringers, coming yOUR way. the little ones/innocents must/will be protected. after the big flash, ALL of yOUR imaginary 'borders' may blur a bit? for each of the creators' innocents harmed in any way, there is a debt that must/will be repaid by you/us, as the perpetrators/minions of unprecedented evile, will not be available. 'vote' with (what's left in) yOUR wallet, & by your behaviors. help bring an end to unprecedented evile's manifestation through yOUR owned felonious corepirate nazi glow

So, first there were two cables cut (Alexandria, Egypt and Marseille, France):
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/business/worldbusiness/31cable.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin
Then a third (link between UAE and Oman):
http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/2008/02/third-undersea-internet-cable-cut-in.html
Then a FOURTH cable (link between Suez and Sri Lanka)
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/third-undersea-cable-reportedly-cut/story.aspx?guid=%7B1AAB2A79-E983-4E0E-BC39-68A120DC16D9%7D

Coincidence my a**!
Middle East is basically cut from Internet, and we can enjoy only the officially sanctioned news from the mainstream. If something BIG is about to happen (remember, Iran is in Middle East too), then we cannot know what actually happens there (unless you believe what you are told by officials... which I don't).

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/microsofts-letter-to-yahoo/ -- I would still say, Yahoo! has stood the times and still has a large user base. Yahoo! has a lot of trust still from people who know its history. and its just some crap that yahoo is sure to ignore.

key phrase: supposed to be

see here.

In the first use of active-duty troops to fight marijuana growing in the United States, a contingent of about 200 Army soldiers, National Guardsmen and Federal agents have spent the past two weeks raiding clandestine marijuana gardens in the rugged terrain of the King Range National Conservation Area.

The residents of southern Humboldt Country have responded with protests, complaining that the military convoys through their towns, the Blackhawk helicopters over their homes and the camouflaged and armed guardsmen prowling the woods have made the war on drugs too much like real war...

Actually they just voted in a landslide a party that is for closer ties with China and opposes independence:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/world/asia/13taiwan.html?ex=1357880400&en=a7592848340eaa91&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Its funny how there are practically no polls conducted in Taiwan specifically on the issue of independence, not that I could find anyway.

If this NY Times article is to be believed, $100Bn is what we spend in six months in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As much as it would be neat to spend $100Bn on broadband, I'm sure there's better uses for the money. Again, according to that article, that would be enough to more than double funds for cancer research for the next decade.

In a strange (?) coincidence, China is experiencing blizzards that have severely hindered their railway system due to the difficulties of shipping coal. It might not be that bad come summer time, but who knows. It might help them realize that their dependence on coal is infeasible. And maybe the US should take heed.

The New York Times is reporting that the C-Block bidding is over at $4.7 billion. We won't know who won for several more weeks though. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/spectrum-auction-the-c-block-bidding-is-over-at-47-billion/?ref=technology

In the summer of 2005 the undersea fibre optic cable to Pakistan, a branch of the SEA-ME-WE3 line, was cut, disrupting Internet access to that country for weeks and crippling its nascent high tech sector.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4630457.stm

Now with the cut to this critical Mid-East cable, the possibility comes to mind that the U.S has undertaken a program to tap into all telecom lines running into the Muslim world. An egregious violation of sovereignty if its true. The disruptions could be due to mistakes while installing the taps, or they could be purposeful because the repairs would be an opportunity to slip in monitoring equipment.

This 2001 article discussed the NSA tapping fibre optic cables
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-529826.html

In short its not easy, but it can be done, and capabilities can have only improved in the past 7 years. The USS Jimmy Carter is the prime suspect. The cost was estimated at $2 billion a year, an amount which can easily be hidden in the intelligence budget.

It would not be the first time. In the 1970s the Pentagon tapped into Soviet copper cables on the Siberian coast.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9904EED6123EF93BA35752C1A96E958260

it's user friendly (works with or without you) & newclear powered, so no gadgets required. let yOUR conscience be yOUR guide. you can be more helpful than you might have imagined. there are still some choices. if they do not suit you, consider the likely results of continuing to follow the corepirate nazi hypenosys story LIEn, whereas anything of relevance is replaced almost instantly with pr ?firm? scriptdead mindphuking propaganda or 'celebrity' trivia 'foam'. meanwhile; don't forget to get a little more oxygen on yOUR brain, & look up in the sky from time to time, starting early in the day. there's lots going on up there.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071229/ap_on_sc/ye_climate_records;_ylt=A0WTcVgednZHP2gB9wms0NUE
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080108/ts_alt_afp/ushealthfrancemortality;_ylt=A9G_RngbRIVHsYAAfCas0NUE
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31mon1.html?em&ex=1199336400&en=c4b5414371631707&ei=5087%0A

is it time to get real yet? A LOT of energy is being squandered in attempts to keep US in the dark. in the end (give or take a few 1000 years), the creators will prevail (world without end, etc...), as it has always been. the process of gaining yOUR release from the current hostage situation may not be what you might think it is. butt of course, most of US don't know, or care what a precarious/fatal situation we're in. for example; the insidious attempts by the felonious corepirate nazi execrable to block the suns' light, interfering with a requirement (sunlight) for us to stay healthy/alive. it's likely not good for yOUR health/memories 'else they'd be bragging about it? we're intending for the whoreabully deceptive (they'll do ANYTHING for a bit more monIE/power) felons to give up/fail even further, in attempting to control the 'weather', as well as a # of other things/events.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=video+cloud+spraying

dictator style micro management has never worked (for very long). it's an illness. tie that with life0cidal aggression & softwar gangster style bullying, & what do we have? a greed/fear/ego based recipe for disaster. meanwhile, you can help to stop the bleeding (loss of life & limb);

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/28/vermont.banning.bush.ap/index.html

the bleeding must be stopped before any healing can begin. jailing a couple of corepirate nazi hired goons would send a clear message to the rest of the world from US. any truthful look at the 'scorecard' would reveal that we are a society in decline/deep doo-doo, despite all of the scriptdead pr ?firm? generated drum beating & flag waving propaganda that we are constantly bombarded with. is it time to get real yet? please consider carefully ALL of yOUR other 'options'. the creators will prevail. as it has always been.

corepirate nazi execrable costs outweigh benefits
(Score:-)mynuts won, the king is a fink)
by ourselves on everyday 24/7

as there are no benefits, just more&more death/debt & disruption. fortunately there's an 'army' of light bringers, coming yOUR way. the little ones/innocents must/will be protected. after the big flash, ALL of yOUR imaginary 'borders' may blur a bit? for each of the creators' innocents harmed in any way, there is a debt that must/will be repaid by you/us, as the perpetrators/minions of unprecedented evile, will not be available. 'vote' with (what's left in) yOUR wallet, & by your behaviors. help bring an end to unprecedented evile's manifestation through

I work for a company in Japan and information is one of our key assets. We have a fairly good relationship with google but what concerns quite a bit right now is the direct use (consolidation) of third party information that's slowly but surely encroaching on every single little possible market they can figure out how to intergrate into their enormous system. We are struggling now to post information on the web as all our information is short and digestable and likely to be swallowed up as a "useful features" on the side of one of these google maps searches. This isn't bad for people but, its gonna kill so many industries in the coming years. I just hope the "dont be evil" philosophy holds up 'cause I cant see this direction changing.

Seriously given the magnitude of this, /. could have come up with a more factual and informative writeup.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/business/worldbusiness/31cable.html?ref=business

Two undersea telecommunication cables were cut on Tuesday evening, knocking out Internet access to much of Egypt, disrupting the world's back office in India and slowing down service for some Verizon customers.

One cable was damaged near Alexandria, Egypt, and the other in the waters off Marseille, France, telecommunications operators said. The two cables, which are separately managed and operated, were damaged within hours of each other. Damage to undersea cables, while rare, can result from movement of geologic faults or possibly from the dragging anchor of a ship. /snip/

One of the affected cables stretches from France through the Mediterranean and Red Seas, then around India to Singapore. Known as Sea Me We 4, the cable is owned by 16 telecommunications companies along its route.

The second cable, known as the Flag (for Fiber-optic Link Around the Globe) System, runs from Britain to Japan.

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080039928&ch=1/31/2008%208:29:00%20AM

Internet service providers in India have put the disruption at 60 per cent of normal services while those in Egypt have been affected up to 70 per cent.

They have many terrorism problems in the southern islands and the government is not very stable, having a revolution (peaceful) that overthrough the government just 7 years ago and the current administration "has been beleaguered by charges of election fraud and corruption." NY Times

While they are one of our strongest allies in the region i dont think it is completely stable like other possible choices in South East Asia.

Actually, the 40,000 annual HIV infections have been widely underestimated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/health/02aids.html

To quote :

"The Washington Blade, a gay newspaper, reported on Nov. 14 that the new estimates showed infection rates were 50 percent higher than previously believed, with 58,000 to 63,000 infected in the most recent 12-month period. The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal had similar reports on Saturday."

We are still waiting for the new official stats. But the virus appears to be more prevalent than previously thought, not less.

&, just what is a fair day's pay? obviously, that one's skewed, in an almost upside-DOWn version of what really happens? let yOUR conscience be yOUR guide. you can be more helpful than you might have imagined. there are still some choices. if they do not suit you, consider the likely results of continuing to follow the corepirate nazi hypenosys story LIEn, whereas anything of relevance is replaced almost instantly with pr ?firm? scriptdead mindphuking propaganda or 'celebrity' trivia 'foam'. meanwhile; don't forget to get a little more oxygen on yOUR brain, & look up in the sky from time to time, starting early in the day. there's lots going on up there.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071229/ap_on_sc/ye_climate_records;_ylt=A0WTcVgednZHP2gB9wms0NUE
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080108/ts_alt_afp/ushealthfrancemortality;_ylt=A9G_RngbRIVHsYAAfCas0NUE
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/opinion/31mon1.html?em&ex=1199336400&en=c4b5414371631707&ei=5087%0A

is it time to get real yet? A LOT of energy is being squandered in attempts to keep US in the dark. in the end (give or take a few 1000 years), the creators will prevail (world without end, etc...), as it has always been. the process of gaining yOUR release from the current hostage situation may not be what you might think it is. butt of course, most of US don't know, or care what a precarious/fatal situation we're in. for example; the insidious attempts by the felonious corepirate nazi execrable to block the suns' light, interfering with a requirement (sunlight) for us to stay healthy/alive. it's likely not good for yOUR health/memories 'else they'd be bragging about it? we're intending for the whoreabully deceptive (they'll do ANYTHING for a bit more monIE/power) felons to give up/fail even further, in attempting to control the 'weather', as well as a # of other things/events.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=video+cloud+spraying

dictator style micro management has never worked (for very long). it's an illness. tie that with life0cidal aggression & softwar gangster style bullying, & what do we have? a greed/fear/ego based recipe for disaster. meanwhile, you can help to stop the bleeding (loss of life & limb);

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/28/vermont.banning.bush.ap/index.html

the bleeding must be stopped before any healing can begin. jailing a couple of corepirate nazi hired goons would send a clear message to the rest of the world from US. any truthful look at the 'scorecard' would reveal that we are a society in decline/deep doo-doo, despite all of the scriptdead pr ?firm? generated drum beating & flag waving propaganda that we are constantly bombarded with. is it time to get real yet? please consider carefully ALL of yOUR other 'options'. the creators will prevail. as it has always been.

corepirate nazi execrable costs outweigh benefits
(Score:-)mynuts won, the king is a fink)
by ourselves on everyday 24/7

as there are no benefits, just more&more death/debt & disruption. fortunately there's an 'army' of light bringers, coming yOUR way. the little ones/innocents must/will be protected. after the big flash, ALL of yOUR imaginary 'borders' may blur a bit? for each of the creators' innocents harmed in any way, there is a debt that must/will be repaid by you/us, as the perpetrators/minions of unprecedented evile, will not be available. 'vote' with (what's left in) yOUR wallet, & by your behaviors. help bring an end to unprecedented

That's ridiculous. Drugs are not priced based on market forces. In fact, there are no market forces. Assuming you have insurance, then the drug's cost to you is not the real cost - nor is the "market" price related to the cost to the company. Amgen and Roche are in a battle over dialysis drugs. With kickbacks, reimbursement rates, and other strange financial dealings, the prices become complicated. Look at Genentech too. Their main competitor to Lucentis, their drug for wet age-related macular degeneration, is Avastin, another one of their drugs! Yet Lucentis costs about 40 times as much as Avastin. That has nothing to do with the market. So what do they do? They try to prevent ophthalmologists from purchasing Avastin to use as treatment for AMD, by halting sales to compounding pharmacies.

The barrier to entry is also extremely high (though this might be necessary to ensure there aren't fakes). As a patient, you have little choice. Do you honestly shop around for the cheapest doctors when it comes time for surgery? You don't have much say in what the doctor will order for you, and you have essentially no say in who your anesthesiologist will be.

That's not true. Yes, patents should not be issued for things that occur naturally. But how about genes? It's ludicrous to think that someone could patent a DNA sequence, and force others to pay licensing fees when screening for that gene. Here's an op-ed by Michael Crichton that discusses patents on genes. Here's another article from Wired. That's just to give you an idea, though I'm sure there are many more informative articles.

Pharmaceutical companies? They care nothing except for their profit. Who said they were worried about staying in business? One company has never made a profit or marketed a drug of its own. And it's been in existence since 1981. Another company has lost $1.3 billion, yet is still up and running.

MOD PARENT UP!!!

Those who made the decisions were rewarded, not punished: What's $34 Billion on Wall Street?. That New York Times article does not show the true picture, because the executives were rewarded with tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in pay. Their entire "punishment" for knowingly causing the problem was having to change employers.

Quote: "In any other industry, Mr. Kim and Mr. Maheras would be pariahs. But in the looking-glass world of Wall Street, they - and others like them - are hot properties."

It was completely well understood by everyone that house prices could not continue to rise rapidly forever. Everything that happened was deliberate, in the sense that the people who made the decisions knew that they would be paid well.

Now house prices will go up again, but only because the "economic stimulus package" will make the value of the dollar go down. The prices of everything will rise rapidly, as they have been doing recently.

I hear this all the time. It's dead wrong.

It would be easy to compete with P2P. How? By adding value. Right now there's no incentive to buy music, even DRM free music. You pay, download, and end up with a decent quality recording. With P2P? The same thing, except you don't pay. Why would anyone pay? Because it's the right thing to do? We've already seen that an entire generation doesn't think so.

Instead of suing people or pressing for ISP surveillance, compete. Add value. If there's real value, people will pay.

How could a music distributor add value to an online music store?

1. Speed. Provide blazing fast servers or even use a P2P model. Guarantee fast downloads.
2. Permanent availability of purchases. Once you buy a track it becomes a part of your online library. You can download it again, as many times as you want, forever.
3. Format versatility. You can choose your container format and bitrate. Provide anything from 128k to FLAC.
4. Streaming. Stream the user's purchased music so they don't need to download it.
5. Playlists. Manage your music online. Download entire playlists. Share playlists with friends.
6. Online Community. Provide amazing community tools. Forums, chat, profiles, ratings, reviews, points, scores, avatars. People love this stuff. Think WoW, Gamertags, Facebook, etc. Make it clean and unobtrusive.
7. Recommendations. Use a database to make suggestions about similar music based on purchased music, browsed music, friends' music, etc.

The price also needs to be minuscule per song. Precisely low enough that it feels like "nothing" when you purchase. Somewhere around $0.10/song and $1/album. At this price point no one will hesitate to buy something they're unfamiliar with, and people will gladly re-purchase their entire CD collection for a few hundred dollars because of the sheer convenience.

That's competition.

He had claimed that he could reach Mach 2, and send a two ton projectile 90-miles, see http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9906E0DF1330E733A2575BC0A9639C946397D6CF

A little more on Birkeland's electromagnetic cannon can be found here: http://www.plasma-universe.com/index.php/Kristian_Birkeland#Electromagnetic_cannon

Who said anything about 'allowing' people to break the law? No one ever suggested that cops should get away with it. The topic of the discussion is the exclusionary principle - that is, whether illegally obtained evidence should be automatically inadmissible in court - not on whether cops should be able to get away with breaking the law. If you are suggesting that countries that don't have some equivalent to the exclusionary principle have more law breaking then I invite you to present some evidence. Going by the number of people in prison, the USA is leading the world, both in absolute numbers and per capita.

New Yorkers are tough bastards. They'll piss and moan, but they're not super-hazard conscious...You can't be, and live in the City all the time, because you're far more likely to be killed by a manhole or a cracked out subway driver than any terrorist.

Just to point out that this wasn't hyperbole, there was that case a few years ago in which a New York woman was a few years agokilled by an electrified manhold cover. The testing that followed turned up hundreds of similar risky metal sheets on sidewalks throughout the city.

Of course, if this ordinance goes through, one of the followups will probably be to outlaw public ownership or use of voltmeters. Wouldn't want people to panic at the thought that they could be electrocuted for the mistake of walking down a mid-city sidewalk.

Here in Boston, we've only had a few dogs killed this way. No children so far. But I'd imagine the local authorities are looking at this story with interest. Maybe Boston can also block unauthorized use of hazard sensors like geiger counters or voltmeters.

This is ancient early 90s news but Brooklyn has been the site of nuclear waste storage and it concerns many citizens. There is a warehouse there called Radiac Research Corporation that has about enough nuclear material for one atom bomb, although I'm sure it's not refined to that. Citizen watch groups have formed that will walk around the streets with Geiger counters. You will find some shock reporting that has somethings factual and a lot of things anecdotal evidence. If you do watch those videos, ironically pay attention to the state employed inspector on the boat. Hard numbers and comparisons with other major cities are a must to make any effect in this kind of reporting. Still, I would be upset if stuff like this dried up. I think it's important so that the community at least feels like it has an independent non-interested voice--I would risk false alarms for that any day.

I've also heard from other sources that New York City offers permits for polluting which isn't so wrong except that some of these are ridiculous. A lot of the rivers and streams to this day still are being polluted but since the companies are 'grandfathered' into pollution control, they can keep doing it. Do you ever think they're going to clean that up? I hardly think so.

So they want to avoid false alarms that could cause a mass panic. But like a lot of things there is a trade off and the trade off is the ability to independently verify that the air quality or radiation levels are indeed safe. If I were a citizen living there, losing the latter in and of itself would cause me panic. Poor means you're at risk of being ignored & treated like you don't matter and I don't think New York City (especially historically) is any different from the rest of the world.

This is ancient early 90s news but Brooklyn has been the site of nuclear waste storage and it concerns many citizens. There is a warehouse there called Radiac Research Corporation that has about enough nuclear material for one atom bomb, although I'm sure it's not refined to that. Citizen watch groups have formed that will walk around the streets with Geiger counters. You will find some shock reporting that has somethings factual and a lot of things anecdotal evidence. If you do watch those videos, ironically pay attention to the state employed inspector on the boat. Hard numbers and comparisons with other major cities are a must to make any effect in this kind of reporting. Still, I would be upset if stuff like this dried up. I think it's important so that the community at least feels like it has an independent non-interested voice--I would risk false alarms for that any day.

I've also heard from other sources that New York City offers permits for polluting which isn't so wrong except that some of these are ridiculous. A lot of the rivers and streams to this day still are being polluted but since the companies are 'grandfathered' into pollution control, they can keep doing it. Do you ever think they're going to clean that up? I hardly think so.

So they want to avoid false alarms that could cause a mass panic. But like a lot of things there is a trade off and the trade off is the ability to independently verify that the air quality or radiation levels are indeed safe. If I were a citizen living there, losing the latter in and of itself would cause me panic. Poor means you're at risk of being ignored & treated like you don't matter and I don't think New York City (especially historically) is any different from the rest of the world.