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How many TOR nodes are there? How many are run by NSA or any of the other UKUSA members? Given the cost of running a node and the budget of the NSA, how would you spend your money?

As an aside, if the US wants to spy on US citizens, it doesn't do so directly. It asks GCHQ or one of the other UKUSA members to do it for them. This gets around those pesky FISA rules in a hurry. The other members use the same technique to get around any similar laws on their home soil. This has been SOP since the days of ECHELON: http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/Big_Brother/echelon_spy_in_the_sky.htm

No it isn't. Keep putting your head in the sand and cherry picking data to confirm what you've already decided is true.

You could say the same from both sides. Models are imperfect trying to representing a complex system. Regardless of temperature, to me the reduction of pollution impacts health (having a kid with asthma, I can appreciate improvement in vehicle efficiency for example). Another aspect I find interesting is decreasing the dependency on foreign energy if we can tap into renewable resources (which presumably would reduce emissions).

Environmental Corruption discusses several examples showing some intentional misleading of information on what I presume is your side of the issue. I'm sure you can find similar articles on BlueStrat's side too. The link I include even has Al Gore (who has financial ties to environmental industry....maybe a conflict of interest?) apparently providing the foreword for the book that contains inaccurate analysis.

Mij

No kidding, this isn't the first time a small error has led to a spectacular crash.

>> Let's take a hypothetical situation where you and a buddy come under fire from multiple assailants

yeah because that happens all the time on your way to the mall right? You know its only paranoia like that, that is making Americans carry guns in the first place.


I didn't say it was a likely situation, but it is a possible situation, and it is in fact a situation that has happened in the past I'm sure. All I'm saying is that if such a situation does occur, I want every means available to defend myself. That's all.

The argument of "it's not likely" isn't a valid argument. It's not likely that you'll get a flat tire every day of the week, but you still carry a spare tire with you "just in case", don't you? The same can be said about a firearm. It's not likely that you will need it, but it's nice to have it there in case you do need it. And it's a whole lot better than needing a firearm and not having it available to you. That's a situation I would not want to find myself or anyone I cared about in.

I saw a documentary the other day that said actual figures indicate violent crime in the US is significantly decreasing

Have you also stopped to consider that this may be related to the lessening of restrictions on carry weapons in may US states? Perhaps the increase in the number of law-abiding citizens packing had something to do with the decrease in violent crime?

The best defense against violent crime (and government tyranny, coincidentally) is an armed populace. Areas that require every household to own and maintain a firearm have actually seen a decrease in crime in their area. The criminals moved away to surrounding areas where they didn't know that everyone was packing. Kennesaw, Georgia has had such a law in place for over 25 years, and watched violent crime plummet: http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/2nd_Amend/crime_rate _plummets.htm

I beg to differ, as would the citizens of a town where gun ownership was mandated.

http://www.mcsm.org/kennesaw.html
http://www.kennesaw.ga.us/index.asp?NID=137
http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/2nd_Amend/crime_rate _plummets.htm

If you're really interested, check out the links before this gets modded off-topic (which it really is, but I couldn't stop myself).

Not according to the statistics.

Paul Hager disagrees, quotes statistics
2nd Amendment Sisters say 97% of women who resist with a gun are successful
Dr. Robert J. Woolley's editorial shows up alot
Using a knife the worst choice of all? (40.3% injury rate, vs. 17.4% for a gun, 24.7 for 'did nothing')

Looks like the US is on it's way to donate more than the combined european union (who have significant more tsunami victims in the area)

This ain't unusual:

http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/Our_Culture/american s.htm

Take note of:
1)The date
2)This was written by a Canadian

And where was the rest of the world last summer, when Florida was pounded, four times, by hurricanes?

Oh, right. Bitching about our overthrow of Saddam's government, that's where. As if the world isn't a better place with him sitting in a jail cell.

And, for the record, we hardly devastated Iraq. We were careful to avoid damaging things like water works and electric power distribution, probably because it was pretty obvious that we'd be rebuilding those things as soon as the shooting quieted down. The worst damage has been done by ba'athist loyalists, trying to keep the fighting going. According to the interim prime minister, the majority of Iraq is peaceful and happy to see America there, it's only a tiny minority that are dressing up in explosive vests and bombing the (combined American-Iraqui military) mess hall, and kidnapping and beheading the contracters we're hiring to keep the power plants and cellphone stations up.

Unless you're Kim Il-Jung, you _really_ do not have a helluva lot to worry about from America. We as a people find invading other countries distasteful. We learned that lesson well in Vietnam. It's only when we're pretty directly threatened that we will defend ourselves, and the rest of the world, too, if necessary.

Does not lend credibility to our arguments. The DDT link to the decline of birds has been debunked as well as the supposed carcinogen http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/Environment/ddt_100. htm#ref6/. How many people have suffered and died from amalria because DDT was pulled of the market by flawed logic and environmentalists with an agenda?

I'm not arguing that DDT has no effect on humans or birds, only that the orginal premises are flawed and there is no proof of a harmful effect. Judicious use of DDT has not been shown to cause problems in humans or animals. Until it has, it's flawed logic to support your arguments about global warming with unproven statements about DDT.

The same can be said about the causes of global warnming. Is global warming happening? Probably. But you can't say that humans are the singular cause of it or even the majority cause. There's likely a contributory effect but no one knows what that is. A recent find by a glaciologist points to a similar warming thousands of years ago http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/quelplant.htm/ . Before the man could have had an effect. What was that warming caused by?

It's easy to go with an emotional response but don't try to base your arguments on flawed logic.

Not to mention the reason behind a public education system in the first place. The basis for public education is that an educated population increases the value of the nation as a whole, it creates "better" citizens, and reduces crime.

I should mention I wholly agree with your comments regarding education being equal for all children regardless of their home life. Education used to be only for the wealthy or for religious purposes. Most (if not all) schools now offer basic and advanced classes to avoid at least quite a bit of the problems associated with apathetic students holding the class back. That, to me, is a much better solution than simply releasing the apathetic students from having to go to school.

Another comment earlier in this thread was related to the education systems in China, India, and Japan. While it's true that those programs have disastrous results for students who don't excel, they have another common thread: their education systems are based on memorizaion, while ours is based on problem solving. Our children might not be able to memorize all of our tax law or all of the syntax associated with a programming language, but typically they have the ability to figure it out.

History of public education in the US
The Merrow Report (PBS)
A Nation at Risk: Report of the National Commission on Excellence
The Pedigree of an Idea

Wow! A slashdotter who actually doesn't try to get out of jury duty. I didn't know they existed.
Here is a guide that tells you why you should disregard the instructions of the judge.
http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/The_Law/jurors_handb ook.htm

Finally. I've been looking for this for a LONG time.

Freon. How you've been lied to by the EPA, and how easy it is to convince an environmentalist something fine is bad.

Environmentalists are nothing but a corps. toy boy. What could be better than PhDs who won't spend the extra time to verify their work? Who will "speak out" on an issue before they're 100% certain of the truth? Philip Morris showed us just how useful doctors like these can be...

I'd trust a greenie if they'd just do some fully qualified reasearch. Instead all we hear is "CFCs are bad because when they mix with ozone they harm it -- no, we don't know how they get there, we think they just do. No, we haven't run any tests, but we must be right, JUST LOOK AT THE BIG HOLE. Oh, and chewbacca lives on endor.".

I think South Park put it best (but not about CFCs, I guess we'll have to wait for that):

Doo-doo-doo, da-da-do-do-wow!
There's a place called the rainforest that truly sucks ass
Let's knock it all down and get rid of it fast
You say 'save the rainforest', but what do you know?
You've never been to the rainforest before!
Getting Gay with Kids is here
To tell you things you might not like to hear
You only fight these causes 'cos caring sells
All you activists can go fuck yourselves.

Someday if we work hard boys and girls..
There'll be no more rainforests left in the entire world..
Getting Gay with Kids is here
To spread the word, and bring you cheer
Getting Gay with Kids is here
Lets knock down the rainforest, whaddaya say?
It's totally gay, It's totally gay!

Broadcast June 5, 1973
CFRB, Toronto, Ontario

The entire speech is here.. some parts were cut for the version that has been going around for the last few years.

(thanks to gulopine, a reader of User Friendly, for the info)

The words still ring true, but are a bit dated. And the whole "only partial news coverage was given recently" bit is somewhat misleading...