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You can't fire or "not hire" somebody for doing something perfectly legal that has nothing to do with the job, if it isn't happening on the job.

Incorrect. More and more companies are refusing to hire tobacco users. I believe it SHOULD be illegal to not hire someone for doing something entirely legal, but that is not the law.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/11/us/11smoking.html

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/health/UPenn-Health-System-to-Stop-Hiring-Tobacco-Users-191852991.html

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/story/2012-01-03/health-care-jobs-no-smoking/52394782/1

There is some good science supporting this... if you believe in science. If you're a denier then keep your head in the sand.
From the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences":
"We found that a 21-degree warming would put half of the world's population in an uninhabitable environment,"says study co-author Matthew Huber of Purdue University. While the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that the result of business-as-usual warming would be 7 degrees by 2100, eventual warming over several centuries of 25 degrees is feasible, says Huber. The new research calculated the highest tolerable "wet-bulb" temperature that humans can withstand."
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/05/report-climate-change-could-render-much-of-world-uninhabitable/1#.UnRNdCS-Pfk
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/earth-may-be-too-hot-for-humans-by-2300-study-1970969.html

But the main point is that this corporate officer is twisting company policy to his personal benefit of $77 million/yr and the majority of owners of the company don't like him screwing around with their investment that way.

What? A CEO abusing the system to get more pay? Say it isn't so. Who would ever do that? Certainly no one as saintly as Steve Jobs?

Maybe you should have kept looking. I found coverage from news services that many news outlets would rely upon, major and minor newspapers, broadcast networks, industry publications. Just a sample, there is a lot more.

Anti-NSA rally attracts thousands to march in Washington
Hundreds march at anti-NSA rally in D.C.
Protesters march in Washington against NSA spying
Anti-NSA rally targets Washington

Just read an article suggesting that the Guardian is doing a great job of waking up the public. They keep releasing "new information" from all those Snowden documents, keeping the NSA in the public consciousness. Ahhh - here it is: http://www.usatoday.com/story/cybertruth/2013/10/30/how-snowden-is-returning-privacy-to-a-social-norm/3318559/

Revelations are soon forgotten by the public, which needs to get back to the latest "reality show". The trick is to continue releasing "new revelations" each week, or even each day, so that Clueless Joe finally begins to get a clue.

Not if you do it outside of the US. Hence the link to the GCHQ.

From undisclosed interception points, the agencies copy entire data flows across fiber-optic cables that carry information between the data centers of Yahoo and Google.

Certainly there are multiple interception possibilities for Google and one possibility I think for Yahoo outside of the US. Also you have to remember that very rarely does the US government or the people doing nefarious deeds for the US government ever rarely get called to justice for what they do. Shit, Nixon violated wiretap laws, authorized breaking and entering and committed other possible misdeeds but all he lost was reputation and the White House. He never did any prison time. His cronies did time but he didn't.

Oliver North was labelled as a hero even though he violated the law, never saw any time in Club Fed.

One thing you have to remember is that the Ruling Elite usually have an escape plan with a requisite golden parachute. It's been that way since the French Revolution and has worked pretty much for everybody with a few exceptions.

Well I have a dev android phone so I'm going to start by yanking as much of the Google App crap out of it I can and start from there.

Also, this popped up today in the headlines regarding more NSA BS in terms of project MUSCULAR? Really who comes up with this crappy names but it's just another reason to get Google out of my life, permanently. Don't get me wrong, I like Android, I like the openness of it and the fact that I can at least use another Store framework is appealing as hell but the tracking the incessant shit for pushing me onto Google+ is a non start for me.

Eh, they just wanted the bar set so Rand Paul could understand the site. Mitch McConnell is SOL though.

Rand Paul graduated college and medical school, and passed certification of American Board of Ophthalmology — before running for Senate and winning.

I'd wager, his reading comprehension is above that of most people — yourself included.

McConnel has "only" a bachelor degree of formal education, but that's still well above most people... Whatever your beef with your political opponents, sneering at their education only makes you look ridiculous.

Hence a major reason not to federalize a lot of power.

In this particular case, it was the states themselves that "federalized" the power -- only 14 of the 50* decided to set up their own exchanges, the rest decided it best to leave it to the feds for one reason or another. And some of them are doing a better job than the federal program.

*This number varies by source, I think because some states are setting up their own systems but not yet.

i know this starts rather offtopic but bear with me. Glen Reynolds is a self described "libertarian transhumanist."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Reynolds#Political_views
libertarian transhumanists are unwittingly appropriating the theoretical legacy of Stalinist communism by substituting, among other concepts, the âoevanguard partyâ with the âoedigeratiâ, and the âoenew Soviet manâ with the âoeposthuman.â getting a brow-beating on healthcare reform from a man who loathes the human body as a 'meat puppet.' is like getting oracle support from a guy who thinks relational databases are a fad.

Name a website, any site, that was anticipated to have 50k simultaneous views at its inception that later managed to stand up to 250k hits (an obvious 5 fold increase.) without a performance impact.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/05/health-care-website-repairs/2927597/
"These bugs were functions of volume,'' Park said. "Take away the volume and it works.'' so essentially we've identified the common problem of most web-based services which is scalability. we're fixing it, and thats part of the software development lifecycle.

what no ones talking about is conservatives propensity to blow issues, be they real or imagined, entirely out of proportion when it comes to healthcare reform. saying the entire healthcare reform act is broken because the website is slow and unresponsive, is like saying the entire fucking iphone is broken because facetime is slow and unresponsive. Granted with the absolutely academic grasp of technology weilded by most conservative republicans its not hard to see where they might have problems drawing this distinction.

For example: Not one word about the anti-NSA protests in US media. Still.

Your news gathering skills are....poor to say the least.

USA Today: Anti-NSA rally attracts thousands to march in Washington http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/26/nsa-dc-rally/3241417/

Huffington Post: NSA 'Stop Watching Us' Protest Draws Thousands In Washington http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/26/nsa-stop-watching-us_n_4166640.html

US News and Word Report: Edward Snowden Endorses D.C. Protest Against NSA in Rare Public Statement http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/24/edward-snowden-endorses-dc-protest-against-nsa-in-rare-public-statement

Christian Science Monitor: NSA Washington: March against surveillance and a call from Edward Snowden http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2013/1026/NSA-Washington-March-against-surveillance-and-a-call-from-Edward-Snowden-photos

CNN: Anti-NSA rally targets Washington http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/26/anti-nsa-rally-targets-washington/

Fox News: Hundreds rally in DC to protest NSA http://video.foxnews.com/v/2772548586001/hundreds-rally-in-dc-to-protest-nsa/

NBC News: Hundreds march at anti-NSA rally in DC http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/53383405

CBS News: Protesters March For Investigation Into Mass NSA Spying http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2013/10/26/protesters-march-for-investigation-into-mass-nsa-spying/

ABC News: NSA Spying Threatens to Hamper US Foreign Policy http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/nsa-spying-threatens-hamper-us-foreign-policy-20689770

Washington Post: Techies concerned over NSA surveillance will march in D.C., proclaiming ‘Stop Watching Us’ http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/techies-concerned-over-nsa-surveillance-will-march-in-dc-proclaiming-stop-watching-us/2013/10/25/5bedb546-3da7-11e3-b7ba-503fb5822c3e_story.html

This is where I get tired of pasting, but I assure you the list goes on and on.

According to news reports, there are around 1000 analysts at NSA engaged in surveillance. Let's assume half of them are looking at foreign traffic and half at domestic traffic. That's 500 analysts for 350 million population, or 1 analyst for every 700,000 people. What makes you think you are special enough to deserve their attention?

Okay, let's look at those statistics more closely.

500 analysts for 350 million people continuously is 500 analysts for roughly 1 million people per day each year, or roughly 1 analyst is spending an entire day looking at 2,000 people. Each year. So there's a 1-in-2,000 chance that sometime this year, an analyst will be pawing through your online behaviour.

(Of course, if you assume that the analyst spends 1 hour on each person, it drops to 1-in-250 chance that sometime during the year you will be "analyzed" by an NSA agent.)

Now consider the power of computers. Is it reasonable to think that 1 computer could collect and analyze the E-mail and online speech of 2,000 people in a single day of compute time? Assuming you put certain keywords in your online text ("I'm going to kill some time this afternoon by watching the presidential debate"), how likely do you think it will be that you win the 1-in-250 chance?

Let's add in ambiguous laws. The recent trend is not to charge people with doing harm, but conspiracy for doing harm. One recent news report told of a couple of people charged with "conspiracy to join Al-Qaeda". Note that these two people didn't do a terorrist act, they didn't contribute to a terrorist group, and they weren't even a member of a terrorist group. They were talking about joining a terrorist group. People are commonly charged with "conspiracy to grow marijuana" (google has many links).

We've reached the point where you can be arrested when no overt crime has been committed.

There's a recent news story where, for the first time, the DOJ is informing a defendant that they used NSA/warrant-less surveillance to gather evidence. They used mass surveillance to get enough probable cause to apply for a real warrant which resulted in evidence of a crime.

The important bit of the previous is that the DOJ was conflicted about revealing this information. The prosecutor felt that it was only a "procedural decision", since no evidence from the mass-surveillance warrant would be introduced at trial. (A couple of lawyers in the DOJ argued for disclosure.)

All evidence indicates that they analyze everyone's online presence all the time, and use that information to pick-and-choose people for prosecution when no overt crime has been committed.

Sock puppet, begone!

Blacks are inferior as a group.

Look at the way all of the blacks just go apeshit so to speak over a bunch of fucking sneakers of all things!

Then ask yourself why white people don't riot over the latest Apple gadget even though they gather in large crowds waiting for them. I mean an objective person might think whites are more civilized!

Oh does anyone remember when the blacks rioted like crazy after Hurricane Katrina? Isn't it JUST A LITTLE STRANGE the way white people in Colorado banded together and helped each other when they were hit with a natural disaster instead of rioting and looting like the blacks did? I mean an objective person might think whites are more civilized!

Oh and blacks are responsible for nearly all the murders in Marion County! That is what you would expect from a violent tribal uncivilized race.

Interesting when a black man admits blacks are to blame for the hellhole that is (86% black) Jackson Mississippi? Quote: "Look at recent history, like in South Africa, when apartheid was abolished,” Lambus said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “Blacks went on a crime spree.""

It goes on and on. Probably no point in posting this since people who are objective already understand the destruction and violence and cost blacks bring anytime they are abundant. It is not just USA. All over the world black-governed nations are hellholes. But objective people knew this. It is the people indoctrinated to believe that acknowledging FACTS is somehow "racist" who just can't admit it. None are so blind as those who will not see.

Blacks are inferior as a group.

Look at the way all of the blacks just go apeshit so to speak over a bunch of fucking sneakers of all things!

Then ask yourself why white people don't riot over the latest Apple gadget even though they gather in large crowds waiting for them. I mean an objective person might think whites are more civilized!

Oh does anyone remember when the blacks rioted like crazy after Hurricane Katrina? Isn't it JUST A LITTLE STRANGE the way white people in Colorado banded together and helped each other when they were hit with a natural disaster instead of rioting and looting like the blacks did? I mean an objective person might think whites are more civilized!

Oh and blacks are responsible for nearly all the murders in Marion County! That is what you would expect from a violent tribal uncivilized race.

Interesting when a black man admits blacks are to blame for the hellhole that is (86% black) Jackson Mississippi? Quote: "Look at recent history, like in South Africa, when apartheid was abolished,” Lambus said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “Blacks went on a crime spree.""

It goes on and on. Probably no point in posting this since people who are objective already understand the destruction and violence and cost blacks bring anytime they are abundant. It is not just USA. All over the world black-governed nations are hellholes. But objective people knew this. It is the people indoctrinated to believe that acknowledging FACTS is somehow "racist" who just can't admit it. None are so blind as those who will not see.

This link gives more details on the support. The support that favored it at that time, the majority only favored it with UN approval, which we did not get. If no UN approval the support drops below 50%, meaning that the majority of Americans did not support invasion at that time.

You should read more attentively A., you are missing some key points.

If you read the story you find that the intelligence estimate is several years old (2011) and refers to domestic groups, not international terrorists.

From The Article:

“As of mid-2011, terrorist threat groups present in the Homeland are not known to be actively plotting against civil aviation targets or airports; instead, their focus is on fundraising, recruiting, and propagandizing.”

In any event it appears that this information is outdated and no longer relevant given the recent reports from aircraft crews observing what they believe to be either probes of security or dry runs for attacks on planes.

Pilots union warns of possible terrorism 'dry runs'

An internal memo from the union representing US Airways pilots details a frightening incident that brings back memories of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, WTSP-TV in Tampa-St. Petersburg reports.

The US Airlines Pilots Association memo says "there have been several cases recently throughout the (airline) industry of what appear to be probes, or dry runs, to test our procedures and reaction to an in-flight threat."

The pilots say the most recent dry run occurred on Flight 1880 on Sept. 2.

Pilots union warns of 'dry run' by possible terrorists on US flight

"Bringing down an airliner continues to be the Gold Standard of terrorism," states the undated memo, first reported by WTSP-TV in Tampa-St. Petersburg. "If anyone thinks that our enemies have “been there, done that” and are not targeting U.S. commercial aviation -- think again." ...

According to the memo, the pilot of a subsequent, return flight bearing the same flight number, 1880, ordered an inspection of the plane after eight women in burkas showed up at the boarding gate. The memo claims that "evidence of tampering was found," though it does not elaborate.

One expert speculated that the efforts may have been aimed at sizing up security procedures and spotting air marshals aboard flights. ...

Experts said the incident could be an indication of another attempt to detonate a bomb aboard an airplane while midflight. Ret. Col. Mike Pheneger, former director of intelligence at Special Operations Command, said it’s “impossible” to absolutely prevent terrorist attacks.

"We can only make it more difficult for people to attack an airplane or a facility,” he said. “We can't make it impossible. We have to be lucky 100 percent of the time and they only have to be lucky once."

As to the fund raising, some of it is no doubt related to cigarette smuggling.

Tobacco and Terror: How Cigarette Smuggling is Funding our Enemies Abroad (.pdf)

It has been well-reported that terrorist and criminal organizations are conducting illicit business operations within the United States, sending the profits overseas to finance domestic and international terrorist and criminal organizations. Recent law enforcement investigations have revealed that those profits, estimated to be in the millions of dollars annually in the United States alone, are generated in part by illicit cigarette trafficking. ... Recent law enforcement investigations, however, have directly linked those involved in illicit tobacco trade to infamous terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and al Qaeda.

The world hasn't "moved on," it is simply not paying attention.... again.

I've seen these techniques in production merchant systems and really it is just another point of data by which businesses can scrutinize orders for risk. What truly is amazing is how many different data facets are available to merchants to compose their rules for fraud risk tolerance. I have not yet personally observed a merchant having a rule that rejected orders solely based upon proxy, VPN, or Tor detection. Some legitimate merchants, in fact, cater to a highly paranoid demographic where a significant number of their customers do this (like doomsday preppers).

Now if a shopper is using some sort of IP concealment, is using a credit card issued by a bank known for lax consumer validation, the card has been used 20 times across 8 other merchants in the past 3 hours, and the shopper is using a disposable email address then they may be declined. I've once seen a rule based upon if the individual has been evicted from a property, having had any judgements against them, or have had any felonies.

Coincidentally, I saw a press release from a solutions provider announcing having been awarded a patent for their technique of penetrating a proxy's concealment to establish the user's true origin. I know how much /.ers love patents. Sure this all sounds terrifying as a consumer. As an online merchant it is an invaluable tool to help prevent being robbed out of business. Now that LexisNexis was hacked and Experian sold SSNs data to thieves... expect new waves of crime.

I've seen these techniques in production merchant systems and really it is just another point of data by which businesses can scrutinize orders for risk. What truly is amazing is how many different data facets are available to merchants to compose their rules for fraud risk tolerance. I have not yet personally observed a merchant having a rule that rejected orders solely based upon proxy, VPN, or Tor detection. Some legitimate merchants, in fact, cater to a highly paranoid demographic where a significant number of their customers do this (like doomsday preppers).

Now if a shopper is using some sort of IP concealment, is using a credit card issued by a bank known for lax consumer validation, the card has been used 20 times across 8 other merchants in the past 3 hours, and the shopper is using a disposable email address then they may be declined. I've once seen a rule based upon if the individual has been evicted from a property, having had any judgements against them, or have had any felonies.

Coincidentally, I saw a press release from a solutions provider announcing having been awarded a patent for their technique of penetrating a proxy's concealment to establish the user's true origin. I know how much /.ers love patents. Sure this all sounds terrifying as a consumer. As an online merchant it is an invaluable tool to help prevent being robbed out of business. Now that LexisNexis was hacked and Experian sold SSNs data to thieves... expect new waves of crime.

Verizon brought in to "fix" the health care exchange at healthcare.gov HHS brings in Verizon to help HealthCare.gov. Their record does not seem to bode well.

They've been asked to help fix ObamaCare.

This is the same company that is going to fix healthcare.gov?

Blacks are inferior as a group.

Look at the way all of the blacks just go apeshit so to speak over a bunch of fucking sneakers of all things!

Then ask yourself why white people don't riot over the latest Apple gadget even though they gather in large crowds waiting for them. I mean an objective person might think whites are more civilized!

Oh does anyone remember when the blacks rioted like crazy after Hurricane Katrina? Isn't it JUST A LITTLE STRANGE the way white people in Colorado banded together and helped each other when they were hit with a natural disaster instead of rioting and looting like the blacks did? I mean an objective person might think whites are more civilized!

Oh and blacks are responsible for nearly all the murders in Marion County! That is what you would expect from a violent tribal uncivilized race.

Interesting when a black man admits blacks are to blame for the hellhole that is (86% black) Jackson Mississippi? Quote: "Look at recent history, like in South Africa, when apartheid was abolished,” Lambus said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “Blacks went on a crime spree.""

It goes on and on. Probably no point in posting this since people who are objective already understand the destruction and violence and cost blacks bring anytime they are abundant. It is not just USA. All over the world black-governed nations are hellholes. But objective people knew this. It is the people indoctrinated to believe that acknowledging FACTS is somehow "racist" who just can't admit it. None are so blind as those who will not see.

Blacks are inferior as a group.

Look at the way all of the blacks just go apeshit so to speak over a bunch of fucking sneakers of all things!

Then ask yourself why white people don't riot over the latest Apple gadget even though they gather in large crowds waiting for them. I mean an objective person might think whites are more civilized!

Oh does anyone remember when the blacks rioted like crazy after Hurricane Katrina? Isn't it JUST A LITTLE STRANGE the way white people in Colorado banded together and helped each other when they were hit with a natural disaster instead of rioting and looting like the blacks did? I mean an objective person might think whites are more civilized!

Oh and blacks are responsible for nearly all the murders in Marion County! That is what you would expect from a violent tribal uncivilized race.

Interesting when a black man admits blacks are to blame for the hellhole that is (86% black) Jackson Mississippi? Quote: "Look at recent history, like in South Africa, when apartheid was abolished,” Lambus said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “Blacks went on a crime spree.""

It goes on and on. Probably no point in posting this since people who are objective already understand the destruction and violence and cost blacks bring anytime they are abundant. It is not just USA. All over the world black-governed nations are hellholes. But objective people knew this. It is the people indoctrinated to believe that acknowledging FACTS is somehow "racist" who just can't admit it. None are so blind as those who will not see.

Blacks are inferior as a group.

Look at the way all of the blacks just go apeshit so to speak over a bunch of fucking sneakers of all things!

Then ask yourself why white people don't riot over the latest Apple gadget even though they gather in large crowds waiting for them. I mean an objective person might think whites are more civilized!

Oh does anyone remember when the blacks rioted like crazy after Hurricane Katrina? Isn't it JUST A LITTLE STRANGE the way white people in Colorado banded together and helped each other when they were hit with a natural disaster instead of rioting and looting like the blacks did? I mean an objective person might think whites are more civilized!

Oh and blacks are responsible for nearly all the murders in Marion County! That is what you would expect from a violent tribal uncivilized race.

Interesting when a black man admits blacks are to blame for the hellhole that is (86% black) Jackson Mississippi? Quote: "Look at recent history, like in South Africa, when apartheid was abolished,” Lambus said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “Blacks went on a crime spree.""

It goes on and on. Probably no point in posting this since people who are objective already understand the destruction and violence and cost blacks bring anytime they are abundant. It is not just USA. All over the world black-governed nations are hellholes. But objective people knew this. It is the people indoctrinated to believe that acknowledging FACTS is somehow "racist" who just can't admit it. None are so blind as those who will not see.

Blacks are inferior as a group.

Look at the way all of the blacks just go apeshit so to speak over a bunch of fucking sneakers of all things!

Then ask yourself why white people don't riot over the latest Apple gadget even though they gather in large crowds waiting for them. I mean an objective person might think whites are more civilized!

Oh does anyone remember when the blacks rioted like crazy after Hurricane Katrina? Isn't it JUST A LITTLE STRANGE the way white people in Colorado banded together and helped each other when they were hit with a natural disaster instead of rioting and looting like the blacks did? I mean an objective person might think whites are more civilized!

Oh and blacks are responsible for nearly all the murders in Marion County! That is what you would expect from a violent tribal uncivilized race.

Interesting when a black man admits blacks are to blame for the hellhole that is (86% black) Jackson Mississippi? Quote: "Look at recent history, like in South Africa, when apartheid was abolished,” Lambus said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “Blacks went on a crime spree.""

It goes on and on. Probably no point in posting this since people who are objective already understand the destruction and violence and cost blacks bring anytime they are abundant. It is not just USA. All over the world black-governed nations are hellholes. But objective people knew this. It is the people indoctrinated to believe that acknowledging FACTS is somehow "racist" who just can't admit it. None are so blind as those who will not see.

USA Today, amongst others, are saying not only are the employees geting paid for their two weeks off, but they are also able to collect unemployment benefits on top. Thats up to 150% of their normal pay.

I would hardly call that being unpaid.

"The IRS forclosed on a legal brothel"

Really? Where? Link?

" and for the time they were runing it they lost money"

No Shit. They are the IRS, not pimps.

Is Google broken where you live? http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/topstories/2007-08-11-398857697_x.htm

Traditional libraries are not the future. The dead tree archives will here after be a curiosity.

That's partially true. Libraries as they exist today as nothing more than regional warehouses for books (and more recently DVDs and CDs and Internet access) are not the future. The future will rely more heavily on the inter-library loan system in order to allow libraries to be smaller and more local as RedBox is to Blockbuster. Books take up a lot of room, they don't all need to be stored in our communities where real estate is expensive when they can sit in warehouses wherever real estate is cheap as Amazon does with its inventory.

Libraries need not be just for books, either. They can be seed banks, they can loan hand tools, baking pans, fishing poles, telescopes, knitting needles, microscopes, oscilloscopes, musical instruments, and even puppies. Why not also reserve a couple of parking spaces for carsharing?

So there are plenty of ways libraries can continue to be relevant and cost-effective if we'll just open our minds to new uses for them.

Traditional libraries are not the future. The dead tree archives will here after be a curiosity.

That's partially true. Libraries as they exist today as nothing more than regional warehouses for books (and more recently DVDs and CDs and Internet access) are not the future. The future will rely more heavily on the inter-library loan system in order to allow libraries to be smaller and more local as RedBox is to Blockbuster. Books take up a lot of room, they don't all need to be stored in our communities where real estate is expensive when they can sit in warehouses wherever real estate is cheap as Amazon does with its inventory.

Libraries need not be just for books, either. They can be seed banks, they can loan hand tools, baking pans, fishing poles, telescopes, knitting needles, microscopes, oscilloscopes, musical instruments, and even puppies. Why not also reserve a couple of parking spaces for carsharing?

So there are plenty of ways libraries can continue to be relevant and cost-effective if we'll just open our minds to new uses for them.

Westgate was not a shooting spree. That was only to round up the hostages for death by mutilation:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2013/09/27/mall-victims-tortured-maimed-in-al-shabab-attacks/2882299/

You may recall al Shabaab as the group behind the recent slaughter at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi.

As terrible as that was, I wish I could say that qualified as a major slaughter in Africa. Are you aware of what's happened in, for example, the Congo in recent years? The Second Congo War was the bloodiest war since WWII, and most Americans have never even heard of it. I don't know if the US should have gotten involved to stop it, but it didn't. Now we're sanctimonious about a mall shooting? That's called a political agenda, not a concern for human life.

So because the US didn't take up arms in a war in the interior of Africa already involving 9 nations and 20 armed groups 15 years ago it shouldn't condemn the deliberate torture and slaughter by terrorists of 67 innocent civilians, and wounding of 175 more, at a shopping mall in a nation at peace last month? Does the fact that those terrorists are tied to terrorists that want to attack the US and Europe somehow excuse them?

I think the best way to describe your view is by quoting someone known to write both some smart things, and on occasion some very silly things.

"That's called a political agenda, not a concern for human life." -- ebno-10db

I hope we're past the "sanctimonious" part too.

The political rhetoric is irrelevant. The point is that states implemented their own systems and none of them have been declared a disaster.

Maybe not in the national media - but Washington's was roundly criticized in the local media for many of the things the Federal website has been "declared a disaster" for. This article lists a number of states and the problems their sites have faced. The rollout is far from "working as intended".

You took the words out of my mouth, in particular let us not forget the debate over PBS in the most recent Presidential election.

From Newsroom...

Will: "Fine. Sharon, the NEA is a loser. Yeah, it accounts for a penny out of our paychecks, but he gets to hit you with it anytime he wants. It doesn't cost money, it costs votes. It costs airtime and column inches. You know why people don't like liberals? Because they lose. If liberals are so fuckin' smart, how come they lose so GODDAMN ALWAYS!"

A majority of poll respondents think the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a non-profit created by Congress that helps fund NPR and PBS as well as other public media, receives a share of 1 percent or more of the federal governmentâ(TM)s budget.

In the financial year for 2010, the CPB reported receiving $506 million in federal appropriations. According to the White Houseâ(TM)s Office of Management and Budget, the federal budget for 2010 was $3.456 trillion. Using those numbers, the CPB receives about .00014 percent of the federal budget. Of course, poll respondents are way off in other areas, assigning a median of 137 percent of the federal governmentâ(TM)s budget to various government programs, suggesting Americans think the government simply spends more than it actually does as a general rule.

Poll respondents always favor nonspecific measures like "cutting government spending." Then it reverses when you ask about specific programs, especially the ones that actually cost a lot, like DoD and Social Security.

One of the news articles mentioned that merchants were supposed to record transactions manually and allow purchases up to $50

Due to the government shutdown, I cannot provide primary source data such as would be normally available from the USDA, etc. In lieu of that, the links provided represent the best non-authoritative sources available at this time.

The average household size is 2.48. Source.
The average person spends about $70 a week on food Source
76% of people on food stamps are disabled, elderly, or children. Source
Around 44 million Americans are on food stamps now*

* [Couldn't find credible source; Estimated from multiple sources]

This would mean that the average weekly trip to the grocery store, for an average household, would be $173.60. If your number is correct, then the government has opted to allow vendors to 28% of a family's food to be processed. Also according to the article, this outage may last up to three days.

Now here's the thing; A lot of those families live 'paycheck to paycheck'. Even if it is welfare; They don't have a fully stocked pantry. If they don't buy food today, a lot of them don't eat. And most people go shopping on the weekend. Your quoted $50 means the average family runs out of food in just under two days. I was unable to find any citation to back your assertion that they were allowing purchases as long as they were under $50 as well, so I have my doubts as to its validity. Anecdotally, two of my friends who have food stamps in the midwestern area reported being unable to purchase any food or remove any amount of cash benefits from their accounts.

So either the situation is 'rather bad' -- 1 in 8 Americans will be going hungry for at least one day this week on average. Or it's 'very bad', in that 1 in 8 Americans will be going hungry for three days. And possibly longer -- many of those people use public transportation or arranged rides to get to the grocery store every week. Especially the elderly and disabled. These rides are picked out weeks ahead of time. For them, they could be looking at not eating for a week or more.

So I return to my original point: Why is it that credit card companies, who offer a convenience, do this, but our government, which provides something that in a very literal sense is life or death to some people, does not? There is no answer to that question that I come away with that makes this look like anything other than criminal neglect of a vulnerable population.

Republicans, as they stand today, are not conservative. As you pointed out, under Bush, they grew the government and increased funding even to things that they profess to hate.

Bush was then-massively deficit spending before Obama ever took office (granted, there were two wars going on). It wasn't until Obama took office that "massive" took on a different meaning.

I will say though that Bush is at least documented stating the the home loans were rapidly approaching a bursting bubble, and the Democrats completely stopped him. It's his fault because, unlike Obama, he proved unwilling to stonewall the other side until he gets his way, and the Republicans (who controlled both the House and Senate) refused to fix the problem without Democrats. Political correctness killed the Bush-led effort that would have regulated and saved us from the housing crisis.

''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''

Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.

''I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,'' Mr. Watt said.

On the other hand, not only did Bush add Medicare obligations, but he also wasted billions on farming subsidies (which, scarily, Democrats have increased substantially).

It would sure be nice if Republicans were conservatives. That's why I hope the party collapses because the current choice is a Republican that claims small government priorities, but then throws them away or completely lacks a backbone. Or, you get the Democrat that wants to grow the government to take care of us, or claims some middle-right leaning dribble to get into office.

It's pretty obvious that no one in Congress gives a crap given that they aren't feeling any of the pain of the government shutdown. Their own internal tram system and gym (of all things) is still completely operational. But, it's a good thing that the government side of the parks, Amber Alert system and border control were shutdown. They have to make us feel it.

Exchange launch turns into inexcusable mess: Our view

Park said the administration expected 50,000 to 60,000 simultaneous users. It got 250,000. Compare that with the similarly rocky debut seven years ago of exchanges to obtain Medicare drug coverage. The Bush administration projected 20,000 simultaneous users and built capacity for 150,000.

That's the difference between competence and incompetence.

The too-much-demand excuse also is less than the full story. In addition to grossly underestimating demand, the administration and its contractors seem to have made mistakes in building the websites. The system for verifying consumer identity has had persistent problems, as have pull-down menus.

Nor were problems confined to the 36 state health exchanges run by the federal government. Sites run by 14 states and Washington, D.C., bogged down because they have to refer to federal databases to verify consumers' identity.

Nothing revisionist about it. From here:

CRAWFORD, Texas — Paul O'Neill, President Bush's Treasury secretary in the first two years of his presidency, says the Bush administration was planning to invade Iraq long before the Sept. 11 attacks and used questionable intelligence to justify the war.

This is a 7 year old story.

Well, the house voted 407-0 to approve back pay, so it will be either Harry Reid's or Obama's fault if they do not get paid. Simple as that. But no one really believes they won't be paid. They got back pay the last time this happened (see last paragraph). And many times before that. And both Harry Reid and Obama have publically supported the house bill.

Cigarettes are legal, but there is still considerable crime around them, including large scale smuggling and tax evasion. There will continue to be a market for illegal drugs in one form or another even if certain street drugs are legalized. (I very much every one would be.) Some people won't want to pay taxes, some people will want something different. People go looking for new, different, bigger, better, longer lasting highs all the time. And as the story about the skin eating drug Krokodil showed, people don't necessarily care about the consequences if they end up taking certain drugs. People say that alcohol prohibition in the US didn't work, and there were certainly problems attached to it. But it is a fact that Prohibition caused alcohol consumption to fall sharply in the US, and per capita consumption was far lower even after it ended than before it began. It took something like 50 years for alcohol consumption to return to where it was.

Oracle and Google are headquartered in California, as are some of newer entrants listed. Doesn't that have higher taxes than Massachusetts?

This site suggests so: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2012/10/28/state-taxes-states-highest-lowest/1654071/. Granted those are all-up numbers and not industry-specific.

Oil companies pay huge taxes. In fact they pay more taxes than anyone.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/03/17/companies-paying-highest-income-taxes/1991313/

Exxon and Chevron were the #1 and #2 US taxpayers last year, at 31 and 20 billion respectively.

You would quote: " really appreciate it if you could follow the rules on these here bill thingy's" - Is that so? Then please be sure to mention your outrage at the actions our Dear President has taken in arbitrarily moving the requirements for businesses to provide health care for their employees for one year. Please tell me more about how the Executive Branch can choose and pick which parts of a signed law to enforce. Then remember that when a conservative is elected President and pulls the same trick. I bet THEN you start crying, Anonymous Coward. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/07/02/obama-delay-health-care-law/2484623/

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/08/in-salt-lake-city-for-the-2002-olympics-the-nsa-may-have-read-your-texts/
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130821/00421524264/nsa-fbi-spied-all-emails-salt-lake-city-before-after-olympics.shtml
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/08/nsa-olympics-spying-salt-lake-city/
"nobody agreed that we would trade off our fundamental civil rights for the government to come in and spy on us"

Lawmaker: NASA broke law with visits by China officials :

Wolf chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA. He's been one of China's loudest critics in Congress, particularly regarding the country's human rights record and its reported proclivity for spying.

Wolf does not want the United States to work with what he's called an "evil" government. He said the White House has bypassed his 2011 national security measure by using federal money to pay for joint space and technology ventures with China.

Last month, Wolf and Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, wrote to FBI Director Robert Mueller expressing concerns about the possible leak of highly sensitive technological information to China from the NASA Ames Research Center in California.

Lawmakers accuse Obama prosecutors of lying about espionage probe at NASA :

Congressional leaders are challenging a U.S. Attorney's denial that the Justice Department shut down a federal espionage investigation involving the illegal transfer of U.S. space defense weapons technology to foreign countries, including China, The Washington Examiner has learned.

Melinda Haag, the U.S. Attorney for Northern California, also denied that she had ever requested authority to prosecute anybody as a result of the espionage investigation.

But Sen. Charles Grassley, R-IA, and Representatives Lamar Smith, R-TX, and Frank Wolf, R-VA, say Haag's denials don't square with evidence they've reviewed and they wonder if Justice Department or White House officials interfered with a potentially explosive espionage investigation or if "politics played a role in the prosecutorial decisions made in this case."

NASA locks out foreigners, orders security review following concerns of Chinese spying :

Perhaps it’s the ambitions of the space agency that make it such a target for espionage. Wolf told Discovery News earlier this week that “the Chinese have the most comprehensive spying program in Washington that has ever been. They make the KGB look like they were the junior varsity or freshman team.”

Prety much every poll shows more than half of Americans don't want Obamacare. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/health_care_law http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/09/16/usa-today-pew-poll-health-care-law-opposition/2817169/ http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/09/three-years-later-obamacare-arrives-little-understood-and-not-well-liked/

You conveniently forgot to mention that the senators that shut gov't down are is still being paid.

You could save a fortune if you defunded them and kicked them out of our home.

Ref Ref Ref You know, what, Lemme just google that for you

And now Congress is considering legislation to assure that furloughed workers get back pay for the vacation.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/10/04/obama-backs-backpay-furlough-shutdown/2923221/

Musk's bottom line is the accident outside Seattle that caused the Model S sedan and its battery pack to go up in smoke would have been far worse had it been a conventional gasoline-powered car. "Had a conventional gasoline car encountered the same object on the highway, the result could have been far worse," Musk, who is also CEO of rocket maker SpaceX, writes on Tesla blog. Just as authorities have reported, he says the Model S struck a "large metal object" as it traveled at highway speeds. It went under the car and struck with a force "on the order of 25 tons." He says the estimate is based on the result: a 3-inch hole through armor plate that compromised the car's battery pack. But from there, he says everything went as it should. The car's "onboard alert system" directed to the driver to stop and get out. The fire was contained by firewalls within the battery pack. Vents in the pack directed the flames down and away from the vehicle. The fire department followed the correct procedure in trying to deal with the fire by puncturing holes in a protective plate and shooting water into the pack. If the same accident had occurred under a conventional car, the thin metal shielding around the gas tank or tubing could have caused gasoline to pool and burn the entire car to the ground. "In contrast, the combustion energy of our battery pack is only about 10% of the energy contained in a gasoline tank and is divided into 16 modules with firewalls in between. As a consequence, the effective combustion potential is only about 1% that of the fuel in a comparable gasoline sedan," Musk writes. http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/10/04/elon-musk-tesla-fire/2924423/

Job training seems to me one federal policy that gets considerable support from both of the major parties. There are disputes about how best to do it and how much should be spent, but it is pretty popular in Washington. That the money spent is largely wasted cannot be factually disputed. In fact, even many congresscritters admit that the programs are not efficient.