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2600 Staffer Arrested During Republican Convention
Addendum: I find it amusing that people are so pissed about me using Slashdot to editorialize my opinions. I've been doing this for 3 years, why would I stop now? If you want unbiased news, read the mainstream press... look how honest and unbiased their coverage is! We're humans here, with actual opinions and everything. Besides, if I don't get to soapbox once in awhile, wouldn't Slashdot be boring?
I find it amusing that I've recieved pretty much equal mail from democrats (Rah rah! Way to state the case!) and republicans (I will no longer read Slashdot because I don't think you should be allowed to have opinions and obviously your opinions are stupid. And you are stupid too. And I hate you). Both missed the point: I don't like either party (I don't even like parties). But I really detest Bush. And since this is America, I can say that! And you can disagree! Hooray!
I feel exactly the same way. I dislike both candidates, but Bush frightens the bejeezus out of me, and Gore merely leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm probably going to vote for Gore in this election even though I would rather vote for Browne. It's just _so_ important that Bush not be elected. *shudder*
Need a Python, C++, Unix, Linux develop
"However, Gore is probably the lesser of the (many) evils. " prior to this debate, I made a plan to produce signs saying "why settle for the lesser of two evils, vote bush in 2000!" however, since I am currently blinded by a eye infection, I freely give up all rights on this.
http://www.santacruzbynight.com/index.shtml Santa Cruz By Night Vampire Larp
Yeah, it's amazing how badly we treat the rich. They are probably so stressed out from working hard, their life expectancy is probably half that of poor people. I mean that doesn't give themselves nearly enough time to properly run the country! We are all lucky that millionaires like Bush, Gore and Nader can take time off from work to run for political office. We should sincerely thank them all.
Furthermore the cops are always hassling rich people, which explains why there are so many millionaires in US prisons. It's not like if you are rich you get yourself a good lawyer and buy your way out of jail (OJ Simpson). Rich people are so oppressed they probably don't even have time to drive those expensive sports cars, take exotic vacations, or have time to visit the doctor to receive their high quality medical care. It's a shame too, because the rich work so damn hard for their money, It's not like if you are rich you can just put your money somewhere (bank/stocks) and have it make money without doing any work! Poor people don't know it, but they are the real masters of this country!
Do yourself a favor poindexter and get a good suit to back up your shitty opinions, and maybe i'll listen.
We don't no stinking groupies.
The message on the other side of this sig is false.
If someone can't afford health care, good food, and safe living conditions, then why the hell are they having children??
First and foremost, it's because they're financially rewarded for doing so. The more children you have, the less tax you pay (if you pay taxes), and the more welfare you receive (if you receive welfare).
Second, it's because American society's view of sexuality is skewed. People are afraid to discuss contraception and abortion openly. Some people (you know who they are) commit terrorist atrocities like killing doctors who perform abortions, or lesser atrocities like harrassing women who visit clinics. Various religious groups (you know who they are) try to enforce their particular moral perversions -- homosexuality is a sin, masturbation is a sin, contraception is a sin, pre-marital sex is a sin, adultery is a sin, prostitution is a sin, ad nauseum -- upon everyone else by buying relevant legislation. Oh, and besides that, they try to prevent children from learning anything about sex.
In an environment like that, is it really a surprise that there are unwanted pregnancies? And that they're carried to term?
"alcohol is still the most popular "date rape" drug"
Uh .. not actually .. see, women who drink alcohol do so voluntarily, they're adults who know the consequences, they know full well that they will not have full self-control if they drink, yet they do it anyway.
Date-rape drugs, on the other hand, are slipped into womens' drinks unbeknownst to them.
I'm not saying its OK to rape drunk women, I'm just saying that there is a huge difference between alcohol and date rape drugs. Any woman who feels herself starting to get drunk, and suspecting that they are losing self-control, can at that point choose to get up, walk out, and go home. For all intents and purposes it is impossible in a social situation to force somebody to drink alcohol. Anybody who gets drunk does so by their own choice.
Moderators, heres a hint: If somebody says something that you don't like to hear, that does not automatically make it a "troll" post. Repeat 100 times.
Specifically a link to the relevant article..
.so wait this out and do our best to be well informed such as reading things like this..
Here
It is a letter from the prisoners which basically does not put up any hard facts and its more or less a nice witty letter one of these guys have written
However right now its just to early to say who is right or wrong... Period. We dont have all the facts so its hard to really make personal judgements yet..
Jeremy
If you think education is expensive, try ignornace
Okay, while I really do have a opinion on the election (I'm voting gore then working for local libertarians) and don't really care about cmdrtaco's imagined or real bad conduct, I personally see a different side to this. Frankly I'm somewhat suprised that more people haven't seen it. Basically, I feel we should be asking ourselves, discussing, and if possible pointing each other in the direction of, what can we do to: a. help the current protesters b. get involved in similar actions (similar in content and intent if not style). Yes it's wonderful that we have all this information about and discussion of what happened, but I can't help but feel as if we are acting a bit ivory tower about it. Now, this isn't a call to arms, but at the very least we could be doing a letter campaign to newspapers and politicians. That of course would be a small portion of what we are capable of, especially considering all of the brilliant satire I've seen here. I just feel it would be a shame if I didn't do something. Maybe it's just me. In any case somebody needs to be in la watching the lapd during the DNC. I think the riot squads have "We treat everybody like a king." At the very least, you can send some money to bail out the hundreds of innocent bystanders and peaceful protesters.
http://www.santacruzbynight.com/index.shtml Santa Cruz By Night Vampire Larp
Term limits: There are a number of problems with term limits, enough that some localities which embraced them in the past ten years are reconsidering (I read this in the NYTimes a while ago). These communities are having problems finding enough people to serve.
That might not be a problem on a national level (although it might!), but your proposal here is unrealistic. For instance, this would make it likely that the President would be elected from groups of people with very little political service. This sounds great perhaps, but there are problems with it. How do we know what the candidate's positions really are, as opposed to what they say on TV? Most candidates come with either voting records or records of their leadership in their home state. Plus, would you ever hire someone with no business experience to sit on the board of your corporation? Of course not--you look for an experienced person with an MBA. So why shouldn't voters want an experience politician to be their Senator?
I agree that lobbyists are one of the most revolting figures of modern politics. I don't like them either. But how do you accomplish this goal? Don't corporations and foundations (for instance, the EFF) have a right to tell politicians what they think about issues? Perhaps you could ban firms solely set up to lobby politicians, but then wouldn't corporations just set up in-house operations to do the same thing? Can you really tell the corporation that it's illegal for them to have people communicating with Congress on company time? What about the 1st Amendment?
Again, this is an issue that tears me personally. I hate the influence of Big Money on politics, and yet I refuse to accept limitations on 1st Amendment rights. In any case, is it really fair to divide funds so equally? Who decides what "all parties" means? The FEC has to do things like that already, and the GOP, Democratic, and Reform parties currently get slices of the pie. Should the Green, Libertarian, and other (Socialist, etc.) parties get equal slices too? We are talking about tremendous sums of money, and equal slices would imply that tremendous amounts would be going to parties most people do not agree with. And if you really mean to get rid of all campaign contributions, then the gov't would have to provide this increasing "fixed sum" out of taxpayer dollars. Do you propose that individuals who decide not to donate money to political organizations suddenly be forced to contribute to all of them? And I don't understand the last point. Political bodies are funded by those it speaks for (or at least the richest of those it speaks for) in order to win elections and advance its agenda. How would the body "aid" those individuals other than by using the funds to win elections?
This is the most radical of your ideas, and the most impractical. What you are advocating is essentially a form of direct democracy. The objections raised in the last post are valid, and don't even begin to scratch the surface. Among other things, think of the logistics! Every 3 months a new panel of people, with no experience, comes in. They would have to become familiar with "the way things work," let alone the actual pieces of legislation being considered. In addition, have you ever looked at actual legislation? It's a necessary evil that it be technically written in the language of law. Certainly any smart person could come up to speed on it, but not in 3 months. Also, any bills it might introduce would, in 3 months, most likely never see the light of day. It requires time to make a law. This is not a bad thing. Congress needs time to review ideas and the public needs time to be made aware of them.
Finally, you suggest that the third house would provide "checks and balances" because the other two "aren't doing that." Where do you find evidence of this? In general, all passable legislation is somewhere between the idealogical extremes of the elected representatives, specifically because of how the House, Senate, and President interact.
On guns - you think Bush will do any differently? He'll cave as soon as some Million March makes him look bad on CNN. Call if Protecting Cops, Saving Children, or Punishing Drug Users, I have no doubt that he'll care any more about the second amendment than any other politician. Think about it.
-j
I forget what 8 was for.
He is only part socialist. Electing Nader does NOT mean the US will turn to socialism. Some of his views are but that is not everything. Just the fact that the government is breaking up Microsoft is VERY socialist. In fact the US currently has many socialist policies. Coincidentally they are some of our best.
It is all about balance.
i'm not voting for harry browne because, well, nader has a change in hades. so yea, vote nader, because, at the very least, its a protest vote. at the very most, he gets elected... and then life gets more interesting.
-- sayke, v2.3.05
The marketplace was unstable in Germany, which led to social disenchantment, which led to the rise of Nazism. I think it's poor to blame the rise of Nazism just on the market place though. The bad conditions in Germany were a direct result of the Treaty of Versailles which didn't allow Germany to produce or manufacture anything except sausages (figuratevly) and the rising amount of poverty and hatred for anything (including jews) in Germany made it a perfect target for facism. When Wilson outlawwed all of Germany's military production, that killed a giant portion of their production. If that happened in America today, a good 2 to 5% of us would be out of jobs and our economy would go into a tailspin. Anti-semitism had been, and still remains, rampant in most European countries, so they made easy targets, and easy people to blame. But in my view, if it weren't for the elitist, utopian prick that was Woodrow Wilson and the Treaty of Versailles, the entire Hitler regime would have been averted.
I think we belive the market will control other things when it's thriving, like now. I mean, say a corporation with several different branches, some making paper and maybe another making food. If there was a giant controversy saying that this company had broken environmental rules and blantintly done so, then people would go out of their way NOT to buy their products. The company would apologise, have to spend lots to fix the situation (give money to cleaning up their environmental fuck up), and then suffer from reduced sales. I believe that's how the market is suppose to control things.
Help me through college please!
A lot of people don't know this, but the police standard for using pepper spray is not "violence" or "resistance", but merely "non-compliance". That is, if they tell you to do something, and you don't, they can blast you with the shit. The fact that you are "peaceful" doesn't matter.
This came to the forefront with a videotape of a (greenpeace?) protest in California, where peaceful protesters had their eyelids held open and pepperspray applied directly to their eyeballs with cotton swabs.
What really sucks is that the police are always championing new gadgets as allowing them to use less force. I.e., "We should be allowed to use the Arwen gun / pepperspray / tazer so that we won't have to shoot armed suspects". Sometimes new weapons are used like that, but usually it works the other way: the police are allowed to use more force when they would otherwise have had to resolve the situation through other means (waiting people out, or the looks-bad-on-tv billyclub).
because what he wrote was not "views". It was
- Flamebait
- Troll
- Offtopic
- Overrated
and the complaints should be considered as moderation. If he had written something halfway Inciteful, Informative, or even just reasoned, folks would have had a chance to counter argue. But just to get up and shout "Bush sucks" is what Slashdot is not all about.Not only am I fine with Taco posting his political opinions but I think slashdot ought to endorse a candidate. Not necessarily who Taco likes, but who the slashdot community likes. Maybe run a little poll.
Face it, we are something of a special interest group here and I for one would be interested to know who this crowd thinks is the "President for Nerds".
This is probably flamebait - but aren't both candidates lame ducks from political family dynasties? They are both excellent at spinning the story - spin, spin, spin 'till we go crosseyed and can't facts glaring in our eyes.
Gore is maybe the best candidate - though nobody knows how much involved he was in Clintonian practices. We've all heard about the Buddhist temple.. (Bush raises his money in churches.. ) It's reduced to a judgement call - because facts have been so obscured it's hard to get to them. And, of course, he invented the internet. Didn't he work with DARPA? Then again, he's stated he's willing to take on big business. That has to account for something? He's also the one who's been working with Bill Clinton, arguably a very politically successful president. According to popular legend, Al Gore would do in-depth research that Bill Clinton didn't have time for. Oh - and he's so stiff and uncomfortable on-screen he HAS to be a geek of some kind. That counts here, right?
Bush is saying all the right things - restoring dignity to the white house, compassionate conservatism. Heck - he's even somewhat pro-choice (abortion when there's been incest, rape or when mother's life is threatened). So - how much of this does he really mean? If we look at his record, he's made some progress on some fronts. Texas is still lagging behind, though. NRA is quoted saying they will be "working out of the Oval Office" if he wins. He's getting endorsements and support left and right from big money and business. And on his website - the daily trivia is what team he managed.. Right on issue! Oh - and as a humble christian, shouldn't he at least research some of the death penalties he's ok'ed? And isn't he only inclusive on christians? God forbid someone are atheist, buddhist or even worse - muslim? "I guess we'll just school-prayer on them heretics!"
So - voting GW for president over one issue amounts to naivity. So does Al Gore. If you want integrity, go for Ralph Nader - if you can stomach his leftism. And, of course, if you're feeling really low, you can go for our favorite xenophobe and isolationist- Pat Buchanan.
Stop the brainwash
I'm voting this year because my partner asked me to. Her words are worth a lot more than a vanishingly small voice on which creep is better.
I forget what 8 was for.
I'm stuck on this one too. both of them fall short on supporting my beliefs(gun ownership, religious freedom, let people sleep with and marry whom ever they wish).
Gore= bye, bye 2nd Amendment
Bush= What's gay rights? United States of Christ
That leaves me the Lib. Party but, I'm sorry to say, they haven't a chance in hell.
- Apple Computer......proudly going out of business for over twenty years.
First off, lemme state that if your gonna give an opionion it is usually the custom to back it up with some reasoning behind it. The simpletons who spend their free time watching sitcoms and wrestling may take opions on face value as fact, but we like a few reasons to give an opionion merit.
Al Gore is a 'risky scheme'; for several reasons. The current administration has been one of the worst on issues of individual privacy vs. law enforcement. They are the ones who brought you carnivore, the clipper chip, continued encryption export restrictions, and misused FBI files.
I also do not support the idea that government needs to be any bigger or provide more social programs. Privately run programs always are better managed with less waste then the government-run equivelent. Third, I believe the scandals and corruption that plagued the Clinton administration will continue to plague a Gore administration.
The economy is a strawman argument; the economy became so strong because we had just 'won' the cold war. The euphoria of such a victory combined with the lowered financial requirements of national defense and the many new markets opened in eastern europe and west asia would of course create a hugely sucessful economic upturn. We had a huge economic upturn after the end of world war II for the same reasons.
Although I like Bush's ideas and credability I won't be voting for him either this year. He's better than Gore, but I find the most affinity with the Libertarian party and they will be getting my vote this election.
Votes cast for third parties are _not_ wasted votes. But voting for one canidate because you are 'voting against' another _is_ wasting your vote. If you are voting Dem/Rep because any other method would be 'wasting your vote', then you aren't really voting at all. Someone else is casting your vote for you!
The two parties would have you convinced otherwise because if a great many people believe they have the freedom to vote outside the two party system then that endangers their powerbase.
If enough people vote in the canidate who reflects their views then the two big parties will have to take notice that their views do not reflect america as a whole; and those who had been witholding their votes from third parties because of the fear of throwing away their vote will change when they see others gravitating to that party.
'who would you vote for today' would be a great slashdot poll.. as long as it included all the canidates.
-- Greg
Slashdot, would a spell-checker for posting be too much to ask? It's not rocket science!
Are you saying that, based on your experience
No, I'm *not* saying that. What i'm saying is that it's a two-edged street --- there are people who have problems, and there are people who don't, and making broad generalizations about drugs turning people into mindless drones doesn't help the debate *at all*.
I'll also admit that I tend to take the rhetoric in the drug war debate fairly personally --- I feel like i'm being told, over and over again, that it would be better for society if I were in jail.
Too bad Che isn't around too, he'd probably have some cool stuff to say too.
Icebox
Blockading access to public facilities with your body is "non-violent" in the same sense that forcibly restraining and handcuffing someone to a chair against their will is "non-violent." The majority of the protesters in Seattle were doing just that (deliberately blockading access to public facilities) and they deserved very much to get arrested for doing so.
Read the report. Yes, the Rand Corporation did do a study concluding that Texas was above average from 1990-1996. Bush took office in 1995. The study concluded that it was due to:
- emphasis on pre-K
- smaller class sizes for the youngest students
- getting teachers what they needed to do their
jobs
Note that all these things will take years for the benefits to be measured. In short, it was done before Bush took office, and in fact the Republicans (including Bush) vigorously opposed the measures taken - note by looking at them that they take MONEY.
"It was me against the world, I was sure that I'd win.... but the world fought back, punished me for my sins" - Social D
Yes, I also would like to vote for an inatimate carbon rod for office. Like they say on the simpsons, IN ROD WE TRUST!
Kris
botboy60@hotmail.com
Nerdnetwork.net
Kris
botboy60@hotmail.com
Nerdnetwork.net
Bush is utterly scary. Anybody who buys up all the domains people might use to criticize him with, then sues the person who found a good domain that he didn't think of is scary. Anybody who says "There ought to be limits on freedom." in the context of free speech is scary. I'm sorry, but GW Bush is the last person I would want in office. An alchoholic picked up off a street would be better. A carbon rod would be better. Anybody would be better.
Need a Python, C++, Unix, Linux develop
Is everyone familiar with Dan Savage and his column "Savage Love"? He's the gay anti-Ann Landers (sort of) and it's often extremely amusing. Below is a snippet from the recent column that exposes a hilarious contradiction in the Republican candidates. Beware, Dan is always brutally honest (something I love).
3 4288-2000Aug3.html
bonus: Reagan's son trashes George W.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A
-----Original Message-----
http://avclub.theonion.com/savage.html
Mary Cheney was exposed as a carpet-munching sodomite by reporter and barbarian Matt Drudge, but some of us knew she was a lesbian before we read Matt's scooplet. When I saw a picture of Mary in The New York Times, well, let's just say I didn't need to find one of Ellen Degeneres' pubic hairs in the corner of Mary's mouth to conclude she was a dyke. Not all dykes look like dykes, of course, but the picture in The New York Times gave Mary away. Cheney is one of those looks-like-a-dyke/quacks-like-a-dyke triple threats: She has the lesbian hairdo (high and tight), lesbian polo shirt (boxy and loose), and tasteful lesbian make-up (just a little something on the lips). By contrast, Mary's straight older sister looks a Mary Kay saleswoman with an unfortunate bad perm.
So, how is the news that Dick's daughter is a dyke playing in the male-dominated, deeply homophobic, ultra-conservative environment that is Bush HQ? According to "a top Bush source" quoted by Drudge, Gov. Bush "believes Mr. Cheney has a wonderful family. Being gay or lesbian is not a liability in this campaign. The governor embraces both of Mr. Cheney's daughters and will invite them to campaign with him."
So, despite having promised Pat Robertson that he won't knowingly appoint a gay or lesbian person in his administration, George W. Bush is welcoming Mary Cheney into his campaign with open arms--provided, we have to assume, that Mary doesn't want to marry her girlfriend (which Bush opposes), pass hate-crimes legislation (which Bush opposes), adopt a child (which Bush opposes), receive domestic-partner benefits (which Bush opposes), or join the Marines (which both Bush and her daddy oppose).
At the conclusion of the 1992 Republican National Convention (in the beautiful Nuremberg Convention Center, remember?), Republicans danced around the hall while the band played "The Best Of Times Is Now." That's a song from the Broadway musical La Cage Aux Folles, which is about a drag queen, his male partner, and their son's impending marriage to the daughter of a conservative politician. Watching George Bush Sr. dance with Pat Buchanan and Dan Quayle while Republican delegates waved "Family Values Forever! Gay Rights Never!" signs was odd, to say the least. It was equally odd in 2000 to watch gay-bashing Bushies insist that Mary Cheney is welcome on W's campaign bus. Has anyone told Mary that she's expected to sit all the way at the back?
so it's the tyranny of twits that will take away rob's editorial freedom, not a takeover by andover. i'm not all that surprised...
US Citizen living abroad? Register to vote!
> Forget Buchanan, we want Duke! :-)
That'd be fine, except who'd vote for a guy whose drug policy is "no, I want them all for myself!"
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
It's his site. He can do whatever he wants on it. Who are you to tell him what Slashdot is all about, when it's his site, not yours?
When you consider what a large portion of crime is a result of (drug trade, abuse, etc). The leagalization of certain drugs could put them under control, in ways similar to the whole alchohol prohibition.
Yes, legalize drugs and transfer the money we are currently spending on law enforcement over to the health care system, as millions more fry their brains and their bodies on the "now legal" drugs.
Transfer more money over to the private sector where businesses are reeling in the significant drop in employee productivity as we deal with a national drug addiction.
Transfer more money to the unemployment agencies, so they can find minimum wage positions for a very large segment of the population that has lost all ambition in life.
Transfer more money to homeless shelters, as more and more irrational, incoherent people start wandering the streets.
Transfer more money to pediatric research, as more pregnant women with addictions give birth to horribly deformed babies.
Transfer more money still to drug rehabilitation clinics where a constant stream of people try to break addictions they started in their high school and college years, when they were young and foolish, and now find that it has cost them dearly.
Oh, and here's the good part: Transfer lots and lots more money back into law enforcement to keep children from using drugs and to attack a rise in crime from people who have seared any sense of social responsibility from their minds.
Crime will always be with us. The drug cartels are not about getting people addicted, they are about money. And they will find a way to get the money, be it drugs, guns, or whatever. You will not solve the problem of crime by doing away with drug money.
What you will succeed in doing, I believe, is eroding the middle class in the long run, and creating an impovershed, drug addicted underclass exploited by a wealthy upperclass.
Welcome to the Libertarian Utopia.
It seems like these granola munching assholes thrive on bringing out the worst in the people around them. They rally not only to show group support for whatever their cause is, but as a aggressive statement against the police. They instagate, push the limits(chaining themselves together, throwing shit at the police, fires, car tipping, etc) and then cry murder when their luck runs up.
Their are no brilliant people in these herds, just people who think that causing civil unrest is a kick and makes them heros for risking, *gasp*, arrest for disturbing the peace!
Watch some of those pre-rally meetings that the protesters were having, and see for yourself how passionate they are about being the victims. Maybe if they had any true bearing on the political scene, they wouldn't have to resort to such group stupidity.
A wise man once said, "If you go to the barber shop, be prepaired to get a haircut."
Stick to technical news and leave politics out of it.
"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brain."
- Winston Churchill
So did you actually see all this law-breaking with your own eyes, or were you just fed propaganda by the police and media?
Nowhere in the history of police brutality and civil rights abuses have the offenders stood up and said "yes we abused these people". Rather, every single time the reports from the offenders are basically that their victims were dangerous and breaking the law and that their actions were justified. Why do you think that this case might be different? Of course the police are going to be feeding the media stories about the terrible things these people were doing. Actions like jogging and walking with a cellphone, BTW, do not qualify as vandalism or assault of police. And you don't think there is anything strange about protesters being held on bail for unprecedented amounts like $1000000, for misdemeanours, before they had even done anything wrong?
Please, try to look at all possibilities here, not just the one they're feeding the sheeple on the TV.
You state that government is different now than it was in 1948. I respectfully disagree. It has not changed in any significant way since representative democracy was instituted by Caeser Augustus in Rome. Per Alistair Sims, Caeser Augustus looked to the Senate for advice and consent. He listened to a lot of advice and received a lot of consent. Extending suffrage to all citizens and to women are mere blips in history. The shift of power from one ruler to a group has been slower, and it is still happening. Lobbying and bribes have existed since the first day in Rome.
Note that this is about representative democracy, described by Winston Churchill as the worst form of government in existence, except for every other form. Direct democracy, as practiced in ancient Greece, is pretty much limited to Switzerland and to town meetings in some of the United States.
The only reason our education system is because it's full of people who don't want to go. At least in my experience in high school, I would have learned a LOT more if it weren't for people that didn't want to or deserve to be there in the first place. Education shouldn't be mandatory, only optional. Then America will once again breed intelligence that it's freedom encouraged for the first 150 years of our existence.
Help me through college please!
Why don't they study up on some of the real sacrificing heros for justice, like the Jesuits. Pah.
I totally understand. I am voting for Bush not because he is who I would like to see in office, but I would rather have my toenails ripped out over the alternative. Gore invented the Inet? ha! I am voting for technology not talk. :P
futang futang!
1) the minority in any group is the one that makes the largest stink, makes the most heated flames, hurls the largest stones, etc.
2) no matter how much you hate AC's, you eventually act like one (Hi CmdrTaco! *Waves)
3) we all like RMS, ESR, CmdrTaco, and other zealots... untill they disagree with us.
4) you can always tell the ones that look like they're going to lose an arguement, because they hit the lowest.
the moral of this post?
you're not going to agree with everyone. deal with it.
you're a commie, she's a socialist, that guy over there is a conservative, that cute girl is a democrat. that guy with the big muscles is a libertarian. the guy picking flowers is of the green party.
my opinion stinks like a big festering sewer treatment plant.
your's does too.
now shut the fuck up, and get along with the rest of the world.
thank you for your time.
One of the arguments made about the overkill police presence was that it was an effective deterrant; we didn't have violent protests because the police presence intimidated the protesters.
I hate all those glass towers, including the Piper Tower where I work. But I'm not sure if they're worse than rehabbed "old" buildings full of self-satisfied yuppies congratulating themselves on their cool taste in architecture.
Be glad you're not in Orange County where I am today. It makes the Target Plaza look positively lovely.
In a sense you're right: you must vote for one party or the other. Either the party that says that government is most fit to run your life, or the party that says that YOU are most fit to run your life. Do you thing that G.W. Bush and Al Gore are best fit to run your life?
I don't make the rules. I just make fun of them.
Oh, come on! If you haven't learned that George is nothing but the son of a President, and has demonstrated no real skills other than the ability to waste public and private funds in the name of buisness, you haven't been paying attention.
Maybe the state's highest function is to grind out insoluble problems. (Zelazny, Hall of Mirrors)
In the 1950s, corporations paid 30% of all taxes int the US. Now they pay less than 10%.
Corporations do not pay taxes. They collect taxes.
I don't make the rules. I just make fun of them.
I support many of 2600's causes, but a lot of the 2600 "staff" tends to stand on the edge of legal at best.
Note that the CNN link from the 2600 page says that the ACLU folks thought the prisoners seemed to be treated okay. I'm certain the ACLU would love to jump into this, and if they say things look fair, I tend to believe them.
The fact that 2600 does not mention the charge is significant.
Finally, I remember people arrested in the WTO protest appeared on CNN whining about their terrible treatment. Their specific complaints were centered around issues of bologna-containing sandwiches given to people who were "vegans", and the fact that the fruit juice supplied by the police was not 100% juice, but a 10% juice drink. Keep in mind that these people were detained for less than a day and never removed from the site; the Seattle police were under no obligation to provide anything more than water to prevent dehydration.
The protesters are a bunch of spoiled rich kids, IMHO. It is "in" to be arrested, to protest, to "fight against the system" until Daddy retires and you become an investment banker. I won't put much stock in any of this until I hear the whole story.
I realize that is a bit harsh, but I feel it is the truth.
And one more thing: as requested, a non-big-business link describing the Canadian health care issue. Comes right from the transcript of a House session: link. Search for the word "doctor."
--jbLearning to use the break tag in your posts is very cool.
Icebox
That's why it's not legal. The beer and tobacco companies (1 and 2 on the Partnership for a Drug-Free America's donation list) fear both the competition for what used to be 2 big oligarchies over "sin trade" products, and the fact that unlike tobacco, which is hard to grow right, you can literally throw m-j seeds on the ground anywhere in the Continental US and piss on them and have weed in a few months. It's tough to corner the market on a product like that, and it's also why microbrews and home brewing is such a threat to AB and Miller.
-jpowers
-jpowers
Well, I can't argue with you about the beer...
This was an excellent troll. I bow and scrape before you.
TO BUY A NEW CAR WOULD MAKE YOU SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE.
It seems to me that you are playing with semantics to achieve your goal.
Who said anything about right? The "right" world, where nobody commits force or fraud or breaks an obligation to anyone else, *cannot exist*.
I was talking about "right" (the noun), meaning "Something that is due to a person or governmental body by law, tradition, or nature." Then you accused me of talking about "right" (the adjective), meaning "Conforming with or conformable to justice, law, or morality." You should already see where you have gone wrong.
So, granting that there are neglected children, we're no longer choosing between "right" and "wrong", even by libertarian axioms. We're choosing between a world with children getting cheated out of the majority of the food, shelter, and education that their parents should have been responsible enough to provide, and a world with taxpayers getting cheated out of a small fraction of their earnings to pay for children who aren't theirs.
Since your foundation is faulty, so is your conclusion. I agree that it is wrong that children go without food, clothing, or shelter. But that does not imply that the government has the right to take my money to "raise" those children.
There is no easy out, no "let's get the government out of the way and nobody gets their rights violated"; the very presupposition of children stuck in poverty means that somebody's rights are getting violated.
First, who defines what "poverty" is? Do you realize that under the current government definition of "poverty" I can live in a $500,000 house and own three Ferraris and still be living "in poverty"? Second, what "rights" are you talking about? Can you please indicate to me where in the Constitution these rights you mention are enumerated?
Even the majority of libertarians favor spending money on a police force to protect
people's lives and property; how is spending money on child welfare to protect their lives and property any morally different?
This displays your ignorance about the Libertarian party. You accept (correctly) that Libertarians recognize law enforcement as a valid function of government and then conclude (falsely) that Libertarians must also believe that it is the government, not parents, who should be responsible for "child welfare."
You're right, there is no "easy way out." That does not imply that the government is the "solution" to the problem.
I don't make the rules. I just make fun of them.
People go to jail, but corporations don't. All they get is fines (which by the way I swear, are considered a business expense and a tax writeoff!).
I agree: this sucks. It shows how corporations are protected but individuals aren't. Kind of brings to light Ayn Rand's quote about the individual being the most persecuted minority.
Each corp. has a charter to exist granted it by the state; Nader suggests that if a corp. has a long-enough track record of evil, (eg tobacco companies) that the state revoke its charter (the company dies or gets suspended or some such).
How in the hell did you come to this conclusion? "The current law permits corporations to escape justice, so let's implement communism!" Perhaps you need to read Animal Farm, too. Or go see "The Killing Fields."
Also he's for taking away corporations' right to give money to politicians, which I think most people would agree with.
I'm not sure how I feel about this one.
I have to say, the Green Party is like open-source politics; it relies on volunteers (one paid person in the whole Northeast US, as far as I can tell).
And that's where the similarities between open-source (software) and The Red^H^H^HGreen Party end. When did open-source advocates indicate that the government should own all the biggest businesses and dictate how much money people can make?
If you want something done, you have to do it yourself!
That's awfully individualist of you.
I don't make the rules. I just make fun of them.
At least they didn't shoot 'em dead for no reason like they sometimes do to unarmed people.
Ok, it's technically not his site. But if he has complete editorial power, why the hell can't he post his views?
It's actually kind of refreshing to see a semi-public figure NOT take the corporate line for once.
And for how long has it been illegal to use a Nextel cell phone in Philadelphia?
While I agree with you about Bush, I can't help but feel that there's something wrong with this...
...maybe they'll show footage of the Rod!
Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and
Well, they're a pedestrian, sure. Just like someone who drives around in circles in the highway is a "motorist". There are appropriate behaviours for both pedestrians and motorists -- and in both these cases, the correct behaviour simply amounts to being considerate to those you share the road with.
Hijacking public assets....so if I refuse to leave a park area after I have my picknick to lounge around should be illegal?
Using a park area is not "hijacking public assets", unless you're making the entire park unusable for others.
"Public assets" belong to the public.
Exactly. And since they are shared resources, no-one has the right to monopolize access to them.
To assume that one person or a set of people should not be allowed to make use of it is ludicrous.
Exactly. That is why the protestors were wrong to block the area and make it unusable for others.
I understand where you are coming from, but with your interpretation a citizens right to protest and assemble is restricted to private property
Not at all. You can also assemble on public property, as long as you don't make large amounts of public property unusable for others in the process. There's a difference between blocking the interstate and using an area like a public park.
Isn't great when you have your own website so you can editorialize like this:
This has no relevance, but I'm abusing Slashdot to say that I think Bush is a rotten candidate, and while I don't like Gore, I would vote for a malignant carbon rod for president before I would vote for GWB).
Of course, this is completely CT's perogative (plus I agree with him.) :-)
A wealthy eccentric who marches to the beat of a different drum. But you may call me "Noodle Noggin."
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati
The Libertarian candidate, Harry Browne, is much better than any of the other candidates this year. He views things with an open mind and seems to agree almost completely with me and most people I know on the issues. Of course, he is in favor of legalizing drugs, which I'm biased towards, but in general he seems to be a much more worthy candidate. He's obviously not going to win, but I'd rather give him my support than anybody else.
There was a big writeup about him on Smokedot a few weeks back: http://smokedot.org/article.pl? sid=00/07/26/0014226.
--
I dont have the link, but there was an article on Salon.com about the protesters who were being held more than 48 hours without a phone call allowed, most of them had not been fed, and half of the cell blocks had the water turned off, so they could not use the toilets. One of the 'protestors' arrested was a jogger who happened to get caught in the crowd.
Something changed in America after the WTO riots. Somehow the police think they have carte blanche to treat citizens like animals for utilizing their right of free assembly and free speech. I can't see the difference between how China is treating members of the Falun Gong and whats happening in Philadelphia (and what did happen) in Seattle.
We argue and fight for our online rights, but those online rights wont mean anything if we cant use those same rights in public, in the 'real' world.
Check out Magic Firesheep!
Adding the context to the quote only makes it worse :-).
If anyone is still reading this thread, it's going to fall off the radar soon, so I've created an sid under my name here if anyone wants to talk about this stuff.
--jbMore like...post whatever will generate a lot ok pageviews. What happend to the old Slashdot???
>. And you're not going to convince me that the protesters that were in that warehouse brought the lethal animals as pets, or that the chemicals/explosive were there for no reason. The only logical conclusion is that these things were intended to be used as weapons
The secret service told the police about the bus with the animals; I've heard nothing about it's being involved with the warehouse. The animals were on the bus, not in the warehouse. The animals were NOT lethal, at least not any shown to the media. Annoying, yes, frightening to those with phobias, yes, lethal, no. Also, in the local Philly papers I've heard NO mention of explosives found in the warehouse. They did detonate a "suspicious" package which was harmless (probably someone's lunch).
At this rate, by next week the protesters will have had nuclear weapons... 1/2
I'm sorry, but you're simply talking out of your ass. You talk to any policeman, FBI agent, etc. worth is salt and he'll tell you the same thing: It's extremely difficult to restrain someone without hurting them at all. Add to this:
a) A possible large weight advantage
b) A possibly active/violent subject
c) Possible training in how to resist arrest
d) Noisy and chaotic surroundings
e) Potentially dangerous crowd situation....
then you try and move this person.
A little of any martial art does not qualify you as an expert, especially when all you know is the classroom. If you really believe your mock struggle is the same as that of an enraged man, then you need a few more lessons.
Furthermore, even if you assume that you are right here, where are these great officers supposed to come from? I don't see you volunteering. I don't see you volunteering your tax dollars either. Nor are you willing to give the policemen respect or the benefit of the doubt. So what is your contribution here, other than Monday morning armchair quarterbacking (quite literally I might add)?
This is the best article I've read posted to Slashdot in a long time. Kudo to CmdrTaco for standing up for opinion. And, hey, I happen to agree. There is no basis for the election of a president who used cocaine during his "formative" years and lies to the general public about such use (this is even before he's president) -- when at the same time he stands together with those -- mostly Republicans -- who choose to bash the current president over a perfectly legal sexual encounter. Vote NO for neW Coke!
--
--
He lives in a world where those who do not run the client software of the omnipresent meme are unacceptable.
Forget Pat Buchanan, we want Duke!
-Splat
Politics _is_ bullshit. However, it's bullshit that humanity has lived with for the entirity of its existance, since the first neanderthal proved to his brother that he was the strongest of the group, and that he should lead. Politicians for the most part are those people who are least able to rule, and most wish it. Democracy doesn't work: "[it] is based on the assumption that a million men are wiser than one man." --Robert Heinlein Look at the state of our government, look at how much is spent on worthless studies and utilities every year. Did we vote for those things? No, our career politicians did. However, neither of the other two major types of government work either. Autocracy is based on the exact opposite belief of democracy : "[it] is based on the assumption that one man is wiser than a million men .... Who decides?" The one man did, of course.
The third type of govenment is the 'perfect' government... communism. Communism is a wonderful theory. Problem is that there are people in the system. People screw up any society. Take the people out... I think it'd work great. Actually, it's basic human greed that does away with the idea of communism.... someone simply doesn't want to do his work, or wants to get more food/water/shelter/entertainment than he has.
All politics is bullshit. It is a collection of many useless theories for those people who think that they know how to do a better job leading a man to a place that they, our leaders, do not know where they are going themselves. The blind leading the blind.
I had a point, but I seem to have forgot it while rambling on about the uselessness of government of any sort.
Feel free to respond to rmajere@mailcity.com
First Great Prophet of the New Millenia,
TheDauthi
Those who can, do
Those who can't, teach.
Those who can't teach, rule.
--(sorry, I forgot to write down the guy's name!)
taco vote for me, I rather nice... and i will not hurt you for your silly comments.
Canada is no longer the answer. Perhaps once Canada was an enlightened social democracy on par with Sweden, but it is rapidly becoming merely a clone of the US.
I hate most police officers. I think they are just young guys who like to push people around.
But reading the link you posted, this protester-centric, anti-police, anti-GOP site is not really a good source for unbiased news reporting. I see it as even less trustworthy than the official police site.
It sounds like the ear issue was an accident. And it was torn, not "ripped off", even according to the link you posted. I suspect the protesters were not all that peaceful. I've had run-ins with "peaceful" animal rights protestors who were quick to throw raw blood on me, despite the fact that I have never worked with animals (not much call for an Electrical Engineer to do that), and that there had not been an animal experiment in the building for 32 years. And the researcher who had done the experiments had died in 1974.
They did not care about accuracy, they just wanted to protest...something....
An abuser indeed! Don't tell Slashdot is a lapdog for the Democratic party, too. Gore is toxic to America. I thought the media would show how brain-dead the vice president and his wife are; hello, PMRC?! My vote this year is a vote AGAINST GORE. It is so much sweeter that the other candidate is a Bush. Can I killfile CmdrTaco postings?
Was this what he was charged with? Please cite where you found this out?
He clearly is not one to spend much time on any one thing, and only spends a few minutes in meetings. Go to NPR and check out the story morning edition did on him this last week. I'm sorry folks, but I want somebody who is in charge of our nuclear arsenal to be a bit more contemplative.
Anyhoo, about the Philly stuff, I'm having a hard time believing 2600's story because it seems to me that they are just as likely to put their own ultra-biased spin on things as any government party that would lie and cheat to get me to believe an outright falsehood. I'm also not buying any stories of blaming the police for violence. There is almost always more to it than just "the police are bad". Remember that they're a government supported agency -- they take orders. Usually from local governments, but higher governments have influence on local governments too you know.
I'm wholly unqualified to be much of a judge as to what went on as I don't live in Philly, but at the same time I don't put a lot of weight into people drawing parallels between Philly and the Seattle WTO stuff. I live near Seattle. I know a lot of what went on there. And I realize that the stories that got told might not always be the full truth. Especially when there are politics involved. (Not to be a conpiracy nut, but if you think that most news agencies don't have political leanings and that that doesn't slant how they present news to you, then you need to do a reality check.)
I just hope that everyone involved -- dumbass violent protestors to control-freak government officials alike -- would just get their act together and start doing something that really does benefit everyone instead of just causing a bunch of problems, telling a bunch of lies, and making things more confusing than they need to be. Simplicity can be good, folks. It sucks to live in a world where you have to be sceptical of everything because so many people are so willing to mislead you to further their own agendas.
Oh yeah, and about CmdrTaco editorializing: no big deal. And I'm not saying that because I agree with his opinions (I don't -- which also isn't to say that my opinions are the inverse of his!) but because the last I was aware, Slashdot has never been, and I hope never will be, an objective source of news, if such a thing even actually exists. Get off of your high-journalistic-integrity horses. :)
Well, cigarettes have been legal drugs for a long time, and look at the nasty shit that "legal" companies get into - bullying the NIH, gun-running, drug trafficking, terrorism, extorsion, threats, bullying third-world-countries into legalizing their products in their own constitutions - we should be able to use whatever we can grow ourselves, and THAT would be it!! Private industry will just mind-fuck us even worse. Anything else would be extraneous. Don't legalize sales and distribution, just legalize possession. Imagine the US Government regulating crack?
lf.o
I'm only gonna say this once:
They built a 7-foot chain link fence around the soap box last weekWhere is Lee Harvey Oswald when you really need him?
"The Internet is made of cats."
I spent a year in the us as an exchange student. The thing about politics I was most surprised at is, that (at least where I was) you have to register in order to vote.
Now, I don't claim that our system is any better, but in Switzerland everybody is registered anyways (as in the us too (say health care number)) you get your documents for voting sent to you by mail!
Ok, you could say this is expensive, but who said that a democracy is cheap?
Anyways, our participation isn't this great either, but I for one would never vote if I had to go to city hall to register (or get one of those thingies and send 'em in).
Also, you can vote by mail. If you have privacy issues: don't do it. I for that matter don't care who knows how I voted and I send those things in, so I don't have to go to the boots myself.
my 2 Rappen
Your right to assemble doesn't give you the right to break other laws or city ordinances (remember, your rights end right were mine start). And you don't have to be injuring people and/or destroying property to be breaking the peace. Blocking traffic for hours (for example), is certainly not a right and is in not protected by the first amendement (or any other amendement) even if you're doing so to protest.
:) Like you (or the US) invented democracy or something...
People that were really demonstrating peacefully were left alone. There were tons of such demonstrations all over philly, and they were left alone.
Those that chose to break the law (or were conspiring to) are facing the full wrath of the justice system. Excuse me if I don't feel bad - especially when we saw the alternative in Seattle not too long ago.
Coming from a country that is just a tad older than the US I find your arrogance amusing
Seeing some of George "W" Bush's and Dick Cheney's replies to questions on technology issues, like Napster, I think it's sort of clear that they don't have any idea what's going on, and (worse) that they don't need to learn the issues in tecnology because it is beneath them...
credo quia absurdum
The whole world is not just watching, it is actively defending itself. the phily pd has no idea what it's getting into. you don't just arrest a connected hacker for no reason and expect nothing to happen.
I didn't prove you anything. In fact, I do not have to prove you anything, you have to prove that you know what you're talking about. A quick flip though the bill of right shows the only mention of god or religion at all is in the first amendment, where it implictly recognizes that religion exists. So, show some links or other documentation, otherwise, the status quo stands and you are wrong.
-David T. C.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
Or take the opposite tack, make it all legal but make it public by who & how much was given. If someone's taking money from ugly sources, that'd count against him. I guess you'd have to make the source of funding of all organizations public too (to flush out The Organization for a Happier Tomorrow's being funded by two or three big interests).
I dunno either. But I'd be happy to see it narrowed.
Someday we'll all be negroes
And what rights of working people were trampled?
The message on the other side of this sig is false.
Philadelphia media does like to rail on its own cops. Only a couple weeks ago we had them heavily covering an alleged police beating.
So far I've gotten all my Karma from telling people they are wrong... :)
Actually, dude wrote that the post was "anything but flamebait". That means that it is something other than flamebait, a sentiment with which I agree.
Icebox
What the fuck, are you a RETARD? Europe better off then AMERICA? HAHAHAHHA. Europe has turned into a giant socialist economy, and though they may have better health care, that's about it. High taxes, lack of freedom of thought (remember the holocaust denying laws?), corrupt government, bad education systems, poorly enforced environmental laws? Face it, Europe is as fucked up as America, if not worse. None of the markets in Europe are trully free, and their economies show it. Their governments are also drastic failures by mixing old traditions with new democracies. Like England, where you have the head of state as the MONARCHY, a house of nobles who get their position by BIRTH, and a house of commons who's voice means SHIT in their government. Democracy is a joke in europe, and so is capatalism, so fuck off when you think that europe is so much better then America just because you can drink bear at age 12 and get free health care.
Help me through college please!
My understanding is that the 'slumlord' story was ultimately a crock. The plumbing problems were caused by the tenant, and Gore (strangely enough) relied on his property manager. Do you really think someone paying $400 a month for a house could write Al Gore directly?
The 'invented the internet' story has been debunked as nauseum. Pick something else.
The 'marriage penalty' was a BAD bill - it did not address anything about difference between rates. It could have simply said "Married couples will be allowed to file as single if they wish". Instead, it was a convulated piece of crap designed to help the rich at the expense of everyone else (by the way, I qualify as one of those 'rich'. It's still a screwed up bill).
I think the 'cracker' was someone who worked at 2600, but not a software guy - a graphical designer?
Keep trying, dude.
"It was me against the world, I was sure that I'd win.... but the world fought back, punished me for my sins" - Social D
So you don't want to vote for Mr. "Playing for the crowd" Bush, eh? So, while I don't like the guy I'll vote for Gore, eh? And why not, I mean, certainly, they are the only two candidates. It's a two party system... WRONG
Yeah, I know, it's a rude way to put it, but there are more than two candidates. I'd just like to point out that there are a good number of independants. Why don't I say how many? Because I'm 19, and I don't yet have the time, due to my educational and vocational considerations, to actually do enough research. But I do know who I'm voting for, and it damn well isn't Bush, and it's not Gore either, because he's got some rather shady crap he's pulled in the past. It's Ralph Nader, the Green party canidate. I'm not saying don't vote for Gore if you really agree with what he's trying to stand for. I'm saying look at his record, look at what he's actually standing for, and ask if that's what you want your president to be doing in office. Then look at the other candidates, and ask yourself the same thing. Then decide who you want, that's all I ask. Use this wonderful, theoretical because no-one uses it right democracy we've got. And come november, let's hope you're paying more attention to the issues and to the track records of the individuals involved than to what the TV is telling you.
Unless you don't live in the US, then you can ignor what I just said.Unless you also live in a democratic nation, then apply the general theory, stir, vote, repeat.
And please pardon my spelling. I'm 1)woring under linux, and never got the hang of iSpell, 2)I'm dyslexic, and 3)I'm trying to get offline in a hurry.
Is this (BMD + border guards) indeed Libertarian Party policy, and do you think it sensible or not?
:-)
Yes, it is, and no, I don't.
But I disagree with a hell of lot more Democrat policies and actions, and Republican policies and actions.
George Bush wants to greatly increase defense spending. Al Gore wants to greatly decrease defense spending.
Harry Browne wants to basically leave defense spending alone, but shift a lot of it away from foreign adventures and into a national missile defense system. That sounds pretty sensible to me.
George Bush thinks the answer to prosperity is to cut taxes on the rich, so they'll be able to pay more to employees. Al Gore thinks the answer to prosperity is to raise taxes on the rich and give it to the poor.
Harry Browne thinks the answer to prosperity is let people keep their damn money, instead of taking it away from them in the first place. The founding fathers agreed, it wasn't until the early 20th Century that we strayed.
Yes, Harry and I disagree on a couple of points; but George and I disagree on more, and Al and I probably couldn't agree on a restaurant. We certainly don't agree on Tipper.
I will not vote for anyone who doesn't agree with me on both of these points:
1) No restriction of my First Amendment rights, short of a clear and present danger to others.
2) No restriction of my Second Amendment rights, short of a clear and present danger to others.
Bush fails on the former, and Gore fails on both. Browne passes with flying colors.
--
Bush is not Gore, ergo, he gets my vote.
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
a stand on this. He is owned by big business. Too smarmy.
I'm voting for the inanimate carbon rod
Amen brother. and btw Gore had no idea that it was the daughter of one of the head Generals in the communist chinese army that was giving him all that money... Political office and ice tea don't mix
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
Government is needed in a civil society to provide services for the common good. Often those services aren't profitable (or shouldn't be). Fire and police protection, water purfication, trash pickup, etc
So just how many of these services will the new President be involved in improving?
The Federal government doesn't need to be involved in any of these. Nor much else, for that matter.
Slashdot has created a vibrant, energetic technological community. There's no denying the impact it has had on news-oriented websites.
But articles like these really sift the bottom of the gene pool. The slashdot of today is filled with the "let's post anything controversial to increase our reply rate and our ad rate"! Not the "let's post what's cool and interesting" any more.
Injecting irrelevant political commentary in the guise of a relevant news story is really, really pathetic. I used to use Slashdot as my home page, but now I won't visit it again.
Au revoir, Taco. It was fun while it lasted. Too bad you don't have journalistic ethics anymore.
That view, quite honestly, is retarded. It seems to me, that corporations and government are fucking the same. No matter what views either parties endorse, they both are under the finger by big corporations and organizations. Republicans get it from the NRA, Tobacco companies, media moogles, anti-abortion groups, and the fourth Christian reich (the likes of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robinson. Democrats get it from pro-choice groups, ACLU, unions, China, people from the .com's and technology sector, and extreme environmentalists like PETA and the green party. We will never control the parties in america, only money will. Morales and ethics never win in politics =)
Help me through college please!
Anyone one who would vote for man who said some of these things has more than just a few screws lose. I'm no big fan of Bush, but he's definately the lesser of two evils.
>>>>"Having such a trigger-happy moron at the head of a very powerful country is suicide"
:)
i've yet to see anything in him that makes him either, you're such a troll.
A clip from a Salon article, dated Jan. 13, 2000:
"During his tenure, 112 men and one woman have been executed. That's nearly 20 percent of the 600 people who have been executed in the United States since 1976."
Keep in mind that he hasn't just seen 20% of death traffic, but he's seen it all in his tenure, which means his state's death rate is pretty high. While he didn't push the red button, he chose not to push the "disable red button" button. Every time. Which, for me, is functionally the same.
Of course, they've slowed down now that election time is getting closer, and the majority of the country doesn't like to think about the government killing anyone, even horrible criminals.
FWIW, I'm actually in support of the death penalty, I just think that the president should not be for it.
One of the platforms of the Green party is that the largest corporations of the world should be carved up and taken over by the government. I believe that they have also proposed the idea of a "maximum wage."
Perhaps you need to go read Animal Farm again.
I don't make the rules. I just make fun of them.
A lot of us were hoping for a real old-school dust-up in Philly. There's a story at ridiculopathy.com on the subject, complete with faked-up images of Greoge W. in full riot gear.
Social security should've been replaced by a 401k style program years ago. Let your retirement roll on how well the economy does not put it on the backs of taxpayers in the future. I know my 401k gives me much more incentive to see the economy stay strong.
A group of friends and I had caught Shapeshifter at the recent H2K conferance. He was giving a lecture about activism with Bernie S. (Ed Cummings). No information was presented except for what seemed to the whole audiance childish plans to annoy law enforcement officials. He made no intelligent points what so ever as to what his agenda was save cause havoc. We felt he was a 19 year old kid that didn't know anything about how the world works; a boy with a cowboy hat and a cause trying to bang hippie chicks. This is in no way a dis on 2600, I've been a supporter since '91. I just find it very hard to beleive that this individual was just minding his own business, he enjoys press a great deal but it's sad that none of this will shine a positive light on any issue as they never really state what they're trying to do.
"We're protesting the convention."
"Ok, why?"
"Because they're evil!"
"Great reason there buddy, yeah..I wanna sign up for that cause"
They were all white and clothed in nice clothes.
If you want to get any respect, dress nicely. Do you think someone will be more convinced by a professionally done presentation, though maybe not as good as the opponents, but has pretty looks and spiffy features, or a poorly done presentation representing a superior prodcut? If you dress like some fat computer geek wearing a C DOS RUN shirt, who's going to give a shit what you think or respect what you say? Do yourself a favor poindexter and get a good suit to back up your shitty opinions, and maybe i'll listen.
Help me through college please!
How was this the haves vs. the have nots? It seemed to be the violent protesters vs. the police. Just because you do not have does not If a guy pushes a police officer off his bike give you the right to destroy public and private property. People too lazy to vote are quick to flip dumpsters in the street. Have nots? These people are well funded. They seem to have.
As for the police being heavy handed...how so? should he sit on the ground and take it? When they press against mounted police spooking horses and thus threatening the police, the horse, and the people nearby should they do nothing? When they destroy property should they do nothing?
You seem to forget theat there were days of peacefull protests that were held without incident.
What was their cause? It seemed to be just to disrupt society and the political process. The system has all sorts of ways to create change. Violence is not they way.
Finally, China (the government) could care less what the US does within its borders. They only car about our foreign policy. Arresting violent protesters is the RIGHT thing to do.
-- soldack
The problem here is that you seem lack a sense of proportion. As a general rule protesting, failing to clear the road, disrupting traffic etc are harmless acts and at worst you should be expected to pay a fine and be on your way. Beating and mutilations are not just punishment in a free society.
A Dick and a Bush .. You know somebody's gonna get screwed.
War is necrophilia.
At the organizational level, they're about as far from libertarian (either small-L or big-L) as you can get: a clique of holier-than-thou hypocrites who don't see any problem with defending certain civil liberties while attacking others. Unfortunately, it appears that relatively few of their members are aware of this.
:)
I was actually interested in joining the ACLU awhile back -- there's a lot of overlap between what they claim to stand for and what I believe as a small-l libertarian. I'm not much into the protest scene, but some of the recent cases involving things like DeCSS, patent abuse, and Net censorship finally made me consider becoming more financially active in First Amendment causes. But then I ran across the following page on the ACLU's site:
http://www.aclu.org/library/aaguns.html
I'm not a gun freak (don't own any, and am not particularly interested in doing so at the moment), but that page changed my mind in a hurry about signing up. The donation I was planning to make to the ACLU went to the EFF instead.
Trading one civil liberty (the Second Amendment) for another (the First Amendment) strikes me as a really, really bad idea. What's downright offensive is that an organization with a name like "American Civil Liberties Union" is using members' funds to promote such an agenda, when most of their members probably aren't aware they're doing so.
As far as I can tell, the ACLU's main page doesn't even link to this position paper -- the only way you can find it is if someone tells you it's there. Certainly "Gun Control" is conspicuously absent from the list of "Issues" on their front page. I'd be curious to know how many card-carrying ACLU members would object to this brand of sophistry on the part of their organization... an organization they joined in the mistaken belief that they were standing up for all of their Constitutional rights.
Please spare me the "but the Second Amendment was written for the National Guard" spiel -- if that's what you believe, then perhaps the ACLU is the right organization for you, and I'd say by all means, get involved. This isn't intended as flamebait, just a heads-up to people who might be thinking about joining the ACLU without getting the full story behind their political positions. Don't shoot (no pun intended) the messenger.
Dahlmann tightly grips the knife, which he may have no idea how to use, and steps out into the plain.
well, maybe that's what it is then... I am majorly arachnopobic :)
Cnet Bought SoftBank and ZDnet? heh. dunno how I missed that one. I stand corrected.
:) that was a good one. you should have been modded up :)
You mean as opposed to CmdrTaco's willingness to editorialize during news reports?
Mmmm.. Donuts
you might think he's a rotten person, but since he's winning and shows all signs of eventually winning... by what measure is he a rotten candidate?
apparently, you're just plain stupid: I already did enlighten you. I didn't say slashdot wasn't his site, I said [repeating myself] considere the comments as moderation according to the system that Rob invented. If you wanna run your mouth around the big kids, you're gonna hafta do better than you did.
You are Wrong about E containing heroin.
Excerpt from dancesafe.org, a harm reduction non-profit group:
"Rumor #3: Ecstasy pills often contain heroin
False. Thousands of pills have been analysed in laboratories by law enforcement agencies as well as harm reduction programs, and no pill has ever contained heroin. Many other adulterants have been found in ecstasy tablets, like speed, ephedrine, ketamine, and others. But never heroin. This is because heroin is more expensive than MDMA, and it would not be profitable for manufacturers or dealers to put heroin into ecstasy pills."
If your going to quote, you should put the whole quote in order to keep the context." "I'd really put meat in the process of progressive taxation. The richer people are, the more the percentage you pay. After all, it's their influence that rigged the system to get them that rich to begin with. And, second, we should tax things we don't like. We should tax stock market speculation. We should tax pollution. We should tax activities that we don't like, like sprawl, in order to get a better planning system and better zoning system. And we should lighten the taxes on things we do like, like honest labor, like food. It's really interesting. In some places in this country, you go and you pay taxes on food and on books, but you don't pay taxes on what you buy on the Internet. Even though the small businesses in this country are the ones that support the charity and fiber of the community. It's really not fair."
Why did everybody I talked to prefer McCain and Bradley,
...
Pretty good sign that you're exposed to a selected subset of the nation's population.
I voted for McCain, for what it's worth
if rob posts something to his site it is by definition on-topic. and it's ok, i'm fine with my normal crowd[0], no need to run around with "big kids." as far as being flame bait and a troll, it's my hope that the people who consider it to be so go back to whatever cave they came from and go do something useful[1].
[0] the "clueful and able to spell" gang.
[1] discovering fire would be wise for those in the norther hemisphere - winter is coming.
US Citizen living abroad? Register to vote!
More importantly, the guy is way ahead of all the other third party candidates, is on the ballot in 30 states already (including Montana :-)
Nitpick: whoever the reform party candidate is --- either Buchanan or Hagelin, we'll find out this week --- will be on the ballot in all fifty, and get matching funds, as well.
And from the "why do you keep overreaching" file, nice try getting into your able-to-spell gang :)
So there's a shortage of doctors in Northern and Rural Manitoba, according to a couple of local politicians. What does that have to do with the "canadian health care issue" as a whole? I'm dying to know, since all that document described was a motion filed by a couple of provincial politicians. And I'm from northern manitoba, my family still lives up there, and I haven't heard any complaints about the health care. If anything, people are afraid that it will become more like the U.S. system. Sure, there may be a problem keeping doctors in communites that have a very low population (1,000 people or less) but when has that been news in any country?
I'm sure there are areas in the rural U.S. that have problems keeping doctors as well. If I find any documents describing that, will that prove anything about the U.S. heath care system as a whole? Even if it's only a motion that was filed in 1996 and specific to, say, Iowa?
My laughter will be the one full of pure evil.
Iä! Iä! Iä!
Rev Rev Lowrider
Oh yeah, like you have a really small number?
Mine is like 10 times smaller than yours! NO WAIT 12 TIMES SMALLER!
So NYAAAAH!!!!! YOU LUSER! HA HA!
Besides, slashdot has been going downhill ever since they let Roblimo start posting. But the most fun you can have on a rollercoaster is when you are going downhill, so here's to enjoying the ride!
First off, thanks for a reply. And I think now that I've calmed down a bit, I can probably accept the fact that many of the accusations made against the police are pretty much false or blown way out of proportion.
I'm a loyal 2600 subscriber myself, and I believe in the things that they are fighting for, but sometimes I get the feeling that the whole truth isn't being told.
I'll try to be patient while waiting to find out exactly what whatshisname did to get arrested.
There is a reason Marijuana is illegal, and it's not because of danger and addiction. While alchohol and tobacco are more dangerous and more addicitive, they are both social facilitative drugs. An executive can come back from a martini lunch where he smoked a few cigars and still be able to function in a similar (maybe louder, maybe some bad decisions) manner to that which he did before lunch. If the same executive went out and smoked a couple of joints he is usually more likely to want to engage in a more introspective activity (not that it is bad, but to modern society standards, some folks don't view introspection as very productive). It's primarily a societal view.... the majority of politicians and "powerful" people are usually extroverts, and the idea of a drug which provokes introspection is absolutely abhorrent to them. Think about it: alcohol and cigarettes are primarily "dealing with it" type drugs. They usually make a stressful situation more bearable, or give the illusion of having a better time. Marijuana would usually simply have the effect of making you want to go to a more "mellow" environ rather than stay in work-hell or around people that you may *have* to talk to, but don't want to. There's nothing wrong with marijuana, but the current society model works as a total antithesis to its effects.
"We obviously need a new moderation category: (-1, Woo-fucking-hoo)" --Mr. AC
Do you really think that Gore is that much better than Bush? Check out the voting record of Clinton in the last eight years and you will notice he is the best Republican President our Goverment has ever seen. The only difference between Bush and Gore is how fast there knees hit the ground when a coperation walks through the door. The reason the American political system is so screwed up is because we have stopped voting for te best man, but rather the lesser of two evils.
Just because I hate big government doesn't mean I hate the poor. However, when you say:
That is exactly what happens. People feel no sense of responsibility for this country because they expect the government to take care of everything. I'm not going to do a point-by-point rebuttal of your post; suffice it to say I have a lot of disagreements. I want to address this issue specifically.I would love to see this country in the following state: the government does almost nothing. There are competing charities which help people with things like unemployment, homelessness, and health care. People give their money, by choice, to organizations which solve problems that are important to them and solve the problems in the ways with which they most agree. People feel a genuine responsibility for the state of their communities and country. People don't feel like the lifting of the federal income tax is winning the lottery, but instead brings them the freedom to choose how they help others in society.
But most importantly, where the government is not involved in our lives.
With the right leadership, this could happen. The poster from Canada above said something to the effect of the dark side of the American dream is that losers deserve no help. It doesn't have to be this way, but the government hasn't solved any of the major problems of this country and they're already taking half of our money. How much do they have to take before they will really come up with solutions that work? 60%? 75%? It is never going to happen.
--jbWho better to have in office than the creator of the Internet
Why not put another shameless liar in office.
Ohh, and he'd probably keep the Attorney General Adolph Reno in office, so she can use her Gestapo to point submachine guns in little kid's faces, and send them back to the enemy.
Vote for the man who thinks the internal combustion engine is more dangerous than nuclear weapons!
Make sure we have someone who learned from the master on how to abuse presidential authority.
Maybe he will continue the tradition of bombing pharmaceutical plants in other countries when he needs the heat off him after he gets caught in a lie.
Don't forget the strong evidence that he and his master are probably dual-citizens of both the U.S. and Communist China. Obviously the internal combustion engine really is less dangerous than atomic weapons. We freely give atomic weapons secrets to our enemies.
Hmm... now that I think of it... maybe voting for Al Gore would be a bad idea?
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
- sign the Communications Decency Act into law
- sign the CDA II act into law
- sign COPA into law
So far, sounds like an improvement. OTOH, inanimate carbon rods could still leave stains on blue dresses, but hey, that's not that big of a deal considering all the things an inanimate carbon rod wouldn't do!Now, if we can only find an inanimate carbon rod that will actually run....
--Mythos
Upon further reflection of the whole incident, combined with the obscenely small amount of information being released about anything at all dealing with these riots, I'm inclined to agree that not everything is being said here.
While Mr. Phone guy was probably doing something suspicious (he is a cracker / cracker / phreak, I would presume) I don't know that he'd do something to get him into trouble, as those 2600 blokes are in more than enough. But I guess we'll see what happens eventually.
I'm certain that some of the protesters are exaggerating things as far as possible, and trying to provoke the police. I'm also certain that in some cases the police have let themselves lose control and have over-reacted phyically. I'm also certain that for political reasons the police and the city have trumped up reports of problems and incidents, AND I'm certain that some demonstrators were not peaceful and did truely break the law (not just civil disobedience) (slashing tires, kicking police, etc).
Separating out which are true and which aren't is going to be tough. Don't be surprised if a judge or judges drops charges for most of them or reduces it to a minor fine, due to the confusion and lack of evidence.
You know, he's executed 138 people since becoming Governor W of Texas. That is like, a lot. The man is bloodthirsty. There are a lot of states that have suspended the death penalty because of doubts that it is being evenhandedly applied. Bush has killed at least one a week since he got elected. Now I support the death penalty in extreme cases, but i really think that it is something that should be used very carefully. You're right, he's a slimy little nasty frog. No offense intended toward actual frogs. Compassionate conservatism indeed. Prez. Clinton said something great about that the other day, something along the lines of "Gee, we're really sorry that you are unemployed and need help until you can get a job, and that you need job training. And it just breaks my heart that you are homeless and hungry. We wont help you, but we feel really bad about it."
itachi, who really would rather vote for a frog than the Shrub
I dare to claim cheney isn't comfortable with his daughter's sexuality because he has voted AGAINST gay rights issues. If you loved you kid, would you not do everything in your power to make sure they are happy? I would, and cheney hasn't. Don't make me out to be the bad guy here. Look at his record, and see if you can so righteously defend him. You can't. And don't you think it's odd that out of all the past conventions, this was the only one where the candidates families didn't come up to surround them? And why wasn't mary's girlfriend there? It's painfully obvious there's a problem here. If you can't see if, you really need to pull your head out of the reality distortion field you stuck it in.
Even then she makes the concious decision to take a chance and drink from the punch bowl. It's unfortunate that there are those in the radical feminist camp that would cry that if a woman has one drink that she cannot consent to sex. Such outlooks consider women as nothing more than children, and is more oppressive than the 'patriarchy' that they supposedly stand against.
You drink from the punch bowl, you take your chances. You leave a drink unattended and drink it afterward, you take your chances. Safety begins with that person, not those around her/him. To give the illusion otherwise is to completely ignore the individuals responsibility.
The sheer quantityu of alcohol available doesn't make it the #1 drug in just about any statistical category. It's the sheer stupidity of people that use alcohol to excess that make it the #1 drug in just about any statistical category.
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
Sounds like Philly is using a stripped down version of Chicago circa 1968. Would that make it picoDaley ;-)
BTW, that was the Democratic national convention in Chicago, 1968. (yes, when I was a kid I got to watch it on local TV as it happened, did not have to wait for the history spin machines)
Police misconduct transcends political parties.
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
Here in the US we don't really redistribute the wealth at all which means that the working class pretty much lives on whatever it earns. There is no government help beyond a few $1000 a year in earned income credit. $.45 a gallon is a disgusting tax on the poor and working class. You say it isn't a tax on the poor? The middle and upper class grumble about it, but we (I'm middle class) can easily pay for it! The poor and working class can't!!
I agree totally.
> self-indulgent, spoiled playboy riding on the
> coattails of his father?
But you forgot to mention arrogant, hypocritical and incompetent...
Gore isn't very appealing, but Bush is absolutely terrible.
here's an equation
"George W. Bush Jr."
MINUS family name
MINUS insider connections
MINUS money (not earned)
what do you have left...
shmirking puppet head for right-wing and corporate america
It's like some kind of egotistical revenge trip of the Bush family to get their little junior in after Clinton whooped dad's ass or something.
This person has done nothing on his own!! It's pathetic.
The amount of empty posturing and flat-out lies that goes out unchallenged by the media is disgusting.
There is so much attention to polls and focus groups, and personality and scandal.
What about REALITY and ACOMPLISHMENTS.
Why doesn't the media tell us what these candidates have done, and what they probably will do?
Where's the substance?
...okay I'm fine now. Just had to rant a little.
For more info on Condorcet, which solves the problems in approval voting, see the Voting Systems FAQ. [LINK]
In Condorcet, you never incur a greater risk by voting your true preference. With FPTP (the current system) you do (by "throwing away" your vote on a third party, increasing the chances of victory for the greater of two republicrat evils). With approval voting you do, too (by specifying Nader over Gore and risking Bush victory, or specifying both over Bush and risking Gore victory when you prefer Nader).
Unfortunately, Condorcet often fails to produce a winner. There are tie-breakers for such a situation, though. One of them is an alternative to Condorcet that almost always produces the Condorcet winner if there is one -- IRV (instant run-off voting -- aka alternative vote or AV). Interestingly enough, it is the voting system used by the American Political Science Association -- an organization of political science professors -- to select the president of the association. However, the best system imaginable, from a game theoretic point of view, is Condorcet, with IRV only as a tie-breaker. In those situations where IRV fails to match Condorcet, Condorcet is clearly the preferable choice. In those situations where Condorcet ends in tie, the IRV result always appears equitable. See the Voting Systems FAQ for more info (they refer to IRV as "AV", which I didn't use here to avoid confusion with "approval voting").
There are flaws necessarily inherent in all voting systems (inherent in the very concept of voting), but those appear to be the only flaws from which Condorcet suffers.
What else do you expect from someone who speaks a language with over 20 ways of saying "I surreneder"?
Steve's Computer Service, Hobbs, NM
Thank you for one of the most rational posts here in this mess of a discussion. I was starting to think I was the only sane one left.
--------
-------
"Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief."
2 point fonts tend to be unreadable. Like, Duh.
Thank god for w3m, eh?
Can we make a point of not posting articles that are illegible to everyone not using M$ products? Just like we don't post Quicktime movies.
--Dan
I'm not, but a good friend of mine lives there. Your calmer, gentler police put his head through a car windshield, and he hadn't hurt anyone or damaged any property. Of course your local news shows only happy pictures, what the hell else do you expect? It's owned by the same people that bought the politicians.
--
Communication is only possible between equals
Maybe doing drugs isn't a sin
Judging by all these comments, I'd say that what he wrote was indeed rather inciteful.
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
I'm sure if you asked all 400+ people who were arrested in Philidelphia during the convention, every single one will say "I was just walking down the street, minding my own business!", too.
---
seumas.com
Michael Moore (of Roger & Me and The Awful Truth fame) has written a letter to the non-voting majority suggesting they join him in voting for Nader.
We could certainly do a lot worse than put a consumer watchdog in the White House. Ralph Nader has written in his weekly column that Congress and the President should disclose their records on the Internet. If he were elected, I'd love to see him follow through on that and run a wired administration.
I think Jesse Ventura showed that the non-voters can get off their couches and vote against the corporate-friendly centrists, if a third party candidate is famous and charismatic enough. Ralph Nader is famous, but he's not exactly mediagenic. The media that lavished so much attention on the Republican's sideshow didn't paid little notice when Nader appeared across town from the convention, which he denounced as a corporate-paid "political orgy".
Even if he is dry as dust, four years of Nader vs. Congress could be entertaining.
It's called sarcasm... and also, you should note the "given a lack of other information" part.
:)
Lighten up
--
http://gammatron.weblogger.com
Malda, I'm presuming that your opinion of Gore only stood prior to the selection of Sen. Lieberman as Gore's running mate. The announcement that this self styled "moral crusader" (read: pro-censorship) is running on the Democratic ticket has left me in a position where I will be completely able to vote for either Bush or Gore.
Time to shop for third-party candidates...
Well, even I, half a world away, here in europe, have gotten the impression that Bush Jr is an extremely slimy little nasty frog. Very pro capital punishment and other non civilized stuff. BTW, capital punisment is a crime against the Universal declaration of human rights, in case you didn't know. (3rd paragraph).
;-)
On the other hand, all europeans are commies, aren't we?
--
"I'm surfin the dead zone
--
"I'm surfin the dead zone
In the twilight, unknown"
Step 1: Do your best to convince 51% of the people that they agree with you. Step 2: Try to convince those that agree with neither main candidate to vote for you instead of "wasting" their vote on a 3rd party candidate. Step 3: Convince the remaining 3rd party voters that they may as well stay home since it is obvious that they can't win.
All kings is mostly rapscallions. -Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
i think your right
The real Eric S Gaymond is #216600. Everyone Else is a liar.
I spoke with two americans last weekend who where on holiday over here in the Netherlands. They told me that they where really surprised that we, the dutch people, know more about your presidential candidates than them. They also said that news over here also covers more aspects and even tell things that would never been shown in the US. I should also note that CNN Europe is a completely different news agency than CNN US telling different stories or the same stories but from different points of view (european or US).
It just looks like somebody is keeping some information just in front of our eyes so that we won't see it. Maybe there is also much more too it in the MS debacle? But we simply don't get that piece of info?
http://unfix.org
As far as I can tell, it IS still his site. The fact that it was funded by Andover and now by VA Linux does not change whose site it is. His personal political views are completely proper here, and should not be taken as indicative of those of VA Linux or Andover. Besides, there is all the ensuing commentary to counteract any misplaced bias.
I am proud to say that i am an american ... haha
The only time bail like that is necessary is if there exists risk of flight (admittedly, I am not aware of ShapeShifter's place of origin.)
There must exist some attorney willing to work pro bono and haul the city/county of Philadelphia into Federal court.
Proud to be living on the other side of PA,
DrQu+xum: Proof that the lameness filter doesn't work.
...'course if you do get in a wreck driving stoned, your only going like 4 miles an hour...
Is Dammit still in the running? I know Shit, Fuck and Piss were eliminated early on...
"I will gladly pay you today, sir, and eat up
Sacred cows make the best burgers.
PR has to play by pretty much every federal law the states have to. The only major exception I can think is federal income taxes.
The FBI certainly has as much authority in PR as anywhere else in the US. And a higher interest than average.
And what your police (with and without FBI training) did in the 70's (and I can't confirm or deny what you said happen) has little relevance to what police does nowadays. The police (and FBI) just can't get away with the same stuff anymore.
What the police and the FBI did in the 70s is relevant, because what they used were standard methods that are still being taught and used. Who got went to jail from the FBI because of being involved in this sort of thing in the 60s and 70s? Who got ascended, and is holding relatively high positions now?
Thinking that the FBI nowadays is fundamentally different is a grave error. The FBI has never been reformed, the criminals within were never exposed and made to pay for their crimes, so the only rational thing to expect is that they continue to be just the same.
Are you adequate?
I'm aware of the history of democracy, but thanks for the refresher.
Direct democracy, as practiced in ancient Greece, is pretty much limited to Switzerland and to town meetings in some of the United States.
My home town (Spencer, MA) is one of them.
What happened to Rome when the people were no longer concerned with having a say in the government? How long did meaningful representation last during that period? By meaningful, I'm suggesting that at some point their voting became an act, a symbol of power they had lost. Just like ours.
I'm aware of the historical context of lobbying and bribes, but what happens when it goes from the occasional backalley deal to a lauded part of the political system? How do senators become "powerful" among their peers, who they have no constitutional power over? They raise money through institutionalized bribe taking. That includes Sen. Thurmond.
Because of a Supreme Court decision back during Reconstruction, corporations have the same rights as citizens, an error in moral reason as well as a misinterpretation of the Constitution. Based on that decision, another decision gave corporations the right to bribe legislators through unlimited donations to their political parties. Consequently, no meaningful campaign finance reform can be passed without an amendment to the constitution passing through the same legislative body that's causing the problem. Thus we voters are left at a disadvantage: Corporations will continue to invest in their long-term interests by buying legislative votes, and their money will continue to muscle the relative power of voters aside.
I've voted in both elections I've been old enough to register for, third party both times, and may do the same again this year. I am also seriously considering not voting at all.
-jpowers
-jpowers
I do not agree. Blocking an intersection could well interfere with someones free speech rights. In fact, hindering access to a forum in which people are saying things you don't like isn't that uncommon a protest tactic. Personally, I think that the police should protect everyone's right to go where they need to say what they want.
FWIW, I don't have an axe to grind. I'm probably more politically aligned with the protestors than with the Republicans, but I'm an American living in Australia. As such I don't have enough information to asign blame between the police and the protestors. Depending on whose sets of facts I believe (police making mass arrests and tear-gassing everyone in sight vs. violent protestors destroying property and trying to block roads with dumpsters), I could see either party as deserving the lion's share of the blame. It is, however, interesting to see the polarization in the reports; no one seems to agree on the facts. Can anyone give a run-down on what happened without revealing a political agenda?
Some of us are _real_ morons. Others are _______real_______ morons. Boy I'd hate to be one of those guys.
We're all a bunch of glorified monkeys.
I keep seeing comments about how there are no real choices in the election, and how we really only get to choose between the lesser of two evils.
IF YOU VOTE FOR THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS, YOU ARE STILL VOTING FOR EVIL.
Vote your conscience. Spend some effort finding somebody who you can really support, who is willing to run for President. Vote for a write-in candidate if necessary. Public policy is based on the opinions of those people who do vote. If the only people who voted were gun-totin, fundamentalist Christian, pro-censorship, death-penalty-supportin' white people, our laws would ONLY support and represent people with those same beliefs.
If every African American who was eligible to vote showed up on election day, no matter WHO they voted for, all the politicians running in the next election would suddenly be paying a lot more attention to the communities they all voted in. Lots of people live in communities that are falling apart, where tragedies happen every day. If those people are qualified to vote but don't vote, they have no right to complain.
It doesn't matter who you vote for. It just matters that you vote, and for someone who you really, honestly want to see in office. Even if your guy doesn't win, the other lawmakers will take a look at the platform of anyone who gets even a relatively small chunk of the vote, to see how public opinion is turning.
include $sig;
1;
Heh, I agree with your point. Like, if you don't like Howard Stern, just change the channel.
/. topic here.
But at what point for an important idea or facility do you decide to complian or do something to raise issues, and what point do you let it be. You could also say, "Oh you dont like the blah blah, stop using the Internet, and stop bitching." Blah blah could be, lack of non-IE only web pages, carnivore, encryption export policy, insert you favorite
It just struck me as funny, thats all.
I will admit I was asleep when that one became law. The difference is we, as in the people of the US, have the power to get the DMCA removed or at least corrected. We simply need to convince enough people of this fact and get the right polititions on our side. A special interest group would be one way of getting this done. Sadly polititions seldom listen to individuals these days.
Even if what you say is true, that the corporations have taken over the US government, there is one significant difference. We still have the power to take our government back.
If Dubya is elected, it will be an insult for me to have to look at the guy every time he gets up and talks. The guy is a moron, and it is obvious he doesn't know shit.
Gore may have had the "inventing the internet" fiasco, but he is still easily the better choice for anyone that cares about tech issues. His poorly worded comment was actually about his support in congress for facilitating faster development of a nationwide network (which was absolutely true. He was the guy who coined "info superhighway", and although lame, his intentions are good).
Personally I'm voting for a third party - either Nader or Browne - because that is really the best thing I can do with my vote. They won't win, but if more people vote for third parties, they will get more respect, and who knows? We just might have a system with several legitimate parties, which would be a Good Thing.
But since the race is between Gore and Dubya, Gore had better win. It is imperative that Dubya loses this election.
"What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is"
Vidi, Vici, Veni
There was an interesting article in the local paper yesterday about the police allowing more vocal critics to participate in training exercises. The general consensus seemed to be that the job was a lot harder than most people thought and that it's much, much easier to make claims like yours than to decide what would be "a measured and acceptable way" to act in the short amount of time available. This definitely did not mean, however, that everyone decided the cops were completely in the right, just that the problem is a lot more difficult than most people think.
__
I remember well enough that the "non-violent" MOVE radicals had automatic weapons and were firing at the police.
Nonviolent? I don't think that that word means what you think it means.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagn'nagl dominos.
You can only drink 30 or 40 glasses of beer a day, no matter how rich you are.
-- Colonel Adolphus Busch
How about a dose of anti-Bush jr. propaganda.
--
Yeah, I'm voting for Al Gore too.
The concept of illegal plants and animals is obnoxious and ridiculous.
I'd rather be lucky than good.
Hey, the value of the Canadian dollar (66 cents on the the American dollar) is great. I'm speaking as a Northern Minnesota America, though, 40 miles south of the border...
Yeah, I grew up outside Detroit which is mere minutes from Canada. when I was like 19 crossing the border with $10 I could get into a bar, and my American $10 was worth like $2,543,104.44, approximately. Gotta love Canada as a place to visit with your American bucks. Otherwise, it sure is a weird place. (Not to piss off any Canadians, the US is damn strange as well)
Chris
AMEN BROTHER!
The left is incredibly whiney this year, aren't they? Or are they -always- like that and I just haven't paid them enough attention?
You really just made absolutely no sense what-so-ever..and hid behind an anonymous name...The United States have never been separate countries, they are just territories that have been claimed over the years and then formally included into the union. The state aspect is simply to make the governing of the people easier. Get a clue and go back to school fool.
- drink, fight, and fuck..thats all that really matters
I'm tired of living in a socialist country (Canada), and while I'm not too enthused by either the Democrats or the Republicans, Ralph Nader is not the answer that the USA wants or needs.
I'm a social liberal, but a fiscal conservative. What does that mean? It means that I believe abortions should be legal and obtainable, the government shouldn't have to pay for them. Nor should the HMOs. (Really, 9 times out of 10, an unwanted pregancy could have been avoided through responsible use of birth control.) I believe in freedom of speech, gay and lesbian marriage, racial equality without affirmative action, and labor costs being driven by free market capitalism without the artificial inflation and meddling that unions do.
If I were an American citizen, I'd have no idea who to vote for. On one hand, the Republicans make fiscal sense. On the other hand, they're also fundamentally evil, protected by an impermeable shroud of religious self-righteousness. On one hand, the Democrats believe in the same things I do, but on the other hand, they're also big proponents of labor unions and punishing environmental laws that will screw all businesses and individuals.
Nasty.
Yeah? Well at least us Canadians don't leave our poor out on the street to die because we're too cheap to give them medical attention. Private insurance systems are all fine and dandy for those who can afford them, but that's not everybody.Ahh, but this statement really irks me, speaking as a Canadian. I'll tell you a story that underscores all the flaws with socialized medicine.
It was the day that Princess Diana died. I remember this, because it was on all the TV sets in the hospital waiting room.
I was feeling really shitty, and was able to diagnose my ailment. I had strepped throat, and needed an antibiotic prescription.
Of course, to save OHIP (Ontario's provincial "HMO"), I tried first to go to a walk-in clinic. Of course, it was a Sunday evening, so they were all closed. Feeling bad that I was going to go to a hospital emergency room (it costs the government a lot), I had to do it anyway.
At 9:PM, I arrived, and told the triage nurse that I had strepped throat and that I needed a prescription. I was told to sit down, that a doctor would be with me soon. "Soon", of course, implies a geological time frame, with things there happening about as fast as continental drift.
So, I sat in the waiting room, one of three people there; a little kid with a sprained finger (and his mother, but she didn't count), a guy with a small gash to his face, and me.
At ten o'clock, a homeless guy shuffled in, spoke with the nurse, and then, of course, sat down beside me. There were about fifty seats free, but he had to sit beside me. I love derelicts. They always harass me. I hope they all freeze to death.
The derelict proceeded to try to make small talk with me, and I really wasn't interested in having anything to do with him. He stank. He was gross. And I did find out that he was in there because he had tried to shoot up his heroin with a bent needle. The needle had broken off in his arm. That had been three days ago.
After an unbearable hour of moving from seat to seat and having this guy follow me and keep talking to me, he was called in. Ten o'clock.
I was called in at midnight, into the same examining room as the derelict had been in. His stench was still there. The doctor made me open my mouth, took a look, told me it looked like I had strepped throat (which I had told the triage nurse) and wrote me a prescription for Keflex 150mg (I'd suggested Keflex 200mg). Five minutes in the examining room, preceeded by a three hour wait with unsavory characters.
This, I'd suggest to you, is a good example of why socialized medicine doesn't work. I'd like to think that I'm worth more to Canadian society than a homeless person who shoots up smack with damaged syringes. But apparently, I'm not. I'd like to think that, in a weakened state, I wouldn't have to be harassed by the homeless people this country (and in particular, the City of Toronto) panders to.
I'd like to think that because I work hard and have useful skills, I'd be treated better than those who don't. If working hard doesn't offer me any benefits, why bother doing so?
I don't feel it's right that medical coverage isn't provided as a basic right to all Americans, especially the working poor. But I do feel that as part of my reward for being a contributing member of society, I should also have some sort of priority - better hospitals, better service, freedom from harassment in the waiting rooms.
The Canadian health care system is one extreme; the American health care system is the other. What is needed is a happy medium.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Low to medium stress situations. Hmm.. Here's and idea: lets make the police the most trained people in the world. You have to go through seal training, give it really high pay, and make them specialized. Put Richard Machinko in charge too. A> No worries about terrorism response on american soil and B>no more police that cant handle the 'stressful' situations. Shit, if my it had been my world, the police woulda joined in the protests at the WTO and in Philly.
-=Gargoyle_sNake
http://www.thekult.org
-=Gargoyle_sNake
-=-=-=-
This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
What's wrong with extending that to health care, supporting the needlessly unemployed etc.
Sure.
Even better, let's divide the wealth of the country equally among all of its citizens. That sounds like a great idea, too, doesn't it? Everybody enjoys the fruits of the country's successes.
It's great on paper.
Problem is, it doesn't take into account a pair of fundamental flaws with human nature. People are lazy, and people will take advantage of the system when they can.
The system is called communism. And when you know that you're going to get your 50 rubles a week depending on whether you actually go to work or not, what's the point in going to work?
Similarily, what's the point in saving up in case you find yourself unemployed or (gasp!) fired for never showing up at work on time, if you know the government will take care of you?
The best never see any rewards for their efforts, and consequently won't try as hard. The worst never see any punishment for their uselessness, and therefore never have an incentive to work harder. The net effect is that the country's gross domestic product drops, its international value decays, and the society will fall into recession and poverty.
Look at where Russia is. Look at the mess of the former Soviet countries. Look at the quality of life of the average Chinese person.
Why is this such a difficult concept for people who espouse socialism to understand?
Canada is a socialist country; socialism and communism are kissing cousins. And since Canada embarked on its path to socialism, its economy hasn't grown at the same rate as our big brother to the south. It hasn't prospered. It's full of trade unions jacking up labor rates so that City of Toronto parking attendants make $21/hr, which is more than I make with my substantial computer skills.
I hate living in Canada. Until things change here, Canada will continue to go downhill.
I'm a 26 year old Canadian, and on the wall in my bedroom is an American flag. It's a long story, but it was given to me by the US Ambassador to Canada when Clinton visited Ottawa (Canada's capital) in 1994, and I worked on the visit. But the flag is there, hanging on my wall, reminding me where I want to be, and what it is that I'm working for.
I'm working for freedom from the oppression of high taxes, the stifling regime of a government that rewards those who don't plan ahead.
I work my ass off, not for financial reward and the comfort they will buy me (because in Canada, it's nearly futile, and the rich are generally looked down on). I work my ass off so that I can move to the United States, become and American citizen, and carry the responsibility and rewards of being an American.
Like many skilled young Canadians today, that's my driving goal.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
best keep it in ur jeans. this bunch is not what it seems...
jyuma
The following is all absolutely true, especially about the quality of Canadian medical care. The information was relayed concisely and responsibly by an individual who took the time to speak his piece carefully.
I happen to live in Canada, and I happen to agree with him, which is why I question the motivation behind this post having been moderated to "flamebait". It clearly isn't flamebait, though the moderator who did it disagreed with what was said.
When I get moderator access, I don't moderate down stuff I disagree with. I only moderate up or down the posting based on the *quality* of the post, not whether or not I agree with it.
Censoring ideas that don't agree with those of the prevailing forces are sure signs of socialist and communist thinking.
Because it's not how human beings operate. If people would stop being selfish a**holes we wouldn't need capitalism. At least capitalism rewards innovation[sic] and hard work. Socialism breeds laziness, it is a proven fact. Until we grow up, capitalism is the best way for us ALL to make something good out of our lives. I would rather die than be cornered into a way of life by the government.And about Canada's healthcare system: Have you checked out the value of the Canadian dollar yet? Sheesh, it sucks. 15% or more in sales tax?? And they have very poor healthcare because people who want to be doctors want to make money, so the good doctors leave CDA for the US, leaving the hacks to take care of the homeland.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
But I, for one, just lost a lot of interest in reading /.
Here's a novel idea. If it bothers you that much. Stop reading Slashdot. Or even start a "Slashcott" or something. That'll probably make you feel a lot better than whining about it. Half of Slashdot's fun are the opinions, which, quite often, end up being political. Oh well, you have a solution, use it.
-Nathan
Care about freedom?
Become a card carrying member of the GOA.
(Off of rant mode now.) A well reasoned response, and I don't disagree. Unfortunately history has shown that when the government gets extra money, its impulse is to spend. I would be happy with a plan that allocated 80% of the surplus for debt reduction and 20% for tax cuts or something along those lines. What I absolutely do not want to see is more government spending, but that's the most likely scenario since GWB and Gore are buying votes with promises of free prescription drugs, more education funding, etc.
How to solve most of our problems: 1.Lots of nuclear plants. 2.Cure aging.
I agree. Just because a few people were stupid and took corners too fast for a rear-engine car, that's no reason to kill the car.
However, that stupid 90-degree fanbelt arrangement was pretty bad. I've never seen a fanbelt in one of those last longer than 2,500 miles.
<grin>
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Given that Rob himself says "I'm abusing Slashdot", I think complaints that Rob is abusing Slashdot are inherently credible and reasonable. After all, if the site's creator thinks it's an abuse of his creation....
Or are Republicans simply not allowed to exercise free speech? It's not like we're trying to shut down Slashdot, we're just saying our opinion. Or do you think people should be prohibited from protesting other peoples' statements? Or that only the right people should be allowed to protest?
Steven E. Ehrbar
various tanks of explosives/gas.
Use your head.
P-R-O-P-A-N-E.
Used everyday for barbeques all over America.
-=Gargoyle_sNake
http://www.thekult.org
-=Gargoyle_sNake
-=-=-=-
This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
I thought when Condoleeza Rice spoke about how Government can no longer bottle up information because it is and should always be free some of the baseline Slashdotters would applaud. In anycase I will vote for GW because I believe an administration would have more of a clue about emerging technologies than Al "block of wood" Gore Come on if he invented the internet it seems like he would know how to use email.
Another thing: to claim that he is somehow abusing his position by throwing his slant into the headlines is nonsense.
Interesting. CmdrTaco himself says that he's abusing Slashdot, so obviously CmdrTaco is talking nonsense....
Steven E. Ehrbar
That's called "communism". And while it's the prevailing Canadian attitude, I'll continue to work my ass off to get out of this country.
And while skilled and talented people leave Canada for greener pastures in the United States, Canada's place in the world will continue to decay and decline as did Russia's, and East Germany's, and Poland's, and Czechoslovakia's and...
BTW, speaking as a 26-year-old Canadian, once I'm gone, I'm gone. I'm not going to upset my life and risk everything to move back to a country that has such an inertia toward a Marxist ideal that has been proven impractical if not impossible in country after country.
And one poor person dying on the streets is far too many.I'd call that Darwin's theory at work. In developed counties, the poor are usually that because they're stupid or they consistently make bad decisions (same thing), they're lazy or they're addicted. If you want to get out of poverty badly enough, you can. Oprah Winfrey and Ross Perot are great American examples of this. Anthony Hopkins grew up in abject poverty in a coal-mining town in Wales (United Kingdom). And Jim Carrey grew up in a shack in Scarborough (Toronto, Canada). All of these people proved that poverty can be beaten. Those who don't beat it apparently don't care to. Screw 'em; if they don't want to help themselves, why should I have to?
Canada is so bent on trying to help everyone that I should be able to file a paper somewhere in Ottawa and get a government grant to pay for the costs of the immigration lawyer who will get me into the USA. (In all seriousness, I'm going to call my legal counsel and ask him to look into that for me. Once he's done laughing, if there's a way to do it, I assure you that he will.)
Shed no tears for the Canadian in me on the day that I stand before the judge and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
But first, I have a couple hundred karma to troll away...
kwsNI
So CmdrTaco, you really think that GW is going to be the worse candidate?
YES!!!!
-=Gargoyle_sNAke
http://www.thekult.org
-=Gargoyle_sNake
-=-=-=-
This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Because Cuba is not under US jurisdiction, and even less US influence, you moron.
The Puerto Rico Special Investigations Division of the local police department was trained by the FBI, and they worked in close collaboration. And this relation was in no way special-- the FBI has relations like that with many police departments across the US.
Are you adequate?
So are all his supporters. Did anyone see the clips of the people on the floor of the republican convention? A bunch of crazy people wearing hats with god damn dildos on um'.
Help me through college please!
Net loss in doctors every year...health care depends on doctors...you figure it out.
Not to mention that the Canadian government provides thousands of dollars to the education of each and every one of those med students who eventually graduates and flies the coop.
I can't say that I blame them, either. If I were interested in a career as a physician, you can bet your ass that I'd get my schooling in Canada and my career in the United States.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
In an era where the voice of many is not being heard, some people go to extraordinary means in order to be heard. Your solution to this problem (voices not being heard) is to throw said voices into jail?
But then again, this is nothing new. Labor activists of the 1930's had worse problems, between the American Legion serving as America's own equivalent of the "brown shirts" to break up "lefty" protests, and rampant "red baiting" of union organisers. Reading some of the archives from the 30's and 40's, I get a sense of deja vu... the mainstream press of the day was "oh, everything's fine, nothing's happening, just a few protesters arrested for disorderly conduct, that's all", while the lefty press was complaining that their people were being jailed left and right without due process of law, beaten by American Legionnaires under the approving eyes of the local constabulary for being "anti-American", etc. The more things change, the more they don't.
-E
Send mail here if you want to reach me.
Could you be any more lame? Good Lord. I guess an intelligent response was too much to hope for, eh, siggy? You didn't even defend your original position! A yoda quote. Christ.
The Philly police are probably the most unprofessional major city police force in the country. Police work is a hard job. It requires a lot of training and a lot of professionalism to do well, and, most importantly, requires LEADERSHIP. IT is obvious that the Philly police force is lacking in training and in professional leadership. My own personal suggestion to residents of Philidelphia is that they start at the top -- fire the police chief and his top lieutenants, and re-stock with top staff from a city where community policing is an everyday occurance rather than a merely-mouthed buzzword.
-E
Send mail here if you want to reach me.
I agree with whoever suggested it, I think we do need a (-1: Dumbass) moderation!
-David T. C.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in the country. Harry Browne will come in fourth place, not Pat "I'm a stupid goddam redneck" Buchanan.
----------
"Rock over London... Rock on Chicago..." -Wesley Willis
Original quote in bold; content adjusted by BigBlockMopar in plain text.
There are lots of high tech jobs open because Canadians are constantly moving south for better paying, lower taxed opportunity in a land of real freedom
particularly in telecommunications which is important because in January you can't go outside without freezing your testicles off, so you need a good telephone - in fact, the government even subsidizes Northern Telecom to the tune of $100,000,000+ a year
we have a decent health care system as long as you don't get sick, because all the MRI machines are in Buffalo, NY
few homeless, since the cardboard boxes all over Toronto are assessed property taxes
over half the fresh water in the world but it's in glaciers 2 miles thick, above the arctic circle, where intelligent people don't go voluntarily (too damned cold and desolate, I've been there).
damned good immigrant and local food you can have poutine, beaver tails and Chinese snake soup in the same Toronto restaurant. Yummy.
culture and festivals especially Caribana, which has had at least one murder a year for the past 5 years
and are ranked best country to live in for the seventh straight year in a row by the U.N. whose representatives obviously don't consider it a little divisive that you can take the Canadian citizenship test in 27 different languages.
Cape Breton Island has the best fiddle players in the Americas
Wow. That just reminds me how proud I am to be Canadian. Oh, boy. What about Rita McNeil's tea-room in Nova Scotia?
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
Hooray for the inanimate carbon rod! Now THERE's a candidate I can truly back and respect. We need a running mate. In tribute to Weird Al, might I suggest "Spatula"? Rod and Spatula in '00!
I mean, I was following you and agreeing with you until THAT: "and this is exactly the kind of thing that went on in Germany in the 20s & 30s, and disturbingly more and more of it is going on in America today"
Needless to say, Godwin, you lose, and no kidding, if you actually KNEW something about history you would avoid making that kind of ridiculous statement.
Being unemployed is only half the story.
.. why on earth should we need guns? To protect ourselves from the gun-owning fuckwit next door? If he doesn't have a gun, nor do I.
:)
I'd rather be un-employed and live a decent life, rather than being in a shitty job, working my back off barely earning food on the table.
As far as 'socialist' goes, I like the idea of walking into a hospital, getting quality health care and not having to pay for it.
Oil-taxing.. well high petrolprices _do_ teach one to make cars that get good milage.
Gun-banning, well
Besides, you _can_ own a gun in Europe (in most countries at least), you just need to have a license for it.
Well, since when did affordable mean "great"?
I think it's been. All the switches in my network were 100% digital about 9-10 years ago, so my modem always connects at its peak speed, packet loss due to line noise is something I read about in history books.
Just because it's state-run doesn't make it bad.
_THAT_ is something you "yanks" have never seemed to understand
Molly Ivins has a nice book on the subject: "Shrub: The short but happy political life of George W. Bush". It appears that "Shrub" ("He ain't big enough to be a full-blown bush") has done the following for Texas:
In response to American companies being sued by residents of the shanty towns near the border because dozens of babies were being born without brains or with other heinous birth defects due to lack of enforcement of environmental laws, Bush pushed for a "tort reform" law making it harder to sue for environmental crimes. You can no longer sue a group of polluters as a class action, you must sue them one at a time individually, and must prove that your baby was born without a brain because of that particular factory's mercury dumping (for example). The net effect was to give criminals, murderers who have killed dozens of innocent children in South Texas, immunity from the law. But that's okay, they have money and the residents of the shanty towns don't. In George W. Bush's universe, if you don't have money, you don't count.
In order to avoid having to report on environmental problems in Texas, Bush basically oversaw the reassignment of all state water quality inspectors to other duties. Texas now relies upon industries to "voluntarily" test their water and "voluntarily" tell the state when the water quality standards are exceeded. In other words, Bush has allowed the fox to police the henhouse.
When a big political contributor's funeral home chain was cited by the state funeral home board for shoddy embalming, Bush spearheaded the charge to fire the head of the state funeral home board, and eventually managed to get the state funeral home board largely eliminated from the budget (meaning that it exists on paper, but no longer has any inspectors or etc. to enforce the laws that are on the books).
Etc. etc. etc. About the only thing that Bush has constantly done well on is education, and that's probably because his wife would bitch-slap him if he didn't do right by her colleagues (she is a former teacher).
Bush has filtered billions in state investments into funds operated by his biggest campaign contributors, as well as steered most big state contracts to his biggest contributors. You thought it was bad that Clinton had the White House for rent for campaign funds.... Bush basically plundered the whole state of Texas, not just abused his official residence!
I am from Louisiana, right next door. We have our own crop of corrupt and colorful politicians. It was quite entertaining for us, though, to find a Texas electing a politician who was even more corrupt than our own Edwin "Honest Eddie" Edwards. As the years passed, we could only shake our heads and say "Man, and I thought Honest Eddie was corrupt!". But then, Honest Eddie used his powers to enrich his personal friends, most of whom were not "movers and shakers", while George W. used his powers to enrich the biggest businessmen in Texas. When corruption is in service to corporations, that's not corruption, that's just Texas, where "the bidness of guvmen't is bidness" and to hell with the taxpayer.
Now Bush's corrupt cronies want to elect him President of the United States to bring that corruption to the national scale. Sorry, I'm not interested.
-E
Send mail here if you want to reach me.
yeh, Canada's a nice place to visit, but ask the first nations folks what it's like to go to school there...
jyuma
Yeah. Slashdot is all about getting up and shouting, "Microsoft sucks."
So let's get back to business.
-
-
Give me liberty or give me something of equal or lesser value from your glossy 32-page catalog.
(Why did the lameness filter trip on that?)
-David T. C.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
A "pedestrian" is a person on a road not driving a motorized vehicle.
If you want to make up another definition to justify violating someone else's rights so you can get to work 30 seconds faster, by all means go ahead.
Boy, you believed everything said on CNN or what?
I don't recall CNN ever stating that Iraq threatened the US with missiles; though the London Times and plenty of other sensationalist European papers made exactly such claims.
Saying that Iraq was threatening your country is a paranoid scheme, the same kind that has lead many administrations to use it as a way to justify not_so_nice actions.
So the UNSCOM thing was paranoid scheme, huh? They proved that Iraq was making a concerted effort to stockpile chemical weapons and to develop and/or purchase nuclear arms and delivery systems. If you believe that there are peacefuly purposes for such weapons or that no such weapons exist, then I invite you to apply for Tariq Aziz's job.
And, for fuck's sake, stop thinking Europeans are a bunch of condescendant colonialists.
I will... just as soon as you stop acting like condescending colonialists.
You guys are the most imperialist people this planet has ever seen, and we're getting a tad tired of your so-called culture.
Just because America has a more successful empire than anything the Europeans put together doesn't mean that we're imperialist. We got our little empire without even really trying; mainly we have European auto-destructive wars to thank. If you ask me who the most imperialist people on earth are, then I'll reply that it's the self-righteous Germans. They tried twice this century to gain global hegemony and they only reason they aren't doing it again is because we took their guns away.
And yes, I'm trolling and your beer is awful.
Beer is awful, period. Whoops, I just offended your culture. Well, don't worry, there are plenty of other noble aspects of your culture, like, uh, uhhhh.... America bashing! Yeah, that's ticket!
Those who cannot create criticize...
sig semper tyrannis!
You must have misread the article. 1600 new doctors a year -500 doctors to the U.S. is not a net loss of doctors. It is, in fact a net gain of roughly 1100 doctors a year.
--
Mike Mangino
Sr. Software Engineer, SubmitOrder.com
Mike Mangino
mmangino@acm.org
So, you're going to vote for George W because you desire his wife? NOW I understand why there's an electoral college.
How, praytell? By selling the Soviets the gigantic confidence trick that was SDI? I still can't believe that the Russians fell for it. Then again, the only reason it ever worked is that Reagan was stupid enough to believe his own propaganda . . .
I'm no fan of Russia and China, but spending sixty billion dollars on a missile defence system that *will not work*, is totally ineffective against the one nuclear attack that anyone is likely to try against the US (a smuggled weapon), and is going to piss off two of the world's biggest countries - they're not going to go away, remember - sounds pretty damn silly to me.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
Why is there so many gun freaks on slashdot ... I mean you CAN'T all be trolls. Gun freaks are scary. Glad I don't meet any of you IRL.
There was a pretty good description of what happened in Seattle, as opposed to what was presented in mainstream media, in Paul Hawken's essay and more at the Red Rock Eater.
Check it out.
You should know better than to make personal attacks, but anyway...
Your rights NEVER EVER included the right to neutralize an entire city for an interminate amount of time. You can read whatever you want in the constitution - but you just don't have that right. The constitution may give you the right to assembly, but it does not give you the right to break any other law - and in this example (stopping traffic for hours) the protesters were disturbing the peace in a major way.
I am also a Philly resident and I am VERY proud of what our police force has done last week.
wouldn't you rather have Busch for president?
If you think you know what the hell is going on you're probably full of shit. -- Robert Anton Wilson
If you think you know what the hell is going on you're probably full of shit. -- Robert Anton Wilson
jdube is who
100 - 26 = 74, quite a bit more than half....
~ppppppppö
I find it hard to see Nader as "way ahead" when libertarian Harry Browne is on the ballot in all 50 states already. And while it's true that Browne trails Nader in the polls by a noticable margin, Nader is a celebrity, and Browne isn't. Would somelse running as the Green Party (?, ?, ?) candidate get as much attention? Maybe, but I would guess not. So although Browne will probably get less votes, the LP is certainly growing more steadily than the Green Party.
For those of you who aren't familiar with it, the Libertarian Party is the nation's third largest political party with more members than most of the other 3rd parties combined. You'll get a better idea by reading their site, but their core belief is that the federal government has overstepped its constitutional bounds and needs to be scaled back with a sledgehammer. They oppose the "War on Drugs," think the income tax should be abolished, and basically feel that the individual (and in some cases the state and local governments) should be responsible for most of what the federal government is trying to do (and in their opinion completely fumbling) for you.
Considering that both of these candidates have more down-to-earth time schedules than the two majors, and seem to be popular among the
~full tide~
"Linux is only free if your time has no value."
I saw this guy on the PBS Newshour, and, sorry, this guy is a loon. I can't believe anyone would claim with a straight face that America's defence needs can be met with border guards and a BMD system. Even ignoring the feasibility of BMD, try seeing what happens when the Middle East decides to cut off the US's oil and the US is totally impotent to do anything about it.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo
--Andy Finkel (J. Klass?)
--- Never hold a dustbuster and a cat at the same time ---
Setting his threshold to 5, Sparky eliminated most of the trolls on /.
Not really, that makes me feel better. Of course, if the military has to fire upon protestors, there will be a lot more dead people. I garauntee.
-=Gargoyle_sNake
-=-=-=-
This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
As far as raising taxes, have you ever heard of a thing called the "National Dept?" Well, it is not going to pay itself.
If you have a credit card, and you make the payments every year, will it go away by itself?
Yes.
If we stop running up the debt, it will pay itself away. The nation is running a surplus now, as long as it continues to do that, the debt will go away.
The real Eric S Gaymond is #216600. Everyone Else is a liar.
Wrong. The definition requires that the "pedestrian" is walking, as opposed to blocking the road.
n. 1. (often "attrib.") a person who is walking, esp. in a town ("pedestrian crossing").
2. a person who walks competitively.
If you want to make up another definition
I didn't "make it up", it's in a dictionary. I suspect you're the one "making things up" here.
to justify violating someone else's rights so you can get to work 30 seconds faster, by all means go ahead.
Hijacking public assets is not a "right". BTW, speaking for myself, I don't drive. I bicycle, and use public transport.
You wouldn't happen to be a GWB staffer would you?
That "reds under the beds" mentality went out twenty years ago you friggin' dinosaur.
At least GBSr. was a personable fascist. This guy doesn't even have that redeeming quality.
Oh, BTW, how about having the balls to register?
_______________________ I am the eggman, wooo! _______________________
Either that or the large section of US big business who where in active support of the Nazi regime. How about the insurance Companies that insured people of Jewish origin and others (whom they knew full well would never make it through the war!!-and you talk about Nazi's only contributing to their problems these people profited for them, these motherfuckers profited from them)
How about your good old GWB's grandfather being a tacit supporter of Hitler, JFK's old man loving the guy both of these men investing in those day's millions of dollars.
Now I am not just saying it was the USA, it was sections in other countries to.... (in Britian, in France). How about a large section of your senate not willing to do anything about Hitler because they where afraid of alienating the German-American vote especially in states like Minnesota etc...
Do not be so naive. Please read alittle history before jumping up on your high horse and rewriting it all for us.
To everyone -Yeh so vote for GWB he'll only make the world a better place much like his father and his father before him, on the other hand vote for the other puppet Gore. Shit watching the RNC was much like watching scenes from a movie (was it all coordinated by ILM again???)
"The way she used to say Rimmer as if it rhymed with scum" Red Dwarf
> But he's better now. He and his wife and > children live in Tel-Aviv, Israel, and he's > Minister of Finance for that country. Correction: until very recently he was the Minister of Interior, before he resigned from Barak's democtatorship that is. And a good thing he did, may Barak's govt. fall soon and we'll have Bibi back!
--
Kiro
So someone that is walking back and forth over a crosswalk is not a pedestrian?
Hijacking public assets....so if I refuse to leave a park area after I have my picknick to lounge around should be illegal?
"Public assets" belong to the public. To assume that one person or a set of people should not be allowed to make use of it is ludicrous.
I understand where you are coming from, but with your interpretation a citizens right to protest and assemble is restricted to private property, which is WRONG.
Someone needs to wonk that policy, where do you think it comes from, I hope you don't think Our elected representatives actualy sit down and write it...
The real Eric S Gaymond is #216600. Everyone Else is a liar.
Coors and Budweiser do not engage in turf wars with Uzis...
No, but Stolichnaya does!
"I will gladly pay you today, sir, and eat up
Sacred cows make the best burgers.
Better to give too much credit to a man who did something, than to pretend the challenge never existed. By your argument, Gandhi just happened to come along and give a few good speeches when the British were ready to leave India anyway.
-cwk.
It appears that some of you just don't get it.
/. staff in general. Of course, since I'm NOT /. staff, I'm allowed my opinion, lucky me.
Slashdot is not a news source. Slashdot compiles a bunch of links to stories that are of interest to the community that visits here. It doesn't, as a rule, have more than a few sentences about what the link points to. How is that reporting?
The entire point of this place is discussion. A huge ball of geeks spouting their opinions and having some level of intelligent discussion. Why should CT be exempt from that? He created the damn thing, I'd think he could lob his opinion out with the rest of you, eh?
For a group of "geeks" or "elite linux gurus" and generally "smart guys", you are either a load of hypocrites or lack any form of common sense. If you were told to withold your opinion in these discussions from now on, you'd rant and rave for days. When CT volunteers his, you cry like children. This place has never professed to be a geek-inhabited bastion of journalism. It's a crew of opinionated nerds...get used to it.
Interestingly enough, the above is my opinion and doesn't reflect those of
Hehe, try this at Speak-Outs presidential match - http://www.speakout.com/votematch/default.asp I had a 45% match with Bill Bradley and 39% match with Pat Buchanan, and like 10% with the rest of the candidates. Hrm, try to VOTE REFORM BABY!
Help me through college please!
Planting such things is standard "anti-subversive" training that the FBI has given out in the past to special police units. In Puerto Rico, for instance, the police Special Investigations Division during the 70s committed actual bombings, in order to blame leftist groups for them.
Are you adequate?
Finally, concerning Taco's views... if I was truly pissed at him for mixing editorial with news content on his site, I would have emailed him personally and said, "Hey, Rob, I don't like how you mixed editorial and news on the GWB blurb." Taco then has three possible responses: he can say, "Fuck off," in which case I stop using /., or he could say, "Good point, I'll stop doing this;" or he could say, "Good point, but it's my site," in which case I could either stop using /. or simply not bother reading articles that have Taco's views, or set my preferences to not show stories posted by Taco. What I would not do is post whining message after whining message like a little crying baby.
I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.
"We should tax activities that we don't like" - Nader
-luxTo use a programming example, governement is like shared libraries. It's more efficient to pool our resources that try to do the heavy-lifting by ourselves. By that pooling doesn't free us of individual responsibility.
In my exsperiance, its best not to use a programming example for anything other then programming...
The real Eric S Gaymond is #216600. Everyone Else is a liar.
Socialism and Capitalism cannot co-exist. You can only have one or the other.
Wow, you sure convinced me.
The real Eric S Gaymond is #216600. Everyone Else is a liar.
I'm glad you're proud. Your police department beat up people who were excercising their civil rights. 'Cruel and Unusual punishment', you know? You can't brutalize someone for their political views. You can arrest them, but you can't cut off their food and water.
Freedom of speech is directly applicable to this situation: the entire point is to prevent the government from suppressing protestors. It's not so people can post the DeCSS source code. The first amendment was specifically put in because until then, governments could censor anything they wanted if they viewed it as a threat to their power. Sadly, this still goes on today all the time, but it would be much worse here if the first amendment wasn't there.
I know someone who was at Philadephia. I don't know what has happened to him. He has dropped out of high school to protest across the country full time. He's certainly willing to be a martyr for his cause. I don't agree with most of his views, but I demand that he has the right to express them.
Then again, I could be wrong.
-Elendale
Karma burn coming
As i meta-troll again
IANAT (I Am Not A Troll)
Maybe the police were a little overzealous in doing their duty but that's not George W. Bush's fault.
However, I do know that if you keep on expressing slander against companies like Disney, you are not very smart. ABC News reports the news, not opinion as as expressed here at Slashdot.
Not just Disney, but all major corporations contribute heavily to the Rebublican National Committee because they want to have their needs listened to by Congress and by our next president, George W. Bush. Microsoft, AOL and Cisco are right in there too, so don't fool yourself.
Get with the program. Align yourself with the winners, not luses like Al Gore and his cadre of liberal do-gooders.
There is no place for lusers in the new society, which is really a return to our American principles of the work ethic and family values. We don't want homosexuals teaching our children, welfare for prostitutes, panhandlers, winos and others too lazy to earn their keep. Such people will be put in work camps, where they will be required to earn their keep if they want a place to sleep and three square meals a day. We don't want such neer-do-wells accosting decent people in public places.
So, clean your act up now. It is never too late to recant, to deny your liberal views and communist associations, to turn in your former associates who are living on the dark side in the world of software piracy, closet socialism and sexual promiscuity. You can assume your rightful place in this new society based on meritocracy if you want to. George W. Bush may not be the smartest man in the world, but he makes up for it with hard work and Christian values. So, if you don't want to find yourself in a work camp along with the lusers, clean up your act now. Contribute to the RNC. Become a member of a Christian church. Get a haircut. Don't commit adulutery.
Don't you know that the FBI, which has a sacred duty to protect our society from communists, software pirates, and techno-terrorists, is monitoring every post that is made here at Slashdot? A phony hotmail account won't protect your identity. They will find you, and then you will regret contributing the the delinquency of minors and inciting to riot and encouraging others to engage in theft of intellectual property.
With Repubicans controlling both Congress and the White House, things will be set aright and people will be put in their place. Make sure you are on the right side of the winners, not the wrong side.
I always vote third party. Not because my conscience comes into play, as I haven't one, but because I live in a state where the outcome is predetermined: all Dems all the time. Now I consider this better than all GOP, but I still see it as an opportunity to throw some cash to the Greens: 5%(?) of the vote gets them matching funds in the next election.
-jpowers
-jpowers
he said he created it, or at least 'took the initiative in creating' it. Witch could mean either that he created it himself, or lead other people to created it.
Neither is true, btw. The internet was around while gore was still in collage.
The real Eric S Gaymond is #216600. Everyone Else is a liar.
We now have a socialist government here in sweden.
;-)
Our unemployment is on it's way down below 4% (No double digits here).
The government takes one third of my income in taxes. (Yup, too much, but no three quaters).
And I didn't even vote for those suckers...
--
"I'm surfin the dead zone
--
"I'm surfin the dead zone
In the twilight, unknown"
When are you stupid liberals going to realize that in supporting the likes of Clinton and Gore that you are supporting the very people that are undermining things that Slashdot and its readers hold dear like privacy, encryption and FREE SPEECH.
Gore won't even fix a lousy rental house that he owns, how can he be trusted to run the country. (story from our local - Nashville - TV station.) I am from Nashville and I know what I twit Gore is. I just love how he spent his entire life away from Nashville, and then suddenly calls it his home when he figures that he can gain more votes by being seen as a good ole' southern boy. Don't fall for that shit. I also love how he refuses to visit Nashville unless it is in the middle of rush hour, so he can tie up the already horrible traffic for even longer while his motorcade makes its way 15 miles from the airport to his headquarters on the other end of the county. Hey Algore, how much pollution was caused by all that traffic standing still for hours as you drive by? How many hours were wasted that parents (sitting in the traffic jam) could have been spending with their families? Go away - we don't want you here!
I can't believe that people as intelligent as those who read (and operate) Slashdot can be so damned stupid as to fall for the Democratic Party's line of bullshit.
Exactly what the hell has Clinton-Gore done for YOU since 1992? As for me, my taxes have gone up thanks to Clinton's tax increase in 1993 - the largest income tax increase in American history. I work in human resources - I know what happened. And now, Bill Clinton vetoes the repeal of the "marriage penalty". Why the hell should married couples pay higher taxes than people that are not married or couples living together? This same "penalty" cost me an extra $2000 in taxes last year because I got married in November. Even though my wife and I had not lived or worked together before November, we had to cough up $2000 just for being married.
By all means, if you bleeding heart liberal commies think that you are not paying your fair share in taxes already, then get out your checkbooks and write a fucking check to the local, state, or federal entity of your choice.
Have you morons forgotten how Gore himself has insulted your intelligence with garbage like "I invented the internet" and "Gore goes open source"?? And now you want him as president?? WTF??
Also, what the hell do GW Bush or the Republicans have to do with this 2600 guy getting arrested? Need I remind you that Philly's population is almost 5 to 1 DEMOCRATIC. I'll bet that it was a DEMOCRAT that arrested your precious little cracker (or at least there were Democrats involved in the process.) I know it said "This has no relevance, but...", but you are implying that GW or the RNC had something to do with it.
WHEN George W wins in November, I'll be laughing my ass off at all of you.
If I want liberal bias in my news, I'll read the fucking newspaper. I can see that Slashdot is no longer "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters." It is now "News for Leftwingpinkobedwettingtreehuggingliberalcommies. Stuff that we hope you'll think matters."
You can take your Karma and your scores and shove 'em up your ass.
"Either the United States will destroy ignorance, or ignorance will destroy the United States." - W. E. B. Du Bois
Out of order? Fuck! Even in the future nothing works! - Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) "Spaceballs"
people have a responsibility to the FCC because they are granted a license to use a scarce resource of the United States.
And taking responsibilty for your own opinions would seem to be covered in that. You've made no point, I prefer brutal honesty from my gatekeepers, not the illusion of community caring (which is how most major FCC license holders do it).
--
+&x
"As in the 1978 confrontation with MOVE, the city claimed MOVE members inside the house
fired first - but when city workers combed the debris the next day, they found no trace of the
automatic weapons the police had accused MOVE of firing to initiate the battle. "
Clue for you...
Scumbag
-- The Funk, The Whole Funk, And Nothing But The Funk
"News for nerds, stuff that matters" two separate things.
Does the presidential election matter? Not really, but to some people it does, including CT. No one ever said slashdot was a tech-only site, rather this is a news-entertainment site targeted at 'nerds'. Nerds like tech, in general, but this site is about posting whatever CT and the other editors want.
If you don't read slashdot for political opinion, then don't. Ignore it and stop posting annoying flame.
The real Eric S Gaymond is #216600. Everyone Else is a liar.
I beg to differ. Microsoft is a big corporation. I can effectively boycott them by not purchasing MS software and acquiring my computer hardware through vars that do not sell MS installed computers such as VA Linux Systems for example. However, if I am effectively unable to do the same thing when it comes to the US government. Taxes are mandatory and refusal of payment can be met with force. Don't forget, governments own a legal monopoly on the use of force. No matter how much Bill Gates wants to, he can not break into my house and hold a gun up to my head and force me to install Windows on my computer. However, with a warrant (although the Ellian Gonzalez case is a counter example), the government can for the most part do what they want with me and my property.
American_bongo also wrote: We will never control the parties in America, only money will. Morales and ethics never win in politics =)
You may have a point here. Let me ask this: What do people look for in a candidate? Do the look for the person who can sling the most mud. Do they vote for the guy who promises them the most programs (possibly wealth redistribution)? Or do they vote for the candidate who reflects their views and has the most integrity?
I'd like to think I do the last of this group.
Ultimately we, the people, control who goes to office. And if the system is corrupt it is all of our faults.
The interest groups you mentioned above are not necessarily bad things. I used to be a member of the National Space Society and the primary reason I donated money to their causes was to effect government policy. It was one way to magnify my power as an individual to effect the changes I wanted to see. If their was a suitable organization that reflected my interests as a geek, I would join.
http://www.greenparty.org
and the other is the association of State Green Parties, which is more normal.
http://www.greenparties.org
They're working to find a common platform to present to the world, but anyway, Ralph is not that radical. The Green's put up with him because he's progressive enough and he's putting them on the map. But, rest assured that corporations would not all be dismembered if Ralph won. If you look at the things he's pushed for, you'll see he's been behind most of the things we consumers now take for granted; reasonable things, not radical.
Like, (I believe) the clean air act, the fact that airlines have to put you up overnight if you miss a flight due to their own screwup, other very reasonable stuff. (Maybe the freedom of information act too, but I'm not sure of that).
http://www.votenader.com
Someday we'll all be negroes
Well uh... I dunno... Doesn't seem right to me...
--
"I'm surfin the dead zone
--
"I'm surfin the dead zone
In the twilight, unknown"
Yeah Greed is good if you don't actually give a damn about anyone else.
But, hey, if people dying on the streets is your idea of a good time, go for it.
Just don't expect anyone to give you a helping hand when your world crashes and burns...
_______________________ I am the eggman, wooo! _______________________
I did not enumerate all of the Clinton/Gore sins against the constitution because only boredom would result. One thing I do ask: Whether you are a Conservative, voting for everything right, a Liberal, voting for whatever is left, or a third party man disgusted with both major parties, please VOTE. I will live with whatever results, but it really scares me that less than 26 per cent of eligible voters could rule the country because half the voters did not care enough to vote. This is a sure way to get unpopular laws rammed down the throat of a lethargic electorate that did not voice its opinions at the polls.
Right. There is no hunger or homeless in Europe. I lived in England for almost a year. Those skinny people dressed in rags sitting on cardboard boxes in the subway stations in downtown London are actually quite happy. Thats why they asked for money all the time. They were really happy.
I sorta like
I think you took my idea the wrong way. I believe that government no longer represents the views of Americans, but they represent the views of Corporations. In that fact, the government is inessence just a big corporation controlled by all the other corporations in america, and therefore indistingushable between government and corporation.
Help me through college please!
But why the hell are you bitching about Bush for something that the police in Philly did?
And what would you like the police to do? Just let protesters bring the city to a halt? The other 99% of the population have lives to get on with...and they are probably thankful to do so...regardless of which political affiliation they are.
The local Philadelphia press is probably biased. But the bias is usually AGAINST the cops not for them. The local press here NEVER E-V-E-R missed the opportunity to blow any little (often unsubstantiated) report of police misbehavior into a big scandal and/or some sort of police conspirancy.
So, yes, when the local news has a nothing but great things to say about the police behavior last week, I have a tendency to be very impressed.
Even ignoring the feasibility of BMD, try seeing what happens when the Middle East decides to cut off the US's oil and the US is totally impotent to do anything about it.
I can see it now.....
Big Oil companies would promptly open up domestic oil wells, so that the US's needs for oild can be served from within the US, and then OPEC countries suffer massive "heart attacks" as they realize the just threw 70% of their money away...
Well said.
Socialism doesn't equal communism guys. Communism is fascism with different name.
Hell, you pay taxes so that everyone can drive on good roads and go to school, right?
What's wrong with extending that to health care, supporting the needlessly unemployed etc.
_______________________ I am the eggman, wooo! _______________________
They make great moderators in nuclear reactors, and *ahem* are better moderators than Slashdot!
More to the point--there have been _very_ few politicians of whatever party in whatever country in the 20th century who I'd have voted for if I could have a Carbon rod instead!
check out GW's record in Texas I'd laugh if it weren't so fucking sad.
Very nice. Technically, Clinton was responsible for the Philly event and the WTO protests (and any other rabid police beating in the last 8 years). Why? Because he put '100,000' new offiers out there. Remember his campaign? That was a big promise he made...and about the only one he kept.
I sorta like
No, you suggested votes should be cast for 'Dumbleya' because the Dems wrecked the Constitution. Suggesting that the GOP would be any better in that regard is pure and utter bullshit. They both violate the spirit and the letter of the Constitution on a regular basis, they just choose different parts to piss on.
As far as suggesting people vote, I have to disagree there, too. The current lip service paid to the importance of voting is nothing, really, compared to the greater problems of the undermining of the election process by the outright purchase of legislation and the larger malaise of the populace: democracies don't typically last very long because they're too hard to maintain.
Greed and profit will never go away, so the corps willingness to rule combined with the people's unwillingness will grind us down in the long run. It might not end in our lifetimes, but the real power in this country has slipped out of the hands of the people, so the fact that you go and pull the lever once a year (including local elections) has, truly, little effect on the actual outcome of things. Nothing short of a constitutional amendment and lots of hard work will change the corrupt election process in this country, and do you really see that happening, ever? Me either. So our votes and rights will go away for a little while, then we'll get mad and take them back. How long did that take last time? 2000 years?
-jpowers
-jpowers
Although I totally disagree with the Rob opinion on GWB I have to defend his right to speak on his site. /. all the time there would probably be far fewer people coming here.
/. and I'll keep coming back...again and again.
Did his comments piss me off? Sure, a little. Do I think they are incorrect conclusions? Sure do. Do I think Rob is bright and can think for himself? Yep.
One word describes his right to post his opinion here: Freedom. With freedom comes responsibility though. If his political opinions were to show up on
Something we conservatives believe in is standing up for our beliefs even when there are costs. It is for this reason I applaud taco for stating his opinion...even though I disagree.
Keep up the good work
Lioner
No, I don't really feel that way; I think Bush has problems, but less from my point of view than Gore. The Shrub does seem somewhat different than his Dad to me, which is why I'll probably vote for him. (I didn't like Bush Sr. that much). And Bush has been governor of one of the nation's more populous states... one which seems to have its act together much more than mine. (I'm from Louisiana, and travel to Texas often).
(currently testing something about signatures here)
I encountered an interesting idea for an electoral system here (Explained fully on subsequent pages)
I have a feeling this system might appeal to geek-types, as it seems to resemble a hill-climbing algorithm - an algorithm to find the global maxima of candidates. It might be said that current systems find only local maxima (Well-known candidates) if they can be considered to work at all.
This is an argument for wimps. Crack should be legal too. It's got to do with personal freedom, none of this silly crap you mention. If you want to legalize marijuana, fine, but don't screw around with it, legalize cocaine, steroids, heroin, etc. And remember that kids are going to abuse cocaine and smack much the same way they abuse alcohol now. There are repercussions to legalizing drugs, but I'm not afraid of them, my guess is that you are. Just because your buddies get high on the weekend, don't pretend its important, fight for freedom because it is important to us as responsible human beings (that's the problem with Nader btw, he'll give you mary j, but not crack. He doesn't believe in freedom, he believes in getting high on the weekend. How anyone could vote for that buffoon is a mystery for me. I support Browne).
MMmm yea.. and vote libertarian if you want freedom.. www.lp.org
http://tinyurl.com/globalwarmingisascam
Slashdot isn't a 'news network', it's HIS SITE!
--
Soma: because a gramme is better than a damn.
Regardless of what GWB is or is not, kugano is absolutely correct. This is NOT the place for CmdrTaco to be venting his personal political opinions. If the editors of /. want to do that then they should set up an editorial section where it is understood that the content therein is biased and should be taken as such.
CmdrTaco, I find /. to be a wonderful news source but I think you should submit a retraction of your opinions and in the future, post them in a more proper place.
What are you talking about? Slashdot is more like the editorial and oped (letters to the editor) section of a newspaper then actual news. Sure, news is often the basis posts but most of the posts have at least an implicit bias.
The key to dealing with bias is to make your own decisions. If you don't agree with a bias then post your disagreement with an explicit or an implicit bias. But I don't think it is useful to oppose bias itself.
The government has no right to interfere with people's personal freedom as it is currently doing. Smoking marijuana only has the potential to hurt the health of the user. An individual should have the right to choose to use it.
:-)
That's why I want all drugs legalized - I don't like how the government can tell me what I can and can't put into my own body. It should be the choice of consenting adults. I don't care about being able to get fucked up legally - I'm careful enough about it that there's a very low chance I'm going to get busted, since I never smoke pot anywhere but my own living room.
This is why driving while stoned should remain illegal.
I think so too, but you may actually be less likely to get into an accident if you drive stoned as compared to sober, because you tend to drive more slowly and cautiously: Obligatory Smokedot story about this
--
My dear dear son... Bush isn't the one who convicted them of the crime. He isn't even the one who will pull the switch. The way the Happy-Go-Luck death system is set up he is merely the one who can grant a repreieve in cases where there may be significant doubt about the case. This isn't innocent until proven guilty, this is the other way around.
F /...
Besides 15 minutes for Bush is a long time! That must be 20 or 30 pictures he has to look at to understand whats going on.
---
Solaris/FreeBSD/Openstep/NeXTSTEP/Linux/ultrix/OS
--- I do not moderate.
The whole family of Bush are a bunch of morons. They can't get above a "C" average in anything! Just listening to that idiot makes me nauseous. You could pick 50% of the high school kids in America and they'd be more intelligent than this clown. And that's saying nothing for the lack of sack that his father had. Leaving Hussein in power in Iraq when we could have gone in there and cleaned up everything is a Bush legacy of failure. Like father like son for these two mental homunculae.
I'm pretty sure it was MLK's plan to get arrested, the violence and brutality displayed by the anti-civil-rights people against the non-violent pro-civil-rights people had a lot to do with more people being on the pro-civil-rights side. People who may have been against civil rights were discussed by the brutality of the oppressors. That was the whole point.
But anyway, no one gives a fuck about PETA, and there is no shock value left in the US.
The real Eric S Gaymond is #216600. Everyone Else is a liar.
I suppose that it is my own sloth that leads me to sites like slashdot and geeknews to garner my daily water cooler conversation material. I suppose than I just have a problem with the slashdot motto... maybe it should be "News for nerds... Stuff that Matters (to us)." Oh well, I am calm now :)
"Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes."
-E. W. Dijkstra
OTOH, he did feel strongly enough about the Temple to throw the moneychangers out... and he did believe that people should at least proletsyze in public, which he also did a lot of himself.
(currently testing something about signatures here)
I saw this guy on the PBS Newshour, and, sorry, this guy is a loon.
And George W. "there should be limits on freedom" and Al "I invented the Internet, and v-chips should be in your TV whether you want them or not" Gore aren't loons?
Do you think either of these guys supports the hacker agenda?
If you do, you're sadly mistaken. They are both quite in favor of government sticking it's nose into your bedroom and PC. Their own public statements and records make it quite clear.
A vote for either is a vote against freedom, and what's the alternative? Pat Buchanan? There's a paragon of mental stability for you.
--
Also he's for taking away corporations' right to give money to politicians, which I think most people would agree with.
I have to say, the Green Party is like open-source politics; it relies on volunteers (one paid person in the whole Northeast US, as far as I can tell). If you want something done, you have to do it yourself!
www.votenader.org
Someday we'll all be negroes
Do you want police protection or not? Not happy with your police? ... Become a cop.
Can't. Why? Too smart. Look here and here.
Sausage King of Chicago
microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
I disagree. First, /. is owned not by CmdrTaco but by Andover and VA Linux Systems. Granted he has full editorial control over /. and IMNSHO that is as it should be. He's done an outstanding job to date.
/. is seen by many people as a reliable news source. So much so that I constantly see other so-called news newtworks virtually ripping off /. word for word.
Second,
I'd have to agree. IMHO it seems that all the democrats want to do is spend my money to make the government bigger, more European like. I won't even go there. JoeDark
Where should Rob publish his opinions if not on his own damned website!? Rock on, Rob. Keep the First Amendment alive.
The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...
One of the good things about Slashdot is that it's not a professional news network that isn't run by professional journalists (as illustrated by Mr Katz's continued employment). Basically it boils down to the fact it's CmdrTaco's site so if he wants to point out that GWB is a vacuous wanker then he (quite correctly) can.
---
Ask yourself:
Who is a better candidate to run my life?
a) George Bush
b) Al Gore
c) Me
If you chose "c", then you are probably a Libertarian. Everyone who is tired of seeing the Gov't take away our liberties one at a time should check out the Libertarian Party
Keep in mind, "tax cuts" and "spending cuts" are two different things. Do you really think that if we mindlessly cut taxes, that Congress will cut spending to match? Didn't Reagan try that, and send the debt from 1 to 3 trillion or so during his term?
Taxes were cut at one point during Reagan's term, and revenues WENT UP. (That's right, lower tax rate, higher revenues.) The problem was that the (democrat controlled) congress upped spending more than the added revenue allowed for.
REMEMBER: The congress is the one that ultimately controls spending and taxes, not the president. (Unless it's the FCC levying a constitutionally illegal tax like the Universal Access Charge.)
The whores get mad when the sluts give it away for free.
"serves the world, not just the U.S"
F /...
Oh please. Like there is a difference these days on the internet. When you can go to official goverment sites of other countries and they are either hosted here in the states or in English instead of the native language there is little doubt as to what the net really is centered about.
Is it right? No. But please let us all stop being so naive.
---
Solaris/FreeBSD/Openstep/NeXTSTEP/Linux/ultrix/OS
--- I do not moderate.
So, when Rob says "GWB is a dork" I don't find that any more out of place than if he were to say "I really hate Dairy Queen burgers." It's irrelevant to the site. Saying "Corel Linux sucks, I'll never use it on my machine" would be a greater abuse of his editorial position, IMHO.
---
I'm posting because I enjoy /. and don't want to see it become a posting ground for mindless politcal opinions.
And the presidential election isn't news? or are nerds just not supposed to care about stuff like that.
Yes, the presidential election is news. CT's opinion of why Bush sucks isn't. I love hearing the latest news about politics if it has to do with technology. If Taco had said Bush sucks because he supports the DMCA, I wouldn't be supporting him. I don't give a flying fuck about an opinion if it isn't backed up. I also don't fucking care about non-techincal politics when I'm reading /. I'm reading this site because I want technology and science news. If I wanted Rob's opinion of Bush before I go vote, I'd email him.
Anyway, it's actualy "News for nerds, stuff that matters," Idiot.
If it doesn't qualify for the first part, the second is pretty irrelevant. Idiot.
kwsNI
Learn to use a Dictionary if you don't know what the difference between the moderation options are.
kwsNI
I know this is a bit offtopic....but it was part of the conversation. Just to be historically correct;
::
The first (worst) depression our nation has endured was after jackson veto'd the national bank....Making the theoritical one you talk about #3.
Or maybe Im reading this wrong...
-Swift
-Swift
I fucking hate Christians. HATE
ah, yes, libertarianism american style. i thought the rich people already had enough money, you folks feel the need to get another party in power to get them more money? well, before you go and vote for people that seem to think big business will happily and ethically chug along w/o the government, i suggest you do a little reading.
that ralph nader guy, now there's someone who's got his head screwed on. that kindly big business known as the american auto industry fought safety features on cars tooth and nail till nader forced the gov't to force car companies to offer things like seat belts.
US Citizen living abroad? Register to vote!
Taco, if you want to run your mouth about GWB, you could at least say why. He is a GREAT candidate. While his father was in office, technology flourished (unhindered by the government I might add).
-MunKy_v2
Jay
kind of ironic, isn't it? An article about what appears, despite a lack of a great deal of real facts here or in the 2600 article, to be a blatant violation of the right to free speech and assembly and all that other good stuff, and the overwhelming consensus seems to be that CmdrTaco shouldn't be able to voice his opinions...
Haven't you ever heard of an editorial?
You know, the newspaper column where an editor get to express their own viewpoint.
What's the point of having your own newspaper/website if you don't get to tell things the way you see it.
Mabe that's exactly the problem with CNN/ABC - too wishy-washy. Not enough guts to tell things the way they are for fear of losing the bucks.
They do it all the time with foreign leaders.
Of course not, because news is supposed to be objective and un-biased.
His comment was objective.
News for nerds, Stuff that we think, uninformative articles that might matter. ::
-Swift
-Swift
I think he just brought a non-celebratory meaning to the phrase "Slashot Party".
Getting stuck between choosing Gore or Bush... quite a pathetic choice, really... Sure, there's some other ones like Nayder (whom, I guess, I'd vote for... *blink*), but do you think they'd win, what with all the media focus on the big two? Of course not. I see some sad times coming in the future for the U.S.
With 270 million+ people in the States, these are the best two "candidates" ?? Scuse me? What happened to democracy while I was gone?
(I guess I shouldn't talk though, things aren't much better here in Canada/Ontario either... ugh)
and you base this comment on?
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Slashdot needs an addition to its moderation system:
(-1, Dumbass)
--
You people keep ranting on, saying things like 'Whered Democracy go while I wasnt looking?" and "270+ Million ppl in the US and we get these two?" and etc etc. However, I highly doubt that any of you are actually doing ANYTHING that would cause this to change. How many of you are out spreading the word about whoever it is or whatever 3rd party it is that you are for? Are you volunteering your time to that party or person? No probably not. You are all just sitting around bitching about not having a good choice, magically expecting someone to fix it for you. And to those of you who will not vote at all because you feel there is no decent choice, shame on you, and you have not right to complain no matter what happens.
"If I removed everything here that I thought was pointless, there would be like two messages here."
woxy.com - Bam! The Future of Rock and Roll
/. is a public forum, is it not? Why is it every time some one offers their opinion someone crawls up to try some effort to censor it. GWB is the figure head for the Repubs. If he did not represent their views then let him speak out against this type of muzzling. I for one am waiting for any person from the so called mainstream to regain humanity and a little backbone.
Those who give up freedom for security deserve neither.-Ben Franklin
Why not just put the national debt there and hopefully it will show up missing.
I have skimmed through the and havn't noticed a request for this. I think a lot of people (including myself) would apreciate it if CmdrTaco would explain why he doesn't like Bush instead of just saying Bush sucks.
"speaks primarily for the far-left wing of the "geek" population"
as opposed to the far-right? gee, i can see how easy it is to mesh "information should be free" with the far-right cry of "ban/burn the books!"
as much fun as it would be to be transborted to the golden ages of women at home, slaves tending the fields, "pawh" being the master of his home and being able to shoot first and ask questions later, most geeks i know have the following traits:
a) they live on planet earth
b) they paid attention in history class
c) they'd prefer it if the human race
evolved past the republicans core voters.
US Citizen living abroad? Register to vote!
Police are given guns by the state.
I suppose it's possible that the police held the man a gunpoint and proceded to injure his ear. "If you don't hold still while I rip your ear, I'm gonna blow your head off!" But I doubt it.
If a policeman is unable to function within the parameters of his training and orders when taunted or insulted verbally
I've seen no evidence that the policeman involved here was merely being taunted or verbally abused. Much more likely is that the two were involved in some sort of struggle which resulted from the one doing something unlawful or destructive and the other having the job of stopping the first. One was injured, and since it wasn't the police officer, it must have been abuse of power.
Any policeman who lashes out at protesters
I didn't see any police lashing out at protestors. I did, however, see a number of protestors lashing out at police. I was just watching the news, so maybe it was media bias.
I found it very interesting when I listened to one of the protestors who claimed in an interview that he (among others) were there specifically to goad the police into a brawl. Now why would they want to do that? Think about that. If they could just force the police to cause bodily harm to them then they could claim that their civil rights were violated and that the police were abusing their power.
Obviously, since the police have guns and the protestors don't, the police should never have to resort to any kind of physical struggle (which very well might result in injury). The police, therefore, have the trump card. Or do they?
The protestors know that the police will never shoot an unarmed assailant. Indeed, the police will never even draw their gun and threaten to shoot an unarmed assailant. This gives them the freedom to do just about anything they like as long as they make sure nobody thinks that they have a weapon. So what do you do when you want to force the police to restrain you? You push, shove, threaten, throw things, destroy property, anything as long as it's obvoius that you are unarmed. Eventually, the police are forced to do something to stop you, and then you've got them right where you want them. Because as soon as the police have to use force to restrain you, it's easy to argue in the arena of public opinion that the force was excessive. The police should never have to use "excessive" force because they carry guns.
Try this: Tell a friend to restrain you. Then do anything you can to resist that restraint. Kick and bite and scratch as if your life depended on it. Unless your friend is a whole lot bigger than you and able to restrain you easily, somebody's probably going to get hurt. Now if your friend has a gun which he is not allowed to use, does that make his effort excessive when he finally does restrain you?
Now, I'm not saying that there's no such thing as abuse of police power or that there are no bad cops. Certainly there is and there are, but I'm doubtful of the rampant proliferation of abusive police officers reported by the popular media. I, for one, don't take the evening news at face value.
Ok. I've ranted long enough. One parting quip:
"Excuse me, sir. Am I going to have to use force to remove you from this vehicle?"
"Why yes, officer. You will."
"Very well, then. Good day, sir."
"Aren't you going to arrest him?"
"Of course not. I would have to use force to arrest him. And in doing so, I might violate his civil rights. Then I would lose my job. Your automobile is merely property, and I'm certainly not putting my job on the line over a property dispute."
"But he's stealing my car!"
"You do have insurance, don't you? I've got a good description of the thief, and if we ever pick him up on another, more serious, charge..."
"But... My car!"
"Don't worry. We usually recover the remains of stolen autos in only a couple of days."
--
"I have a good idea why it's hard to verify programs. They're usually wrong." --Manuel Blum, FOCS 94
Funny that Slashdot's byline is:
NEWS for nerds. Stuff that matters.
Maybe today it should have been:
Nothing for nerds. Stuff that doesn't matter. (ie. CmdrTaco's opinion for many).
As Content -> Opinion, Quality -> 0.
Think about it. The Reform party lost face when Perot ran for the second time. It made it "Perot's party". Buccannan may turn the party into a farce, or if it keeps the matching funds, it could become a viable third party instead of a egomaniac's machine. But who was suprised at the green candidate this year? Or for that matter, the libertarians? They run the same bloody figurehead every year, and it makes it seem like there's no other point to the party.
I dunno, maybe I'm just paranoid, but it seems to me that a viable third party is one that can't just re-use the 1996 bumper stickers as long as they don't have the year printed on them. Then again, it took a figurehead like Perot to get the matching funds that made the reform nomination worth fighting for. If Nader gets enough of the popular vote to get matching funds, he can use them in the next cycle to promote state and local Green party growth. (read that somewhere about the reform party options). That sort of investment could create a viable third party who nomination might actually mean something.
*my logic on the Gore/Nader thing: I like the idea of a third party, and I'm not super psyched abput Gore (voted bradley in the primary) but after two supreme court voted came out on issues I care about in the same day, one to my side and one against, both 5 to 4, I knew I might have to hold my nose and vote Gore. Anti-abortion rights bills that Clinton has vetoed and Gore likely would, Bush will likely throw a party about signing. Theres an excellent chance that a high court jurist will retire or kick off in the next four years, and I've had too much of Clarence to see another Bush appointing anyone else. So, yeah, dems and reps may be the same money grubbing whores 90% of the time, but that other 10% (or less) is pretty fundemental as far as I'm concerned.
I'll just have to vote in the evening so I can wash the slime off.
-Kahuna Burger
...will work for Chick tracts...
It seems to me issue is that Bush backs the christian coalition ("hello to censorship" !) and oppose the anti-trust suit against Microsoft. Those 2 things alone makes me puke.
umm, since when does Taco claim to be a "professional journalist"?
As other people have stated, he is more of an editor. This site has never stated (AFAIK) that they are under the same obligations as cnn.com or bbc.co.uk to be objective.
Not that those "real" news sites are always objective, but that's another story.
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"It was people! People soiled our green!"
Bias is everywhere in today's media. At least with Slashdot, it's usually out in the open.
Take for example Disney's efforts to kill an ABC news story about DisneyWorld park employees with records of child abuse and/or molestation.
Or how about the fact that third party candidates get next to no coverage in the media? A fair and unpartial news organization would give all candiates equal air time, but that is not the case.
CNN, Fox News, The New York Times are all corporate entities with a bottom line to protect, and that immediately biases what they will print/broadcast.
Just the wording of a title for a news article can be biased - Noam Chomsky has written excellent essays on how simple word choice can betray bias.
The dream of a news organization without bias is just that - a dream. Every reporter, editor, what-have-you, conciously or unconciously, puts his or her own views and spin on the stories they report. Just the choice of what to report is a bias.
No one seems to mind that Slashdot is completely biased against Microsoft and for things like Linux. And its OK because everyone knows going in to Slashdot that they have that bias. As long as it is spelled out, I think CmdrTaco should have the right to express his political views in the open.
-vince
If you don't like Bush or Gore, why not look into other possible candidates? That's the only way change will ever come about. Check out Harry Browne, the Libertarian candidate, at www.harrybrowne.org If everyone that thinks their vote doesn't matter, or refuses to vote for a 3rd party because it's a waste, would actually vote for that party, maybe something would get done in the country.
The main difference between Taco giving his opinion here and the actions of the news conglomerates is that they would take care to mislead you by pretending to be objective while spinning as hard as they can. Taco skipped the "misleading" part.
In my mind at least, that's about an order of magnitude better. But I guess if you prefer to be lied to, so be it.
--
Michael Sims-michael at slashdot.org
As a Philadelphian I was vrey pleased with the actions my city and its police dept took during the past week.
"Freedom of Speach" isn't an absolute right; you can be sued for libel, and of course you can't shout the proverbial "fire in the theatre". Similiarly, I think most Americans would argee that the right to assembly does not give you the right to hold hostage a million people by shutting down access routes out of downtown Philadelphia (center city as we call it here), as some protestors did attempt to.
I think the authorities were more than generous in allowing protestors who had intentionally not applied for a permit (to show their so called dissidence) but were willing reasonable enough and could be negotiated with, - to march down a 4 mile stretch of one of the busiest Philly streets, Broad st. They also received full Police protection from traffic that was not expecting to find the street closed.
Most of the protestors who were arrested were not part of an organization with a noble cause. As admitted by several in TV interviews they were there for the sole purpose of disrupting "the event". These scoundrels who would assert that they have a right to block major intersections by overturning dumpsters in the street deserve to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and have clearly overstepped any constitutionally protected rights.
American kids today have a got a lot to learn about political dissidence. Some of the best examples can be seen abroad. Take Natal Sheransnky, a Russian Jew who during the 70s hijacked a plane to bring attention to the plight of Soviet Jewery. He rotted in Jail for about 10 years, but he became a martyr and it benefitted his cause. - and if you think US jails are bad...
My point being, that if you plan on breaking the law to bring attention to your cause (or lack of one) then you must be willing to pay the price - be a martyr. The kids in jail here are a bunch of whining babies. They think that they should be allowed to get away with vandalizing property, assaulting police, and other offenses because they were "protesting"? Boohoo, in Philly we actually enforce our laws.
--Aaron Greenberg
It makes me very sad to see such stupid political slander on /. I have just lost a lot of respect for malda, he is no better than the rest of the media pushing their political views.
/. to read biased politics, I will probably be coming here less now. I think malda should apologize for this.
I do not come to
Taco and everyone else posts their opinions from time to time. Usually, its on their opinion on a brand of Linux or the implications of a new bill or why a new space satellite is cool. Just because this opinion is about a presidential candidate doesn't mean its inappropriate. This site used to be more technically focused on OS and Linux, but now it more accurately matches "News for Nerds. Stuff That Matters."
There is no such thing as unopinionated news. Even the decision on what to post is opinionated. Thats just the way it is.
I read /. because the only politics that I have to read is about privacy/technology legistlation.
Perhaps your view of "politics" is more focused than mine, but how is this any different than the incredibly strong Anti-Corporate/Pro-Open Source Movement of Slashdot throughout?
If CmdrTaco said "And by the way, I hate Microsoft's compilers, I'd rather use MalignantC++ 3.0 instead" his comment would be universally hailed as the teachings of a heroic Freedom Fighter.
Pot. Kettle. Black.
Slashdot is more like the editorial and the oped section of a newspaper. Nearly every post has at least an implicit bias. This is OK in a forum like /. The way to deal with bias is to argue against the view to which you disagree. But it is not useful to argue against bias itself; if you do you are battle you cannot win.
I think that it is important to oppose George W. Bush. He is beholden to the Right Wing Christian wing of the Republican party. That branch would like nothing better than to use the laws and the government to impose their view of morality on the rest of America. That wing of the Republican party values freedom less than any other major political grouping in the America right now. That George W. gets a tremendous amount of support from this wing of the party should be reason enough to oppose him.
If you consider somoene at whatever website giving his opinion with 0 arguments to back them up as a political evaluation to be taken seriously its only a small step to accepting Taco as your oracle.
He just gave his opinion, dont make more of it than it is.
He's not offering a "political evaluation", he's offering an opinion. He doesn't give us any reasons to back it up, so why you would consider this a political evaluation is beyond me.
Obviously, he is kinda "forcing" us to read his opinion (and that might be considered questionable, but hey, he's not a journalist), since he put it right in the text of the article, but he's certainly not "forcing" you to accept it as anything other than his personal opinion.
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"It was people! People soiled our green!"
Slashdot has certainly influnenced my opinion of politics. I used to be interested in the Libertarians, but they have just ticked me off. Leagalizing drugs will make it only easier for crackheads to sell their drugs on our streets, and to children. Not to mention the date rape pills...
Libertarians also seem very anti-religious and intolerant of it. Why does everyone want to support the ACLU? The ACLU does not support freedom of religion. Why does the ACLU want to get rid of all references of the word God? They sued the state of Ohio because of mentioning God in the state motto, yet they don't sue the national treasury for printing "In God We Trust" (see signature).
Thank you slashdot, I know what party to register as when I am old enough to vote.
four (yes, four.. Besides Bush and Gore, Nader and Buchannon are raise important issues and are valid candidates.)
Ummmm, Don't you mean five... We shouldn't forget Harry Browne.
It's not about Republican vs. Democratic financial values.
It's about Bush's unwillingness to pare down the public debt and instead release most of the surplus funds for economically unneeded tax cuts. And it's about Gore's continuing to reduce the debt and thus reduce the gargantuan interest payments on same. After the debt is substantially reduced or gone, we will all get a much much larger tax cut!
I don't really like Gore, but at least he has economic sense.
Steve Magruder
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
GWB loves H1-B visas, UCITA, and would prefer the Internet be sterilized of all that is not acceptable to the eyes of a three year old, of course what is not acceptable to the eyes of a three year old will be determined by the Christian Coalition. (BTW, you'd never guess that I once considered myself a Conservative and actually voted for his father twice, would you?)
Gore? Remember the PMRC? He pretty much has the same "anti-geek" view that Bush has. Maybe he doesn't like the UCITA, but he can't stop it now(it was drafted under his administration, remember.) And the Children's Television Workshop will probably be the model for what the Internet will be like.
And let us not forget: Bush thinks Microsoft should be left alone...unlike Clinton, Gore doesn't appear to have aspirations to mingle with celebrities, he golfs with Bill Gates.
Any true geek who votes DNC or GOP should have his membership revoked and be forced to code in nothing but Logo!!!
The topic and content of all forums are choosen and moderated by some person or party. In this case it is CT. Iam not aware of anyone being kicked from here for their views or beliefs, but then I have been wrong before.
Those who give up freedom for security deserve neither.-Ben Franklin
Don't forget that ALGORE is also the son of his father, Al Gore Sr., a prominent senator from Tennessee ( link)
Besides, the Kennedy's have been a political dynasty for decades. The only thing that seemed to have stopped it was the unlikely plane crash that killed JFK Jr., who would have probably run for office eventually.
Unfortunately, I'm not a American history expert... but I would be willing to bet that there are many more out there! And you'll notice the trend continuing... it will be tougher and tougher for non "name-brand" politicians to break into the fold. So you'll see more actors, and "son-of"'s, and sports figures...
-rt-
-rt-
** Evil Canadians are taking over the world. Learn about the conspiracy
Bush is owned by Microsoft. Gore is owned by the MPAA. Both are hostile to the Fourth Amendment (and other civil rights). The only candidate for president whose ideals are compatible with those of Free or Open Source software is Harry Browne, the Libertarian candidate. A vote for anyone else is a wasted vote.
Actually, my vote is going to the only one with brains in this campaign: Ralph Nader. It's an outrage he is being excluded by the ridiculous rules of the debate committees. Our political system makes me want to puke some times. I wouldn't vote for GWB, btw, if you shot me in the head. F him and his entire family. He dumber than Dan Quayle could ever try to be....
Reports are conflicting as to whether he's being held on a million dollars bail or $500,000. He's being charged with a misdemeanor, according to the Philadelphia Police web site.
In other news, the provisional government of Hackonia declared that while the sky will, for the present, remain blue, water shall cease to be wet as of Midnight tonight.
"I will gladly pay you today, sir, and eat up
Sacred cows make the best burgers.
You got me there, each citizen is allowed at most one "website". Totally forgot about that limit on expression. As if.
Are you aware of the terms of the contract between Malda and VA? I believe he retained editorial control. Guess what that implies.
The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...
if Gore vs. Bush is a choice you don't want to make, sign this petition to get Nader and Buchanan(and maybe Browne, too) into the debates:
c gi
http://green.votenader.org/cgi-bin/petition-sigs.
The CPD is evil.
On the other hand, such a person has to be better presidential material than anyone nominated so far.
As for the 2600 staffer, it's irrelevent as to whether he had done something or not. The point is that US Law decrees that a person be presumed innocent until proven guilty. The day that bored police officers can simply arrest people, without due cause and without due process, is the day that ALL civil liberties become meaningless. It's quite irrelevent as to what is lawful or unlawful, if you can be held without charge, indefinitely, for no reason, stated or unstated. The police then become judge, jury and executioners within their own private legal system, outside of the US Constitution.
IMHO, the Libertarian movement is not much help, either. Without a CLEARLY-DEFINED declaration of what is acceptable, and without that being CLEARLY-ENFORCED, to all people, regardless of status, rank or privilage, you essentially allow for lawless "law-enforcement". How is that a deficit of the Libertarian movement? Well, who is supposed to -watch- the watchers, if not those who elected to represent the views of the watched? But the essence of Libertarianism is to destroy any form of strong Government.
Enough of that gripe, though, and onto a simple solution for this entire mess:
Why the third house? Because you need checks and balances. The two elected houses aren't doing that and so you need something that can. Something with no inherent political bias, where the duration of any one member is so short, bribery & corruption would be pointless, where there are no voters to bribe or deceive, and who genuinely represent a totally random cross-section of the population.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
If that's what the Americans want, they deserve it. I do suspect that it is much more problematic that he will try to impose their views on the rest of the world as well..
"I love my job, but I hate talking to people like you" (Freddie Mercury)
400+ people have been arrested so far at the republican convention, some are being held for almost a million dollars in bail - more than most people who are taken into custody for robbing banks. The police are arresting people wearing black, riding bicycles, or even talking on certain types of cell phones.
Where's the coverage? Where's the unbiased reporting?
There are a number of instances where organizers were singled out and arrested in a preemptive manner. This is probably why the staff member from 2600 was arrested. You see, the organizers all carry the Nextel phones, because they are cheap and can conference call. Read a number of instances where people were arrested, not read any rights, detained for longer than legal times, not told what they were being charged with, (and here is the shocker) because they happened to be walking by with a Nextel phone.
Do the protesters have valid concerns? Yes, I think so. In Philidelphia, it appears you can walk on civil rights, and get away with it with out so much as a mention from the mainstream media. My favorite site has been Tom Tommorrow's photo shoot of the Republican convention (Tom Tommorrow draws This Modern World.) The highlight in my mind is the part where you have a picture of Sam Donaldson sitting bored complaining about the lack of news, while protesters flooded the streets outside.
Over the past 10 years the Democrats have moved vastly to the right, and the Republicans have moved to the left. What we have right now are two parties that quibble over minor details while agreeing on the big ones. It truely has become a monoparty system. The term "Republicrat" is popping up more and more.
Bill Mahr put it best on his show, Politically Incorrect, "We already have compassionate conservatives. They're called Democrats." This is very true. There really is no voice for the progressive these days--or so the media would have us believe. The fact is, that Ralph Nader is a liberal progressive--and a damn smart person. He is the reason we have some semblance of auto safety standards. He graduated magna cum laude from Princeton in 1955, and from Harvard Law School in 1958. Since then he has tirelessly devoted his life to public service. The guy makes over $300,000/yr and lives off of $25,000--because he gives the rest to civic projects.
More importantly, the guy is way ahead of all the other third party candidates, is on the ballot in 30 states already (including Montana
But, the media has chosen to ignore him.
So rather than throw my vote away by voting for one of the major parties, I'm going to do something this year. I'm going to do my part to get the Green Party recognized so that the Democrats can never again say,"You have to vote for us, we're not Newt Gingrich's party."
-Peter
Voting for the "least worst choice" is still going downhill. Make your vote actually count. Vote Nader
. Penguins Surely Ca
Given a choice between George "MCR" Bush and Gore, I'm forced to take the former. It must be that CmdrTaco doesn't get out much and has trouble understanding complex human interaction issues, like politics. Perhaps it's just a working-class Michigan background and that whole socialist-prole thing they have going up there.
Vote for whom you like, you generally get the candidate you deserve.
p.s. To Rob: I work for a company that generates lots of Malignant Carbon Rods. What do you have against MCR's?
"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers."
"Computers are useless. They can only give you answers."
-- Pablo Picasso
IMO, one of the best things about Slashdot is that its biases are right out there in the open for all to see. If Slashdot has its own agenda then at least we're aware of it. Whereas CNN et al. purport to be objective and unbiased and then feed subtly biased info to the masses. I think the Slashdot model is far more honorable and far more trustworthy.
This site, like most others, is run by human beings with opinions and biases of their own. To try and deny that those biases exist or affect everything we do is futile, and stupid. So we can either embrace and accept them or try and hide them away and wait for them to creep up in some unexpected manner.
Furthermore, CmdrTaco did not sit here and say "Gore is my man, not that hitler bush," he expressed sincere disappointment with BOTH candidates, which is something I'm sure at least 50% of Americans are experiencing right now (including me).
Anybody who thought this site was some kind of bastion of objectivity has obviously never spent any real time here.
__________________________________________________ ___
rooooar
[Not anon coward; my name's Chuck Wilson. I just forgot my password.]
Okay, first, I'm a conservative and proud of it. Actually, I'm probably closer to libertarian, but I'm nowhere near the left. Worse, I'm a devout Christian -- and since I'm on the right, that makes me one of the evil 'religious right' -- even when 'I' don't want to force others to follow my beliefs.
That being said, I support GWB. I believe Gore is a truly venal, corrupt man, on a scale not seen (other than in his boss) since the Spanish American war.
IMO, corruption is FAR more damaging to the fundamental safety of our republic and far more threatening to the continued enjoyment of our God-given rights under the constitution than any of the criticisms leveled at GWB. (I do not believe many of those criticism, but even if they *were* accurate, corruption is worse).
If GWB supports views to which you are opposed, I would still urge you to vote for him. We can fix bad law/policy later -- if that is what you believe GWB will do -- in the courts, in the legislature, the next administration, whatever. It is MUCH harder to undo the effects of corruption in high office. Corruption tears at the very fabric of our republic -- it makes people stop voting (since only money talks), it destroys the idea that we are all equal under the law (since only money talks), it establishes an absolutism/despotism of power rather than egalitarianism (since those with money are above the law).
If the law does not apply to everyone, we have lost our freedom, and this experiment in democracy is a failure -- since the person to whom the law does not apply is free to disobey that law and violate the rights/freedoms of others without restraint.
I hope I have the decency and integrity to vote for a leftist candidate (who thus was opposed to my personal views) and against a corrupt conservative, if and when that is the choice. Today, the choice is between a corrupt leftist and a non-corrupt conservative. (Lest you argue with this analysis, no political analyst has even claimed that GWB is corrupt. It has been fairly well established over the last seven years that Gore IS.)
NO mention of politics on his site. SLASHDOT is owned by VA Linux.
Scientists, Engineers, Techncal People and other Nerds love to have a model for most things. So here's my model for political views (not parties, thought the equivalent named parties roughly fall in line)
Republican: Socially Conservative, Economically Conservative
Democrat: Socially Liberal, Economically Liberal
Libertarian: Socailly Liberal, Economically Conservative
Populist: Socially Consertative, Economically Liberal
Even though most people's views fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum (in all four quadrants), the political process is dominated by those representing the extreme edges of diagonally opposite views (first two groups). So instead of a a debate on the issues and a search for consensus, we seem to have personality contest and a tug-of-war.
Unfortunately neither a personality contest nor a tug-of war will be won by Mr./Ms. Deformed Carbonrod.
Sigh.
There isn't a single human in this planet who is objective on everything. The best thing to do is to be upfront about it. He said what he thinks (since when has expressing opinions been wrong?), and he also put a disclaimer on it. I don't see a problem with that.
Steve Magruder
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
I know the malignant carbon rod has merits... but what about the "inanimate carbon rod" from the Simpsons (in the "Homer in Space" episode), that made the cover of Time Magazine, and had its own parade.
Now that's a carbon rod I would vote for!
-rt-
-rt-
** Evil Canadians are taking over the world. Learn about the conspiracy
So I guess you are not a Jon Katz fan, then?
I know it says "News for Nerds", but that is a little misleading. Taco is NOT a professional journalist, nor has he ever claimed to be. I'd say about half the stories posted here have some sort of "opinion" tagged on by the editors - that's what this place is about. The very fact that the editors pick and choose what stories to post is proof that personal opinions are what run this site. So this is a little more blatant than normal. So what? Again - this is not a professional news site.
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"It was people! People soiled our green!"
Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one and they all stink.
kwsNI
folks, have a real problem seeing the relations between these two very similar problems.
While Slashdot and its readers complain about every "free speech" problem related to happenings on the Internet, they remain virtually silent about much worse abuses in the real world around them.
And often there only response is spewing propaganda from the Libertarian Party. "Eh...if we had a Libertarian government, this wouldn't be happening!!!" Except they seem to forget that most political struggles are in response to power, both force-related and economic. The Libertarian Party promotes a perfect "Order" in which these main areas of conflict for common people is the ruling standard.
So, I could only imagine it being worse as their government would exist entirely to maintain order (at home and abroad)...which is their order.
The Libertarian Party is also silent about the abuses of freedom and free speech rights when it involves anti-corporate and anti-state protests as much of them are.
Taco is seriously misrepresenting the carbon rod. It is far from malignant, as evidenced by its efforts to save the NASA astronauts on that memorable shuttle mission.
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"It was people! People soiled our green!"
I agree, discussion is needed, but how long did German'y Intellectually Elite ponder the state of affairs while Hitler ran fast and free?
"Draw them in with the prospect of gain, take them by confusion." Sun Tzu
Cuz I'll buy it :)
Mode (3) smart-aleck mode. Press * to return to main menu.
(This has no relevance, but I'm abusing Slashdot to say that I think Bush is a rotten candidate, and while I don't like Gore, I would vote for a malignant carbon rod for president before I would vote for GWB).
So instead of doing something rational, like voting for a candidate who shares your views, you're going to vote for a schlub who thinks it ought to be legal for the government to tell you to shut up.
I've met George Jr., and while I haven't met Al I've met Str^H^H^HTipper Gore, and told her she was a dangerous idiot to her face. (Well, she heard me, anyway.)
Between the two of them, I'd have to vote for Harry Browne
At least he doesn't think the government should be able to force all schools to censor Internet access if they want Federal funding, or support the v-chip. (Which they both do.)
--
...without mass arrests. Those frat boys probably like taking their girlfriends down to the prison to look at all the liberals behind bars.
Peace, or Not?
The point is, I don't give a damn about his opinion of a candidate. This is supposed to be "News for Nerds", it's not the place for an opinion piece regarding a non-technical issue.
kwsNI
Yes, your bias does have relevance. If you were a Republican or even a Libertarian, would you have even posted this article (among others - that's the more important question)? Probably not, because the article is not particularly well-written and I have yet to find how it has any significance here. Sure, this happened to a guy from 2600, which I suppose makes him a geek. Lots of things happen to geeks every day, that doesn't necessarily make them newsworthy. Maybe last week I was in a store where an armed robbery took place. Should you post a story about that? "A geek almost got killed in a store, lets ban guns!!!" I come here for technology-related news, not political propaganda.
It will be interesting to see whether or not you post things about the Democratic Convention protests in Los Angles. Actually, it will be more interesting to see if you look for 'pro-Democrat' propaganda about the event and post that instead of the 'facts' from the opposing side as you did here.
Honestly, I knew the information I have been reading here daily over the past two years has been biased since day one, but this pushes it over the edge. You have the right to free speech, but this was totally unnecessary and unprofessional. Once Kiro is back, I won't be coming to slashdot anymore.
Just my abuse on slashdot :)
--SONET
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do. --Benjamin Franklin
Slashdot is his site.
He stated his opinion, and its obvious that this simply is his opinion.
Twisting of truth is a problem, stating an opinion is not.
Slashdot is not CNN. If the maintainers of Slashdot feel strong about something and express this in clear words, thats perfectly ok.
People simply should go to CNN or ZDNET or whatever if they want anonymous news from seemingly unbiased droids.
Go to Cuba?
Why not Canada? Or the UK? Or Germany? Or Sweden?
Oops, sorry, you're using *that* definition of Socialism.
Try to look further than the Bush/Gore microcosm. Anywhere else in the world they would be in the same political party. In many ways, they are.
One party states are bad. Cuba and the USA need real choice, without established elites preventing true democracy. Most people in the US vote for the what'sthepoint party.
(It's at this point someone usually says "Duh, the Nazis were socialists". Sure.)
please... the philly police did nothing wrong.
(I live 30 mins north of philly, so thanks to local news, we got a bit more information regarding what happened than most of you)
I don't think that the Philly police did anything wrong at all during the convention. If anything, they deserve a lot of credit for how they handled all this. The local police did A LOT of research (including flying up to Seattle during the riots) and lots and lots of training for weeks before the convention.
The so-called peaceful protesters were really not so peaceful. The police (thanks to tips from the secret services) found all kinds of stuff, ranging from explosives, to lethal spiders, snakes, etc that the protesters were planning to release in the crowds. Not to mantion protesters were tying piano wire across roadways to try to trip horses (and potentially injure them). The list of outrageous things they did goes on and on.
As far as the prison bad treatment, well, it seems that again, it was the police that was abused. Apparently, the so called peaceful protesters were throwing feces and urine at the guards/cops - while chanting and screaming all night long. No offense, but with that kind of behavior, bot only do they not deserve any kind of civilized treatment, but they deserve to be in lockup for the rest of their stays in that prison. That being said, they were fed, INCLUDING those with special diet requirement like lactose intolerance (they received peanut butter sandwich instead of cheese sandwich).
Lastly, I sincerely doubt that this guy was in fact walking down the street with his cell phone - but if it is in fact the case, I'd like to think that it is an isolated incident/mistake for which the cops should apologize. There were tons of actually peaceful protests all around the city, and none of them were brutalized or anything, although the Philly police did keep an eye on all of these protests.
All in all the Philly police did a great job, and reacted VERY WELL under extreme pressure.
As far as the remarks about GW Bush, well, as an H1B worker, the american politics don't interest me a whole lot but I will say this: the alternative doesn't seem a whole lot better (if at all better).
PS: I am from Belgium, you should see the kind of crowd control we use when we have violent protesters (which we do a lot since Brussels is the headquarters of NATO and EU) - the tactics used by the Philly police is relatively mild compared to what we do.
If he was talking on his cell phone the way most people do (loud & annoying) I think this is setting a great precedent for people to BE QUIET AND POLITE when using their cell phones. Hopefully he learned his lesson.
--
Peace,
Lord Omlette
ICQ# 77863057
[o]_O
________
Vote Bush for war and economic despair:
Are the views Bush supports really his own? Can anyone truly feel right voting for a leader that was brought up in a wealthy environment lacking all discipline and responsibility? Is he a leader and universal role model or a self-indulgent, spoiled playboy riding on the coattails of his father?
Vote Gore to stay the same:
Gore is a diligent and intelligent man with a great amount of political experience. Very comfortable with his political position, any new or significant changes are doubtful.
Vote Nader if you actually give a shit:
Nader is a self made man who has taken a personal initiative to make changes that will benefit others. Take a look at his web site and his up front and blunt views. www.votenader.com Make a difference.
The Media and Big Business:
______________________
The mainstream media would never present this story to the American public. A much larger and more powerful CORPORATION owns every media business. Corporations love Republicans because they cater to tax cuts and the rich. Decisions made for the general public are not those produced by the greedy but by those who have the moral strength to think of another's well being before that of their own.
Big Brother is not the government. Big Brother = Big Business
Let the man speak for himself. You'll find lots of fabulous Bush quotations here.
Enjoy.
How can it drop another notch when (by your user number) you just found out about the place last week?
We never drop more than one notch per week, you know!
--
Michael Sims-michael at slashdot.org
What's wrong with Big Corporations ? They'r the ones who feed milions of people by providing work. No fucking social program, or anything else created by goverment or any other body ever came close to that accomplishment.
In Rod We Trust.
a) Slashdot is not a news source. Slashdot is a playground for geeks (and various other uninvited guests).
/. to be less biased?
/.. Filter out the trolls and the people with hair-trigger flamethrowers, and the remaining posters here tend to be both well-informed and incisive in their views. I expect to learn a lot from the responses from this article. Even from people who are going to vote the other way. I suspect I will go into my voting booth as a better-informed voter for having read this.
/. would open a /box for political topics throughout this period.
b) I happened to follow a link to www.time.com, which does pretend to be a 'straight' news site, and the article headlines are so biased that at first I thought I had found the page of the RNC. Do we expect
c) Though I probably would have (tried to) pretend more impartiality than CT did, I'm really glad an overt political post came up on
At the very least, this will be more interesting than the drivel the mainstream media gave us last week, and will continue to give us for the next three months. I wish
--
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
In case you're under 30, I'll remind you that the European (and American) left once parroted the same ball of #$@! about Reagan and Thatcher. Don't you waste any time thanking them for ending the threat of a Soviet invasion of Europe, okay?
As for Russai and China, I am perfectly happy voting for a candidate who will simultaneously piss two of the most corrupt and tyrannical nations on the face of the Earth.
-cwk.
The key words here bing "public forum". CmdrTaco in this instance is not the public but the editor and as such should find a more suitable forum for his personal opinion.
If YOU had made the same comment he did then I would have no problem. You and I fall under the category of "public".
Hey, sorry sport, but disliking Dubya isn't limited to the far-left. And besides, with as many gun nuts and libertarians as we have reading, Slashdot will never completely fall to those damned, dirty liberals.
Semi-quotes from GWB "acceptance" speech"
"We need to reduce nuclear missiles and nuclear tenstion, while building the [star wars] program."
"We need to take 'car of our kids, like I did in Texas, where if kids don't study hard, they don't eat."
"Black people are Republicans too" (o.k. he didn't say it, just a theme from the convention)
.and my favorite from a different source
"We need to keep the Internet free of government intervention to allow for vibrant new businesses and economies to grow and prosper, while defending the right of copyright holders and intellectual property for ANOTHER frickin' hundred years."
and while it's unstated, it's understood...
"we need to get the DOJ off of Microsoft's back and let them innovate their stock prices back into the stratosphere."
(final note: this is posted from BeOS since my w2k internet connection got borked by sp1. I can post it from linux too if that gives you a stiffy)
(really final note: I totally support CT for posting whatever he feels like on his web site. It is a bastion for free speech after all. If you don't like it, make your own and convince a shitload of people to read it, BY POSTING WHAT YOU WANT!)
(just being silly note: I'm from Texas and I can't stand GWB, I like his dad, but I knew kids like GWB in college. He's a shithead, but you won't know it till you party with him till sunrise.)
--
+&x
I, for one, think that's a good thing; of course, I, for one, think that the two major candidates for U.S. president are both evil and stupid, so I might be a bit biased myself...
--
"HORSE."
"HORSE."
-Flaming Carrot
This is outlandish! It's been statistically proven that in many of these cases the defendant has been wrongfully accused. So Bush merrily murders innocent people. I have no desire to see this ignorant murderer as the president of our country.
Fvck. No such thing has been 'proven'. No one has shown than innocent people are being executed. It has been shown that innocent people were _scheduled_ to be executed, and it has been shown, over and over and over again, that innocent people were _incarcerated_, and deprived of their property and liberty without cause.
Personally, I'm a little sick of the whining about the death penalty. Yes, it's barbaric and cruel and we should be taken aback that the state will actually put people to death. But the far more serious issue is that the state will, with increasingly less provocation, take your property and liberty with the threat of force. This, I might add, goes far beyond the normal confiscatory tax rates (40% effective rates? No way in hell.) and overly intrusive laws we face every day.
GWB isn't a great candidate, but the first rule of holes is to stop digging. AlGore is a catastrophe waiting to happen; The fool thinks it's necessary and approriate to ban the internal combustion engine! If Gore is elected, you can look forward to, among other things, ever tighter restrictions on 'hate speech', which is to say, unpopular speech. Kiss "YRO" goodbye.
Xman
I fully support you in telling us your opinion about GWB. Slashdot is read internationally, and I can tell you, GWB is seen as real freak from Europe.
The general view is both candidates are pretty much stupid, but Bush is seen as dangerous. I believe this guy has the potential to trigger the big red button. Man, Russia and China are going to be majorly pissed off if he makes it, because of that missile defense shield. And, for you USians, I think your fundamental rights will take the big dive.
Having such a trigger-happy moron at the head of a very powerful country is suicide. "Dubya" has no idea of where he's going as soon as he's out of Texas, and Dick Cheney is a real rattlesnake who orchestrated the big PR bullshit during the "Gulf war".
Be careful with who you'll vote for, guys.
-- It's always darker before it goes pitch black.
Are you say that the Democratic Mayor of Phillidehpia allowed Bush to use his police force to hoarse & abuse protestors? I am no fan of Bush either and am seriously thinking of voting for Harry Browne the Liberitarian.
Another petition also supports opening up the debates.
"The simplest solution is to ignore your dead children."
So fucking what ? We saw Clinton actually prove that he was worthless candidate, this guy is at the beggining of the road and you are dismissing him.
I can't see the difference between how China is treating members of the Falun Gong and what's happening in Philadelphia (and what did happen) in Seattle.
Agreed. Both the U.S. and China understand quite well that demonstrations and the appearance of chaos and civil unrest are bad for business. I've talked with Chinese who were in support of the Chinese government's handling of the Tiananmen Square incident--at that time, some ten years ago, China's economy was taking off due to investment from the West. Many corporate eyes were trained on China to see how they would handle the protests. When they saw that they would happily call in the military to quell an otherwise peaceful demonstration, it was clear that it was much safer to invest in China than, say, Russia. And honestly, how could the U.S. in good conscience disagree with their actions after the Kent State murders?
Heavy-handed police tactics are nothing new in the U.S. We sent state militias out to help Pinkerton break strikes at Carnegie Steel, we sent Patton and his cavalry to charge and tear gas the Bonus Army and chase them off D.C. soil, we firehosed Dr. King and his companions in the name of "segregation today, segregation tomorrow." In each case the government, a pawn of the "haves," abused its power over the "have nots" in the name of good business and preservation of the status quo. Why should we expect this precedent to change? And why should we expect China not to learn from our good example?
they do provide a link, it's at the bottom of the page.
My friend in Philadelphia,Brian Santora,went down to the Phila. Convention Center with my cousin to "tease the Republicans".In other words,they stood on the grounds and called the people there bizzare combinations of gibberish like "Whiped-cream-eating Republicans!".Funny as hell,and completely benign,but they still got kicked out.Funny though.
------------------------
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Thus Spake ComradePenguin
Dude, why you be trollin'? That ain't cool.
Gore - Takes credit for the internet.
Bush - Shares credit for everything done in Texas among it's entire poltical system.
Gore - Leans to the left and the right, just depending on how the polls are going.
Bush - Takes a stance and hasn't changed them to fit the ideas expressed by the largely uninformed public, including CmdrTaco, in polls.
Gore - Believes in equality across the board in everything. In other words, equal in misery, no matter how hard you try.
Bush - Believes in equal oppritunity, by not garunteed results. People have the chance to make their own future, not just to plug a hole created by the government quotas.
Gore - Pro-Abortion
Bush - Pro Life, but has said to only act on the partial birh abortion bill. Quite simple, I agree with his stance, because my daughter was born a micro-premie, and while she survived, many children older than she was at birth will never have the chance to live.
Gore - Social Responsibility
Bush - Personal Responsibility
Gore - Taking credit for the new economy, which is really a result of the economic policies created during the Regan Era and the new tech economy
Bush - Understands that, but knows that 90% of the american people don't know jack shit about how economics works, so won't argue that point.
I'm sorry, but you should be able to tell who I'm voting for.
If you want socialism, go to Cuba.
Rupert Murdoch gets to have his right-wing political buddies blasting Clinton on Fox News and don't even get me started on CNN and political perceptions. (Mercifully, their ratings have slipped dramatically over the years).
Get with it Bucko. Gore sucks (and I am a Tennesseean!) but I'd rather face a shit-covered sharpened stick for 4 years that the general rape of civil rights that is going to occur when that privileged jerk GWB gets in power.
I can do my job from anywhere on the planet and I think I'll start looking for a nice emerging democracy to expat come November.
Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
Check out The Philly Independent Media Center - they've got quite a juicy bit of information covering the protests - pictures, videos, etc. Not only that, but they are running Slashdot (or a significantly hacked version thereof). I've been going to their site most of the week because the larger corporate media has hardly said a peep about the massive protests and arrests that have been happening. On NPR's "All Things Considered" [sic] a reporter said that Bush's acceptance speach was going to be the biggest news of the whole week. Probably if you don't pay attention to anything BUT the RNC.
If anyone changed their favorite candidate after reading that, they probably changed to Bush from Gore, not the other way around. I know I automatically assume, given a lack of other information, that anything Rob likes must be dumb, and anything he dislikes must be s00per-l33t.
--
http://gammatron.weblogger.com
...so we could all say what a rotter he is.
- real hackers don't have sigs -
Leagalizing drugs will make it only easier for crackheads to sell their drugs on our streets, and to children.
No it won't, it'll make it harder, because drugs can be sold in liquor stores or Amsterdam-style hash bars at a lower price and higher quality than you can get on the streets. Pot costs about as much to grow as tomatoes, but while tomatoes sell for $2-3/lb, pot sells for thousands of dollars per pound, simply because of black-market inflation.
Libertarians also seem very anti-religious and intolerant of it. Why does everyone want to support the ACLU? The ACLU does not support freedom of religion. Why does the ACLU want to get rid of all references of the word God? They sued the state of Ohio because of mentioning God in the state motto, yet they don't sue the national treasury for printing "In God We Trust"
The ACLU does support freedom of religion, but they also support the separation of church and state. Ohio putting religious references in their state motto is mixing church and state. The ACLU sure as hell isn't going to try to shut you up for speaking your religious views, and if somebody does they might even come to your defense.
--
Duh - neither Gore or Bush ever said anything honestly. Those two guys would sell their mothers if this could buy themselves more votes... they are ready to say anything and its opposite to please any kind of minorities. It is just not possible to be honest when you want the votes from the ultra-religious conservatist zealots and the center-leftish blacks and hispanics.
IMHO one thing is worse with Bush : he is the son of his father (!). Having Bush Jr as president would probably start the first USA monarchy (what are you going to call him ? Bush II ? Then elect his son, Bush III ?
Nader is the only really useful candidate on the ballot. The Libertarians are corporate anarchists - any sort of gross violation of personal freedoms, rights, safety, environmental derstruction, is okay, because the marketplace will take care of it!
Tell that to people who saw what the marketplace did in the 1930s. Even better, talk to European Jews who saw what the marketplace did in the 1920s and 1930s to Germany.
--
Matt Singerman
Matt Singerman
http://matt.vegan.net/
I don't know what you're talking about in terms of libertarians and religion. The ACLU is most definitely not a libertarian organization, as witnessed by (among many other things) their hostility toward any privatization of the school system, such as vouchers which would allow parents to choose religious or secular private schools. Libertarians view religion as independent of government; it should be neither promoted nor disparaged, just like the 1st Amendment says.
How to solve most of our problems: 1.Lots of nuclear plants. 2.Cure aging.
Politics, now more than ever, need to be taken up wherever possible..discussed over every medium, because these are the people that are going to be passing or vetoing legislation that says what we can and can't do. Sure may as well just leave politics to CNN (whose parent company is time warner major contributer to the DNC and RNC) I only wish there could've been a blurb or link for Nader up there.
(= GreenCow =)
__________________________________________________ ___
rooooar
While we're "abusing" slashdot, I'd just thought I'd mention that I've seen a couple people here talk about Harry Brown as a worthy candidate for the 2000 presidential election. Take a look at his website: harrybrowne2000.org Harry Brown is probably one of the few candidates who would truly support leaving the internet free (as in beer). I can't say I agree with everything he says, but a lot of it sounds really good. Check it out and make an informed vote this November!
Mike
Busy, busy, busy...
There was a time when a television news had the guts to actually express an opinion. You know editorial. Personal opinions and favoritism do have a place. However, there are rules to this.
First, there is usually a person or persons who are designated to express and opinion, and those who do not. Usually in TV news the Anchor NEVER expresses an opinion. It is there job to provide the news, that's it.
Second, editorials should be clearly marked as such.
Third, there should be equal time provided for the opisition.
So, part of your aurgument I'd agree with. Other parts I would not. At slashdot I think we can agree Katz isn't here to provide unbiased reporting. He's writing an opinion. The question really becomes is CmdTaco really another Katz. If so, then he really shouldn't be posting fact only news stories. And his comments should be marked as editorials.
My $.02
Many other posters have said this already, but I wanted to add my voice to list of people who say: Vote Nader!
You can also check out the site I am working for for People Over Profit, which is an indipendant political organization in Vermont that supports Ralph Nader for president.
The site will not be up for a few weeks, but it will be at www.peopleoverprofit.org. Once I have a presentable prototype it will be up on my personal site, and that should be today or tommorow.
"Remember, there never were pineapple-almond cookies here."
> This is a special interest group of sorts, as
... Not "News for Geeks. News about Linux". It may have once been focused entirely on Linux, but it's quite obvious that that's no longer the case - get over it.
> it caters specifically to the pro-linux / geek
> community
Where do you see on the website "This site just for linux users only" ? I don't use Linux, I've dabbled, and found it neat, but as of yet, I have no need for it.... yet, I still come here for the news and discussions... ya know, "News for nerds. News that matters"
Slashdot is an opinion and news site, and it's ridiculous to think that the editors don't have biases and political views. Better to have their views out in the open, and know where they're coming from.
If anything, I wish CmdrTaco would write at more length about his political views. It's refreshing, to say the least, to find a geek site that isn't slanted towards the right.
Please. You should be in politics. You're already twisting my words. All I said is that /. isn't the place where I want to read political opinions. If I want to hear some assholes opinion of politics, I'd go to a political site. I don't have a problem with him having a political opinion, I just think it should be voiced somewhere more appropriate.
I don't see political sites putting out news about the newest kernel release, I don't want to see someones political opinion on /.
kwsNI
Now, I am really not trying to be a troll when I say this, but:
SHUT UP!
This website is not a news website. Slashdot *is* opinions.
When was the last time Slashdot broke the story on anything? How many reporters work for slashdot?
This website consists of finding news elsewhere and exchanging views on the issue. CmdrTaco should not be exempt from these discussions.
Another thing: to claim that he is somehow abusing his position by throwing his slant into the headlines is nonsense. Microsoft stories have carried the Borg Bill logo as long as I have been a reader, blatantly throwing the Slashdot staff's views into the mix. This is an OPINION website and this exactly the sort of expression I'd like to see here.
It's not his site - it's the public's site (and partly mine).
Go make your own site if you want just kiss-ass politicaly correct news -the source code is available. I might also recommend cnn, or perhaps msnbc. Now here, we have a tradition here in the spirit of free speech especially when others wish to gag it. I found this subject very thought provoking.
Complete objectivity is impossible. Better that a news source understand and note its biases and opinions, than to pretend there are none. I don't know about others, but I feel relatively confident in my ability to balance different sources and weigh them according to their interests in a story. If you can't do that, then there's really little hope of ever making an intelligent decision.
I know that slashdot-snipers are now in the ascendancy on this site, but face it: this is a non-issue.
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
It's not his site - it's the public's site (and partly mine).
But not tomorrow after I call Deutche Bank and sell off my shares of VA Linux stock (thus dumping my part of the ownership of Andover)
Publicly traded companies don't belong to the public, just to the particular people who own shares. So, if you think the company should change its practices, what do you expect to accomplish by selling your shares and thus losing whatever degree of control you may have had? You're not hurting VA any.
Like I said, it's your press, print what you want. "Abusing Slashdot" will only do more to convince many of us that Slashdot speaks primarily for the far-left wing of the "geek" population.
-cwk.
One friend of mine left an incomplete message on my machine describing the situation in Philly. I don't know if he's in jail. I don't know any way to find out. Can you "held incommunicado"? What image does that bring up?
The only thing that makes sense now is using internet horrizontal links to alert people. Email your friends. Get the outline of the situation and tell the gardening club or who-ever you know.
On the random arrest subject, it seems like the horizontal links provided by the internet are perhaps the only thing that will get people thinking about the conditions of this country.
Start thinking, start talking
At what point is this a statement that the constitution no longer means anything to these folks.
> Bush made a major political shift the other day, > from conservitive to progressive. Read the > pundit's editorials about it. It was > interesting. Al gore needs to do something > desperate to catch up on the 20pt lead Bush has. It is rational political strategy to pretend to move to the center in order to pickup the centrists. The center is where elections are decided -- as the party faithful already know who they are going to vote for. It is the so called swing votes that the candidates will fight for until November. Don't be fooled.
funny, i thought /. was rob site and therefore it was about whatever he wanted it to be about. apparently you're more knowledgable, please enlighten us.
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yeah and good education and good health care should be reserved for rich people. how dare they try to help out folks on lower income. and vote for bush if you'd like to stop spending on social services. go look at his record in texas on that score.
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There's nothing like a 100% genuine fresh high-quality troll post (such as that one), ground up and percolated, to get the day started! =)
Just giving everyone here a heads-up. Your vote means absolutely jack shit in the case of a Presidential/Vice-Presidential election. In America we proscribe to a system for voting that includes and Electoral College. Ripped straight from Brittanica.com..here's the write up:-
-
-------------------------------------------------
electoral college
in the United States, a group of electors chosen within each state to elect the president and vice president. Each state has as many presidential electors as it has representatives in both houses of Congress.
As originally planned by the framers of the Constitution, the electors actually choose the president. The framers preferred this to a direct popular election because, at a time when travel was difficult and there were no national party organizations, they feared that many regional candidates would divide the vote. Requiring a candidate to win a majority in the electoral college was a way of obtaining a national consensus.
Although the Constitution still allows electors to use their discretion, electors now are usually pledged to support a party's candidate. All the states, except Maine and Nebraska, hold a winner-take-all popular vote for electors. Whichever candidate wins a plurality in a state wins all the electoral votes in that state.
With the winner-take-all system, elected presidents receive a greater percentage of the electoral vote than of the popular vote. Two presidents, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876 and Benjamin Harrison in 1888, won a majority of the electoral votes even though they received fewer popular votes than their principal opponents. In a very close election, it would again be possible for a popular-vote loser to be elected president. Opponents of the electoral system fear this would undermine the authority of the presidency. It is also feared that a regionally strong third-party candidate who could win even a few states could thwart the intention of the voters. He could throw his electoral votes to a candidate, who would not win otherwise, in exchange for political concessions.
Defenders of the system argue that in a direct popular vote the winner does not have to win a majority of anything--votes or states. Small states or states with a small population fear being overwhelmed by urban centres. Defenders claim a direct-vote system would encourage more splinter candidates.
-------------------------------------------------
So, as you can see, the popular vote is just a method we use to make the masses feel good about themselves. The real vote comes from the Electoral College...and, even though the article there says that the states elect them, I've NEVER heard of an election for an Electoral College nominee. So take a good look at the US government, and realize that you, as a citizen in the here "democracy", have absolutely no power what-so-ever when it comes to the presidency. This coming in so late will probably not be read...but whatever.
- drink, fight, and fuck..thats all that really matters
Oh. I see. They weren't there to cause any trouble after all. They just gathered in Philadelphia to have a barbeque.
--
"I have a good idea why it's hard to verify programs. They're usually wrong." --Manuel Blum, FOCS 94
I can't find the correct words to describe my
utter amazement and disappointment in the political views
expressed by CmdrTaco. I would
guess that 15-20% of stories on slashdot revolve
around the internet and overal personal privacy
debates, or basially that there is none. Yet
what have Clinton and Gore done about this in the
past 8 years? ABSOULTELY NOTHING. Not only are
private companies intrusive, but the government
is at its most intrusive ever. So Cmdr Taco,
you want 4 more years of that 'leadership'? If
you want your privacy back I suggest you reconsider and
maybe check out HR220 and other
bills sponsored by *egads* Republicans.
And second,at least if you are gonna comment on politics,
come out with something better than 'bush sucks'
or 'gore sucks'. You just look like a f*ng idiot
when you make blanket statements like that.
i second both motions. when do we vote to make them laws? oh, one change - the evangilist watchers might have small heads, maybe just "IDIOT."
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This is just another examples of city and state governments going way overboard. This is very much like the protest in Seattle of the WTO. Anyone remember those? I wouldn't vote for GWB's religious wrong for nothing. And I certainly don't buy into this crap about compassionate conservatism. Their record speaks for itself. If your not sure, then check out http://www.hrc.org/ for more information. Check out their scorecard too.
I like the LP party, but voting for them won't make a bit of difference. You must vote for one party or the other.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Steve Magruder
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
right on. a lot of people have been concerned in the past that andover was going to restrict rob and company's editorial freedom. i take it a whole bunch of deluded bush supporters trying to restrict rob's editorial freedom is fine? actually that type of double standard pretty much sums up republicans for me: we're all for people's freedoms - well, the right people of course...
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I'd like to direct your attention to the eyewitness report of a local radio commentator who observed Philly police dealing with an organized disturbance with extreme forbearance (e.g. not responding to protesters assulting them in the course of their duties).
Of course, you all have to vote for me (http://www.ctulhu.org). Othervise, I will devour you. I will certainly devour you all anyway, but those who vote for me won't be tossed around with my hideous tentacles as long as the rest. Besides that, I feel a strange appreciation for the candidate Al Gore. Maybe it has something to do with his name, I don't know. What do I know is that I now feel like torturing innocent old ladies by poking them with some soft cushions and placing them in the comfy-chair together with my hideuosly ugly companion Terry Gilliam, dressed in all the garments of the Spanish Inquisition! Now, isn't THAT special? GHRLGHNBLGHR!
Iä! The hideous Tentacle Master has spoken! Obey or be destroyed!
As we all know from the Mitnick case, a hacker can initiate nuclear strikes just by whistling down a telephone line. I mean, that's just fact, isn't it? I think the police were very prudent in arresting him before he had time to launch.
--Remove SPAM from my address to mail me
Gee, didn't Taco vote for the guy who wrote the last library censorware bill to get passed by Congress during the Michigan Primary, because he Wasn't Bush?
It sort-of puts the whole thing in perspective for me...
(currently testing something about signatures here)
This an excellent example of the kind of lies people tell themselves.
Not hatred but Militant apathy - this was the thinking of the masses in Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany.
Note that the poster didn't actually mention either seeing the arrests or knowing any of the details of police action. I suppose living in the area of an event does make you an authority everything that happened.
Traffic jams happen continually in modern cities. And it's not surprising that many folks are thinking about "if we just get rid of all the radicals, we'll get to work 10 minutes earlier." And this is what the media feeds us today.
If you read the 2600 article, you'll notice that the staffer was targetted because of a speech he had given and arrested while doing nothing illegal. Now the police and media do like to give the impression that everything that happened was a matter of stopping dangerous criminals. And certainly these authorities are so trust worthy that there is no reason to get further information.
So how long do you normally wait in traffic? How can you stand it?
I know we all would like to vote for a "malignant carbon rod", but Jesse Ventura refuses to run.
Oh well.
Who are you to decide what's unnedded. It is our money and I need every bit of it.
Go ahead, move to Asterdam and pay obscene taxes. Of course, if you vote for Gore, you'll end up paying obscene taxes here.
Yes, 'W' is somewhat of an idiot with some not-so-good ideas. Gore would like to create a new Department for every issue and triple the size of the government. Is that a good option? More laws, more government, more taxes?
Why can't we get an intelligent candidate who doesn't want to screw the environment or inflate government until it bursts?
You know it's been a very viable tactic in the past to interrupt protests 'professionally' by creating a mob-like scene so that others on the edge will get riled up. This was a known tactic in Civil Rights protests by members of the various supremacy groups.
Call it how you want it, but it's not fair to arrest everyone. That has to be a conspiracy, which, IIRC, different protesting groups did not conspire with others.
If you are being peaceful and not doing anything wrong, why should you get arrested? Of course, when you're crying your ass of because you've just been gassed for no reason, perhaps YOU JUST MIGHT GET MAD.
Erik
Saying you are abusing slashdot doesn't make it any better when you do. Whats the deal, taco? Your personal political positions shouldn't be attached to an unrelated article.
I understand that you might wish to spark some debate about politics, but why not make it a feature article about which of the four (yes, four.. Besides Bush and Gore, Nader and Buchannon are raise important issues and are valid candidates.) would have better effect on technology issues that are relevant to slashdotters.
Now, excuse me while I read the 2600 article and post a relevant comment.
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
Well, let's see. What's the difference between CT's opinion of Microsoft and GWB? Nothing, unless you consider that this is a technology web site, not a political one. I can stand someone's opinion of a technology, I don't read /. for a political opnion though.
So unless someone is an "expert" in politics, they shouldn't air their opinions?
See, that's the thing about a democracy. We're ALL experts. Even Rush Limbaugh [!]. I have an idea: As soon as you can get a web site that is as successful as /., you can feel free to NOT voice your political opinions.
Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one and they all stink.
And do try to rise above tired cliches. Really. They're so demeaning.
- Rev.IMHO, slashdot is a good source of relatively informed opinion, but it's still opinion.
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
That Bush comment was the first of its type that I have ever seen by one of the slashdot maintainers and I am saddened to see it. It leaves me with no choice but to no longer visit slashdot. Slashdot has never in my recollection been used for partisan political discussion, but has rather always been issue based. Sorry to see the change.
Being aware of government is everyone's responsibility. Lest you really like losing freedom and control over your life and beliefs. I know I don't; I'd say it matters.
GW Bush is not a smart man.
www.gwbush.com
Numbers don't mean much. I was a lurker here for quite a while until I read something that compelled me enough to get a sign in. -Pastey
Bravo Dr S.!
/. authors comment "Cool Toy" "Gotta have one". We all race to the latest link and check it out.
/. is to balance my daily/weekly force feeding of propaganda, and opinion from the above sources I know are totally non reflective of my interests, beliefs, interests or concerns.
/. to provide the facts and commentary on issues that matter to me. I was there in the 60's (And YES! I do remember them) I am old enough to feel strongly that the communication tool the net provides is the most valuable contribution to our times and there is no question in my mind that the national media is hardly what I would hold up to Slashdot or many other like sites as an example of 'ethical'.
When a new toy appears and
News Flash! THAT IS OPINION, not NEWS!
This is slashdot NOT ABC, NBC, CBS or FOX.
I get plenty of OPINION from those sources 24/7 and frankly, the reason I read
The only reason I 'DO' read the standard media is to keep aware of just exactly 'WHAT' those people are thinking and trying to feed the sheep that believe all that pap placed before them. I read Slashdot for the authors/editors and posters opinions of the latest issues because they inevitably include multiple links, insights, sources and prospective. Truth be known, Slashdot posters furnish the depth I utilize to judge an issue for myself.
I don't code, I don't do hardware, and I'm not an industry insider so I count on
Just one more opinion, for what it is worth!
ah! the internet!! we may still screw up the world but NEVER again will we be able to claim IGNORANCE
Well, there were lots of people arrested for no go reason in Philly, and I dbout that his affiliation had anything to do with it. Hell, I was arrested for walking through a protest zone. And BTW I don't like any of the canidiates, but don't turn slashdot into a political soapbox. All you are going to start is a flame war.
Welcome to the Entropy Bar, may I take your order?
Thank God you are not decision maker of any kind.
There is no responsibility to be unbiased in the world of journalism. Rather, being "unbiased" (an illusion in the firsst place) is a property that the consumer either favors or disfavors. If it's not what you want to drink, stop comming back to the well.
The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...
Making a political comment (whether for one party, another party, or no party at all) on a web site that is devoted to "News for Nerds" is a very foolish thing to do. You sound like the rest of the media now, making political comments to influence others. What a childish thing to do. Keep Slashdot devoted to computer related news and keep your political comments to forums at cnn.com or msnbc.com. This is what I call a form of abuse of web-power.
The Bonus Army was actually charged with horses by General MacArthur.
IIRC, in the Bonus Army "campaign" MacArthur was in command and Eisenhower was his aide. But it was Patton (then a major) who led the Third Cavalry in its charge against the Bonus Army. After the cavalry charge the ranks were broken and they returned to their camp. Then MacArthur (against orders) ordered a bunch of tanks to run Stomper-Truck over their shantytown followed by torching the place to the ground. All told, over 100 men, women, and children died, including two infants who suffocated in the tear gas attack. It was hardly our finest hour--it happened just after Hoover got the GOP nomination, and the callous treatment of Great War veterans contributed to his loss that November.
Curious similarity in timing, no?
To all the people who are bitching that somehow Malda is corrupting the "objectivity" of slashdot by calling Bush a "rotten candidate", I say: "SUCK IT UP!"
;) I would like to complain about the racial and ethnic slurs I'm seeing in comment areas because aside from being completely offensive, they are also flat out stupid, but just like the english teacher who cringes everytime s/he hears someone say "irregardless", I know that if slashdot stagnates, it dies; and the only way to counter hate speech is with more speech (comments) not less.
Notwithstanding the fact that I agree with Malda's opinion, and I shudder any time I hear someone call Bush the lesser of two evils, you have to realize that there is no sacred "journalistic code" on slashdot that Malda is in violation of. It's his site (well it's Andover's, but he has creative control), and he can do with it what he damn well pleases. I could just as easily rant every time I see a M$ propaganda piece like "The Myth of the Borg", but I don't. Instead I suck it up.
I would agree that slashdot isn't quite like it was, but you know, EVERYTHING has that flavor to it. People always complain how SNL sucks, and how this cast can't compare to the cast 7 years ago, but there are people who say that cast can't compare to the one 14 years ago (etc.. ad nauseum). In the same token, sure slashdot isn't like it was 2 years ago, and even then it wasn't like it was when it was chips and dips, but change is inevitable. Slashdot is an organism -- living and breathing, otherwise no one would come visit the site. Don't believe me? Okay, when was the last time you went to see the fish cam?
So (back to my original point), GET OVER IT! People are complaining that slashdot isn't being objective when it calls itself "News for Nerds;" but they seem to be ignoring the second line of the catch phrase "Stuff that Matters." Surely this can't be seen as objective.. This website is as much a source of interesting scientific and mathematical news as it is a bully pulpit for Linux advocacy. So if Malda or Bates, or anyone else decides to run a story where they express some sort of opinion (I mean for christ's sake, do you people even SEE the Katz stories?) it's content is THEIR prerogative. You're a fool if you get your news only from one source anyway. No journalist is completely objective, so you have to sift through the shades of grey to find the black and white. That's what we call life.
Rich people are not simply given money. Around 40% personal income goes sraight to taxes.
Meanwhile, the poor get paid by the government to sit on thier ass. Not even an an ounce of community service or anything in return is expected or given.
No, the rich may not have it 'bad', but things would certainly be better _for the country as a whole_ if they could give more of thier money to their employees rather than just piping it to unproductive welfare recipients.
Who pays for your time and labor? Who writes the paycheck?
:).
If it's a corporation, then you are biting the hands that feed you.
If it's the government, then guess who foots most of the taxes?
And trust me, there is _nothing_ keeping you from starting your own buisness, how do you think most of the rich got where they are?
My _point_ is this. Why should the rich be treated any differently than the poor in this country by the governemnt anyway? The large majority of poor people earned their place in the US economy. I've yet to hear of a entrepenuer who got where he is by sitting on his ass all the way to the top.
In the United States, the rich are getting screwed over far more than the poor will ever be. Why should the rich be forced to pay so much to the unproductive black hole of welfare, when they could be spending that money hiring more people instead?
Right now, the American government bends over backwards to service the lazy and the poor while forcing the rich to foot the entire bill. It is personally my belief that the government, for the people and of the people, should treat _everybody_ the same, regardless of income or other factors.
Are the rich evil? No more than you are ignorant. But, of course, that's my opinion
Actually, the Republican party represents the best of America: those that believe that the government's role is to stay out of the way of hard-working individuals. The Republican party is the party of Abe Lincoln, and I'm proud to be part of the GOP. Conservative? You Bet. A Christian? Absolutely. Pro-life? Unashamedly. Democrats, I'm afraid represent big government, big spending, big taxes, and big union bosses.
I fucking hate Republicans.
Help me through college please!
Like Al (internet) Gore is any better. It would be pretty funny if no one actually voted. The same way people should refuse to have half their income stolen by the federal government.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Steve Magruder
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
Sure George and Gore are rotten candidates. But doesn't the repulican financial agenda more closely resemble your own than the democrats? Do you really think that social issues wont work themselves out. They have in every other case, abortion,womens rights, civil rights, etc..etc.. regardless of who was leading the country. They all want their jobs.... What do we want more? Bigger government or less? That is the only issue in my book.
/. just gave Gore about 700,000 to 1.3 million additional votes in the next election.
Irresponsible, no way. The mainstream media is duping the public into actually considering Bush.
Bush == Bankrupt America like his Dad did by blowing too much money on the military.
Gore == Will do nothing and leave the Economy to do its thing. (not revolutionary but has worked so far)
I'm sorry, I don't consider breast beating by the so-called "press" to be the real deal. After all, everyone knows that the police are pigs, so let's just say they're out pepper spraying everyone in sight and stuffing them all in jail for a million years. Bah. Out Demons of Stupidity!
- No matter how subtle the wizard, a knife between the shoulder blades really cramps his style.
This has to be one of the least useful things I've read on /. in a long time. A 2600 staffer gets arrested for something (they never do say what), bail is set at something they aren't sure of (and both guesses may be wrong), and he was walking down the street at the time of arrest (doing what? where was he walking? talking to whom?). So, in essense, some guy was arrested for possibly doing something and bail was set at something we're not sure of. Until there are a LOT more details, this story means basically nothing except a chance for Taco to get his views out to the /. crowd.
"Information wants to be expensive" - Stewart Brand, the same guy who said "Information wants to be free"
Actually someone did try to get "In God We Trust" off the coins, it was going to goto the supreme court, but they refused to hear it. I don't think it was the ACLU though.
I'm semi-libertarian, and somewhat religious; part of the problem is that on Slashdot you see a gross overrepresentation of the people from all over the political spectrum who think freedom of religion means people should only practice it in the comfort of their closet at home.
(currently testing something about signatures here)
As for News for Nerds? I would like to think that choosing the next President of the US would have some relevance to nerds. Let's see, we bitch and moan about COPA, export restrictions, patent law, FCC, FBI, NSA, DMCA, DoJ, etc... Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the the President can have an influence in these matters. You cannot on one hand say I don't want to hear about politics, and then later say that US laws suck.
There's always someone to vote for. Or rather, against.
Vote against the worse of the evils. If you do this consistently, that party will eventually wise up and then ante up a better candidate for the next election. Then you start working on the other party. If the electorate would do this consistently, we would eventually bring the major parties into line.
Unfortunately, most people vote for whichever party is going to boost their bank balance or treat them to other benefits and privileges. Which means the guy who does the best Santa Claus impersonation usually gets elected, however much his party intends to fuck us once they get into office.
In the immortal words of Johnny Cash, "they promised an elevator, but all we got was the shaft".
--
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
If we could moderate stories I'd give him score -1 flamebait or troll, come on, give us some reasons before you go bashing a candiate. But maybe you're right, after all, AL Gore did create the internet. lol BUSH FOR PRESIDENT!
--
|-_-| . o O ( bEef!)
Which leaves me... Bush. Corporation loving, big oil loving, big (insert large financial interst) lover.
So what do I do? Don't think about it!"
Nader. No way could I vote for Bush - he as as you say. No way could I vote for Gore - he is a vicious, lying sack of shit in dullard's clothing. As my philosopher friend would accuse me... I'm "throwing away my vote" on Ralph Nader.
Slashdot would probably screw up on reporting my leaving the island, too.
/. :) !
"Gervase is apparantly going to be the survivor"...
Surething,
(well, not quite I am 30 mins north of philly)
I don't think that the Philly police did anything wrong at all during the convention. If anything, they deserve a lot of credit for how they handled all this. The local police did A LOT of research (including flying up to Seattle during the riots) and lots and lots of training.
The so-called peaceful protesters were really not so peaceful. The police (thanks to tips from the secret services) found all kinds of stuff, ranging to explosives, to lethal spiders, snakes, etc that the protesters were planning to release in the crowds.
As far as the prison bad treatment, well, it seems that again, it was the police that was abused. Apparently, the so called peaceful protesters were throwing feces and urine at the guards/cops - while chanting and screaming all night long. No offense, but with that kind of behavior, bot only do they not deserve any kind of civilized treatment, but they deserve to be in lockup for the rest of their stays in that prison. That being said, they were fed, INCLUDING those with special diet requirement like lactose intolerance (they received peanut butter sandwich instead of cheese sandwich).
Lastly, I sincerely doubt that this guy was in fact walking down the street with his cell phone - but if it is in fact the case, I'd like to think that it is an isolated incident/mistake for which the cops should apologize.
All in all the Philly police did a great job, and reacted VERY WELL under extreme pressure.
As far as the remarks about GW Bush, well, as an H1B worker, the american politics don't interest me a whole lot but I will say this: the alternative doesn't seem a whole lot better (if at all better).
PS: I am from Belgium, you should see the kind of crowd control we use when we have violent protesters (which we do a lot since Brussels is the headquarters of NATO and EU) - the tactics used by the Philly police is relatively mild compared to what we do.
Maybe this would be a good time to ask whether I should learn vi or emacs?
--
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Having said that, if you really believe that socialism is the answer then by all means vote for Nader. Although I firmly disagree with him, at least he has principles, unlike the two major candidates.
How to solve most of our problems: 1.Lots of nuclear plants. 2.Cure aging.
Yes, actually. Here's ABC News commentator David Brinkley on Clinton's reelection:
I live in Delaware, a small insignificant state just south of Pennsylvania. Consequently, all of our news comes from Philadelphia broadcasters. So the convention has been the big thing on TV. I watched part of the protesting, and I was rather impressed with how the Philadelphia cops handled everything. The news people were trying _very_ hard to find police abusing the protesters, but all they could find were protesters abusing police. Now, all of you conspiracy theorists are going to say, "But the media doesn't want to show you police brutality because they're getting paid off." Wrong! It's in their best interest to show you police brutality, because that's what gets ratings up.
Like I said, the media was actively looking for police brutality. Here's an example conversation between the newsroom reporters and the "on-site" reporters:
On-site: As you can see, the protesters have gathered in the intersection. They're stated purpose is to disrupt the traffic in Philadelphia.
Newsroom: Have you seen any police brutality yet?
On-site: No, in fact we haven't. The police have appeared remarkably restrained.
Newsroom: So, what you're saying, is that you haven't seen or heard about the police responding with violence at all?
On-site: That's correct. Although we have seen protesters both verbally and physically abusing police. Like I said, the police have not shown any response, verbally, emotionally, or physically. The most we've seen them do is hold their batons with both hands in front of them, so that they can hold the crowd away from themselves.
Personally, I think the protesters were extremely ticked off with the police's lack of response (it makes the protesters look bad when they're the only ones being violent). The local paper tried it's hardest to make the police sound like they had abused the protesters. ("The police responded with batons". They implied that the police beat the protesters with batons, but they were really holding them up to form a barrier between themselves and the protesters).
2600's article claims that you can't trust the media to report accurately. While I'm pretty skeptical about what the media "reports", in this case, I'm pretty sure that they would've preferred the police to be violent. Think about it; which of these two headlines would cause you to buy a paper:
xxx PROTESTERS ARRESTED BY POLICE
-or-
xxx PROTESTERS ASSAULTED BY POLICE
And yet it was the first headline that appeared in newspapers. Sorry guys, but for once, the police did the Right Thing (TM).
In fact, after everything was said and done, the police were left wondering if they had been too easy on the protesters. One officer said that the protesters seemed to take the police's non-response as a sign of weakness, which egged them on.
All I ask is that you think about it before you blindly believe either side of the story. Remember, occasionally the police will act reasonably, and occasionally the media will be truthful. Don't count on either happening all of the time, but don't automatically assume the opposite either.
i'd like to see it more than here. the rest of the media is "objective." bullshit. every journalist, columnist and yahoo with a mike or a pen has an opinion. i'd rather know up front what that opinion is. i'd like to see a headline on msnbc "we like bush so much we gave him a million bucks." have americans gotten so positively thick that they can't form opinions uless they're fed info that they foolishly think is sterile and objective? as much as i loathed limbaugh and his nazi-esque hoarde at least you knew he was a power hungry fascist.
US Citizen living abroad? Register to vote!
Although it is definitely a good idea to promote retirement saving, I must disagree.
Social security is meant for just what the name suggests: security. Too many people, including GWB, seem to be under the impression that social security is a retirement account; this is not the case. Social security is insurance. The main problem with GWB's social security plan (which I must say is about the worst of the ideas he could have tried to take from Clinton; that he did does not anger me, of course, being that Clinton has done so to Republicans many times in the past, but at least on better issues) is that it is risky to put money into the market.
During these good times, people can say easily that not having made such a plan was a "missed opportunity," but when Clinton took office eight years ago during a recession and $300 billion deficit, no one foresaw these good times. The problem with such a social security plan is that the only people that can afford to take the risk with the money in the market are those that really do not rely on social security. If the market were to take a dive, what would all of the low-to-middle income people do since their social security money would be gone?
In my opinion, the social security plan mirrors many of the GOP plans in that they really only benefit the rich, which does not help to continue the economic prosperity (we know trickle-down economics do not work due to Reagan, so let's not argue that).
Look beyond the 2600 staffer; he's a side issue.
// may // have come into play.
// any // signs of it and I've been looking now for a good twenty minutes.
// I // have the right to protest.
// won? // That lawyer is just as despicable to me as the policeman who kicks a political activist in the stomach.
// SHOULD // use Slashdot for whatever vehicle we can. It is a recognized presence on the web and in the world (I see it quoted in two or more news stories a // day //. Not just Linux, but everything). We have the power of media, let's use it!
Look at the abuse of other prisoners.
Look at the legal observer who got tagged.
Look at the excessive bails. Fugitives? From misdemeanors? Why is bail set higher for a misdemeanor than for a murderer? Why?
Do you think that all these people would come together and lie? That they would agree on all the details?
God, someone get the ACLU in here.
No, you may not agree with what these people do.
Mob violence
Do the Philly police have media to show the mob violence? If they do, I haven't found
Do I like the KKK? No. I think they're despicable. BUT THE HAVE THE RIGHT TO PROTEST.
Do I like the Republican Party? No.
Do I think that anyone who takes another life needlessly and brutally should live more than ten minutes? (Please note, this is a summary argument; don't flame me for this as I do have a basis for this opinion.) No. But the people who do believe he should HAVE THE RIGHT OF PROTEST.
Our Bill of Rights means nothing, when the safety of the masses "comes into play." But the masses are those who have the money, not the true people of the country.
When we sit back and say "protect the many" are we protecting the many? Or are we trying to break the resistance? Our political system breaks more and more every day, by abuse for the government, and yes, by abuse against the government.
I don't blame the government entirely, btw. The lawyers who sued for the thief who fell down the flight of stairs while carrying a television he stole because "there was no stairwell and wasn't appropriate lighting" and
Some of you bitch because CmdrTaco uses Slashdot as a vehicle for his political views. FUCK THAT! We, and CmdrTaco,
-- Talonius
My reality check bounced.
You know, if nothing changes, you're culture will die, it happened to a couple of the ancient cultures you know, but I guess you're only interested in keeping your money safe, beating the wife up when you're drunk, and maybe shoot some 'niggers for hunting right?
Bizar technology?
Of course, this just reinforces the need for police not to hire any tom, dick, or harriet that applies for the job.
Police who need to physically restrain other individuals, which requires them to have the necessary mass and muscle, need to be up to the task at hand. Obviously not all parts of the police force DO this task, but those who do... need to.
In ye olden days this was never really a problem, but now you have a bunch of weasels who are filling out the police force... ones who I could easily pick up and throw through a plate glass window.
As a result they have to resort to these kinds of stupid, stupid, stupid decisions. No amount of pummelling or taunting or wrestling requires that you disfigure the criminal. As a policeman you have the unfortunate responsibility NOT to elevate the situation to the next level unless absolutely warranted.
Moof!
Surely if they were legal there wouldn't be any need for dealers to sell on the streets. Sales could be controlled in much the same way as alcohol or tobacco today. Anyway. If you want more, try this.
I don't know where you get this idea from?
Libertarians uphold everyone's freedom to believe whatever they want. Here's a quote from the Libertarian party platform:
Now, the only reason that i can think of that one could think that this was in any way against realigion is if if you thought that your religious beliefs gave you some mandate to oppress others. There are many countries in the world in which this is the case. America is one. Obviously some are more opressive than others, but still, people all around the world, in every country are oppressed because of their religious beliefs. Divine mandate has caused more hate than any other cause.
The quote, above, makes it pretty clear, i think, that the Libertarian party believes that it is not the government's job to legislate on issues of religion. It is up to the individual to decide what they believe in and respect that equal right of others.
Why don't you devote a post to discuss the four main U.S. Presidential canidates. Yes we are united as geeks, but by no means are we united politicaly. I for one would be up for some *intelligent* and *meaningful* discussions on who Citizens of the U.S. should vote for. (No, contrary to popular belief people from outside the U.S. read /. too)
bash-2.04$
bash-2.04$yes "Don't you hate dialup connections?"| write USERNAME
Steve Magruder
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
"This has no relevance, but I'm abusing slashdot to say that I think Bush is a rotten candidate"
...in the ranking of sites I visit. I was really suprised to see this. Too bad -
M$: "We're #2!"
Actually, the worst thing about the GWB comment was that it diverted attention the main thrush of the situation - the brutality and political repression coming from the Philly police. And this altogether had little to do with GWB. It's quite likely he had little direct part in making Philly a police state - since it pretty much already was one.
Indeed, you can bet that the democratic convention will be essentially the same story - if not worse. LA? Police Brutality? How could you suggest it?
I was kicked out of Hope2K for no good reason, (I threw an AOL cd before the cDc presentaion) and I was the only one thrown out for that although everyone was doing it, way to make an example of me, serves him right!
Basicaly in states where you have the right to protest and damonstrate against something you should take it whenever you beleive its necessary.
If the state hast to react with power against peacefull events, it usually has a reason for it or at least something to fear about.
Sad enough, but I think you can rate your state by its reaction to you taking your rights by going public with other than the wanted opinion.
Sadly enough I dont know many coutries where going out on the streets doesent bring any consequences...
Surprise, surprise people, all of the important acts of government which have pissed off the /. community have occurred while BC had the power to veto them or stop them. Let's take a look shall we:
-export regs on encryption. BC thinks they're a good idea and wants them, the republicans think they should be abolished
-CDA, bipartisan legislation; signed by BC
-COPA and COPPA: signed by BC
-Carnivore, supported by our attorney general and president
-Gore wants to begin allowing net taxes soon, GW wants to wait and see before even discussing allowing them
-DMCA, signed by BC. (yes I know it is orrin hatch's baby, but it had wide bipartisan support)
So CmdrTaco, you really think that GW is going to be the worse candidate? Considering that Gore has backed BC all the way, everytime? That shows you what kind of person Gore is.
Really...You'd like it if everyone got to vote on whether or not Slashdot gets to remain online (which is exactly what the Green Party platform calls for).
slashdot: news for nerds, stuff that matters
no, this shouldn't mean just discussions of PERL and when the newest version of KDE will be released!
why not include more news like this? i think who's going to be leading our country's legislature is at least as relevant as what new hardware SGI has designed...
It's not CmdrTaco's fault that people accept everything they read as fact. He wasn't trying to sway ANYONE's oppinion. He stated that "I think Bush is a rotten candidate, and while "I don't like Gore, "I would vote for a inanimate carbon rod for president before "I would vote for GWB." Notice all those's "I"'s in there? He didn't say "I COMMAND ALL OF YOU SHEEP TO VOTE FOR THE CARBON ROD!"
--
Soma: because a gramme is better than a damn.
I miss the old slashdot too. Does anyone know of a URL? I know the URL of Katz/Naderite "Anti- Corporatist-Fascist-Pig"dot is slashdot.org these days... but that wasn't what I was looking for.
(currently testing something about signatures here)
Which, of course, is the problem with the American political system. You get to choose, alright - but from the lesser of 2 evils.
> Reach out to minorities, but without quotas. (Jun 1999)
As a minority, I've alway wondered why too many "white" Americans assume we're all for quotas. As if minorities didn't have diverse political opinions too. Just like normal people, you know ?
- sigs are for wimps.
Everything he says is true, or funny, or so wrong it's right, or endearingly mistaken. What can you do?
I just heard that a malignant carbon rod has actually made it to Gore's short list of VP candidates. I guess Gore really IS going after the geek vote.
Gore/Rod 2000, baby!
Now for some truth: Libertarian Party Platform: Freedom of Religion
logan
Ok, so if people ARE being arrested AT random, then that's OK cause that's not political?
I assume you aren't currently stuffed in a two-person cell with five other people, with no sanitation, little food and sometimes no water?
Police acts are reaching the point of a Peruvian level of brutality. This isn't political? Hmm...
we need more civil disobedience, and these bastards need to be taken to issue on locking the protestors up, blatantly ignoring the geneva convention. whilst i don't agree with the anti-WTO sentiment (these idiots are in bed with protectionists like Pat Buchanan) i feel the Democrats are getting far too right wing and they need a reality check.
Slashdot is biased. Get over it. It has never claimed to be a truly objective news source (like ABC or CBC or CNN or whatever), it has only claimed to be News For Nerds. If CmdrTaco wants to give his political views, that's fine by me. I'm free to disagree with them as I choose.
Gross abuse of journalistic power? Get your head out of your ass, bojay. He didn't say "you shouldn't vote for Bush because a malignant carbon rod would do a better job," he said "...I think that Bush is a rotten candidate, and while I don't like Gore, I would vote for a malignant carbon rod for president before I would vote for GWB." There's a whole lot of I-statements in there.
Basically, he said what he would do. There's nothing in there about what the voters of America should do. Stop your karma whoring and get a clue.
Besides, they ripped someone's ear off. They RIPPED SOMEONE'S EAR OFF! Disfigurement is an extreme punishment for a misdemeanor.
Ch
www.phillyimc.org has a lot of info related to what happened during the RNC. It's nice getting another point of view...
-k
You should have seen Minneapolis during a recent conference on Animal Genetics. There was a lot of police paranoia about WTO-style protests. In the leadup to the conference, police submitted and then withdrew a proposal to ban the wearing of gas masks. A second proposal to stop and demand ID from anyone walking down the block the hotel was on was also withdrawn at the last minute.
In place of these measures the Minneapolis police mounted the largest operation I've ever seen in our city for any event. The block leading the hotel (on a pedestrian/bus only mall) was lined with concrete barriers topped with 8 ft chain link fences. The sidewalk was open to the public, but the street and the hotel grounds were closed to anyone without credentials for the conference. Adjacent to the hotel at the "dead end" of the sidewalk leading to the hotel the police put a sign that said "demonstration area". The street was closed to all traffic and was guarded by a half-dozen police officers.
The rest of downtown was pretty much a police state -- cops in plainclothes, cops on horses, and loads of cops in cars and this was DAYS before the conference even started. Clearly the police were expecting a paramilitary assault and were prepared to repulse it.
The end result? Nothing happened, but $1E6 got spent. There was one skirmish between the police and about 50-100 protesters; the protesters turned somewhat violent and the police somewhat overreacted and beat them with batons, maced them and carried them off to jail with little or no media reaction except for some light scolding of both factions. Four gallons of a mystery liquid containing traces of cyanide were found; protest organizers made some claim that it was anti-tear gas juice, police made it (unfairly) into some kind of chemical warfare tool, but nothing ever seemed to come of it.
My reaction initially was of real skepticism of the police; the anti-gas mask proposal and stopping people on the street and asking for ID rubbed me the wrong way. The end result didn't bother me -- I work a few blocks from the conference site and I routinely walked around the site and chatted with the police who were very friendly and offered no hassles to me or any of the other curious onlookers.
In the end, though, I do resent the protesters. I know they're not one big group, but I think that they bring on a lot of the police pressure. I think there's a real tendency to fall back to violence, self-righteously justified as "civil disobedience" (MLKing must be rolling in his grave), in order to either garner media attention or to disrupt the legitimate, lawful conferneces (WTO, RNC, genetics conferences, et al). I'm all in favor of peaceful assembly, but when that degenerates into smashing shops who have nothing to do with either side of the issue they're going too far.
The latter is the most dismaying -- shouting me down so I *can't* speak is a black-hat technique and shows a complete lack of respect for the principals of democracy and free speech.
Those people opposed to these hot button issues need to work harder to keep their side peaceful -- they'll earn more followers and further their political agenda, and earn the respect of the people and the police.
The idea behind Reagan's scheme was the following: The Laffer Curve shows the correlation between tax revenues and tax rates. If the rate is at 0% or at 100% revenues will be zero. If you don't charge any taxes, you don't get any revenues. If the tax rate is too high, it gets more and more attractive to hide your earnings from the state. If the rate is at 100% everything gets taken away. SO why should you work or declare your earnings? Now somewhere, unfortunately unknown, there is a point where you get the highest revenues. This is where the extra revenues by a tax rate hike just outweigh the loss of revenues through not declaring them. Reagan thought that the US was way past that point, and that if he were to lower the taxes he'd get more revenues, since it would be less attractive to hide your earnings from the state. Well, Reagan was proven wrong. The US wasn't past the point of max revenues. So revenues dropped and the deficit soared. -- Sometimes my two cents aren't even worth a penny
Like anarcho capitalism is going to improve the situation.
Follow this link to get an opposing viewpoint of libertarianism.
non libertatrian faq
So, you would be one of those good christians, that believes in forgiveness and turning the other cheek.
Unless, of course, the situation is one where you judge that such basic levels of understanding and good manners aren't called for?
-Peter
== Just my opinion(s)
Taxes were cut at one point during Reagan's term, and revenues WENT UP.
.4% of the GDP between 1980 and 1983, just enough to cancel out the reduction on federal expenditures on "Education and Training". Social Security expenditures took up .6% of the GDP more, sure... but National Defense spending took up 1.1% of the GDP more, the biggest gain, and one pushed by Reagan.
And that's a common misfact too; I've heard it from other people. I wonder who the primary sources spreading it are; I can understand random conservatives wanting to repeat it without confirmation, but you'd think any author would check the numbers first.
Check out the federal revenues and expenditures for yourself. Revenues keep pace with (although behind) expenditures through the 70s, each growing by about 60 billion a year, until 1983, when expenditures went up by the usual 60 billion, but revenues dropped by 17 billion. There's your tax cut. Voila, the deficit nearly doubles that year.
And if you really want to narrow down the blame, do some more research and check out where those expenditures were going during the 80s. Comparing the AFDC and military budgets is enlightening. According to the Cato people, federal expenditures on Health went up by
REMEMBER: The congress is the one that ultimately controls spending and taxes, not the president.
That's a matter of opinion, and the word "ultimately" in there seems to point more towards the president, who gets to veto any budget he doesn't like after all. Sure, there's pressure on both sides to come to a compromise... but the last time we had a major failure to compromise, the Republican congress took a lot more heat for it than Clinton did.
HALF? Umm...are we talking about the same country, here? Oh, and "With the right leadership" just about anything COULD work. The problem with your idea is that you would never find "the right leadership." Or, to put it another way, the people to be led would never be right for any one group of leaders.
You forgot to mention in your parting quip, that after the policeman walked away from the carjacking victim, he proceeded to arrest a man for walking down the street while talking on a cell phone.
We need police officers. Policemen perform a basic and essential function in modern society, in case you didn't realize. Show me a prosperous society without effective policing, and I might have a bridge to sell you....
That being said, policemen are human. They will make mistakes. What's more, we do little, as a society, to improve the situation--to make their jobs desirable--to a point where we can really afford to be picky. We pay them poorly. Most work pretty aweful hours. Few get respect in their communities, and in many they're hated. But we still expect them to perform. When they don't do their jobs, we complain even louder. Yet, when they perform a tough job like this, we can't stomach any of the inevitable fallout.
We, as a society, need to grow up. Yes, there are some corrupt and violent officers out there--and they SHOULD be routed out. But to use this as an excuse for inaction is just plain stupid.
While I concede that the police efforts during the WTO were poorly MANAGED and thus resulted in unnecessary strife, I can't say this for the Philadelphia police efforts during the Republican convention. I happen to live in Philly, and witnessed a fair amount of these "protests", I can tell you with my own eyes that they were extremely calm, well organized, and safe. I've seen policemen act poorly before, but this is not one of those times. In my opinion, there is NOTHING more that the Philadelphia police could have reasonably done to prevent those few mishaps. What happenened was simply inevitable. A number of the protesters did things that left the police with no option other than force. They took it--and generally did so reasonably. But this is not the movies boys and girls--the police are not supermen and hence, not everything can go off without a hitch all the time.
It is very unfair to play Monday morning armchair quarterback and talk about the things they could have done. You were not in the middle of the situation. What is just a "minor crime" on paper may very well have been a potential danger to hundreds of people.
No, they're much more subtle in their biases, almost to the point of dishonesty. At least Cmdr Taco is open and honest about his biases.
Of course not, because news is supposed to be objective and un-biased.
Don't let the name at the top fool you. This is more of an editorial site that happens to report on news.
Now don't get me wrong, CNN, ABC and the like have their own issues when it comes to bias, but if Slashdot ever hopes to be taken seriously as a news source, it has to start acting professionally.
I don't think Slashdot is really trying to to be taken seriously as a news source. Like I said, it's more of a discussion/editorial site than anything else.
How has he been bad? One of the most outstanding things I have heard a governor do was give the raise to teachers that he did. One of my coworker's wife is a teacher, and she has had a $6,000 raise since he has been governor....
I think so too, but you may actually be less likely to get into an accident if you drive stoned as compared to sober, because you tend to drive more slowly and cautiously
That doesn't hold water. I might try to drive more slowly and cautiously when I'm drunk, but the inarguable fact is that my reactions are impaired (just as they would be if I were smoking pot), leading to a situation where I am not as in control of the vehicle as I would be if I were sober. I'm sorry, but "I drive better when I'm fucked up" is not an acceptable excuse.
So, knowing that, you can have your "news" fed to you in two ways: you can watch a major network, where you can only guess the individual bias of the reporters or writers, or you can take it the Slashdot way, where there isn't any social posturing to pretend that it's objective. Slashdot openly recognizes the impossibility of objectivity, and is that much more accurate for it. When the basic human "flaw" is recognized openly, then everyone can take it into account honestly and without ambiguity.
The worst type of journalism is when everyone pretends that it's completely objective. Then you don't know how to weed out the "truth" from the opinions. And maybe that's how you like it. You'd rather believe in an ideal world that will just feed you all the unbiased news that your heart desires. And of course it's unbiased, because that's what they tell you!! But as for me, I'll live in the real world and read honest sources like Slashdot that admit to their bias so you can adjust for it and then move on.
-SpeakerEnder
-SpeakerEnder
-SpeakerEnder
Thou art God.
Besides, if it's not W then you're stuck with Gore.
(Anyone else think this year's presidential campaign sounds like a troll for the Stileproject: Want Bush or Gore? Why not BOTH!)
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
Have YOU metamoderated today?
Ralph Nader is the Green Party candidate. The Green VP is Winona Laduke. Being decentralized folks, it's hard to tell if their main web site is Green-Party.org or Greens.org.
The Reform Party convention isn't till next week, so we don't know if their candidate will be notorious thug Pat Buchanan or Natural Law Party candidate John Hagelin, who's trying to get both nominations.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Wait, wait, wait...I thought you said you'd be boycotting Slashdot? How can you do that if you're planning on posting duplicates of this lameass flame?
A protest vote is still a vote...
:-)
;-) But, as a friend's mother pointed out, anyone that actually gets her son to go out and vote after all these years of "abstainence" can't be all bad.
Yeah: the protest vote actually got Jesse Ventura elected as the governor of Minnesota. As one of those protest voters, I think many [of us!] were shocked to learn about our success. One columnist compared it to taking a stranger home on a whim, and being unsure what to do in the morning
In any case, MN has had worse governors... depending on who you ask
Not voting is not a "statement." It's an abdication of your responsiblity as a citizen of this constitutional republic. (Yeah, I know. If you're not from the US just ignore this paragraph.) For those that think we live in a democracy-- which congressional bills have you directly voted on lately?
"There is a diminishing return on caution."
I am glad that you read all of the news from the mainstream media. Unfortunately you must have skipped reading the last section of my post. ZDNET and MSNBC are both owned by LARGE CORPORATIONS. That means big business was involved in writing those articles and swaying your beliefs. If you believe everything that you read you might as well vote for Bush. If you have any other articles on a shortage of doctors in Canada or a the United Nations sending doctors to Canada I would love to read them. Maybe a bunch of really greedy doctors left Canada for the United $tates and the media blew it out of proportion. Remember that CNET article last week about the Mozilla Browser becoming an office app? Did you know CNET owns ZDNET?
As far as raising taxes, have you ever heard of a thing called the "National Dept?" Well, it is not going to pay itself.
Actually, most of Nader's Policies aim to hurt the short term in favor of long term benefits.
In addition: did you know that one of Bush's major policies is to increase the size of the US military!
please... have you ever watched the local news in Philly???? The local news NEVER miss an opportunity to take ANY report of misbehavior by the philly police and turn it into a major conspiracy. NEVER! That's what local news do!! (ps: don't know anything about the Inquirer - never read it, so i can't deny or confirm anything on that subject)
As far as your first point, there were plenty of footage from a whole lot of police altercations. As far as any close-ups of arrests and stuff, you can't blame the police from keeping reporters at bay. It seems like common sense to me.
What corruption? He got a blow job. Big deal.
Allthe other charges have proven false.
The Repubicans spend 8 years making baseless accusations and then run a campaign saying they want to reduce the partisan tone of Washington!
Unfortunately, the social issues will not work themselves out, and I think that based on Bush's track record, those are things to watch out for.
Take, for example, the fact that Bush wants to better education, saying in his speech that the Democrats have screwed the system up in the past eight years. THEN, take a look at the education system in Texas. It has the worst literacy rate in the country. How can one take him seriously when he can't even get his state education system working properly?
Then take the fact that he wants to get rid of abortion. Regardless of your view points on this issue, you have to see the realities of the past. Banning abortion will again create back-alley clinics where people go to get unsafe abortions since the government isn't legally allowing and regulating them.
And take gay issues. Bush has consistently voted against gay rights, and so has Cheney. This is a really bad sign, given the fact that Cheney's daughter is an out lesbian. If Cheney can't accept his daughter, what can we ever expect him to do for us?
If you're worried about financial issues, then remember we're in one of the best economic periods in a long time under Clinton and Gore. Bush has admitted he is a stupid man. But his answer to this shortcoming is that he will surround himself with smart people. Why can't he just learn more and not rely on the smarter people to get him through his term? It's a scary indication of what's to come if Bush is actualy elected....be afraid...
I never considered /. as a political force. I wonder what the effect of an official /. endorsement would be? If one of the candidates wanted to reach the tech crowd a /. interview would be a really good way to do it. Has any of the editors tried to talk to either candidates office?
When punk rock is outlawed, only outlaws will have punk rock.
Others will mention it, but the SLASH-based site to go for news about the protests is philadelphia independent media center.
Oh yeah baby, wait till Nader starts "corrective" actions on the market. Whoa ... loads of fun guranteed.
"I will gladly pay you today, sir, and eat up
Sacred cows make the best burgers.
I for one, am glad somebody has the guts to tell it how it is. Bush is a wolf in sheep's cloth or even worst. The guy is in politics for 5 years and they pick him for the Republican candidate, his backers are all old timer hard liner Republicans with a very heavy agenda. If the bastards win this election, kiss yer free internet goodby. Just my opinion.
~~~Please pass the salt, I hate unsalted MD5s
As many here I agree that neither of the candidates is a a good choice to lead this nation. When the time comes, Gore will be my pick, but only because I *HAVE TO* vote against Bush.
:-)
:-) This would be interesting.... I'd love to see judge Jackson break up Democrats and Republicans... :-)
/. ever.
Anyways, I was looking at other possible choices and came across Libertarian and Green platforms. Well, the Libertarians are a bit to extreme for my tastes, even though they have a few good ideas. The greens are too commie-like - I read their platform - 100% tax on everything over 10x minimum wage. So what else is there? I though nothing, but came across a site of Natural Law party (http://www.naturallaw.org) - their platform seems to take good ideas from Libertarians, Greens, and other ones and put them together, at least IMHO. BTW, their candidate, John Hagelin, is a Quantum Physicist.
On somewhat related note, considering that our political system is an oligopoly, can we expect a class action lawsuit by voters against the Federal Government at some point in the future?
Phew... and that does it for my first post on
Bart
Medi a Bias
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
Of course you think he's an empty suit. So would anyone else who actually hasn't taken a good look at him and his record, or lived in his state. I've lived here all throughout his governer-ship, and I'm very impressed. He's done a hell of a lot of good for Texas, and is very active in supporting this state.
Don't pass judgement on a person before you find out more about them. I'm sorry, but America already knows al gore, they've known him for 8 years, and the know that keeping the CLinton legacy in office is just going to send the country down the tubes more and more...
I could understand maybe a quick plug for Gore, but the way CmdrTaco said it, it makes Bush sound like he's the one responsible for the arrests, when the Republican convention has nothing to do with it. I guarantee that similar things will happen during the democratic convention. I'd like to hear CmdrTaco's reasons for hating GWB. I live in Texas, and well, he's been one hell of a governor. I know some democrats who have loved him...
My preferred news format is for the media to give us the facts, and let the people discuss it. That's why Slashdot is great. The little opinions tacked onto the articles are annoying, and this one went too far. Sadly, Commander Taco even said that he posted it! "This has no relevance, but I'm abusing Slashdot to say..." If it had no relevance, why did you say it?
From the comments thus far, it seems that this will is of more concern to readers that the actual article. That just shows how innappropriate it is.
News for Nerds - my $#@!
Lets start a petition to keep SlashDot politics free. Granted such discussions generate lots of heat and lots of Banner Ad exposures.
When asked whether this violated the civil liberties of the press, Mr. Bush responded -
Reach out to minorities, but without quotas. (Jun 1999) When asked what the 2600 staffer was arrested for, Bush's response was that the Miranda should be waived in some situations. (Jun 28) as well as uphold law on death penalty; and think of the victims. (Jun 22) One member of the press wondered aloud whether this was fair punishment for someone merely talking on a cell phone, Bush replied that More searches and less parole for criminals (Jan 1997) should be enforced - especially in cases like this.
2600 reports that they intend to sue over this. Bush responded quickly with Stop hurting business with excessive punitive damage awards.(Dec 1999) A visibly upset 2600 staffer replied with Assault weapon OK; waiting period not OK. (Apr 1999)
...I voted for Kodos!
BTW, Rob, that's "inanimate carbon rod".
--
Linux MAPI Server!
http://www.openone.com/software/MailOne/
(Exchange Migration HOWTO coming soon)
With all respect, try and have a sense of perspective.
So you see, we libertarians run a broad gammit. Writing off an entire group of people because of a few misconceptions is always a Bad Thing(tm).
God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
"I will gladly pay you today, sir, and eat up
Sacred cows make the best burgers.
Current post:
(This has no relevance, but I'm abusing Slashdot to say that I think Bush is a rotten candidate, and while I don't like Gore, I would vote for a malignant carbon rod for president before I would vote for GWB).
From December 16th, 1998:
This story was inappropriate for Slashdot. We focus on technical news here, and geek humor, and free software. Not on international politics. That said, I give authors free reign to post stories on what they see appropriate. In this case, that free reign bit me in the ass.
Draw your own conclusions.
He was also the kind of guy that tended to proletsyze at parties, while drinking wine and generally being the life of the party... :)
--Arcum
Excuse me but here in Seattle there was NOT "a huge amount of damage done to property"...a few downtown store windows were broken (notably a Starbucks) and the same footage was shown over and over ad nauseam. The police tactics were far, far worse...No disrespect to your Dad - just a fact. There was a definite suspension of civil liberties, bad/illegal treatment of "detainees" and plenty of random assaults in residential neighborhoods.
/. carried some admirable WTO accounts...They also pointed people towards on the site, truth-telling bodies such as www.indymedia.org. You ought to order the five-part WTO series they made and wise up.
If you doubt it, call up the Seattle Public Access Network TV sector and ask for a copy of the three public "town hall" hearings that allowed citizens to publically question police and city hall tactics. You'll be suprised; they stopped at three but people were PLENTY MAD - including "ordinary folk", & including some police.
Recently the same Seattle cops SHOT DOWN A MENTALLY ILL BLACK MAN w/o visible provocation WHILE LOCAL NEWS VIDEOTAPED IT. In the series of hearings that followed, it transpired that the same cop did the same thing 12 years ago - he got off then, too. A few tears on the stand and, despite ocular proof the man was nowhere near a gun or the phalanx of cops surrounding him, the perpetrator got off.
A week later he was named "Cop of the Month". So don't represent Seattle's finest as maligned because of huge damage during WTO.
"Sloppy reporting" describes part one of your post better than the "new media".
It's clear you've never worked in television, especially local news.
If more people DID look at what there is of a rceord for Bush in Texas, more would be voting for Gore. Not Daddy's son or the Execution King.
What party does he represent? I am definitely interested in "alternative" candidates. I consider myself "Green", but I don't think Nader is a particularly great candidate. I'll still vote for him, though, like I did in 1996.
cpeterso
I realize this is now thoroughly off-topic, but I'll say it anyway. I've now read several posts under this article that basically say 'I hope [Bush/Gore] doesn't get elected because the country will fail and the world will explode and life as we know it will end, so I'm going to vote third-party even though I realize that they won't win.'
/really/ don't like will win because you just threw away your vote. If you're going to protest the main parties, do it in a way that won't deprive you of the chance to vote for the president (i.e. before and during the primaries). And if you think that one vote among so many doesn't matter, consider this story: The 18,000-person town I grew up in had a vote about whether the elementary school should be given more money to build desperately-needed classrooms, and my mother was very busy that day and forgot about the town meeting. The side she supported lost by one vote.
YOU IDIOTS.
Yes, one way to protest the main party candidates is to vote third-party. But it's also a really good way to ensure that the party you
enjoying my "rich inner life," planning on regressing back into my younger self by preparing a 3rd Edition campaign for the fall, and some AC has to go spouting the truth, violently pulling me back into reality. I enjoy the truth as much as the next person, but do you have any idea how dangerous it is if you let it get out of your head?
Next you'll be telling me the US drug war is an immoral and unconstitutional repression of the citizenry to appease the religious right's need for cultural brutality and the essentially feudalist corporations' need for compliant sheep to work 80 hours a week on 40 hours of pay. Or maybe you'll point out that the abortion issue in this country, the one referred to as "old-time family values," was really only an issue with the catholics in Louisiana until it was remanufactured 100 years ago during womens' suffrage and adopted only in the last 50 years by the evangelicals and fundamentalists, who can't grasp the original purpose (medical health of women) and so cloy to the inaccurate idea that abortion is an affront to their nonexistant gods of Brutal Justice and Eternal Guilt.
"Old-time indeed!" you'd say, interrupting my rolling up some NPCs, "next they'll tell us Jesus' entire life story wasn't an aggregation of the ancient Cycle of the Fool and the myths surrounding the openly queer Orphic cults in what is now Turkey!" Then I'd probably tell you to stop worrying about things you can't control, and concentrate on making what little contribution to society you can manage while Nero fiddles. I, on the other hand, will concentrate on this really good idea I have for a city-based campaign.
-jpowers
-jpowers
Get it straight, Nader is not a total Socialist. This is not about Socialism vs. Capitalism.
So you see Bush as a modern JFK? "...brought up in a wealthy environment lacking all discipline and responsibility?". Yeah, sounds about right to me.
It's funny, if he's guilty of posting his opinion, how's that any different from you posting your own views on whether he can post or not?
Ok, there's like 30-some odd comments right now (at a threshold of +1) and most of them seem to be bitching about how CmdrTaco shouldn't have used Slashdot for his political views.
Why the hell not? He uses Slashdot for his views about software, why not politics? It's his website, after all, he can do whatever the hell he wants. Rather than bitching about it, just don't click on stories you don't want to read - less pageviews means he'll be less likely to post something like that in the future.
--
What good would it do, I wonder, to repeat that GW is a stupid stupid man, repeat drug user, mass murderer, nose picker, vietnam war dodger and the Anti-Christ.
Haven't you ever seen Damien?
:wq
Out of curiousity, why does the slashdot.org summary page say "malignant carbon rod" and the article page say "inanimate carbon rod"? I was all set to post that the Reform Party candidate was highly likely to be the Malignant Carbon Rod himself, Pat Buchanan (unless by some chance the Transcendental Meditation Promotion Party candidate John Hagelin beats him, which Ross Perot almost deserves :-)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
I really don't care if you owned all the US national parks, GM and Boeing. The CONTRACT that was signed was said to be SPECIFIC about journalistic independence. Meaning while Andover bought the site, they didn't buy any control. I wouldn't want to see a Slashdot where every story is a rubber stamp of Andover's or VA's corporate policies. Andover was very aware that if they insisted on control, this site wouldn't be worth the domain registration fee. It is MUCH better than CNN (rubberstamps Turner's views), ABC (rubberstamps Disney's views). If you don't like it, sell your shares. I'll buy them if you like.
Like it or not, government and politics will become more intertwined with technology because there's money in it! Politicians like whoring for money. And you have the export regs, carnivore, DMCA, CDA, COPA, COPPA, UCITA. Why shouldn't tech people dick with government if government people like to feel free to dick with tech?
If you want my opinion, both Gore and Bush are lower than inanimate carbon rods. How many times has Gore NOT been cartooned as a cardboard stand-up?
Right, and CNN isn't a news network but Ted Turner's television station.
Slashdot receives tens of millions of page views per day, which generates billions of dollars in profit each year for Commander Taco. His influence rivals that of any of the major news executives in the US, and therefore he needs to exercise more responsibility in his attempts to sway public opinion, before he is asked to step down, or shut down by government legislation (c.f. the equal access laws, for example).
Philadelphia Police is considered one of the worst police outfits in the country. But you don't have to take may word for it. Go here to see for yourself.
-slams
This is the most unprofessional thing I have ever seen on slashdot. Granted the quality of reporting has gone WAY downhill over the last couple of years but this reaches an all-time low.
The purpose of a "news" source is to be objective and present the facts, allowing people to make up their own minds on an issue. Slashdot has a very wide-reaching effect on people, and by bashing GWB you throw away all of the ethics behind being a "news" source.
Perhaps in the future you should think before you post a story. It's sad enough that so many people are too ignorant to make their own minds up, there is no need to make matters worse by doing something of the sort.
Shame on you.
Wow, you seriously misunderstand the libertarian ideal. Personal freedoms are the single most important things to libertarians, bar none. Given that one's actions do not infringe on the equal rights of others one is free to do what one wants.
From the Libertarian Party's Statement of Principles:
The problem with most party's platforms is that in order to carry out their policies they have to treat one group of people differently from another group for whatever reason. This is discrimination (by definition), and this is exactly the kind of thing that went on in Germany in the 20s & 30s, and disturbingly more and more of it is going on in America today. The libertarian platoform tries to end discrimination of all kinds by reducing the legislation that we have today that makes it necessary.
Environmental destruction is not okay. And no libertarian will tell you that it is. But what they will tell you is that we don't need a band of federally mandated, gun toting (errr) agents going around the country being both authoritarian and innefective.
If you wish to be treated, by the government, differently than someone else, for any reason, then you should not consider voting Libertarian, for that is the antithesis of their goals. If you wish the government to use its overwhelming force on your behalf by means of discrimination then, as they say, on your conscience be it. Sleep well.
Here's some more info from Zmag about the conditions the jailed in Philly are facing, and the abuse of civil rights, i.e., pepper spray on non-violent people, denying lawyer visits, excessive bail (as in the article, $500,000 for a misdemeanor?!)
'...Some of them were extremists and deserved it...'
What? You're saying some of them deserved to be beaten up by police? Some of them deserved to have their food and water cut off in jail?
No one deserves police brutality. While some of them were almost certainly breaking the law (hell, I know someone who was there protesting, and he's probably broke the law a dozen different ways by now), they don't deserve to be beaten by guys in riot gear. If someone is breaking the law they get arrested and they go to jail. This country prohibits (or says it does) police brutality and cruel/unusual punishments. No one, no matter what they did, who they are, or what their views are, can be beaten (what happened in Philadelphia was nearly torture, if you look into it you'd find out) by the state.
Then again, I could be wrong.
I've been thinking about the political system in the U.S., and I found it interesting there doesn't seem to be many people in the "system" who are technically oriented. Every so often on slashdot there's a complaint about some law being pushed in congress. Obviously it's got a lot to do with money in power, but I wonder how often do real issues that effect real nerds get adequate representation in those bodies of power. I would personally like to see someone launch their political aspirations from Slashdot.
yours,
yours,
kbs
Ralph Nader?
From his website: "[We need] universal health care from the cradle through the nursing home, with a single-payer system like Canada's." Yeah, Canada's doctors think it's great: check this out.
He wants bigger government, and will raise taxes even higher (I know he said this recently but I can't find a URL right now).
Also, he says: "[A]ccording to the World Health Organization, the United States was ranked 37th among nations in the world regarding the quality of health care a country provides its people. This is not only embarrassing but also unacceptable. Western European countries provided for their people thirty to fifty years ago. Why can't we do it now in a period of economic boom?", and follows that up with "I would have labor treaties that have teeth, consumer protection treaties, and food and environmental treaties." So we have this great economic boom, but we want to put all these new restrictions on the way businesses operate? I love people who think forced redistribution of wealth will solve all of our problems. Where do you think your jobs come from?
I give a shit jball, but voting for Ralph Nader is not the answer. Nader's policies may provide a short term benefit for some, at the long term cost of the future of our country. And to your last comment, that the government is not Big Brother: the FBI might disagree with you.
Libertarian party
Harry Browne for President
--jb
Nobody with a brain and any sense of justice is going to vote for Bush; nobody with any pride would vote for Gore, and nobody else has a chance of winning. No wonder voter turnouts are so low!
However, Gore is probably the lesser of the (many) evils.
I also believe it was wrong of Taco to preach politics in a main article. Why not just start a "who should geeks vote for?" question on Slashdot? Now that would be interesting!
Look I like Bush, I don't like everything about him, but Bush also isn't a liberterian who i more agree with, but who have no chance in hell at winnning. I don't think you opinion is stupid though. This is America people are allowed to state their opinions, only time I disagree with biased news is when it's like it is here in Atlanta who they try to make it seem unbiased while making it biased! Only news paper that doesn't give a liberal slant to everything is my local newspaper (Douglas County Sentinel) and it just SUCKS! This country was founded on the idea of some folks being different form other folks! GET OVER IT PEOPLE!
Derek Greene
I'd vote for an Inanimate Carbon Rod for president before I voted for Bush, too. I.C.R. wouldn't push for stupid laws. I.C.R. probably wouldn't get us into any stupid wars that don't concern us. I.C.R. wouldn't be a pawn of the teachers' unions. I.C.R. wouldn't send the BATF out after whatever group isn't popular this week.
Sadly, I.C.R. isn't running. I'd prefer Bush as someone who will most likely fuck things up less than Gore, but I don't like either of them. I'd really like to see any of the third parties, on the grounds that no way in hell could Nadar, Buchanan, Browne or Hagelan do anything. To bad they aren't really an option either.
I'll probably write in R.U. Sirius (The Revolution(tm)'s candidate). But I'll be hoping for Bush. Do you realize that there are supreme court judges who think that the federal government has authority to prosecute rape under the interstate commerce clause? Is rape bad? Yes. Is it the federal government's responsibility? Not by a long shot. Gore is more likely to appoint brain dead justices. Abortion is currently secure, so it isn't a reason to vote for Gore. Federalism is not, and is a good reason to vote for Bush.
(It's odd -- I don't even like my own party's candidate, because he promised he wouldn't run again back in 96, and now he is.)
No, they have to be standing in their apartment vestibule, reaching for I-D in their wallet. Then they get shot...41 times.
It's never "throwing away" one's vote to vote for the candidate you actually want to become President. Voting for the lesser of two evils is indeed throwing away the vote.
Since both Bush and Gore are not worthy of this high office, I don't care who of them wins if and when I vote for my consumer rights hero, Ralph Nader. Ralph is the only candidate running who I can put my full faith and trust in. Of course, I don't agree with Ralph on every issue, but at least he and his party are not bought and paid for. Their positions on the issues are *their* positions on the issues.
Go Nader go!
Steve Magruder
Steve Magruder, Metro Foodist
Soooo, why are misdemeanor suspects being held on million dollar bail? That seems to be punitive and excessive, particularly for a misdemeanor.
Yes, you too can be that person who votes on those Slashdot polls "blue", and "This poll sucks", "The options suck", and "Pater".
As for the guy with the cel phone, I find that story very one-sided. The only side I've heard is the one that claims the police were indescriminately arresting people who were merely riding bikes, wearing black clothing, or talking on cel phones. And this guy with his phone is being held on $500,000 bail for misdemeaner phone usage while walking. Something tells me I'm not getting the whole story.
--
"I have a good idea why it's hard to verify programs. They're usually wrong." --Manuel Blum, FOCS 94
Proportional only makes sense when you have a number of slots to fill, like congressional or senate elections. I think you mean "preferential". In the preferential system, when a candidate is eliminated from the race ( because they have the lowest primary vote count ), their secondary votes are added to the tallies. This system continues until someone has an absolute majority. So the winner is the leader in the two party preferred stakes, which seems fair.
Taxes were cut at one point during Reagan's term, and revenues WENT UP.
Man, I just love this argument--from one datum follows an entire fiscal philosophy. Here's something you'll likely find entertaining and equally relevant: One month I didn't pay off my credit card balance in full, and my revenues WENT UP.
The problem was that the (democrat controlled) congress upped spending more than the added revenue allowed for.
Suffice it to say that the Democrats and Republicans were both fiscally irresponsible during the early '80s. Reagan was so eager to push through his fiscal package that he bought supporting votes in Congress by promising his support to a host of their pet projects. To separate the famous and much-ballyhooed "tax cut" from the Congressional spending it triggered is naive and ignores the challenges facing Reagan in crafting public policy.
Or vote Raving Looney or an Idenpendent weirdo...it's always funny to see a "mainstream" candidate get less votes than a Raving Loony member :)
Syllable : It's an Operating System
Sales tax is a voluntary tax, idiot.
Why the hostility? Was he this belligerent to you? Did your parents beat you as a child? Are you one of those passive aggressive types who would never stick up for yourself in real life and so has to take out your rage anonymously on the 'net?
But back on topic,
Sales tax is not voluntary. Sure, you can choose not to buy things, but in that case income tax is just as voluntary; you can choose not to make money. By "voluntary" taxes, libertarians generally mean taxes that nobody is forced to pay, whatever they own, buy, sell, or earn; the idea is that people will donate taxes for local police, etc. because it makes their communities a better place.
Of course, that situation would be just a Prisoner's Dilemma on a scale so large it's doomed to fail, but that's a subject for another thread. Not all libertarian's go that far; it's just a shiny wacky ideal.
IMMIGRATION is a big issue that is going to be affected by how the vote turns out in November.
GWB is on the record for wanting to relax immigration laws, and make it easier for immigrant workers (H-1b classification, like Linus) as well as families and couples trying to get married.
This affects our high-tech industry because many of our key workers are here in the US on H-1b visas.
and it affects me personally. My fiance` and I have been trying to follow all the INS rules in our efforts to get the petition for fiance` visa granted. The INS is unresponsive.
So I called up my Congressmen's offices. I am a citizen of North Carolina. John Edwards' (on the short list for running mate of GORE) office staff refused to help.
Jesse Helms, enemy of the NEA, the man who declared in 1996 that if Clinton came to NC he'd "better watch his back", his office offered assistance and said they'd do what they could. (still no progress, but at least they offered help.)
So Rob, for all the evil you think of the Bush family, we need someone to take a hard look at relaxing immigration law, for our tech industry and my future happiness.
I was meant to be married shortly after Jeff (Hemos)'s wedding. Thanks to the INS, it may not happen this year.
INS law works in such a way that on any indication of fraud, they deport the non-citizen, fine the citizen $250,000 and jail for 5 years. So I have to be in the US while filing the forms, she has to remain in Tel-Aviv, and can't come to the states on her previously granted tourist visa, she has to wait until the INS deems it acceptable to grant the fiance` visa.
After they grant the fiance` visa, she has to come to the states immediately. From the moment she sets foot on US soil, we have 90 days to be married within. YOU TRY AND PLAN A WEDDING with no firm date, with 90 days to do it in, with the bride's mother on the other side of the world!
If there is any part of our government more draconian and backwards than the IRS, it is the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
A host is a host from coast to coast
but no one uses a host that's close
Go read what Harry Browne, the likely Libertarian nominee has to say. I realize that many Slashdot readers have rather well-entrenched political views. But consider whether Browne's position and that of the Libertarian Party may be closer to where you stand than either of the two faces of the Incumbent Party.
I wasn't going to post on this topic but you just got my goat.
Why does everyone want to support the ACLU? The ACLU does not support freedom of religion. Why does the ACLU want to get rid of all references of the word God? They sued the state of Ohio because of mentioning God in the state motto...They don't want to get rid of the word God. They just want to get it out of the Government. For all they care (and I feel the same way) you can wear a cross, star of david, pentagram, whatever. You can paint a big picture of Jesus on the hood of your car, etc. I'm Wiccan and the ACLU has helped stop schools from pushing the Jewish/Christain/Muslim God on Pagan students. "You can't wear a Pentagram it's a... gang symbol, yea that's it, a gang symbol."
You are free to be Religious. Wear your $holy_symbol proadly! Just let me wear mine. Pray to $deity to your hearts content. Just don't blast it across the PA system.
- Apple Computer......proudly going out of business for over twenty years.
Now that I think about it, you have been doing stuff like this a lot recently. You stuffed the ballot on the "Best Concert of the Summer" just last week. I know that this is heading towards redundantville, so I'll give it a rest. But please, if you want to tell us what YOU think go buy soapbox.org from its owner and put your views there. You can even link to it from the main page.
"Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes."
-E. W. Dijkstra
Of course the Republicans were originally a third party so we should return to the original party system: Whigs versus Republican-Democrats.
Abraham Lincoln was a third party candidate and I don't think he was too bad of a President.
FWIW, if you look at the candidates from an impartial POV you will find that the only real difference between the two is that Gore's hair is a little darker.
Ritchie Blackmore for President!!
---
--
If I actually could spell I'd have spelled it right in the first place.
*snicker* *giggle*
wait, are you trying to tell me that Libertarians believe that corporates will cease environmentally destructive acts (get this) out of the goodness of their own hearts!! hooo boooy! Tell me another one, like how the food producers wont completely slack off on safety to keep their overheads low? And how the news reporters who might tell us about this will be completely unbiased, and not swayed by bribes, wait, no, "funding" by any faction?
Many libertarians claim that ethics will be reflect in the buying decisions and career choices of the people, that companies performing evil acts will fail due to the lost business of the moral majority. How can people make serious decisions if the information they base those decisions on is corrupted? Do you trust your news sources?
Whatever, its your country, destroy it if you like. Us Canadians will sit back and watch in horrified fascination.
kwsNI
I too abhor GWB. I resent what he represents. I thank you for taking the bold step to offer your political opinion. You will of course be attacked, but it is important for us to attack GWB and show him for who he is.
-- You see, there would be these conclusions that you could jump to
While I really like Nader's platform and beliefs, I think he's doing more damage then good in running for office. Nader is taking votes away from the democrats mainly, and the democrats need all the votes they can get. Hypothetically speaking (i don't know the numbers) the useless 7% Nader might get is 7% that could've gone to making sure Bush stays the hell out of the white house, by getting Gore elected. Times like this I'm really, really happy to be Canadian. I don't envy your political system.
This post is anything but Flamebait. It makes me angry to see morons like this with moderation power.
Mmmm.. Donuts
In the US we have continually have some of the lowest voter turn outs in the world. Its no wonder that money controls both major parties. Do yourself a favor, dont vote for them, vote for someone else, while I dont like Nader, he does make a hell of a protest vote. I will probably vote for Harry Brown myself. But what ever you do, dont not vote. Dont succumb to the throwing your vote away bs. A protest vote is still a vote, and with enough protest votes, we can make either the major parties none existant, or force them to hear and cater to our voices. Please dont waste that vote.
"My head hurts, My feet stink, and I dont love Jesus." -Jimmy Buffett
An alternative one could pursue in addition to voting for who they would *really* like to see win would be to get the word out about proportional representation and Condorcet's method. Condorcet's method would, in this case, make it possible for Nader to win if enough people put him as their first or second choice, even if Bush and Gore got more primary votes than he did, provided neither Bush nor Gore got a majority of primary votes. More info here.
Well said. Thank you.
-slams
-slams
The article seems like a rant - no details. What were the charges? Why do they not know his exact bail?
Yes the RepuliCrats offer hideous canidates. Both major parties are basically the same. Control of your mind, property, wealth, and liberty. I don't promote the Libertarian's as the cure to all evils, but they are more on track to getting us back on track than anything currently offered. Check it out at www.lp.org. Your freedom is only belongs to you if fight for it and use it.
Those who give up freedom for security deserve neither.-Ben Franklin
But I do want to take issue with the idea that Nader = Socialist -> Nader = Bad
Slashdot readers seem to oppose the Microsoft and the big coorporations, but do they oppose their ideology and economic system (Capitalism)?
Slashdot readers are often enthusiastic supporters of Linux. But are the methods of Linux development (for public need rather than provate profit) not applicable to the running of society in general?
more on socialism
- Amnon Cohen
I will be voting against Gore. No question about it. I will vote Bush because the Reform Party has gone to morons and buffoons. No More Gore! I will not vote in the 'Father of the Internet' because he lies as easily as Clinton does and about everything.
Who wants a president that never knows what is going on around him?? He did not know what was going on at the Buddist Fund raiser. Did you read his transcripts? He never has any idea what is going on. He really thought he was the father of the internet! What an idiot! These are the people who put Reno in charge of the DOJ. Reno, the person who uses a pencil because computers are too confusing!
No! More! Gore!
Ok, I'm a Bush supporter and I'm getting ANNOYED at all the people whining about all the people whining about Rob's comments. I mean, 1200 messages and 30 of them are trolls? What is new about this? So far, I've read far more complaining about people complaining than I have about people complaining about Rob. I don't have a problem with Rob voicing his views on this any more than I do on anything else, despite the fact that I disagree with him.
Now, I would prefer that he would explain why, exactly, it is that he prefers Al Gore to George Bush, considering that George Bush is a whole lot closer to equaling more freedom than Al Gore. And it often seems that freedom is one of the biggest underlying topics on slashdot. (Yeah Micro$oft Sucks, but so does Linux so M$ get's my vote. No arguments against that, right?)
My brother works for the FBI in Philadelphia. He has told me exactly what all kinds of things that the police do to attempt to keep the protestors under control and why it is necessary. The protestors have boot camps where they teach the newbies to climb scaffolding, organize attacks against the police, etc. I have a hard time apologizing for any police action taken against those protestors, or any protestors for that matter who make it a point of being non-peaceful (i.e., violent).
If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. -- George Orwell
Damaging property IS NOT violence. Property is inanimate and can't feel pain.
Really, Where do you live, because I have some non-violence that I would like to inflict to your home, your car, your belongings.
In the case of crop destruction (which I support) activists are trying to stop a technology which is dnagerous to the ecosystems in which it is deployed.
On what basis is that statement made on? I see GM foods as being a viable solution to increasing demand for foodstuffs. GM foods can increase crop yields dramaticly and can be engineered to resist diseases that would normally cause crop failure or reduced crop yields.
The whole point of taking on the police is to win the confrontation, or at least get away with as much damage to their side as possible.
I sure hope that you don't plan on having any children, if you haven't already breeded. Especially with that sort of mentality.
On Tuesday, the Black Bloc anarchists had the cops on the run. They damaged 20+ cops cars, injured over a dozen officers, and knocked the police chief on his ass.
And just how do these sorts of actions work to persuade your average citizen to side with you. I my book it isn't exactly helping your case at all.
I am really disappointed.
"... how do we draw the line between protection of national security, obviously the governments need to obtain intelligence data, and the protection of civil liberties? Particularly, the sanctity of my home. You've got no right to come into my home." Larry King, Enemy of the State
Gotta have lunch sometime......be kinda silly to get on the bullhorn "Everyone go get lunch and meet back here in half an hour!"....LOL
... I can't figure out how the "father of the internet" seems to have garnered so much support at a tech-oriented website. I don't agree with much that Bush stands for, but on principle I refuse to vote for a complete idiot, especially one egotistical enough to make that kind of exaggerated claim about his own importance. Then again, we could all just VOTE MONKEY.
Remember, a zebra does not change its spots.
Original post:
Its not their fault mommie's a crackwhore, and daddy's in prison, but they get no welfare, can't pay for education, and don't stand a rats ass of surviving to adulthood.
First reply:
You're right. But guess what? That doesn't make it my fault either! So how on earth does this give the government the right to take my money by force when it's not my goddamned responsibility?
Who said anything about right? The "right" world, where nobody commits force or fraud or breaks an obligation to anyone else, *cannot exist*. If in some miraculous alternate universe it did exist, then having a government tax to pay for neglected children wouldn't matter, because there would be no neglected children.
So, granting that there are neglected children, we're no longer choosing between "right" and "wrong", even by libertarian axioms. We're choosing between a world with children getting cheated out of the majority of the food, shelter, and education that their parents should have been responsible enough to provide, and a world with taxpayers getting cheated out of a small fraction of their earnings to pay for children who aren't theirs.
There is no easy out, no "let's get the government out of the way and nobody gets their rights violated"; the very presupposition of children stuck in poverty means that somebody's rights are getting violated. Even the majority of libertarians favor spending money on a police force to protect people's lives and property; how is spending money on child welfare to protect their lives and property any morally different?
It is about time that someone on slashdot has posted something political. Republicans and corporations in general are totally anti-privacy, and open-source is a threat to capitalism in the technology sector. As far as CmdrTaco's opinion goes, aren't most posts on slashdot opinionated or partial in one way or another? I'm not complaining about this, I think its wonderful for a perspective like slashdot to be present. To say there were "extremists" who "deserved it" is unfounded. Please elaborate. If you are referring to the anarchists and the black bloc, follow your own advise and don't lean with the mainstream, corporate media's sway. What is violence? A little bit of window smashing, self-defense against the police, and low-scale property destruction ( CORPORATE property )? Or is violence police surveillance, countless violations of the Bill of Rights in preemptive strikes and repression of protestors rights? Or is it even pepper spraying, tear gassing, and beating protestors, then exposing them to inhumane jail conditions? The internet is anarchy, no one to regulate or rule it. Programs like Napster and Freenet are anti-capitalist, they eliminate the "middle man" in the recording industry. It is time for slashdot to demonstrate its realization that the corporate and state structure are bad for the advancement of computing and science, american recreation, and privacy rights. Other than that, keep the good work up.
Technically it's the VA Linux stockholder's money.
When he decided to cash in he lost some of his rights to the content of the site as he is now accountable to the shareholders.
Not that I agree/disagree with him posting his opionons (although he could have put a little reasoning behind them); just making sure people realize that is now the case.
-- Greg
Slashdot, would a spell-checker for posting be too much to ask? It's not rocket science!
When shown by all three network affiliates, yes i have a tendency to believe them.
Look, you can imagine any conspiracy you want, I don't care. I am very proud of the Philly police. They did an outstanding job in this case (regardless of their previous record)
You say you won't vote for GWB like he had something to do with this. You should be pissed at the cops not the entire republican party. If he had been walking in front of the democratic national convention the same thing would have happened.
Not voting IS voting. Unfortunately it is voting Republican. The fact of the matter is most people are too lazy or wrapped up in themselves to care about an election or anything else. When the only people who vote are those that care about money a Republican wins office. The only time people really turn out to vote is when things are going bad. Keep it real people! Vote in good times and plan our future!!!
Still working on a math/comp sci degree. I'm 20.
>Stop listening to Dennis Miller
I've heard one Dennis Miller standup thing a couple years ago.
>and Deejays
who the hell is that?
>and you might get an original thought buddy.
It is an original thought. Actually, it's almost an involuntary reaction of revulsion whenever I see his carefully crafted "presidential" look. He's got that silvery hair, and he kinda squints when he talks, as if it makes him look "sophisticated".
>In case you did get a degree, was is from an Ivy
>League school like Bush?
Ok now I know you're a troll. Bush got into Yale courtesy of his family connections, and the very fact that he got in pissed off a lot of Yale people.
>Mind you, Gore couldn't pass grad school at
>Vanderbilt.
well, you seem to have an esteem for ivy league schools, and he went to Harvard, so I guess that should impress you.
"What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is"
Vidi, Vici, Veni
Are the views Bush supports really his own?
Yes.
Can anyone truly feel right voting for a leader that was brought up in a wealthy environment lacking all discipline and responsibility?
Yes.
Is he a leader and universal role model or a self-indulgent, spoiled playboy riding on the coattails of his father?
Leader and universal role model.
Oh, were these rhetorical questions?
DrLunch.com The site that tells you what's for lunch!
Could you elaborate on that?
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Ski-U-Mah!
I'm not saying that walking about with your chest out is the goal, etc, but have you ever had to deal with a tool/bully in school?? (usually they're just posturing for /their/ crowd)- Through personal experience, I've found this out: if they think they can get away with pushing you/your friends around, the more likely they're to do it.
If they think they're gonna get their asses kicked, the less likely they are to start shit.
The leader of a country, upon exhausting dimplomacy, has to be ready to fight, period.
is he "DANGEROUS" as you say? I don't think so... ie: he's not unstable, irrational, shifty, nor has he accepted bribes from other contries, nor has he conveniently "LOST" his email records that would aide in an investigation, etc.
Can he >>>>"PUSH THE BUTTON", i really hope it doesn't come to it, but if it does; i hope our leader can do what it takes. If you can help it: don't fight- if you have to fight, fight to win.
>>>>>>"China/Russia will be pissed off"
TOO F*CKING BAD, wouldn't you be "upset" if your 'adversary' were to put in a security gaurd that wasn't asleep at the wheel, accepting political bribes from you, and afraid to use force because of the court of public opinion [ie: tanks should have been used on this mission, but because 'they didn't play well on TV' the administration and his Sec. of Defense- ordered them to stand down... did you know that the Rangers all got killed and the Secretary got canned???]
No, you wouldn't because 'news sources' like to hide the fact that sometimes, you need the tanks, its shitty, but sometimes you do.
Finally, if you want to see hipocracy in action, check out the article at the usually liberal Washington Post, here's an excerpt:
While Gore sought to portray himself as a populist who would protect the environment and fight big corporations, Rogers said the Gore family's connections to Hammer made Al a special-interests candidate who came into the campaign with a tangle of conflicts that he tried to hide. ...He pointed out that Island Creek Coal was one of the three major suppliers of coal to the huge, government-run Tennessee Valley Authority. And he demanded
that Gore acknowledge that he received quarterly royalty payments for zinc mining rights on his land in a deal with another Hammer subsidiary, Occidental Minerals Corp. Gore tried to finesse the issue. While his disclosure statement listed his assets in general terms, it did not name the company from which he received royalties.
And because Occidental Minerals had recently sold its mining rights to another
corporation, Freeport Zinc, Gore was able to argue that Rogers had his facts wrong,
which was technically true.
This showcases my biggest pet peeves with politicians, hypocrisy. At least GWB is more honest on where he stands.
>>>>"Having such a trigger-happy moron at the head of a very powerful country is suicide"
i've yet to see anything in him that makes him either, you're such a troll.
Hypothetically speaking, it doesn't make it "suicide", but rather makes life a bit more stressful for folks beyond our borders... least you could have done is been honest
--an American with a UK email address--
If she floats, she's a witch.
The ACLU doesn't need to defend the second amendment. There's already an entire group dedicated to the defense of the second amendment, its called the NRA
Help me through college please!
Sharansky was a Mathematician and professor, who was trying to flee the CCCP like every other Soviet Jew. He got caught and lived in a Siberian Cell for over 10 years.
But he's better now. He and his wife and children live in Tel-Aviv, Israel, and he's Minister of Finance for that country.
A host is a host from coast to coast
but no one uses a host that's close
Also, if you think Gore has economic sense, could you explain his defense of the fraudulent Ponzi scheme known as Social Security?
For the same reason that GWB talks about wanting to "fix" or "save" Social Security, when you and I might want to hear the phrase "phase out" instead: because nobody who used the phrase "fraudulent Ponzi scheme" to describe Social Security would have a snowball's chance in Texas (or Hell, same diff) of being elected. They'd be a shoo-in for the Libertarian nomination, maybe, but that just furthers my point.
Why the *%^# does a tax cut have to be "economically needed"?
Because that's one of the ways we try and smooth out the boom/bust cycle of the economy. Every dollar of tax cuts that occurs during the current boom is just a dollar that will have to be made up during the next bust, when it will hurt much more.
Keep in mind, "tax cuts" and "spending cuts" are two different things. Do you really think that if we mindlessly cut taxes, that Congress will cut spending to match? Didn't Reagan try that, and send the debt from 1 to 3 trillion or so during his term?
It's our money, we earned it,
Well, see, the problem is that it isn't your money. About $5 trillion of our past two decades' budgets came from the U.S. government's creditors (including uncounted bond-holding suckers), many of whom have business plans or retirement plans which depend on seeing that money again. And we now have a choice to make: we can pay them back now, and forgo tax cuts during an unbelievably healthy economy. We can keep borrowing now, and pay them back later, and hope that the economy will go from "unbelievably healthy" to "inconceivable juggernaut" to make our delay pay off. Or, we can default on the debt, and hope that we can bring an end to the Great Depression II without first going through World War III.
how about the government showing that it's "economically needed" for taxes to be at the highest peacetime level in history?
Look at the federal debt. Look at the budget surplus, which is higher than anyone expected and not certain to continue long. Estimate how long it would take for the latter to pay down the former to less preposterous levels. There's your proof of economic necessity.
Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't cut spending, and then cut taxes. But let's do those things in the right order this time?
Now, slashdot really feels just like any other news site. The topics are generally more slanted towards "nerd stuff" but it's a media outlet of sorts. There is something about it that just isn't slashdot anymore. I don't know if I've changed or slashdot has, I suspect it's slashdot because k5 really felt like it was becoming my favorite site on the web because it reminded me of how slashdot used to be. It feels like the editorial staff is too big or Malda need's to take a break from it, or something kind of drastic needs to change. Am I alone in feeling this way? It's just getting stale and it doesn't feel like there is as much love in it. It seems like there isn't enough to cover or it stopped being about computers and programming and nerdy stuff, or maybe there is too much to cover and so the coverage is spread thin. It doesn't feel accessible anymore and it's sterile. In one way it's great that there is a community-oriented platform that has gained enough notability that it can garner mainstream attention for things but it doesn't feel like it represents anything I'm a part of now. I write free software (for a living now, if you can believe that) I really love linux, I want it to be popular and I want the community to do it and the coolest thing about the internet and the world today is that some guy in his dorm room can be a facilitator for that, it doesn't take a lot of money or a big company, it takes passion and love.
Slashdot used to feel like the local LUG feels. Once a month I can go meet with people of all different ages, races, professions, and walks of life, and we come together and have this common passion that we share and while we don't always agree or see eye to eye it's something grass roots that we make happen to share information with each other. Maybe I'm in a funk but 2 or 3 years ago I wouldn't have cared if Malda said who he was going to vote for but now it feels artificial or unnatural it makes it feel like slashdot isn't something I really want to contribute to, I never thought it was about politics or money or making a view known so much as just sharing a view. Slashdot is owned and run by a big company that dabbles in the business of selling the software I love but really doesn't have anything to do with me and at the end of the day it is still just another business that is trying to make a buck. It really feels abusive to see comments about who Malda wants to win the election anymore because this site isn't run by the community anymore, it has deep pockets it has all the hardware and bandwidth it needs, it has millions and millions of viewers, and Malda and Bates refer to themselves as journalists now. I don't know, maybe I've just been surrounded by this stuff so much that it doesn't seem as fresh but I really do think something has changed with slashdot somewhere along the way.
I don't like the choices that are being presented to us by the two primary parties in this country. I'm much more interested in Ralph Nader and the Green party this year. I had been hoping that they would be getting more attention, but the (national) media is still focusing entirely on the Republicans and Democrats.
Nader did get a good reception here in MN when he was here a few weeks ago. He even showed up on Almanac, the local weekly PBS political show.
Certainly, Nader does not completely align himself politically with Ventura, but they are probably closer to what the people want and need than either the RNC or DNC can give the People.
--
Ski-U-Mah!
First of all, one thing needs to be said - "I don't smoke marijuana." With that having been said, here are some reasons to legalize marijuana in the United States. Nice and simple: 1) Marijuana use is less harmful and risky than the use of alcohol, tobacco, and many nonprescription drugs. It is the safest (currently) illegal drug. Marijuana is much less addictive than tobacco or alcohol. This is one reason why most people that smoked it in the 70's were able to quit easily and not become addicts. 2) Legalization of marijuana would cut down on crime. Because marijuana is illegal, it is difficult to manufacture, and is expensive, so addicts often have to turn to crime to sustain their habit. Legalization would drive the price down and alleviate this problem. Currently, much of the crime that goes on is a result of territory disputes between dealers. Legalization of marijuana would hurt organized crime as a whole. If marijuana was legal, the entire infrastructure of organized crime involved in its manufacturing and distribution would lose any reason for existence because marijuana would be legally produced and sold at a much cheaper price by legitimate companies. Police officers and suspected informants often face retribution by gangs and drug dealers. Legalization of marijuana would simply eliminate the need for dealers and put a stop to all this. Legalization would cut down on corruption in the law enforcement, the government. Officials will no longer be tempted into accepting bribes, and pocketing large amounts of drug money. 3) Legalization would free up resources to fight legitimate crimes. It would end prison overcrowding, as many prisoners are sitting in jails for drug-related convictions. It would free up the court system and the police and allow them to concentrate on other crimes. Fighting marijuana-related "crimes" is costing us tax money. 4) Legalizing marijuana would make it safer for users. One of the main reasons why marijuana is unsafe right now is because it isn't regulated, and its quality isn't monitored by anyone. When people buy marijuana, they don't know for sure what they're getting or where it's been. 5) The government has no right to interfere with people's personal freedom as it is currently doing. Smoking marijuana only has the potential to hurt the health of the user. An individual should have the right to choose to use it. People are allowed to skydive, and drive cars. There are risks in those and many other activities, but the government isn't regulating them. Sure, smoking marijuana does put others at minimal risk through second hand smoke and the user's actions towards others, but this is also valid for alcohol and tobacco. This is why driving while stoned should remain illegal.
What happend to the old Slashdot??
As far as I can tell, it's alive and kicking.
Being that 2600 is "The Hacker Quarterly", and what I find to be a useful resource as a geek and hacker (old-school definition), I don't see what the complaint is about. How the mainstream power institutions treat members of the nerd community, particularly those of our press, should be considered some of the most important "News for Nerds".
The police apparently knew who he was, as he was arrested while walking down a street talking on a phone. Reports are conflicting as to whether he's being held on a million dollars bail or $500,000. He's being charged with a misdemeanor, according to the Philadelphia Police web site....
Naturally, the mainstream media has been very quiet about this.
This scares the piss out of me. I certainly consider it "News for Nerds".
Go ahead, throw your vote. :)
You Americans are in a rough spot. But hey, the Canadian government fully supports violent riot suppresion, so what can I say, we suck too.
Go Kathryn Thurber!
When arrests have to be made, the charges are never very serious.
And they weren't! He was charged with a misdemeanor!
Reports are conflicting as to whether he's being held on a million dollars bail or $500,000.
i see it as a step in the right direction. people *CAN NOT BE OBJECTIVE*, and news outlets playing make believe that they are is looking more and more goofy everyday.
i want more news sites to be up-front and open about their biases so that way i don't have to guess.
of course it also helps that i'm viewing the presidential election from outside the usa for the first time and folks for the most part over here agree with rob's take on the election.
US Citizen living abroad? Register to vote!
I read that NYT article where it said that Bush only spends 15 minutes (at the maximum) when considering the facts of prisoners who are about to be executed. This is outlandish! It's been statistically proven that in many of these cases the defendant has been wrongfully accused. So Bush merrily murders innocent people. I have no desire to see this ignorant murderer as the president of our country.
Vice president: Yoda :-)
Secretary of state: C3PO (good at diplomacy!)
Absoloutely none of which applies to our Mr. ShapeShifter.
.02
My
Quux26
My
Quux26
www.crashspace.net
...and ignore the Constitution and the Bill of Rights (1st Amendment guarantees of Speech, Assembly and Free Association, 4th and 5th Amendments). Not to mention murdering innocents (the children in the schoolhouse in the PUSH/MOVE complex, many of whom were hostages of the situation; the 17 journalists and suspects detailed in the coming movie about Philly's 'Assassin Squad,' and its involvement with the FBI's COINTELPRO).
Are you saying that the police should be allowed to use deadly force against everyone who blocks traffic in a constitutionally guaranteed act of protest or an act of civil disobedience, and then call them a martyr (which type of act and criminal liabilities pendant is _supposed_ to be left to a court within the _FULL_ context of due process and not you or even a badged and sworn officer of that court to decide on the spot)?
The police's history in Philadelphia is not something to be proud of. It was one reason Philly was chosen by the Republicans: because the police could be relied on to put down the rebellion outside quickly, with maximum force, hidden from the media; the local media could be counted on to not support the national/international press/media and not fully cover/report the story locally. Big smiles all around, just like inside the hall.
The only difference between Chicago '68, Seattle '99 and Philly '00 was that the major media were in attendance/funding the Republican convention this time and therefor had no interest in televising what was going on outside.
The whole world can only watch if we are given access to the story.
You should not be proud...you should be ashamed.
Remember guys, this is Amerika. Just because you have the most votes, doesn't mean you get to win.--Fox Mulder
And I am sure you are writing this post from some squalid philly prison - and doing so with whatever little strength you have left since they have not fed you yet.
That, or maybe you are using your laptop from the hospital because the police beat the crap out of you.
Please note that I never said there were no peaceful protesters. And you don't have to bring anything with you to be a violent protester either.
Go visit a national park now. They could do with your help in putting the flames out. The flames of the fires that are all-too-frequently caused by daytrippers. Which is why reducing the number of daytrippers would be A Good Thing. The phrase "dippy twat" springs quickly to hand...
Of course Al Gore is the obvious choice for the high-tech community, since it was he who created the Internet in the first place!
A Dick and a Bush .. You know somebody's gonna get screwed.
War is necrophilia.
a true reactionary...
Instead of blindly reacting to things, why don't you try to think things through for yourself?Instead of letting someone else's opinions dictate what yours are (ie: Anything Malda likes you dislike, whatever Malda dislikes, you like...) why don't you acknowledge the fact that thinking people can come to differing conclusions and don't have to belittle each other over them?
Democracy will never work well if too many people can't get this realization through their thick skulls.
God help us all...
btw, Lazlo was here.
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Nicotine free Amish .sig.
Ah Gore... The man who wants to eliminate the internal combustion engine. The man who invented the Internet. The enviro-nut. The hypocrite.
Those damn democrats want a program for every damn thing they can think of. If there is money to be spent. They will spend it.
Did you know that Gore wants to prevent anyone from going into our nations national parks. Yes, that means even the tree-huggers won't beable to become-one with nature. Clinton and Gore have spent more money than any other government officials in history buying up US property and having it declared as Monuments. Thus bypassing congressional approval.
Taco,
Good note about the mainstream press being biased. I just want to add one other point for people to notice here....the bias here is honestly and openly given. CmdrTaco states clearly that this is his opinion and that he actually has an opinion. Compare this to the weasely lies the 'mainstream press' propogates under an 'objective' prose style that hides their bias and tries to make you believe that their opinions are fact. Keep it up Taco, at least we know where you stand.
Josh
"Easy to bitch, easy to moan, easy to cry, harder to work, harder to strive, harder to be glad to be alive." - Cowboy Mouth, "Easy"
Every single poor person that I know (and I know plenty) simply does not have what it takes to become successful in a country ripe with oppritunity. It is much easier to sit on your ass all day and drink beer than it is to go out and work harder to improve your life.
The elderly poor got where they are, "eating dog food", because in all thier hippie wisdom, living in the moment became more important than being responisble for their future.
Odly enough, my grandfather started out on his independant life at 15, broke and on his own. Making a living farming, worked hard until he was satisfied with what he accompished, and retired a millionaire, and is happy as ever. He earned his living, and so should everyone else. It's called responsibility
And don't you fscking dare start on single welfare mothers (which would definitely have been the next thread of this argument.). Show me one case outside of death of thier spouse (if they _ever_ got married) where they didn't reap what they sew, and yes, I am including picking a louse for a husband. And, on the widow argument, even if their husband works at mcdonalds, there's no reason he can't put back half of a dollar every day for a heck life insurance. It'll cost more if he's in bad health, but once again, you _do_ reap what you sew.
Gore WILL either raise taxes or not allow them to be lowered at all unless the republicans control 3/4 of Congress so that even their moderate members can't stop them from repassing bills to lower taxes. Gore also cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate a while back that raised the gas tax, the most disgusting tax on the poor in this country's history. The gas tax is approximately $.45 a gallon!!!! And he has the nerve to call himself the candidate for the little guy. Bullshit. He'll just use taxes like that to put every working class family on welfare.
Not to mention the fact that Gore will push for eventual gun confiscation. The government will then have a monopoly on the usage of force. Many will die as criminal america has a field day raping and pillaging. Gore's response: add more cops. The result? More cops to lock you up with if you disagree with government policy. So with Gore you get no 1st amendment, no 2nd amendment and more taxes as a minimum.
It's interesting to note, though, that Philadelphia is, overall, a largely democrat run city. The police take their orders from the mayor, a Democrat, and it wasn't as if the convention wasn't invited. Cities fight for the economic boost from conventions as much as they do for any other huge gathering of wealthy, influential people. More, I'd say, since it's tough to beat either convention for influence.
Ah, well. At least we won't see any problems in LA with the democrats. After all, Al Gore has said that while they had protesters in Philly, they'll have demonstrators in LA. Hmmm....Like in 1968, I suppose?
Ah, Politics.
Borogrove
Remember that in 1992 we still had ITAR, which indicated the same prison sentence for selling an atomic bomb to Iraq or giving PGP to someone in Germany.
The CDA was doomed - just stupid grand standing. Why would any smart politician worry about what the courts were certain to toss out? Of course, it would be nice if politicians actually did what was right, but think reality.
You think Bush wouldn't jump on COPA?
Carnivore, whatever, red herring.
Taxes, whatever, you know they're coming. The only question is when and how.
DMCA, "wide bipartisan support". Everyone was bought off. What's the question again?
Truth be told, I can't stand the idea of Gore as president. I went to high school in TN when he was in Congress, and actually met him once for a photo-op. The thought if Tipper as First Lady makes me shudder. Even if everyone else forgets, I remember the PMRC.
Compare that with Bush, who is clearly an unabashed corporate whore. Enough said. Look at his behavior in Texas, how he abused is position to help his minority stake in sports. He's a not-very-bright son of a very bright politician, and that seems to be enough, now (though not enough to have kept him from failing in business several times without political help).
Yeah, I can't stand Gore. But he's really the only choice. Too bad he's almost destined to lose.
-j
I forget what 8 was for.
'As my philosopher friend would accuse me... I'm "throwing away my vote" on Ralph Nader.'
People keep saying things like that to me when I tell them I'm voting for Nader. This really gets me riled up... it's a _waste_ of my vote to vote for the person I want to be president? Quite the opposite... it would be a real waste for me to vote for Gore just because I think he's somewhat less evil and scary than Bush.
For one thing, if Gore does get elected, I don't want to be personally responsible for any of the dumb crap he does while in office. Secondly, how do 3rd parties come about? They come about by losing a few times but slowly gaining support and recognition. I feel a duty to vote for Nader... maybe it'll put us back to a 2-party system; the Greens vs. the Republicrats.
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get your war on
I'm surprised I haven't seen it mentioned yet (it seems so obvious), but didn't having GWB pontificating from a remote location and displaying it only on bigscreens seem a lot like the Big Brother stuff we've seen before? I mean, I guess it wasn't just focused on his head, but...
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Ski-U-Mah!
"2000: In Rod We Trust!"
:)
Thank you, Simpsons.
Pax -- Ob
I'm of precisely the opposite opinion. The Tenessee Two-By-Four has shown his true stripes during his 8 years in office. He's provably crooked, corrupt, and untruthful. GWB is light-years better than him. The Democrats are in the same fix as the Republicans in 1996, wondering how they ever ended up with such a lox as their candidate.
This could have been remedied, CmdrTaco, by simply posting the same comment on a forum...
"I think Bush is a rotten candidate, and while I don't like Gore, I would vote for a malignant carbon rod for president before I would vote for GWB"
Amen.
A bit off topic, I know, but I had to say it.
"I shoulda never sent a penguin out to do a daemon's work."
Cat, the other, tastier white meat.
Yet another Slashdot topic that I must remove from my customized list. If I wanted to be spoonfed political propoganda I would go to the candidates website.
While the U.S. election might be stuff that matters, please keep politics away from Slashdot. Not to mention that Slashdot serves the world, not just the U.S.
I live in center city Philadelphia, so the RNC did a great job doubling the length of my commute. My solution was to take the train... until I left the train station, found myself in the middle of a fairly violent demonstration, with cops trying to smack the shit out of me, and Septa having locked the doors behind us, so I couldn't go back into the train station.
I can vouch, firsthand, that in the violent demonstration I was part of, at least 75% of us were just trying to get out of there, but were being kept back by the same police who were beating us. Philadelphia went overboard trying to make sure the RNC was happy, so they'd get lots of money. But then Philadelphia police have a habit of doing that.
Canada looks better every day.
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No this is not a TROLL post!
Everything we read these days seems to be opinions. Everyone has one, face it folks. Good or bad. But what makes an opinion good or bad? You Mr./Mrs. Slashdot reader will think your opinon is good and others whose opionions you don't agree with will be considered bad. Likewise, When I am reading here or anywhere else I will feel that opinions I agree with are good and all else are bad. Remember "What do opinions and a$$holes have in common? Everyone has one and they both stink". Many comments posted to slashdot are opinions. CmdrTaco just like everyone else has the right to express his opinion. So give it a rest folks.
And like the bulk of news stories reported by the mainstream press aren't unbiased. Please give me strength! Those stories are ALL slanted to one extreme or the next. The mainstream press is NOT unbiased.
While we are on everyones opinion of the political system here in the U.SA. I will throw mine in!
Both the Democrats and Republicans are crooked to the core! Both ONLY care about themselves and the big companies that flood them with cash! They don't give a raging rats ass about you or me - the normal joe. The Democrats want to take all your rights and freedoms and give the power to the government and the republicans want to take your money and freedom and give it to big corporations. Then we have the green party... The animal rights Freaks! - Oh no animals should be killed - everyone should be vegatarians.
Then there is Flush Limbaugh and the Limbots and dittoheads.
IMHO the whole American political system is shot to hell. It is run by either nuts, the mafia, or big corporations. Anyone who beleives it is still - "Government of the people, for the people and by the people" is a dreamer. Folks wake up! The NWO (New World Order) is already being put into place and not you nor I can do a darn thing about it! We are all soon to be saves to "The Man".
If you know anyone that is with "The Dragons", "The Illuminati" or one of those such High level groups you better make real good friends with them, that's all I have to say.
No I am not a conspiracy nut, just a realist!
Ahh I love having free speech while it lasts.
The Truth is a Virus!!!
This is a joke people. /. is full of political opinion, privacy issues, gun control (forever getting mentioned), funding for science/teaching. Taking a standpoint on one of these issues is no different than stating which candidate you choose, you are just polarising yourself on many issues at once.
/.
But as soon a people see something they don't like they throw the toys and go stoming out of the sandpit bitching about the 'new' political tone on
Its pathetic, grow up, or don't come back.
ratty
But an anarchic individualist who kept ears and eyes open and happened to be of American nationality should have the courage of evaluating her/his options.
This election (still?) has 0% possibility that a non-rep/dem candidate will be elected. So this all is really about choosing the least bad one.
To climb to the top of the political pyramid you have to eat and digest loads of unhealthy stuff. This leaves all top-level politicians tainted. The only thing that can at least partially protect a politician from the ebullient sea of excrement that she/has to wade through is a strong character.
GWB or Gore? My point of view is that GWB is even less able to take his own decisions than Clinton. At least, with Clinton, it was a family affair. I have this image of GWB with a big steering wheel planted into his skull, ready to be very proficiently used by the dark gnomes of real, material power.
OTOH I see Gore not as an unforgettable personality, but at least as someone who might be evaluating his choices according to a personal, and possibly partially condivisible scale of values.
Of course, my biggest fright is that any and all existing attempts to curb microsoft's omnipotence would be quickly and quietly silenced by whoever would be holding GWB's steering wheel. But that's only the beginning. I see GWB as the lowering of all and any remaining defenses against multinationals of all kinds.
* * *
This message has been brought to you by a non-socialist, anarchic idealist who sadly knows that mass protests, while giving space to animal instincts in some protesters, have the only practical result of moving more and more midwestern suburbanites to wish for the flat-brain-wave tranquillity of sitcoms & macdonalds (& windows) that the GWB pilots will make sure to expand even more.
This message has been brought to you by an anarchic individualist who will not vote. Because he is not American...
First fact, you will never be able to show me a __SINGLE__ peice of legistlation approved by the Clinton administration that improved the nations economy in any way. Just try it.
Secondly, you need to first brush up on Economics and economic history of the united states, and look at how much impact economic policies implemented by Ronald Regan's administration, known as "Regannomics", have been continually reshapping the economic fitness of America as a whole. We would not have had last's years budget surplus if the groundwork wasn't laid by Regan.
Third, the new tech economy has been the cherry on top of the cake. If anything, The Clinton/Gore has done several steps to screw it up, from spending millions on ridiculous lawsuits such as the Microsoft antitrust case to taking credit for creating the internet as a whole! (An yes, I said ridiculous. Microsoft did participate in unfair buisness practices, but a monoply requires totalitarian control of a product's resources, usually governemnt granted ones at that (railroad land, air and wire transmission services, domain names). Anybody can hire a programmer, however, and the fact that other operating systems are in very wide use, notably MacOS, a monopoly is really a stupid argument, not worth millions of dollars of my tax money.)
:) :)
... I _could_ be wrong.
I live in a world of perfect happy people. And yes, it is called Texas. The only thing here that can possible fsck up this great land is the federal governemt, IMHO
That's just my opinion, of course.
I'm a former Republican who switched to the Libertarian Party two years ago. The fact is, the two party system is obsolete. Two parties aren't enough to represent the diverse political views of Americans. If you are a liberal, you're a lot better off voting for Nader than Gore. If you believe in the free-market, vote for Harry Browne. Don't waste a vote on GW Bush or Al Gore!
you are a lair ... I was in philly protesting with 2 other people from my town and the only things we took to philly was a change of cloths ... don't let you imagination run wild
P.S.
we are not in Belgium
Yes there are a lot of clueless protesters who just protest because they have no life and think they are being alternative or something. These vandalizing idiots make it worse for legitimate protesters. Although I have to say I still think it would've been funny if they released those snakes into the convention.
Anyway, if any of you aren't yet convinced that both candidates are hollow puppets on the strings of major corporations, and really think they give a shit about you, do yourself a favor, look through the hype to the reality and history of both parties (not just the glossy stuff they feed you) and read up on Nader. I usually mind my own damn business but I think raising awareness is at least worth the shame of a gratuitous plug.
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
It's got my vote..... --"Air show? Buzz-cut Alabamans spewing colored smoke from their whiz jets to the strains of "Rock You Like A Hurricane?" What kind of countrified rube is still impressed by that?" --Sideshow Bob, the Simpsons.
Hey, you think your house is cool?
RepubliKKKans love to use this mis-quote. It is usually used as a last ditch effort to slam Gore. RepubliKKKans always smile when they say it; everyone else just groans because the quote has been so over used. (NOTE TO RepubliKKKans: Get a new quote!)
Bush - Shares credit for everything done in Texas among it's entire poltical system
Which would be what, exactly? What has Bush done?
Bush - Takes a stance and hasn't changed them to fit the ideas expressed by the largely uninformed public, including CmdrTaco, in polls
M-kay... So, it isn't Bush who is a moronic kook, it is the largly uninformed public. Very interesting...
Bush - Personal Responsibility
So we should take lessons on "Personal Responsibility" from a coke-head who has been given everything in life by mommy and daddy?
Bush - Understands that, but knows that 90% of the american people don't know jack shit about how economics works, so won't argue that point.
Bush can't argue that point because he doesn't know jack shit about economics (or anything else). Bush doesn't have the IQ to understand how the economy of a lemon-aid stand works, much less that economy of the US works.
I'm sorry, but you should be able to tell who I'm voting for
Yup, Bush, like all the other feeble minded republiKKKan sheep
If you want socialism, go to Cuba.
Ummm...no. If you want socialism go to France or some other European countries. If you want Communism, go to Cuba. Please, try to get it right.
No replies made to AC posts. Please log in.
As for restraint it's insanely easy to restrain somebody who is resiting. I took a little Jui Justu and I was able to restrain people who were bigger then me, were resisting with all theri might and knew exactly what I was atempting to do. Police are trained in these tactics and should be able to execute them under strassful conditions. Once again if they can not they don't belong on the street they should be giving out tickets or shuffling papers.
A Dick and a Bush .. You know somebody's gonna get screwed.
War is necrophilia.
Actually, you pretty much get to pick which part of the Constitution gets pissed on this year. Gore will happily allow the 2nd amendment to get trampled, and probably some of the states' rights stuff, too (9th, I think). Bush will happily soil the 1st (establishment of religion), then he'll go after the 9th himself (drug war is a violation of states' rights, don't ya know). My guess is either one will look the other way as the 5th (due process) burns. Worse than that, though, both of them will be after the main document as they allow the corporate buyout of the electoral process to continue. That bit's treasonous, really, but no one seems to mind.
-jpowers
-jpowers
I might as well posting this to a blackhole.
But think about it.
Who deserves to be abused by the police?
If you answered no one, then do not complete the next question, else;
Why don't you (deserve to be abused by the police)?
You even have inalienable human rights etc.
end outrage;
Was Taco wrong in posting? Well, from the horses mouth:
(This has no relevance, but I'm abusing Slashdot
unless abuse has a become a good thing, that settles that.
As for the rest:
to say that I think Bush is a rotten candidate, and while I don't like Gore, I would vote for a inanimate carbon rod for president before I would vote for GWB).
Wit (or lack thereof) aside, a BRIEF why might actually have been productive here instead of mindless candidate bashing.
bastard
Why are you surprised? Don't be surprised to see free speech trampled and people beaten in the streets at the first whiff of Republicanism returning. Ask any Chilean, Guatamalen, Argintinean, El Salvadoran or Nicaraguan what Republicans do. (The ones who weren't killed by it,Imean.)
May of you aren't old enough to remember Republicanism, but let me just frop a hint: How many people in his administration did Bush grant pardons just before he left office, and why?
One more - Reagan's first act as president was to pardon some FBI agents who had been jailed for breaking into peace group buildings, etc... ? (By the way his second act was to get rid of the solar panels on the White House...)
it means power. as it should be. no offense, but with that kind of behavior, bot only do they not deserve any kind of civilized treatment, but they deserve to be in lockup for the rest of their stays in that prison. agreed. as we all know from the mitnick case, a hacker can initiate nuclear strikes just by whistling down a telephone line.
- ---------------
this is bizzarre! if it's the case, then historically speaking, wouldn't it pretty much prevent anyone from doing anything useful with the whole thing? maybe this isn't the point you're trying to make.
i do remember them) i am old enough to feel strongly that the communication tool the net provides is the most valuable contribution to our times and there is no question in my mind that the national media is hardly what i would hold up to slashdot or many other like sites as an example of 'ethical'. just one more opinion, for what it is worth! "freedom of speach" isn't an absolute right; you can be sued for libel, and of course you can't shout the proverbial "fire in the theatre".
that's a bit silly. if it's the case, then historically speaking, wouldn't it pretty much prevent anyone from doing anything useful with the whole thing? maybe i'm missing the point, but i think that's a bit spurious.
-----------------------------------------------
al ex chebowan (alexchebow@yahoo.com)
Really Rob, if you want
www.eFax.com are spammers
If we are going to have a thread about politics, lets go ahead and have a article. However, to attach a political opinion on something unreleated (The protesters happened to be in Phil to demonstrate about their views, but the RNC do not control the politice, left the police and the protestors alone, and ran hospitality suites for the protestors) is a bit low and underhanded, and is "guilt by assocation". You might as well blame the fact that during the last democratic convetion the mayor sent all the poor packing out of the city.
I do think that people on Slashdot need to be more involved in the poltical proccess. There are good and serious debates both socially, the role of internation orginzations, the enviornment etc, as well as nationally (the role of China in the world, America's treaty obligations to taiwan), economically, finance reform, stock market etc.
Bush made a major political shift the other day, from conservitive to progressive. Read the pundit's editorials about it. It was interesting. Al gore needs to do something desperate to catch up on the 20pt lead Bush has.
All of these are important issues (and if there is a legit thread, I will be right in the middle of the frey) and should not be overlooked. But to post the political manner in the way it was posted was ir-responsible.
<p>Never mind about the "Bush sucks" comment, which was maybe true but definitely inappropriate. What about this gem? "Extremists" do not "deserve" police maltreatment, and nor do paedophiles, murderers and terrorists, because noone deserves it. Shame on you, CmdrTaco. This is like pointing out Rodney King's violations as an excuse for the LAPD's treatment of him.
----------------------------------
What are the weapons of happiness?
Hmm...maybe this isn't so off-topic after all. The staffer was targeted for using a cell phone...that's YRO related. Plus, almost amy story about the election bears relevance...GW Bush is for censoring the internet. Al Gore was for censoring music (remember the PMRC?), but now tries to come off as a liberal. This presidential election has real implications for geeks; will DCMA be expanded? will pr0n be completely banned? will the justice department continue its case against Micro$oft on appeal, or will an AG under GW Bush quietly drop (or intentionally lose) the case? what type of people will each candidate appoint to our already conservative supreme court?
Sure, CmdrTaco admitted to abusing /. but I think this story has at least some relevance...
"You done taken a wrong turn."
-Bill McKinney, in Deliverance
Yes, for 1983 as an isolated case, you're right. But revenue went up the years after 1983, with the same tax rate - but how can that be, since tax cuts destroy revenue and black people, in your world at least.. But economic changes take time. You may be accustomed to getting an instant burger and fries, but it takes years for the economy to do its thing. And I'm wondering if there's still shit all over that 60 billion a year growth figure you have there, cos you obviously pulled it out of your ass. The website you quoted doesn't agree with your assertions. Try again when you have a clue.
I'm afraid things under President 'Dubya' ("Hi, I'm George Dubya Bush") will go back to the Operation Sundevil/Steve Jackson games raid era.
---
You need to read more Slashdot.h tml
http://slashdot.org/articles/00/07/19/1131253.s
"Even then she makes the concious decision to take a chance and drink from the punch bowl"
It seems likely to me that she would still be able to taste that the punch was spiked. If it's heavily spiked, she'll taste it, and if it's not heavily spiked, then she'd anyway have to drink a lot to get drunk - and during the few hours (at least) that that would take, she'd notice she was getting dizzy/drunk, while she's still in control.
Of course, I've never drank anything that was spiked unbeknownst to me, so perhaps I don't know what I'm talking about - but it just seems unlikely to me that nobody would notice.
The growing nouveau riche (I think I spelled that correctly) population (read Dot-Com Millionaires) should very well vote Republican. After all, 1 of every 5 Republicans is a multi-millionaire.
... well... you know what I'm going to say.
Even if you are still part of the commonfolk (I won't attempt to spell the French word for that), if you expect to be wealthy one day,
-m
wait, are you trying to tell me that Libertarians believe that corporates will cease environmentally destructive acts (get this) out of the goodness of their own hearts!!
This is a serious issue, and deserves a response. Nobody but Pxtl is likely to see it at this point, but I'm writing it anyway. :-P
We need to step back a moment and ask ourselves, 'Why are corporations allowed to do this?' If your neighbor were to dump toxic waste into his yard, which then spread into yours, you could take action against him. He'd be legally accountable, and would likely have to pay for cleanup.
So why aren't corporations held to the same standards?
Part of the reason is that corporations run the country. They pay for the campaigns of candidates, and they lobby for legislation that is favorable to their interestes. They can do this because they have money, and because money is the most powerful force in the US today.
Another part of the reason is because corporations own the media. The average citizen receives information from television, newspapers and radio -- so they just don't know anything the corporations don't want them to know. (You already mentioned this. I think your analysis is right on the mark.)
Yet another part of the reason is because corporations are like berserker terrorists: they aren't afraid to die. And worse, if you kill them, they come back to life stronger than before. If you sued a corporation for all of its assets and won (yeah, right), the corp. would just declare bankruptcy. The CEO, the directors and the shareholders would just start a new corporation -- likely, the people working for that corp would just report to work on Monday and the only difference they'd see is that their X Corp. mousepads would be replaced with X1 Corp mousepads.
You can't beat someone who doesn't stay dead.
Now, I don't have the answer to all of this mess, but part of the solution, I believe, must lie in making sure that people bear the responsibility for their actions, even if those actions are masked by an incorporated entity. If a ship owned by an oil corp. dumps oil everywhere, then maybe the board of directors for that company should be personally held liable for the mess. Even if the oil corp. folds because it doesn't want to pay for the cleanup, the board of directors (or someone -- I'm no lawyer) should then bear the responsibility until the mess and all of its repercussions have been cleaned up.
Any serious Libertarian (as opposed to those who just want part of the package, such as the tax cuts) will tell you that freedom and responsibility go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. Yes, I'm skeptical about how we can actually put these values into place in US society as it stands now, but what's the alternative -- to surrender and watch the world be destroyed?
Interesting, i never thought someone would want a leader with a differing viewpoint...
anyways, the "executive" branch doesn't share the root-word with "execute" just on coincidence... it's job (as govenor, or President) is to do the bidding of the congress(es) at the allowance of the courts... if the Texas supreme court has decided that the numerous capital offenders are guilty, then so be it.
his job is not to review cases and 'second guess' the courts, but is there so that those folks who may have "fallen through" the system can have one last cry and ask for a pause (even if for 10 minutes) before 'their button is pushed--- the goal of which is to see if any egregious errors in the case stand out, not to retry the case. Furthermore, if the 'execution' department was out of line, the other 2 branches of the [state] government would impede his lack of impedence, no?
and as to the stats from the Salon article... Texas is a big state... (not 20% of the country :) ) but still, if they follow through with the death sentence, good for them- (the stuff not explicitly codified in the Federal/National charter is left up to the state to decide... as long as it doesn't infringe on any inalienable rights, etc).
remember, the criminal justice system is designed to do 3 things: deter, rehabilitate, and punish... obviously, for the most extreme offenders, some of these options are mutually offensive.
Like a lot of the stuff in my original post: it's not pretty, but sometimes it 'has' to be done.
If she floats, she's a witch.
I find that hard to believe given the record of the Philly Police Department. We are talking about one of the most (if not the most) corrupt police department in the US. I mean it is the only police department to be sued by the U.S. Justice Department for corruption! More than 300 convictions by Philadelphia courts have been overturned because of manufactured and planted evidence used by police to frame innocent people.
This is also a police department who bombed a house and burned an entire block of Philadelphia down to crush the MOVE organization. If any one gets the benefit of the doubt, it should be the protesters in this case.
More like...post whatever will generate a lot ok pageviews. What happend to the old Slashdot???
Must nerds be ignorant to what happens outside the world of computers?
tinfoilmedia
Lieberman has been a prominent critic of the entertainment industry, pushing legislation for the so-called v-chip for television sets that allows parents to block objectionable programming from their children.
He also joined with conservative William Bennett to target "gangsta rap" music and has been similarly harsh in his criticism of the creators of violent video games.
Great!!! Just what you want, right CT?
If she floats, she's a witch.
AAArrg! I can't stand it...
As with everything, context is important. Jesus was speaking about people who gave lofty public prayers so that they would be admired by men. These people should be praying in closets at home in order to control their pride.
He was not saying there should never be any prayer in public. And he was certainly not saying that there should never be any prayer in churches and synagogues.
--
"I have a good idea why it's hard to verify programs. They're usually wrong." --Manuel Blum, FOCS 94
Okay, but how can we convince the Christians this is a good idea if the wages of sin really aren't death?
-jpowers
-jpowers
Arresting someone for talking on a cellphone is not what some of you philidelphians should be calling "enforcing" your laws. I suppose if you got arrested for using your palm/newton/startac or whatever PDA/Organizer you choose to use it would be different. I would be all for arrest were he driving while talking on it (which I know is flamebait but drivers who don't have the decency to pull over to the shoulder really annoy me), but I find it hard to beleive he would be driving in an area gridlocked with people.
As far as the protesters go, I was not there and therefore cannot say how fairly the cops were treating people. From what I saw on the news, I think the arrested party should be the feminazis who had defaced copies of the statue of liberty, claiming that the right to kill their child was in the constitution. Fuck you. Nobody's holding you back, if you want to go to some country where you want to kill, go ahead. Don't stay here and ridicule this country because you don't like one part of it.
The subject, respect, is probably why the cops were arresting people. If they were indeed arresting people based on race, PDA's/Cells and/or their clothes, I respect the protesters a lot more than the cops, because they weren't afraid to show their opinions, and at a political convention that's what it's all about. I respect the hackers who were standing around far more than the ones attaching cops, pushing right to abortion by ridiculing american icons, and others who were trying to cause riots. Having a right to your own opinion is what makes this country great. That you cannot express it freely is sad.
Kris
botboy60@hotmail.com
Nerdnetwork.net
Kris
botboy60@hotmail.com
Nerdnetwork.net
Heres the real scoop before you believe the "unbiased" news that come from the protest groups themselves.
Protesters who were arrested were arrested for the following things: (1) Destruction of property (2) Directly assaulting police (3) Blocking traffic. The common tactics used by most truly non-violent protestors (the traffic blocking ones) was to block a street and use various paraphenalia like PVC pipes and chains to lock themselves together. The philly police had to clear these people and they did so with as little force as possible. To do otherwise is irresponsible on the part of the police. Several police have been injured or sprayed with unknown substances when they were either doing nothing (sitting in their patrol cars, etc.) Several more were injured (including the police commissioner) when they attempted to stop violent protestors from tipping over cars and other blatantly destructive activities.
Unlike Seattle no tear gas was ever used. The philly police were calmer and far gentler than their counterparts in Seattle. The police stopped several trucks and closed down a warehouse they were told housed equipment to be used for disruptive protests. I assume that these things will be sorted out now that the convention is over and the police have actual time to follow up. Incidentally the worst day of protests was the second day of the convention, not the first and not the last. Anyone who tells you differently is making things up.
As for the jail conditions, it was not uncommon for protesters to strip naked, piss, and crap all over their holding cells. They then demanded to be moved out of their squalid conditions. The police refused and let them sit in their own shit. Some protestors complained about the food because they were (1) vegetarians or (2) had dietary health problems. Food was usually on the order of cheese or pb&j sandwiches (for the lactose intolerant). Philly police site about 400 people in custody and over half have been released. Those still in custody are most likely being held because they will not disclose their real names to the police and will be released once they do. Several people still being held were the riot instructors. These are the people who trained and then were actively coaching the disruptive protestors on the sidelines.
Considering the incredible pressure and concerted effort put against the Philadelphia police, the city of philadelphia is very happy with its police force. All the pictures and videos I have seen on the local news have been relatively positive towards the police.
So far I've gotten all my Karma from telling people they are wrong... :)
Actually, Ziff-Davis, in it's entirety, is owned by Softbank, Inc. (which ironically, is not a bank) which is run by an Asian by the name of Soon (I know, asian is a broad term, but I dunno if he's Korean or Vietnamese.... note that I'm Japanese, so it's not racism... just a generalization.) I don't care about your politics, but I knew this to be wrong, and had to call you on it.
I've always had trouble with "Just Vote!" message. It causes a lot of clueless people to go to the pole and just pick the names that sound nice or that they recognize. Then they get a little sticker that sez "I Voted Today!" and all they're co-workers think they're socially responsible. This contributes to the wrong people getting elected. So if you haven't spent at least a few minutes considering the issues for god sake stay home. Or if your willing to spend just a couple minutes go to www.vote-smart.org and get a quick and simply summary of what the candiadates do and do not support.
In the 1950s, corporations paid 30% of all taxes int the US. Now they pay less than 10%. So are you against restoring corporate taxes to the rates they were when General Eisenhower was president?
Abe was a republican when they were quite liberal.
The copper bosses killed you, Joe. 'I never died', said he.
You fail to realize that your vote is only as good as your reprasentative is. You do know that your rep can vote however he/she chooses, and it's their vote that counts. The people's vote is just something to keep the masses happy. People bitched about communism because of the assumption that people were too stupid to govern themselves.. isn't that exactly what we do with our reprasentatives? Call me a bad citizen, but voting doesn't make that much of a difference when your talking about the president.
"We obviously need a new moderation category: (-1, Woo-fucking-hoo)" --Mr. AC
Ok, real simple question. If corporations are currently pulluting like crazy and screwing over the common folk, how the heck is less government going to solve this problem?
Speaking of police, in my area there are to freaking many of them. in fact there are sooo many of them, that most of them spend all of thier time trying to decide where to set up the next speed trap. In my opinion they should be out in the neighborhoods making themselves visible in the real community, rather than sitting in the ditch trying to decide who to pull over next.
Proportional representation doesn't exactly apply to a race like the presidential, where there's a single slot to be filled.
What we need here, according to that voting systems FAQ in the other reply to your post (someone moderate that up, BTW?), is called approval voting, where instead of one voter, one vote, each voter casts a "yes" or a "no" vote for each candidate, and the candidate with the most yes votes wins.
That way, people can vote for third party candidates without worrying that they may be splitting the vote for their preferred Republicrat candidate, because they'd cast a vote for both. Social liberals in this election might vote yes to Gore and Nader; fiscal liberals might vote yes to Bush and Browne.
I'd vote yes to Gore and Browne, just to confuse people. As it is, I think that both primary candidates in this election suck (Why did everybody I talked to prefer McCain and Bradley, but Bush and Gore got all the votes anyway), and if Gore was winning by a big margin I'd cast a protest vote for Browne... but as it is, I have to vote for Gore as the only possible way to help keep GWBush from taking the election.
Cute. Corporations were created by the government, for one thing.
Youcould stand to learn a little history before posting that stuff.
And I want them all legalized. See, besides lemmings, we humans are the only herd that thins itself. We have no natural predators but our own stupidity, and what better way to allow that stupidity to flower and then die off than legalizing heroin? Sure, you'd lose a few thousand kids right off the bat, but in the long run, the ones who survived would raise their children to think for themselves, as it's the only real defense against bad decisions, and we'd be tougher and smarter as a country for it.
Of course, I'd like to relive my college days with a little legal indo, but I consider this secondary to the real issue: overproliferation of idiots.
-jpowers
-jpowers
Nader has a (remote) chance, and has supported adding a "NOTA" vote to elections (None Of The Above) for a long time. This really would be the perfect protest vote! Not everything on his ballot is perfect, but he's certainly the only candidate who will actually get in there and Fuck Shit Up.
You know, I seriously doubt that somebody was just standing there and a cop walked up and snatched his hear off of his head.
I was here during the protests in Portland (very low key compared to what I've seen from Philly and Seattle). But you have these nimrods that will walk up to the cops, throw themselves into the cops, and then complain the loudest when the cop throws them to the ground and takes them to jail. "I was just walking down the street!" they claimed. Bullcrap! I saw what went down and it was someone who was trying to get one up on the cops. In my opinion, helping to instigate a riot.
I'm not saying the cops should just be allowed to walk around and beat people down. But at the same time, you try being the person who has to keep order.
They are basically in a lose-lose situation here. It's really hard to keep control of a huge mob of protestors without losing control. Flex too much muscle, and people bitch. Let the mob run all over you and destroy property, and people bitch. Been there, done that in the military. Crappy job. That's why I got out of that line of work.
Lieberman has been a prominent critic of the entertainment industry, pushing legislation for the so-called v-chip for television sets that allows parents to block objectionable programming from their children.
He also joined with conservative William Bennett to target "gangsta rap" music and has been similarly harsh in his criticism of the creators of violent video games.
Great!!! Just what WE want, right CT?
If she floats, she's a witch.
If you really don't like either party then feel free to vote for someone else. By the way, for those of you that say that this is a waste of a vote let me drag out some stats for you. You have 1:270,000,000 of the vote (actually no vote if you consider that the whole thing is decided by the electorial college and they do NOT have to vote with the popular vote). Thus you really have to decide which is more valuable to you; the ability to say that you voted for someone whose views where completely different than your's, or voting for someone who you would actually vote for someone who you would actually want as president. I personally disagree with Bush, and I cannot vote for a man that thinks that he invented the internet.
Has anyone noticed that none of these claims of police abuse have been confirmed? The Philadelphia papers came down firmly on the side of the cops, noting that they behaved with complete professionalism. They also noted that the only people who were held for extended periods were the ones who refused to provide ID so they could be processed (and then threatened to sue for denial of due-process!)
Second, there weren't no "500 arrests". The final tally was fewer than 400 - of which 350 were arrested on one day when, catch this, they were doing things like flipping over cars owned by the poor people they were supposed to be protesting *for*.
If the Philly cops had ripped people ears off, it would have been front page news nation wide. Instead we get unsubstantiated claims of "torture" from people who claim that plastic handcuffs are the moral equivalent of being raped with a cattle prod.
Police State? These people don't have a clue what a real police state is like. They should try visiting what's left of the USSR or Yugoslavia and see if they can get a handle on the difference between US and them.
--
Greetings New User! Be sure to replace this text with a
Clear, Dark Skies
Details? What has George W. Bush accomplished in his life that would make him a leader and universal role model? Remember, it has to be something he accomplished himself, not something his parent's friends got for him.
School? With his grades, you and I would *never* have been accepted to the schools he attended.
Business? First he was bailed out by Daddy's friends, then the city of Arlington made him rich by buying the Rangers their stadium.
Government? He's held one elective office - governor of a state that allows the governor little freedom to accomplish anything. Except for executing people, he hasn't accomplished anything there either.
Role model? Arrested for pranks, barely got through school, joined Air National Gaurd to skip Vietnam (and disappeared for several months during his 'active' duty), drifted through life as an amiable party boy until six years ago.
Rebuttals? Let me know.
"It was me against the world, I was sure that I'd win.... but the world fought back, punished me for my sins" - Social D
women who drink alcohol do so voluntarily [...] Date-rape drugs, on the other hand, are slipped into womens' drinks unbeknownst to them.
Oh, and I'm sure nobody has ever lied to another person about whether the punch in the bowl on the left is alcoholic or non-alcoholic.
The sheer quantity of alcohol available usually makes it the #1 drug in just about any statistical category you can name.
Hey, if the democrats _were_ running an inanimate carbon rod, I'd be tempted to vote for it. However, despite the sarcastic comments I expect from some people that Gore and the rod could be twins, they are not.
I'm voting for Harry Browne.
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
Aw, c'mon, Sam Adams kicks the shit out of 99% of the brews in the EU...
If she floats, she's a witch.
how is discussing politics more akin to disconnected intellectual exercise than discussing linux kernels and source code licenses?
if anything, i'd say it's the other way around: if one feels more political action is needed (as wannabe seemed to imply), the best path to that action is for people in all fields to educate themselves about politics, right?
by using slashdot as a forum for political debate, we are educating ourselves and others, NOT carrying on meaningless intellectual discussion
CNET Article
Slashdot Article
And I am sure you are writing this post from some squalid philly prison - and doing so with whatever little strength you have left since they have not fed you yet.
Um
and there is something called the 1st amendment
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and
to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Ya dumb fuck know the law of the land; protest are part of the American tradition
That, or maybe you are using your laptop from the
hospital because the police beat the crap out of you.
Amendment VIII - Cruel and Unusual punishment.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual
punishments inflicted.
um
I am continually bothered by the fact that Libertarians makes noone responsible for the less fortunate.
This is a lie. The Libertarian party makes the private sector responsible for the less fortunate. (You need to consult a dictionary to understand what I mean by the word "fortunate.") The huge problem with liberal thought is that whenever there is a problem the assumption is that the government has to step in to "fix" it. (Like they "fixed" our retirement with the bankrupt social security scam and they "fixed" health care for the elderly with the bankrupt Medicare scam). At this point usually the liberals scream, "But the Libertarian solution is not perfect! They'll leave kids starving in the streets!" Well guess what? Is the government solution perfect? Hell no! Will it ever be? Hell no! If you're looking for a "perfect" solution then you're going to be looking forever.
Not everyone comes out of a wealthy family that can afford a)health care b)good food and c)safe living conditions.
If someone can't afford health care, good food, and safe living conditions, then why the hell are they having children?? People treat it like it's some kind of right, and if they can't afford it then they have the right to use the government as an instrument of plunder.
but, if I use a cliche, think of the children.
Yes! The chiiiiiiilllllldren!!! The ultimate political whore!
Its not their fault mommie's a crackwhore, and daddy's in prison, but they get no welfare, can't pay for education, and don't stand a rats ass of surviving to adulthood.
You're right. But guess what? That doesn't make it my fault either! So how on earth does this give the government the right to take my money by force when it's not my goddamned responsibility?
And the rich grow richer.
This is the "evil rich" argument. The formula works this way: you can use peoples jealousy over other people's property to buy votes and political support. Pretty scummy, isn't it?
And don't give me that "voluntary taxation" shite. Look how well "voluntary standards" work (not at all). There will always be unpopular charities (like disease research that's doesn't have the word "cancer", or any celebrities suffering from it, but still kills/cripples lots of people), and besides, why should the charitable be punished, and the heartless be rewarded?
How much more popular would charities be if we weren't currently being taxed higher than we were during the height of world war II? And I don't know what your last question refers to, but let me counter with this: why should the achievers be punished and the irresponsible be rewarded?
I don't make the rules. I just make fun of them.