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Stallman: Thousands Dead, Millions Deprived of Liberties
The worst damage from many nerve injuries is secondary -- it happens in the hours after the initial trauma, as the body's reaction to the damage kills more nerve cells. Researchers are beginning to discover ways to prevent this secondary damage and reduce the eventual harm.
If we are not careful, the deadly attacks on New York and Washington will lead to far worse secondary damage, if the U.S. Congress adopts "preventive measures" that take away the freedom that America stands for.
I'm not talking about searches at airports here. Searches of people or baggage for weapons, as long as they check only for weapons and keep no records about you if you have no weapons, are just an inconvenience; they do not endanger civil liberties. What I am worried about is massive surveillance of all aspects of life: of our phone calls, of our email, and of our physical movements.
These measures are likely to be recommended regardless of whether they would be effective for their stated purpose. An executive of a company developing face recognition software is said to be telling reporters that widespread deployment of face-recognizing computerized cameras would have prevented the attacks. The September 15 New York Times cites a congressman who is advocating this "solution." Given that the human face recognition performed by the check-in agents did not keep the hijackers out, there is no reason to think that computer face recognition would help. But that won't stop the agencies that have always wanted to do more surveillance from pushing this plan now, and many other plans like it. To stop them will require public opposition.
Even more ominously, a proposal to require government back doors in encryption software has already appeared.
Meanwhile, Congress hurried to pass a resolution giving Bush unlimited power to use military force in retaliation for the attacks. Retaliation may be justified, if the perpetrators can be identified and carefully targeted, but Congress has a duty to scrutinize specific measures as they are proposed. Handing the president carte blanche in a moment of anger is exactly the mistake that led the United States into the Vietnam War.
Please let your elected representatives, and your unelected president, know that you don't want your civil liberties to become the terrorists' next victim. Don't wait -- the bills are already being written.
Copyright 2001 Richard StallmanVerbatim copying and distribution of this entire article are permitted in any medium provided the copyright notice and this notice are preserved.
Rabid Linux Geek: 'Evening, squire!
Squire: (stiffly) Good evening.
Rabid Linux Geek: Is, uh,...Is your wife a goer, eh? Know whatahmean, know whatahmean, nudge nudge, know whatahmean, say no more?
Squire: I, uh, I beg your pardon?
Rabid Linux Geek: Your, uh, your wife, does she go, eh, does she go, eh?
Squire: (flustered) Well, she sometimes "goes", yes.
Rabid Linux Geek: Aaaaaaaah bet she does, I bet she does, say no more, say no more, knowwhatahmean, nudge nudge?
Squire: (confused) I'm afraid I don't quite follow you.
Rabid Linux Geek: Follow me. Follow me. That's good, that's good! A nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat!
Squire: Are you, uh,...are you selling something?
Rabid Linux Geek: SELLING! Very good, very good! Ay? Ay? Ay? (pause) Oooh! Ya wicked Ay! Wicked Ay! Oooh hooh! Say No MORE!
Squire: Well, I, uh....
Rabid Linux Geek: Is, your uh, is your wife a sport, ay?
Squire: Um, she likes sport, yes!
Rabid Linux Geek: I bet she does, I bet she does!
Squire: As a matter of fact she's very fond of cricket.
Rabid Linux Geek: 'Oo isn't? Likes games, eh? Knew she would. Likes games, eh? She's been around a bit, been around?
Squire: She has traveled, yes. She's from Scarsdale. (pause)
Rabid Linux Geek: SAY NO MORE!!
Rabid Linux Geek: Scarsdale, saynomore, saynomore, saynomore, squire!
Squire: I wasn't going to!
Rabid Linux Geek: Oh! Well, never mind. Dib dib? Is your uh, is your wife interested in....photography, ay? "Photographs, ay", he asked him knowlingly?
Squire: Photography?
Rabid Linux Geek: Snap snap, grin grin, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more?
Squire: Holiday snaps, eh?
Rabid Linux Geek: They could be, they could be taken on holiday. Candid, you know, CANDID photography?
Squire: No, no I'm afraid we don't have a camera.
Rabid Linux Geek: Oh. (leeringly) Still, mooooooh, ay? Mwoohohohohoo, ay? Hohohohohoho, ay?
Squire: Look... are you insinuating something?
Rabid Linux Geek: Oh, no, no, no...yes.
Squire: Well?
Rabid Linux Geek: Well, you're a man of the world, squire.
Squire: Yes...
Rabid Linux Geek: I mean, you've been around a bit, you know, like, you've, uh.... You've "done it"....
Squire: What do you mean?
Rabid Linux Geek: Well, I mean like,....you've SLEPT, with a lady....
Squire: Yes....
Rabid Linux Geek: Do they run Linux?
RMS CAN LICK MY FUCKING BALLZ!!
hahahahahhahahahahahahahahah
ROFL
I still think Root Mean Squared when I see RMS. Obviously, I am RMS challenged because RMS stands for Really Mean Sausage. Duh!
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This is totally correct.
your principles are the most pure?
you mean the most powerful ethnical purification (redskins for example)?
Don't use and abuse of any absolute terms.
That will open up whole new vistas to troll!
But there is still one burning question about the system used to implement this : "Does it run Linux?"
Please bother to understand the context and proper interpetation of that quote before using it incorrectly.
The subject says it all. This guy is a fucking loon.
Ok. Why is this a troll? Because /. is full of leftist assholes?
he ain't karma whoring, people. do your job.
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time to 'rm /bin/laden'