Slashdot Mirror
WTO Wants USA to Gamble Online
revtom writes "The WTO has ruled that the U.S. must allow online gambling or face trade barriers. My favorite quote from the article (Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va), 'It cannot be allowed to stand that another nation can impose its values on the U.S. and make it a trade issue.' Pot/Kettle black?"
> U.S. policy prohibiting online gambling violates
> its obligations under international trade law.
Sorry, but no matter what the WTO thinks, the US *IS* International Trade Law. The worlds most important economy protected by the worlds biggest guns.
That is not going to change in the short term, as I can't see any politician taking the initiative to truly integrate the US in a Global "Free Trade" economy (and, no, all the Free Trade agreements that the US have signed have been anything but "Free"). There would be an immediate loss of jobs, especially in the Agriculture sector, and an across-the-board downgrading of quality of life.. maybe falling as low as that experienced by Europeans and Australians!
No, IMHO eventually the US economy will collapse and take the rest of the world with it. To all us dotcom bust survivors... well.. you aint seen nothing yet.
Worst thing, chances are is that it will happen in my lifetime.
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
The US doesn't need to ask for permission to defend itself or take actions where it is in its own best interests. The Kyoto Protocol was a joke and was never ratified here anyways. You can't withdraw something you don't formally enter in.
Bottom line, we can do it because we have the power and the might. We don't need to play well with others, others need to play well with us.
Slashdot Moderation: From positive to terrible in 2 "insightful" posts.
I for one welcome our WTO online gambling overlords.
Strange as it may seem to people living in socialist states (cough*EU*cough), the US government has to keep the US populace happy, or they tend to get pitched out on their asses (sooner or later, usually later).
And no, when it comes to our vital interests, we don't really give a flying fsck what others think. JUST LIKE ALL OTHER COUNTRIES. We just don't put on airs pretending to care what others think.
And no, our attitude was not the cause of 9/11. Like it or not (and we don't really like it) the US has been the torch carrier for liberty since WWII. We did not seek this role as policeman to the world, but somebody has to keep the barbarians in check (and islamists are the modern barbarians, they REALLY, REALLY want the clock turned back to about 1100A.D.).
Personally, I think we should let the rest of the world go fsck themselves, unless they mess with us. Then hit them so hard their great grandkids are cross-eyed (or glow).
The objective standard shouldn't be whether a religion finds these activities immoral. It should be whether such activities can be rationally considered to be detrimental to society. A rational thinker may come to the same conclusion as someone who idolizes a pair of stone tablets, but in the case of a conflict, the religiously derived morality must fall by the wayside.
Read a history book.
Start with one about South Africa, and the apartheid regime.
They said the same thing.
The US will be a minor nuisance in ~50 years from now - since you're hated all over the world. Watch your economy break down first.
it's in my head
The US would go in there, chemical weapons and depleted-uranium ammunition pouring out liberally over the side of all US craft, and the country would be 'liberated' ... much in the same fashion Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq have been 'liberated'.
When did we liberate Palestine? Hell, the Jews have not even done it. And do keep in mind the only reason they have not turned every muslim in the region into a black grease spot in the sand is because we won't let them. God knows they want to.
So we let them have a little fun and kill a cripple now and then. Big deal. Seems like a fair trade to me since if I was in charge over there the next course of action after killing that gimp would have been to carpet bomb his funeral procession and any following processions held for THOSE victims, ad infintum, until the whole problem ended up neatly solved through attrition.
US is being hurt by their stupid trade agreements. This ruling from WTO is noting compared to what US did to other countries, Canada through NAFTA in particular (See this old but striking story about MMT, a dangerous fuel additive. Canada banned it for environmental reasons, and they were fined by NAFTA for 20m). And what about this silly 20% tax on Canada's wood exportation to US? And this new story is one more proof that these trade agreements are nothing but bull****. US is definately not fair in a LOT of cases and I think it's good for them to learn that these agreements are *2 WAYS* agreements! No wonder why so much people (me included) are in the streets during WTO summits.
perception is reality
Neither does China. They have the worst polution problem then we could even DREAM of here in the US. Hell, Shanghai alone makes Houston and LA look like clean air haven. One lung full of the air in Shanghai will burn your pink virgin lungs with PAIN (assuming your not a smoker to begin with).
What's really pisses me off is that the Kyoto contract is nothing more then slowing down the US ecconomy. For some reason, the rest of the world hates out sucess regardless of the fact we work so hard for it. No 1st world country works as hard as the US, NO ONE!!. So as a US citizen, FUCK THE KYOTO CONTRACT...and FUCK YOU (to those in favor of it!
Life is not for the lazy.
Now it will be OK to sell Nazi gear in France....
Interesting article you linked. Did you read it?
What might simply be seen as devil-may-care arrogance is arguably not that at all - it looks more like a genuine delusion concerning the extent to which US values are shared by others.
Hmm. Per the bar charts in the article, American values appear to be (1) faith and (2) freedom. Not bad. If it's not true elsewhere, I'd prefer to maintain the delusion that people everywhere seek freedom and some sort of spiritual solace. I hate it when people think of themselves as cows to be milked and fed by mother government, as the Europeans evidently do.
European values appear to be (1) shame (see the chart - "Are you proud to be a [citizen of country X]?") and (2) areligious in belief and (3) a desire to be mothered by nanny states. Hardly a Triple Crown by my book.
In any case, US values and leadership have lead to a larger expansion of democracy and freedom than at any other time in the history of the world. So far, democracy appears to be the least bad form of government and the one that puts the most value on human life.
In any case, the argument the Economist made is that Americans consider themselves to be exceptional. I'd argue that we don't -- we consider everyone to be ordinary. It's the country that we consider to be exceptional. And is is, by absolutely any measure:
Are we perfect? No. Do we expect reacharounds when ungrateful sacks of shit from other countries fuck us in the ass when we are doing the heavy lifting on a project that is in the long-term best interest of the world? No. We suck it up and get things done while people are being naysayers all around.
It has been especially during times when people resented and fought against that leadership that the guidance and steady hand of the US has been most-needed. The Pershing Missle riots and anti-Reagan protests in the early eighties were, I think, reasonably indicative of strong anti-us sentiment in Europe. Was the US decision to put missles in western Europe good in the long run for Europe? You bet your ass it was. Was Reagan good for all of Europe? You bet your ass.
Europe hated Reagan, but if Carter had another term, there would still be a Soviet Union today, and the world would be much more dangerous and unpleasant for ordinary people everywhere.
There should be statutes of Reagan erected everywhere in Europe when he dies. FWIW, George W. Bush is a pale imitation of Reagan, more like a John Major than a Margaret Thatcher, for instance.
The anti-Reagan argument then was that he was a stupid American cowboy playing russian roulette with nuclear weapons. W is viewed the same way. The post-Reagan argument is that things would have turned out the same way without him, and that's just horseshit.
Freedom is exploding to the point that it is no longer a question of "can this fragile flame survive?" but "When will Castro finally die so Cuba can join the party?" Things are so different today than they were in 1979 and it is largely due to the exceptionalist views of Reagan and the US. The free world was ready to roll over and die in 1979. Things were bad.
As an outsider
Cough up a nationality, pal. There is a more than reasonable chance that your country's ass was saved from itself or from someone else by the United States within the memory of people still living in your country. I'm betting UK based on your prior posts. The UK still dreams -- you folks aren't too far gone to be important again. If you are from somewhere else, I hope it's the developing world, because the rest of (western) Europe is going to stagnate and rot. Germany, France, and Italy are going to be eaten ali
"
A liberal government is the type of government that wants to become your best friend and get involved with every aspect of your life and help all of the people. It's commonly referred to communism or, in more extensive forms, socialism."
Yes, to translate your thought, a liberal govt. want to deny you your freedom, and run your life for you. They think they own all the wealth and get to distribute it the way they see fit, regardless of who generated the wealth. That is why liberal govts. are big govts., while libertarian govts. only focus on protecting your individual rights. Socialism is tyranny because it says the collective good is more important than your basic individual right to own and trade what you produce.
Vote for Pedro
The EU is has no power what so ever! They do nothing! They sit back and let people blow them up! Then they run an hide like a scared little child.
As for the US, the US will do what it takes to protect it's own interests. The United Nations (more properly called the Useless Nations) and the WTO are full of people who are completely anti-American. The WTO allows other countries to do things like subsidies certain industries, but when the United States does the same the other countries that do the same thing run crying to the WTO.
The US should pull out of the WTO completely! Other countries keep high tarifs on American products or just plain don't allow American products to be sold in their coutries. If America does the same they cry, "no fair".
The rest of the world be damned! If they won't look out for the United States interests, then we will--whether you like it or not!
Let's look at the record. Germany and France were major funders of Iraq. France gave Iran nuclear capability. Both opposed the Iraq skirmish. The US went anyway! Now the US got what it wanted and Iraq is on its way to becoming a Democracy! France and Germany capitulated to US demands to forgive Iraq's debt in order to give their companies a chance at Iraq's business opportunities and so the US will forget the blood money France and Germany recently gave to Iraq.
The United States played the game of world citizen, and what did it get us? Countries took advantage of us, they kicked us, the beat us up, and other similar things...so the World be damned! The United States should stop giving money to all the nations we give money...like a lot of countries in the Middle East--except Isreal. The United States provides more charity to the world than any other country...especially fromt he rich nations!
At the next eco-hypocrisy-meeting, count the private jets used to get to the meeting. Should be interesting to see that