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Higher Education Fears Wiretapping Law
alphadogg writes "Institutions of higher education are up in arms over an FCC ruling on wiretapping they say could cost them billions of dollars in upgrades, expose their networks to more attacks, and jeopardize rights to privacy and freedom of speech.
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"now everyone is loosing something they love"
I knew a girl who was loosing something she loved by using bigger and bigger objects to love it with on a far too regular basis... fuck was she loose.
The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
Do you have any idea what kinds of freedoms people actually gave up during previous wars? I'll give you a hint: if there were online discussion boards during World War II and you made that post, you would have found yourself in jail. You might not have gotten out until the end of the war when the constitution was restored. I'm not saying I support Bush's power grab (or that of any previous president either) but have a little perspective. Saying you have less freedom now than anyone did ever before during other wars just makes you look like a ranting lunatic (ie Michael Moore).
Liberals insist you think the way they think because they are smarter than you.
"Pluralities of suburbanites, Protestants, married people, and those from households with incomes of $30,000 or more also self-identify as Republican. This reflects the Republican party's "main street" advantage. In contrast, the Democratic party is more attractive to less wealthy and minority segments of the electorate" http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?Repor tID=124
There isn't a singluar chart to draw the comparison form, but you can see here http://www.umich.edu/~nes/nesguide/gd-index.htm the conservative vote consolidates with wealth and education. Educators may be more inclined to be liberal, but that's hardly a suprise, considering they went from living with their parents, to going to university on student loans, to going to a teaching position at the university, to tenure. Wow, straight from mom's tit to the government's tit, I'm impressed.
"and thus necessitate giving up fundamental freedoms we have never given up before) than during the Revolutionary War, Civil War, 1812, WWI, WWII, Cold War..."
From that quote alone, I can tell you bypassed the 'individual thinking' and 'higher education' you so loftily exhalt. For starters, it doesn't even make sense. (before than during???) Regardless, I tried to respond.
World Wars = Oh, your parents are japanese? You're under arrest. Whoops! Come back here Mr. Free press, you can't run that story. Almost thought you'd get away from the Office of Propaganda and Censorship didn't you? Hey you across the street, come grab a rifle and travel around the world for a war, there's even a 32% chance you'll survive!
Oh yeah, we're really sacrificing for this war because the NSA could *GASP* intercept your phone call when you talk about how much you support Hamas.
Any fool can criticise, condemn, and complain, and most fools do. - Benjamin Franklin
If it takes wiretapping to protect our freedom from the terrorists, then isn't it the case that wiretapping is freedom?
I hear many short sighted lefties talk about "protecting" our freedoms. What they are really talking about is squandering our precious liberty by using it up. Our liberty must be protected, not merely by intrusive government abuse into our privacy, but by refraining from its exercise. Freedom must be cherished. You don't cherish something by using it all up and wearing it out.
The article points out that the cost of upgrading the university networks would be in the neighborhood of $400 - $500 per student. I think this is more than a small sacrifice that American college students should make for our security and protecting our freedom. In fact, it's a bargain! Other Americans in the same age group are over in Iraq, putting their lives on the line and in some cases making the ultimate sacrifice so that we might have comprehensive government oversight of every aspect of our lives here at home. When you use that as your gauge, then $500 per student is cheap. Hell, I know some college students that easily spend twice that on beer in a semester.
I realize that there are some low income students that couldn't afford to pay their university wiretap fees, even if we could hide those fees in the student body activity fee. For these students, I am proposing a waiver, to be awarded after they have completed one tour of duty in Iraq. That would help the underprivileged and help beat the terrorists. Everybody wins!! Well, except the terrorists. But they don't belong in college anyway; if we don't fight them in Iraq, surely we'll have to fight them on the beaches of American universities, which would put a severe crimp in spring break.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
You wouldn't be "forced" to give up any freedoms if you'd refrain from exercising them so much. Our freedoms are our most precious resource, and there are some (and I suspect you're one of them*) that would waste our freedoms by overusing them. It's not like we can just drill under a wildlife refuge for new freedoms. If you want to save our freedoms, the best way is to conserve them. And the best way to conserve them is to start at home.
First, begin by keeping more of your thoughts to yourself. I'm not suggesting that you keep all thoughts to yourself and cut off all interactions with those around you, but maybe put a lid on sharing political opinions with others. Put the kibosh on criticisms of President Bush and his administration. If all Americans began conserving our precious liberty in this way, then wiretaps and such couldn't be falsely portrayed by traitors and terrorist-lovers as anti-freedom. On the contrary, such security measures can be understood properly for what they are: securing our precious freedoms, i.e., saving them for a rainy day, when we might really need them.**
* I suspect you, but I'll wait until I get word from the NSA and the CIA before filing a formal accusation in court.
** I.e., if a Democrat gets elected President, God forbid.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.