Slashdot Mirror
Torvalds Becomes an American Citizen
netbuzz writes "Having brought his open-source work and family to the United States from Finland some time ago, Linus Torvalds has marked an important personal milestone by attaining US citizenship. A casual remark on the Linux kernel mailing list about registering to vote led to the community being in on the news. Torvalds has acknowledged being a bit of a procrastinator on this move, writing in a 2008 blog post: 'Yeah, yeah, we should probably have done the citizenship thing a long time ago, since we've been here long enough (and two of the kids are US citizens by virtue of being born here), but anybody who has had dealings with the INS will likely want to avoid any more of them, and maybe things have gotten better with a new name and changes, but nothing has really made me feel like I really need that paperwork headache again.' In that post he also expresses dislike for the American style of politics in which he will now be able to participate directly."
This comment is write only, but I need to vent.
Newt Gingrich has done nothing but pour gasoline and a lit match on the whole "Islam is invading our country!!" stupidity.
It's one thing for some douchebag TV "Personality" like Glenn Beck to produce verbal diarrhea, but when a supposedly rational (for loose definitions of such) people of power Godwin themselves on the Sunday morning political shows is entirely another.
People like him seriously frighten me.
I have wrapped coils of wire around the petrified spinning dust of Roger Williams and I plan to power the whole of North America just as soon as I get the contract signed with National Grid.
--
BMO - "When they come to ethnically cleanse me, will you speak out, will you defend me?" - PWEI
For some reason, It's ok as long as you are making fun of the right here.
Of course. On the left it is expected and not particularly notable. On the right, it points out the hypocrisy they both trade on for power and engage in when our back are turned.
Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now, and let us slay him... and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
Does the fact that copyright law restricts people's freedom to share more than they think it should make it okay to circumvent DRM and other protections to copy material for personal use and/or distribution? No, it doesn't mean that. If they can do so, its because they have the resources at hand to do so.
The fact that the law conflicts with their expectation of what they should be permitted to do doesn't cause them to be able to do it, it just makes them more likely to break the law than they would be to if the law comported with their ideas of fairness, and the fact that the law, in certain of its effects and applications, conflicts with lots of people's ideas of what should or should not be allowed means that there is quite a wide availability of tools and assistance in doing so.
The high demand plus illegality also means that criminal gangs involved in activities that are far more universally condemned can leverage the demand and the fact of illegality to use people's desire to circumvent the law to further existing criminal enterprises (e.g., in the copyright case, by distributing software that purports to crack DRM or other protections -- or which purports to contain content liberated from existing protections -- and which, whether or not it does what is advertised, also turns the computers its used on into botnet slaves or otherwise subverts them; in the immigration case, the analogous practices involve using prospective immigrants as labor for illegal sweatshops, in sexual trafficking, and using the fact of their illegal status as leverage to get them directly involved in criminal activity.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Williams_(theologian) I assume.
Colonial minister who had had enough of various official religious abuses, and did something about it. His story focuses on wrangling between Christian denominations; I suppose that carries over to different contexts.
BTW, congrats on the improved version of the standard "spinning in his grave" comment. :)
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
I'm not discounting freedom of religion as a key value in America (and many other places of course).
However, in a touch of irony, those who don't believe in American values will likely still be ruthless enough to exploit it against us. They ask us to tolerate their intolerance. (Okay, it's also ironic that Christian fundies do some of this too, but that doesn't excuse other groups.)
I'm not sure if the guys behind the Ground Zero mosque actually fall into that category, I'm just saying that I see a potential values conflict/tradeoff.
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
What "Ground Zero mosque" are we talking about here? Last I heard, no one is building any mosque at the former World Trade Center site.
Check out my world simulator thingy.
okay, it's two blocks from the site, I know. lots of /.'ers love being pedantic...
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
It's not about being pedantic, it's about being honest. I am sick of hearing about the "victory mosque being built at Ground Zero." There is no such thing.
Check out my world simulator thingy.
I meant it as shorthand that i thought people would understand. "Ground Zero mosque" versus "Islamic community center two blocks from the World Trade Center site".
To bring up Orwell outside of the usual 1984 references, I'll admit that he does talk a lot about the manipulative power of language
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
DR. Glenn Beck ???!
You must be joking.
Pedantic? The entire controversy was initiated and fueled by dishonest claims that the mosque was to be built on top of where the WTC stood.
Beck advocates people to stand up for themselves, be responsible and self-sufficient -- to stop the government "entitlements" that chain people to wellfare and excessive government spending.
BTW "wellfare" is not an example of "excessive government spending", just because you disapprove of it. It's a minor public expenditure. You are more concerned about moral hazard, and to put it bluntly, it's quite obvious that your racism is what fuels your concern.
That doesn't mean throwing people under the bus - it just means finding another way for them to earn a living, such as education and skills training programs, small business loans, etc.
I'll go tell my grandmother. She'll get incentivized to support herself with her quilting.
That isn't racism. It's common sense.
Typical white conservative comment.
Glenn Beck dropped out after one semester of college and became a DJ. His honorary degree was awarded by Jerry Falwell's college. Calling him Dr. Glenn Beck is hilarious.
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
My bad - I only realized after further research that it was an honorary title. Still, doctor or not, the stuff he comes up with makes you wonder WTF the federal government is up to. Where does my tax money go?
Where do you come up with racism fueling my concern? I am brown, btw, and I find your comment highly inflammatory -- just because I would rather not piss away my hard-earned money to people who WON'T work for it -- not people who are legitimately unable, too old, or infirm to work. Just because I am conservative doesn't mean I am not charitable. People should take care of each other. We don't need the government to take care of us.
What does race have to do with welfare expenditures? I certainly am not advocating cutting off benefits that your grandmother and/or grandfather earned by paying into the system most of their lives. But you must realize the Social Security system is a literally government-sponsored Ponzi scheme that will eventually go broke because it cannot keep up with the rising costs of maintaining the Babyboomer generation. There simply aren't enough of us paying into it.
So what's that you say? Raise taxes? For benefits we will NEVER receive? No thanks. Unless we reform this system, we will never be free of ever-increasing liabilities. It's the same problem with government and union pensions. How do YOU like the fact that the President and Congress-critters can serve only ONE term and receive their salary for life? Did they really earn that? What about government employees that pay 10% of their salary into a retirement system for 20 years, retire at age 50 and continue to receive 90% of their salary for 30+ years? Did they earn that? One reason most corporations have phased out pension systems, besides greed, is that these "entitlements" are simply unsustainable.
I would rather invest my own retirement savings into a 401K or similar vehicle, instead of continuing to fund a system that will likely never pay out one cent to me. Current working generations have both burdens - save for retirement AND continue paying for SS to support retirees.
I'll go tell my grandmother. She'll get incentivized to support herself with her quilting.
Right--so instead, because of your grandfathers poor planning and your grandmothers apparently inability to do even menial tasks like being a receptionist, you want the government to take some of my money by force, pass it through the hands of tons of bureaucrats at the IRS, and give her pennies on the dollar that was stolen from me?
How about your grandmother goes and finds a decent and caring church? My money *willfully* goes to a church that assists widows and orphans. And the amount of money that makes it down to actually help those in need is much better than pennies on the dollar.
What do you think came first? The IRS, and the government taking your money to put into these programs, or human decency? Was there really no 'charity' before the IRS came into existence?
There's no place like
He was the racist. He implied that black people are poor.
testing out my trending skills