When the Senate Tried To Ban Dial Telephones

An anonymous reader writes "With the Senate now looking to have the government block access to websites it deems to be bad (which seems to be called 'censorship' in other countries), it's worth pointing out that the Senate doesn't exactly have a good track record when it comes to deciding what technologies to ban. Back in 1930, some Senators came close to banning the dial telephone, because they felt that it was wrong that they had to do the labor themselves, rather than an operator at the other end."

Comments

Profanity

[jabberw0k]

Where's the -1 Profanity Ruins Perfectly Good Argument moderation?

Re:Luddites

[Anonymous Coward]

Ahh, the long stretch to do some USA bashing.

It's 2 states. The other 48 allow you to pump your own gas.

As for the health insurance, just no. Most (as in some number > 50.01%) of us DO have health insurance. It may be expensive, or even overly expensive, but it's there. And our nigger in chief decided that wasn't good enough so he and congress decided to push through a health care overhaul that the country has ZERO chance of being able to pay for, but which will raise the number of people with health insurance, even if they can't afford it.

And you know what? Anyone who is so fucking stupid that the only job they can get in a lifetime is pumping gas, is too damn dumb to live.

Re:Forward thinkers

[ultranova]

So, what does it matter of the grocer's overhead went down $30 an hour or if Chairman Bob had to mortgage his house and sell his daughter into prostitution? You get those benefits either way, and the prices you pay will have little to do with whether or not they offer automated checkouts.

The more money Chairman Bob gets, the more bribes he can afford to give to the politicians, thus pushing this ever closer to feudalism. After all, Chairman Bob can make even more money if he gets those pesky minimum wage and employee rights and protection laws repealed.

Chairman Bob is your enemy. You have to deal with him, but you should be mindful of how these interactions increase his power. It matters, because all that power will be used against you, sooner or later.

Class warfare is alive and well, and you're losing.

Re:Forward thinkers

[jcr]

pay $2.00 each time I use an ATM that belongs to my bank

That really sucks, big time. I'd dump that bank if I were you.

My brokerage account provides me with an ATM card, and they actually refund any ATM fees.

-jcr