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'Son of ACTA' Worse Than Original
An anonymous reader writes "TechDirt has the latest on the leaked US proposals for the 'Son of ACTA' treaty and it looks worse than the original. It's practically a checklist for how to kill innovation while making lawyers rich. In particular, they call for expanding what's patentable, blocking people from buying copyrighted goods in other countries and taking them home, expanding liability for ISPs whose users commit acts of infringement, forcing ISPs to identify their users to anyone on demand, and getting rid of third-party patent review while expanding the presumption that they're valid. The only way it could get any worse would be if it were enacted in law."
I already ignore all MPAA/RIAA bought laws. How will this be any different?
This is where capitalism takes you. By definition, a philosophy based on the rule of the most supremely selfishly rational is going to end up with these people trying to change the law to increase their wealth.
Can we just kill all of the IP lawyers now and be done with it?
Just say'in.
You can believe in. Right up the ass.
While I hate all this ACTA and related types of laws (DMCA, etc) the summary for this article is not accurate, for example it says it would forbid third party opposition to patents, which it doesn't say, what it actually says is that it prohibits them prior to the grant of a patent. And as someone with a bunch of patents from little startups, thats a good thing actually, as it would be way to easy for big corporations to make small inventors and startups waste money by filling all sorts of third party opposition during the patent prosecution.
In any case, don't believe the summary article, if you care about a particular point follow the links to the full text and read it in the original.
-jon
blocking people from buying copyrighted goods in other countries and taking them home
Things that can be copyrighted: Books, nicknacks, travel brochures, the pattern on my boxers... Not only will you have to strip naked for the TSA, you'll have to remain naked while crossing national borders.
Nothing for 6-digit uids?
Well, as long as they try to pass this in secret, have no public input, force poor country to participate and kill anyone that gets in their way, then this treaty really shouldn't affect me.
The real Sig captains the Northwestern. This one captains
It's important to remember the moral of this story - never try. Good job guys.
Tiger Blooded Bi-Winning Machine
The US doesn't make anything anymore. We depend on the export of agricultural goods and licensing intellection property to get any money into the country.
Plus we live in a plutocracy now, and the rich demand this.
Any ideas on how to finally stop this mess completely? I bet the MBAs who were trained to control didn't help. Nor does "shareholder value". Any idea on how to finally fix all this?
Yes, if they flip flop, like they did in the 1800s, switch sides. But RIGHT NOW Republican == BAD.
And there I was thinking that Democrats had run the US government for the last two years.
Well, it can be called ar DDoS or carpet bombing...Whatever. It is the same strategy pro-softpatents lobbyists tried several years ago with software patent "harmonization" in ES. They are still trying to push it, but with much less success than before.
What can I say - journalists just should do their work, bring these things to the front and then we can hope that they will back off.
Thanks to everyone - FSF and EFF especially - who tries to stop these efforts.
user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
Do you know much about how DC works? Seriously I lived there my whole life and I'm tied to the US Federal government closely. I think it's hilarious that people like yourself think there's a huge difference between the two parties. Guess the bullshit machines are working.
Tiger Blooded Bi-Winning Machine
Are you under the belief that ACTA is supported by republicans and opposed by democrats? Can you provide any information to support this?
Unfortunately as far as I can tell the underlying sentiments seem to have mostly bi-partisan support and little if any focused opposition.
Probably because this is a troll post. Just sayin.
[quote]blocking people from buying copyrighted goods in other countries and taking them home[\quote]
And just how are they planning to enforce this? I have a goddamn right to buy anything where I want it. If this is enacted, international commerce will fall apart, thanks to the US. A nation, I might add, that already imports more than it exports (1.280 trillion in exports VS 1.948 trillion in imports), and 30.4% of it is in capital goods, such as computers and telecomm equipment, from which areas we get most of our patent infringement suits. One can look at imports as buying abroad, taking home, and selling it again, so this bill would effectively block at the very least 30% of all imports.
Hyperbole: I use it liberally!
No true free economy allows laws that protect certain markets and business models. Obama is up to his ears in jobs loss. As a consequence these MPAA/RIAA lobbyists go to him claiming that they are loosing billions and millions of jobs in an industry that "can't" be off-shored--nothing like American movies and music.
What's wrong is that he thinks that these efforts will result in recovery of lost jobs and income. In reality, when the economy recovers, if it ever does, these industries (with their protected and outdated business models) will be in control beyond what was intended, and it will have set a precedent for other industries to try the same thing, thus leaving America, and the world, with massive abusive businesses controlling ever more of Congress.
You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
and you apparently keep forgetting that acta was cooked up until 2006 in republican term, and when democrats took over, it was already in negotiations stage with canada.
its rep production.
Read radical news here
Perhaps you haven't seen the breakdown of seats in the US Congress lately?
Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
Having the government make laws to give privileges to a selected few is absolutely not what capitalism is about.
This is FEUDALISM.
Ah, but you see, this is the beauty of the U.S. Senate. Power is held not by the majority, but by the 51st person to declare whose side he is on. Everything can be sacrificed to the whim of the swing votes. And recently, that 51st has been Republican, or at least more Republican than we would have liked.
And secondly, the democrats are in bed with the IP lobby just as much if not more than republicans. It's hard to tell which is the lesser of two evils if they're both falling down a bottomless pit of evilness. I guess we just have to pick whichever one is falling more slowly...
And now they are powerless to stop it right?
How does it feel to be a liar with pants constantly on fire?
find which one is all about religion.
then pick the other one.
sigh.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
When you run the world, you craft everything to support your wealth.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Probably the current system, actually.
How does it feel to be a liar with pants constantly on fire?
While india doesnt join the talks. europe is against 75% of the core of the proposed crap. this kinda takes away approx ~5 billion population of the planet.
this entire piece of shit, is something the rich in usa is trying to push over entire world for their own benefit.
yet noone cares. yet, they still come yelping louder, after they have been openly refused.
Read radical news here
Perhaps you haven't seen the breakdown of seats in the US Congress lately?
Hint: how long do you think this ACTA process has been going on for?
Perhaps you haven't seen the breakdown of seats in the US Congress lately?
Read radical news here
How about not voting for either and instead voting for a third party?
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
they don't check to see if you have a laptop at the us can border. Much less have time to do any kind of scan.
There is no "final" fix, and there can never be one. The wealthy and powerful *always* have incentives to exploit the majority for their personal gain, and *always* respond to those incentives with measures like this.
The right response is to forever fight.
No, they forget that the Trial Lawyers (wing of the D party) are also involved. This is not a (D) or (R) issue, this is a DC corrupt issue. Both (D) and (R) have the proverbial blood on their hands.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
The only way it could get any worse would be if it were enacted in law
If only it were that simple.
From this Free Library article:
[The WTO appellate court] is probably the most powerful juridical system that exists at the international level today for any subject matter as broad and as encompassing as that under the control of the WTO. That is because it is mandatory under international law. First, it is mandatory to use the dispute settlement process, and second, it is virtually automatic that the report of the dispute settlement process becomes binding international law
(apt captcha: iceberg)
Have you guys been hiding under a rock for the last couple of decades?
Democrate = sides with "creatives", "artists", etc. so: long and all-encompassing copyrights == good [it doesn't matter if the "artist" is long dead and gone, that the copyright expires when the grandkids of their contemporaries a raising kids of their own]
Republican = sides with business, so for RIAA/MPAA/**AA members' bottom-line long and all-encompassing copyrights == good [there's no Property Tax on Intellectual Property, so you can own billions of property and not pay a penny].
As long as there's no proportional representation, giving other parties a real chance, you can't win.
Could you Americans please stop trying to force us other in the world to accept your fascist corporations wishes?
Please continue to live in your corporate govern country that you believe is the worlds greatest democracy but STOP trying to force us other to obey your corporate overlords.
Thanks.
For want of mod points... You beat me to that- and it's the truth of things.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
So, what you're saying is that in the last 5 years, the (D) party was completely helpless in drafting Legislation. How do you expect me to believe that when the rammed a turd of Health Care Reform through in just a few months?
Gaaahhhhhh
The sad thing is, you're so stupid that you think you're smart for saying it. Don't get me wrong, the (R) will screw things up when they get their chance. It just swings from (D) to (R) and few people see that both are ruining our country.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
They're completely ham-strung by a corrupt Supreme Court that has, LITERALLY, be bought. Google for Clarence Thomas and bribery. The Supreme court opened the door for unlimited corporate money, and that was that....
Even if that hadn't happened, the Republicans ran the country into the ground for 8 years using TERRIFYING TERRORISTS to get away with anything. It's a bit much to ask for 2 years of weakly supported Democratic rule to fix that. Maybe if you people would stop voting for Republicans. Obama had a lot of great stuff on the table until he lost Congress.
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They pretend as if leftist, statist, anti-capitalist views aren't equally as blinding to their own ability to think as religion is to their adverse party.
Look, if you want to fight capitalism, you need to focus on the idea of capitalism, not on the people who you define as "capitalists".
Otherwise, you will fall into the "No True Scotsman" logical fallacy.
As soon as I saw the link was "Techdirt", I rolled my eyes because I knew it was going to be Mike Masnick. I don't trust Mike Masnick to give anybody the real story. Could we please get someone competent to summarize these documents? (And, no, Torrent Freak isn't competent either.) I don't trust these guys anymore than I'd trust Glenn Beck to give me the news.
RTFA then read this
"I have downloaded hundreds and hundreds of records, why would I care if somebody downloads ours?" Robin Pecknold
IIRC it was Faraday, who, when demonstrating electricity to the then British PM, was queried by the PM as to what possible use the invention might have. Mr. Faraday replied, "One day you might tax it." (quote from memory)
As you have stated, you're tied in tight with the U.S. Fed Govt. I presume you've some understanding of basic economics and accounting. Based on my presumption do you see the moves into a 'information' based economy plugged into the service sector as a valid core economy, and, if you do, or, even if you don't, do you see the ACTA stuff under consideration as a bipartisian tax grab. Just a way to create taxable value to float a, in my eyes, fictional economy?
Then let's hear your better system. I don't think anyone except for maybe crazy libertarians claim capitalism is perfect, or the be-all, end-all of economic systems. However so far nobody has come up with anything better. Communism sounds nice on paper but doesn't work in the real world.
You'll notice that capitalism underlies the economy of all successful, well off, countries in the world. Now that doesn't mean it can or should be implemented without any checks, clearly all capitalist nations have counterbalances to it but the fundamentals of capitalism are what underlie their systems because it works.
So, let's hear it then. You clearly think capitalism ought to go away right now which implies you have something better. Let's hear what that as, as we'd all be interested in a genuinely better economic system. Do your homework first though, because a lot of them have been tried and failed.
However I'm going to guess you do not in fact have a good answer since you clearly don't know what you are talking about. The reason is that these things being proposed are actually ANTI-capitalist. In a true free market, there are no artificial restrictions of any kinds. So buying goods over seas and selling them for a profit at home is 100% kosher (it's called arbitrage and is common). As such if you think these are bad, then really you are being pro-capitalist as it stands.
The Health Care Reform bill isn't a Democrat bill. It's a Republican bill the Democrats surrendered to because they wussed out when they lost Congress. The Republicans proposed the same lousy bill when Clinton tried to socialize medicine. It's a Red Herring. A bad bill the Republicans can blame on the democrats while secretly loving every minute of it (it's free money for the insurance lobby).
The Democrats want to socialize health care in America. Just like every other first world nation on the planet. They've given up on it because the were out spent, out maneuvered and just plain scared.
The world is a complicated place. It's too complicated to waste time bandying about words like 'stupid'. Do some reading on Mother Jones and the Daily Kos. Just about everything is verifiable and true (I admit, Daily Kos sometimes embellishes, but Mother Jones is solid Journalism). Read rotten.com and fark.com. Read the independent press. And remember, the corporations are coming for you're livelihood and your middle class lifestyle. Good luck, you're going to need it.
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The executive branch turns the crank on the treaty sausage grinder.
Incidentally, I blame Joe Biden.
You need to pick neither and get everyone else including all the whiners here with you to pick something completely new, because its not the majority of this country picking the presidents, it's always the minority, no matter what side of the aisle they sit on. Less whining and more reformation action!
Sorry for the slightly rude subject, but hopefully that got your attention.
How this agreement is worded, it would not be self-executing. If I'm correct, that would mean this would not be binding federal law even after passed. For that to happen, Congress would have to then enact implementing legislation. This is merely an agreement between nations on what they are going to or should do.
Further, I don't understand all the FUD about the patent provisions. This wouldn't change anything. As far as I can tell, the U.S. already does all of this.
Also, take a look at the America Invents Act which just passed the Senate. That would put U.S. patent law more in line (but not completely) with the rest of the world. It will open up more prior art to invalidate patents. It also has a procedure to re-review crappy business method patents. Lots of stuff that you guys should like. Sure, I'd like to see it go further to stop the patent trolls and make litigation cheaper, but at least it's something.
So Calm Down. You guys don't like patents. We get it; that doesn't mean you have to misrepresent the facts. I also note that for all the companies out there trying to get crappy software patents, there are a whole bunch trying to invalidate them. (Disclosure - part of my job is trying to invalidate crappy software patents. I'm no big fan of them, but that doesn't mean I need to lose grasp of reality.)
Face it, the political game in the US is rigged to only allow two parties to share power (primaries, fppt voting, yada yada), and the only ones who could change it are the two parties. On the outside chance that one of the major parties should commit electoral suicide, the "third party" seamlessly slips into the place of one of the big ones, and you're no better off.
Ever notice how a politician will hardly ever take a specific stand on any issue and if they do they'll never follow through (e.g Obama)? It's like politicians don't want to lead anymore and they just let their handlers and lobbyists put laws in front of them to sign and they do it because they don't really give a crap and they've completely run out of ideas. If you get a guy like Ron Paul who actually has ideas and doesn't just talk in meaningless genralities, all you see is non-stop ridicule.
Any politician not vetted by the party majority faces at best non-stop ridicule, and generally just gets no mention whatsoever in the news media.
Ross Perot had some good ideas too. He was kind of a nutjob, but at least he recognized we couldn't keep borrowing money from China forever...
3rd party is not viable for many reasons; largely because the system is rigged by the big two. You can vote 3rd party while some moron votes anti-gay or whatever the current trick is votes for the other side (3rd party is likely against republicans more than democrats; even a right wing one should want the GOP dead because they stand for nothing conservative its purely political tricks while they serve their corporate masters 110% At least the DFL is only 90% corporate sellouts... )
I'd love to vote 3rd party; I'm outside the 1 dimensional false dilemma so neither party is close to me.
I think the best thing to happen to fascism is the conflation with the Nazis so it emotionally loads the term down so no intelligent discussion is allowed - the Nazi link pretty much made the political ideology untouchable to argue about and it continues to grow to the point we now have states trying to appoint corps to take over towns and fire elected officials, privatize water, etc -- we can't call them the Fascists they are because the word is dead for use. Corporatist is about all we can muster.
wake up! politicalcompass.org
It hasn't worked yet. The solution isn't to give up and say "this will never work," however. The solution is to keep trying and to keep pressing the issue and telling others about it.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
"The only way it could get any worse would be if it were enacted in law." You either have no imagination, or no trust in our overlords ability to screw us...
I really hope that US government is going to implement this back home before they try to impose it on the rest of the world. If they do, I'm pretty sure that US hi-tech industry will collapse long before they manage to push it through here in Europe.
Just wait. It will be law soon. The numbskulls in Washington have no idea what they're doing. If only the congressional was "Don't Do Evil".
clancey
Same handbasket, same destination, different route. Democrat == Republican. We are in year eleven of George dubya's reign of terror.
The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
No, you can vote for candidates from other parties. When enough of us do that, we can disrupt the status quo.
The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
False dichotomy.
The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
If you're serious about who's spreading what, then blaming (North?) "Americans" is unfair to many people in the United States and Canada since they too suffer from corporate tyranny (and are making some progress in challenging it). So in addition to Bush and Obama's US government and US corporations, you should include Berlusconi's Italian government, Blair and Cameron's English government, Netanyahu's Israeli government, and the list goes on to many other governments and the multinational corporations which control them. The battle is not between countries, but between a loose group of rich powerful people with similar greedy interests (whom want to, for example, own and charge for public resources, copyright indefinitely, patent and trademark beyond reason) and regular people (the populace, the public, the poor).
Elected officials are not supposed to be leaders, they are supposed to be servants.
The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
I love how this name, in the same vein as "piracy" attempts to put an illegitimate spin on a perfectly legal and sensible action. Guess what... setting different price zones and not allowing the people to transfer the goods? That's bloody cartel politics.. analogous to back in 1920s in my country when locally sugar was expensive and outside of the republic the cartel was engaging in price dumping, fueled by the above. Then due to lack of transport, it was easier to block people from just going across the price difference. Now, some are trying to use the law to deal with it. I mean.. let's extrapolate this. Does it mean that the. let's say Walmart near your house can decide that since you belong to this segment of the town you aren't allowed to shop at the Costco across? It's an analogous market restriction. Furthermore , what makes it different to outsourcing? If this is banned , then it should be too!
Article 4, paragraph 3:
Each Party shall provide to authors, performers, and producers of phonograms the right to authorize or prohibit the making available to the public of the original and copies of their works, performances, and phonograms through sale or other transfer of ownership.
I'm not sure what this means, exactly, but it sounds like they don't want to let you resale things? Correct me if I'm wrong.
However, US Customs can and would:
http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/2010/01/can_tsa_copy_your_laptop_hard.php
Sadly, most electronic manufacturing plants left Mexico quite a few years ago.
They went to China. Were fake goods are being manufactured.
At least, products assembled or manufactured in Mexico by US companies were high quality.
Now read this article hosted by Electronic Frontier Foundation :
http://www.copyright-watch.org/state/mx
That's why is important to donate to EFF.
(I'm no longer interested to support NPR in lieu of recent events)
Too many sheep brainwashed by corporate media vote the lobbied masses into office for the rest of us to do anything about it.
In both the Senate and the House, only 1 republican voted for the healthcare bill. Thats it. 1 republican.
All that wheeling and dealing that destroyed any real semblance of a decent healthcare bill was done to get enough Democrats on board, not Republicans. Let me repeat.. only 1 republican voted for the healthcare bill.
It is no surprise why the Democrats want so desperately to blame the healthcare bill on the Republicans.. what is surprising is people like you, that believe them when they say it.
"His name was James Damore."
Maybe. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't keeping trying until you win.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
You're just trolling, right? Theodore Roosevelt is not FDR. Note, he was a man of his time, and some of his words, particularly on race are abhorrent now. In the area to which I refered previously, he was spot-on and I believe he is turning in his grave.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Yeah, bread and circusses are cheap and the oil rich nations of the world can certainly afford to spend plenty. So why exactly are the oil rich Arab nations on fire? Lack of money? Really? Libya should be rolling in it.
Greed is all consuming. Why settle for a mere 10 billion if you can have a hundred by bleeding the people just a bit more? If Ghadaffi or whatever he is called had spend most of his fortune on buying bread and circusses and maybe an industry or two he would still be filthy rich and far more popular. But he didn't. Squeezed the country to the max until it broke. People are fighting tanks with what they can get hold off. That means bread and circusses completely failed.
And you are a fool if you think this can't happen in the west. Just see how easily Greece and Ireland fell. See the riots in London by students. Gosh, students rebel in Egypt, the english government applauds. Students rebel in London, shame!
Do you think that when Antionette said "let them eat cake" she saw the true problems in society? You can't see a revolution brewing until it boils over. If you could, people would do more to stop them.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I don't see what motorcycle gangs have to do with this story
Capitalists hate competition. A true capitalist's "wet dream" is being an unregulated monopolist.
Once you get a little bit older you might learn the secret of it all. It is that there is no perfect cure all system. The only thing that works long term, as in your life time, is to constantly find a balance while never actually achieving it.
This is not how people like to think, they want the hero to save the world at the end of the movie. Not spend infinity just avoiding total collapse.
In running a country, there is no end, no financial year, no last chapter. It is an ongoing concern that needs to readjust as the world changes.
Should high-tech firms receive a tax deduction to stimulate them? Yes... we need them to stimulate the economy.
Time passes...
Should high-tech firms receive a tax deduction to stimulate them? No... we got them, now their taxes can help to stimulate other sectors.
See what I did there? I changed a policy as the situation changed. How DARING of me!!! This is what most political parties with an ideology never do. Right - Left, it don't matter. Leave it to a republican and taxes for the rich would go to negative infinity. Leave it to Amnesty International and criminals would be out of jail before they commit the crime. Leave it to the green and humanity would be living on a very small isolated rock less it touch any piece of nature. Leave it to the Libertarians and we would have Somalia.
When you see Thatchet claim that the lady is not for turning, she shows just how bad a politician she was. Ruined the country.
Compromise? Yes, that is one word for it but really it is the realization that the needs of the country cannot be expressed by the needs of a singular group.
We need labour, we need high-tech, we need investors, we need rich people, we need poor people, we need unemployed...
Wait, what? We need unemployed? Yes, we do. Where else is a growing company going to get new people from? 0% unemployment is a nightmare for capitalists who know what they are talking about. Can you say salary inflation? Can you say stagnation?
So you might want to turn off the work stimulation projects BEFORE everyone actually got a job before you run out of people for the jobs. Immigration has proven to be less then an ideal method for solving this and once you got immigration going, it is hard to stop leading to masses of unemployed immigrants.
In politics you can never win because the game never ends. At best you can try to keep the ball somewhat under control. This means you got to shift back and forth on the same issue over and over. Do we build a nuclear plant? How about now? How about now? How about now? How about now? Yes, now it is a good idea.
ACTA seeks to create a cure all with no room for changes in the future. That is why it is bad. The patent system might need to be reformed now AND be reformed again in the future. And again. And again. The idea that you can draft a trade law NOW and be done with it forever and ever is just a silly idea that sadly seems ingrained in our conciousness. If only we did X all our problems would be solved forever. Nope.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Any politician not vetted by the party majority isn't going to get in. There are 535 representatives in congress - and all but two of those is a member of either the republican or democratic party. Even those two had to ally with the democrats. The two parties work together to make sure that no person shall ever breach the walls of their power duopoly, and internally both make sure to maintain some level of party unity. The republicans tend to be a bit better at that one - part of their strength comes from their ability to vote as a block without dissent even on the most contriversial issues, while the democrats always seem to have a couple of members break ranks.
We kindly remind you to please have your money ready by the exit... you sir, might I friendly remind you to please don't stop and follow the line. Thank you kindly sir.
(wakes up)
Oh wait... I'm european... lololollllol
It's the entertainment industry. Shitty sequels are their main source of income nowadays.
I am not trolling, I am not paying attention to your drivel. Trust buster you want? How about busting the government? Maybe government shouldn't be in business of creating monopolies in the first place?
You can't handle the truth.
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If there were enough smart Americans, they would hijack Democratic party just like corporations and religious nuts hijacked Republican one.
Unfortunately this is not the case. Enjoy your fail.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
Wasn't that called "ThePirateBay" or something? Somehow that didn't work as well (it did work to a small extent with regards to the founding of the Pirate Party). Probably has something to do with the relative economic power involved...
when a project is deemed difficult, oftentimes we make it worse to make it happen. maybe that's why they do it. obviously, this comes at a time where ACTA now left screcy and does not fare well in public opinion in some countries outside the US. so this is a testamental statement of difficulty.
> some gun nut gets rid of a few of the retards
Let's learn from the HBGary affair and just expose enough corruption to just discredit the parties involved.
At least, there is no evidence of her ever saying that, and Rousseau wrote "let them eat cake" in his book "confessions", apparently no later than 1769.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake
I think what's dying is the worker/employer dichotomy. We're moving away from big corporations with thousands of cradle-to-grave employees, and moving to a situation where the workers own the means of production within a semi-free market economy. An example of this is the thousands of independent contractors who work for themselves. As a work-at-home web developer, I'm in this class of people. I taught myself all the open source tools using free documentation. Now I own my own business and am able to pay for me and my wife's health insurance, life insurance, renters insurance, food, lodging and retirement savings all using open source tools and free information. Most of my friends who are building construction contractors, electricians and auto-mechanics are moving to the same model too, btw. They own their own tools and teach themselves, in return they make more money and can set their own schedules. Everyone who works this way is a lot happier too. I know I am, I take Monday's off every week to focus on volunteer projects. In fact, it's not far away from true communism when the workers own the means of production. Even if they own it individually, instead of "collectively".
When people say communism though they usually mean a super-powerful state with an small oligarchy that decides wealth distribution. Somehow this is argued as being better, when the proposal to fix crony-capitalism is crony-communism. Every "communist" country in the world today has a terrible wealth distribution. Kim Jong-Il was the number one world buyer of Hennessey Cognac, meanwhile his people are starving. Communist party members have always enjoyed massively better lives in every single country communism has been tried in. Just look at the standard of living of the average "worker" in any of these "workers paradises" around the world. You're right that the rich are selfish dicks, but a free society allows anyone to become rich. It just takes time and hard work.
I have a theory that the truth is never told during the nine-to-five hours. - Hunter S. Thompson
The Republicans didn't NEED to vote for the bill. They'd already backed the Democrats into a corner and forced a bill on them they HAD to vote for. If the Dems didn't pass something they risk being labeled ineffective and worthless. I'll say it again, the Dems got out maneuvered and out spent. It's no surprise the Reps have better politicians, they've got the best money can buy. At any rate, politics is more complicated than who voted for what. You have to look at WHY the bill passed, not just how.
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