Slashdot Mirror
Leaked Cable Shows Heavy US Influence On Swedish Copyright Policy
Debuting on Slashdot, seezer writes with a piece by Rick Falkvinge about a recently release diplomatic cable. From the article: "Among the treasure troves of recently released WikiLeaks cables, we find one whose significance has bypassed Swedish media. In short: every law proposal, every ordinance, and every governmental report hostile to the net, youth, and civil liberties here in Sweden in recent years have been commissioned by the U.S. government and industry interests."
This is from a Pirate Party founder and so might be slightly exaggerated, but there is certainly evidence in the cable that the U.S. exerted quite a bit of influence of Swedish copyright law. The U.S. government appears particularly vexed that the Swedish public doesn't seem to think anything is wrong with copying protected works, and (not unexpectedly) was quite concerned that Pirate Party members might actually be elected.
When Julian Assange was recently accused of sexual assault in Sweden, I maintained that this had "CIA discrediting campaign" written all over it. One of the main responses to this was "But the U.S. government doesn't have any control over Sweden or what they do."
I think people really underestimate the power and sweep of the U.S. government and its wealthy corporate allies. The IMF, the UN, the World Bank, unrest in virtually every oil-producing country that doesn't support U.S. policy, attacks on anyone who criticizes or threatens the U.S. dollar, and in a million other places--you'll find the hand of the U.S. government and its most powerful corporations either calling the shots outright or at least having a significant influence on events.
Just look at the WIPO copyright treaty (the treaty that brought the DMCA and DMCA-like laws to almost every first-world country in the world). Hollywood and the U.S. music/publishing industry pretty much DICTATED that treaty, with the U.S. government then pressuring countries to implement it with a multitude of carrots and sticks.
Some may accuse me of hyperbole here. And, believe me, I wish I were exaggerating. But you never have to dig very far.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Yea, I remember having several totally aggravating arguments with tools who didn't seem to understand that the fake rape charges being drummed up against assange were not at all related to what he was being sought for by all the world's governments.
There are tools who are so completely controlled that this notion simply sailed right over their heads.
One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel / the next it's rolling over me / I can get back on / I can get back on
....the cartel/mafia/cabal with the U.S. government in its pockets appears particularly vexed that the Swedish public....
Some people cant see beyond their nose.
We call them politicians.
into
Which simply doesn't translate. The US here is asking for something like the DMCA (which is required by treaty), not for "three strikes" legislation. Also injunctive relief does not mean "without a trial", nor is any disconnection from the internet being demanded here. It's bad enough without making stuff up. Further:
I don't know about Sweden, but in the US, prosecution is an executive function.
The title says "heavy US influence on Swedish copyright policy" yet the summary states "the US exerted quite a bit of influence of (sic) Swedish copyright law."
So either we have an overstatement in the title or an understatement (plus typo) in the summary.
It's pretty annoying that the US think they can and should govern the whole world.
-- Cheers!
Funny how "friendly" countries bully each other. Globalization brings and end to the sovereignty of nations?
Yep the U.S. are all for promoting democracy around the world except when people might vote for someone they dont like
As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a reference to Godwin's Law approaches 1
United States tries to protects its own interest.
It's not PC but it happens, the US also bends to allow other nations interests to go threw too. It is called Diplomacy. These stints of making a compromise that prevents issues from building up and becoming a major issue.
The reason why it is not made public because the average Joe doesn't understand the concept of a good compromise where at the end both sides are equally unhappy. So they will make these small viewed complaints (Swedish make copyright policy just so we can get the latest American Blue Rays films) While the complexity of international trade is ignored, not realizing this effects shipment of more then just Films, but software, books, and other sources of information. If a company doesn't see your country as a profitable place to sell goods they won't sell to you. And you end up with loosing out on receiving goods and services that make that company unique. This isn't just about a monopoly every company has something that gives it a competitive advantage over someone else. Blocking trade has probably been considered more costly then the Copyright Policy.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
The more power global corporations gain, the more pressure there is to homogenize every country into a "corporation friendly" environment.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Wait until you hear about what the IRS are making foreign banks do to all their customers in order to weed out US citizens living abroad...
Who elected these people ? What claim do they have to represent the people of the United States ? I sure don't remember anyone touting their kowtowing to foreign special interests at election time.
The US government seeks to support US business interests in other sovereign nations. In my view, this goes beyond the constitutional basis for the US government. Some may (and will) disagree with this, but each nation needs to be respected as this nations needs to be respected. If you cannot persuade honestly and openly, then you are going too far where international relations are concerned.
In fact, I see this as government interference with business... the very same interference that these businesses claim to be against! So what they are actually saying is "it's okay when we get help from government, just don't tell us what we can't do or what we must do." That's crap.
This is what diplomats DO all day. They try to influence policy in foreign countries to promote the interests of the government of their own country. (Which is separate from consular services, the other part of an embassy that handles visas, citizen services, etc.) Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they don't. The country they are operating in is more than welcome to tell them to go jump in a metaphorical lake.
There have been recent leaks similar to this showing how the US has had a strong hand in shaping the Canadian DMCA laws.
The states have been using their influence in other countries' business like this for a loooong time.
"Funny how the US bullies everybody.." There. Corrected for you.
Apollonius of Tyana, writing as Hermes Trismegistos, said 'That which is above is that which is below.' By this he meant to tell us that our universe is a hologram, but he lacked the terminology. I say, the Empire never ended.
This is why corporations should be destroyed. The use of WMDs should be allowed to do so.
After reading this, does anyone doubt that the indictment on Julian Assange was motivated by US interests ?
This is just a trivial translation error. The statement, "...The U.S. government appears particularly vexed...". I can not find a single documented case of any American government staffer losing sleep about what Sweden, as a population, or culture, or government, or Web Master thinks about Copy Write laws, anywhere. Now if the parent had written, "...The Lawyers representing the Copy Write Ranting Corporations that use the staff of the U.S. government as tools appear particularly vexed..." The translation would have been more accurate. Why? Because Lawyers, and Corporations use the U.S. government staffers as tools; as an off topic thought, it appears that U.S. government staffers repeatedly demonstrate themselves as tools. American English, when translated by people that only write American English, into American English can sometimes make small mistakes; like what other people can write for themselves.
So what? The US position defending copyright is the correct position. Falkvinge and the Pirate Party are motivated by what benefits themselves - who cares about the creators when they get all the free pirated stuff they want? Since when did the interests of thieves become the correct position? Oh sorry - there are a lot of pirates on Slashdot who want the Pirate Party and the Pirate Bay to succeed for their own selfish reasons, so people are going to attack the US' actions as "foreign meddling".
Which simply doesn't translate. The US here is asking for something like the DMCA (which is required by treaty), not for "three strikes" legislation.
Wrong. The "injunctive relief" legislation that is being pushed is indeed ISP disconnection. From the PDF that TFA links to:
Injunctive relief in civil cases -- EU Copyright Directive: The law implementing Sweden’s obligations under the EU Copyright Directive entered into force on July 1, 2005 (Law 2005:360 amending the Act on Copyright in Literary and Artistic Works, Law 1960:729). Particularly disappointing has been the lack of a specific injunctive relief remedy against ISPs as required under Article 8.3 of the Copyright Directive (and Article 11 of the Enforcement Directive). Proposed legislation to provide such a remedy is now pending in the Swedish Parliament.(3) If adopted by the Parliament, the amendment would go into one of the major deficiencies that rights holders have faced and which IIPA highlighted in its 2008 submission. (3)(http://www.iipa.com/rbc/2008/2008SPEC301SWEDEN.pdf)
And if you follow the link to the 2008 IIPA paper on the proposed legislation...
civil litigation, without preliminary injunctive relief, is just too slow to act as a deterrent.... Unfortunately, we have also heard that the present draft proposal does not contain a right to injunctive relief in a civil case against ISPs, and that it therefore fails to cure Sweden’s inconsistency with Article 11 of the Enforcement Directive and Article 8(3) of the Copyright Directive. In September 2007, a report was issued by Swedish Chief Judge, Cecilia Renfors (“Renfors Report”), recommending that the upcoming legislation contain provisions requiring ISPs to take action to terminate the contracts of certain users who repeatedly use the Internet to infringe copyright.... While this report and, in particular, the suggestions regarding disconnection of repeat infringers is welcome, it does not go far enough to bring Sweden’s legal and enforcement regime into harmony with international trends even assuming that the proposed legislation is adopted in its present form
So, not only do they want ISP disconnections, they actually want even stronger laws.
Sorry, off-topic: I've seen your signature before and wondered then as I do now, is that tongue in cheek or do you really want to remove ALL CO2 from the atmosphere?
We show geeks how to get their dream girl at EyesOfOdessa.com
The spirit of copyright was to protect the authors for a limited amount of time in return for the works to fall into public domain after a fixed, limited amount of time.
You screwed everyone by effectively removing the public domain part of the copyright idea, so we're screwing you out of the protected part.
American People Hire High-Powered Lobbyist To Push Interests In Congress
02.18.10 WASHINGTON—Citing a desire to gain influence in Washington, the American people confirmed Friday that they have hired high-powered D.C. lobbyist Jack Weldon of the firm Patton Boggs to help advance their agenda in Congress.
Known among Beltway insiders for his ability to sway public policy on behalf of massive corporations such as Johnson & Johnson, Monsanto, and AT&T, Weldon, 53, is expected to use his vast network of political connections to give his new client a voice in the legislative process.
Weldon is reportedly charging the American people $795 an hour.
"Unlike R.J. Reynolds, Pfizer, or Bank of America, the U.S. populace lacks the access to public officials required to further its legislative goals," a statement from the nation read in part. "Jack Weldon gives us that access."
"His daily presence in the Capitol will ensure the American people finally get a seat at the table," the statement continued. "And it will allow him to advance our message that everyone, including Americans, deserves to be represented in Washington."
Weldon says he hopes to spin the American public, above, as a group worth Congress' time.
The 310-million-member group said it will rely on Weldon's considerable clout to ensure its concerns are taken into account when Congress addresses issues such as education, immigration, national security, health care, transportation, the economy, affordable college tuition, infrastructure, jobs, equal rights, taxes, Social Security, the environment, housing, the national debt, agriculture, energy, alternative energy, nutrition, imports, exports, foreign relations, the arts, and crime.
Sources confirmed that Weldon is already scheduled to have drinks Monday with several members of the Senate Appropriations Committee to discuss saving the middle class.
"If you have a problem, say, with America's atrocious treatment of its veterans, you can't just pick up a phone and call your local congressman," Weldon told reporters from his office on K Street Monday. "You need someone on the inside who understands how democracy works; someone who knows how to grease the wheels a little."
Weldon said that after successfully advocating on behalf of Goldman Sachs and BP, he is relishing the opportunity to lobby for the American people, calling it the "challenge of a lifetime." The veteran D.C. power player admitted that his new client is at a disadvantage because it lacks the money and power of other groups.
"The goal is to make it seem politically advantageous for legislators to keep the American people in mind when making laws," Weldon said. "Lawmakers are going to ask me, 'Why should I care about the American people? What's in it for me?' And it will be up to me and my team to find some reason why they should consider putting poverty and medical care for children on the legislative docket."
"To be honest," Weldon added, "the American people have always been perceived as a little naïve when it comes to their representative government. But having me on their side sends a clear message that they're finally serious and want to play ball."
According to Washington heavyweights, hiring Weldon is an immediate game changer and should force politicians to take citizens' concerns seriously for the first time in decades. Moreover, sources said, Weldon will be able to help lawmakers see the American people as more than just a low-priority fringe group.
"Jack is very good at what he does," said Joseph Pearlman, a headhunter for the McCormick Group who specializes in placing lobbyists. "He can take an issue that is nowhere on the congressional radar, like the pursuit of happiness, for example, and make it politically relevant. The next time Congress passes a bill dealing with civil rights or taxes, I wouldn't be surprised if the U.S. populace is mentioned somewhere in the final language."
Though Weldon has only been on the job for three days, legisl
This is why corporations should be destroyed. The use of WMDs should be allowed to do so.
That would take out innocents. I think a huge amount of targeted wet work would be more appropriate.
The US Government is as much victim as perpetrator. Haven't you been listening to the US right's hatred and contempt for government? And their proclivity for blanket statements and oversimplifications? It's expressed so well in this Reagan quote: "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Our scientists and researchers do their jobs and come up with answers, and the right ignores them or makes ridiculous accusations of bias and incompetence. We pay for this attitude in many ways, not least being the low morale among bureaucrats. These hypocrites who profess such hatred for government are not shy about abusing and expanding government power when they are in control. The only parts of the government they like unconditionally, and like entirely too much, are the parts to do with security and force.
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
There have been recent leaks similar to this showing how the US has had a strong hand in shaping the Canadian DMCA laws.
Those laws have failed to pass, so far.
Sorry, off-topic: I've seen your signature before and wondered then as I do now, is that tongue in cheek or do you really want to remove ALL CO2 from the atmosphere?
I got caught up on that one. It's sarcasm. Hard to say if he is trolling and what he means by it.
Because until recently there has always been a pro-Canada party either in charge or with enough power to force a change. With the most pro-USA, anti-Canada party every elected to a majority now in charge, a DMCA copyright bill will be passed shortly.
You have a point there: poison gas is classified as a weapon of mass destruction, and it's a cheap and efficient way to eliminate the occupants of a building. Some home-made chemical weapons which would be woefully inadequate on the battlefield can easily kill dozens and even hundreds when used indoors. Imagine the carnage you could wreak in an office building, for instance. Corporate offices can be targeted quite easily with improvised chemical weaponry, and taking out a number of their key personnel would hurt them a lot.
Geeks are so full of shit that "beating the crap out of them" takes a whole new meaning.
US is not a world police force. It is reach ranchers' hired gunslingers pack. Local city sheriffs, judges and mayors wither in fear and obey.
To be fair, it's not really US policy. It's the policy of big multinational money. US is just a victim just as well as any other country.
The US position defending copyright is the correct position.
By "defending copyright" do you mean to include "defending repeated extensions to the term of copyright" and "defending the narrowing of fair use, first sale, and other limitations on the scope of copyright" and "defending copyright even when the owner of copyright in a particular work cannot be determined with reasonable research"?
A Puffy Shirt maybe...
I might be more inclined to agree with you but for two things. 1) Assange really just does seem like the type. 2) If the accusations are false, it's more likely that the accuser is trying to profit somehow.
Seriously though, if we were that powerful, don't you think we would have conquered China by now? I'd rather have them than Iraq.
It has been shown that the US & its lobbies have strong-armed (off the top of my head):
- NZ
- Australia
- Spain
- Sweden
successfully to re-write their copyright laws.
There have been efforts in Canada, but thankfully the government has thus far been ineffectual.
Has anyone compiled a consolidated listing for each country of:
- evidence of strong-arming
- resultant legislation/negotiation
It would be interesting to compile this information to show to policy makers and journalists, so that they cannot hide behind banners, such as "Canadian made copyright reform", and other analogous euphemisms.
At least call it what it is.
...the Swedish Central Bank was also a recipient of some of that $16.1 trillion spewed forth from the Fed (thanks to GAO audit), and Carl Bildt was a director at Lundin Petroleum when those massacres were taking place in Sudan (moving people off of the oil-rich lands they lived on, etc.). Plenty of reasons, not even counting DoD contracts to Swedish defense firms, for pressure from the USA.
....and so many of those characters involved in attempting to extradite Assange are financially connected to the Bonnier family??? (And the Brits should be focusing on extraditing the Murdoch family, given everything coming out about their knowledge and collusion with all that cellphone spying!)
Since the end of WW2 the US had an airport on okinawa (japan) right within a large city. It's incredible they manage to keep it despite the enormous strain on local residents and the public outry for well over 60 years.
If you fail to grasp this example: Imagine central park being a german/british/whatever airforce base with planes starting/landing every 5 minutes 24/7/365.
The US does dictate decisions world wide, just look at ACTA as the next big thing. African/Indian interests (as far as manufacturing and buying cheap pharmaceuticals goes) don't matter at all. Copying of Software/etc becoming a crime (the first time criminal punishment is part of a trade agreement).
All of this is very sad considering how it will hinder the growth of second/third world countries and ensure the continued dominance of established megacorps vs. middle class competition.
"Geeks are so full of shit that "beating the crap out of them" takes a whole new meaning."
Wow, pointless hostility towards one's own. Grow up.
Don't you realize how green this planet would be if we could eliminate all the CO2?
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
don't you think we would have conquered China by now?
We would, but Walmart won't let us.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
"Funny how the US bullies everybody.."
There. Corrected for you.
It's even more amusing how everyone caves to US bullying so easily. Pussies.
Sweeds you will be issued sweat shorts, 'nutrition' bars, and boxed sets of 'The Kardashians' to help indoctrinate you.
There are many rules, too many to read, but the TV 'news' will help guide you as to which ones are actually being enforced.
Novel theory: Modern Man evolved from psychopath
Wow, pointless hostility towards one's own.
One's own? Only because geeks are carbon-based? Jock Science has proved that geeks aren't even human to begin with, so they're no more "of my own" as cockroaches are.
Geeks are so full of shit that "beating the crap out of them" takes a whole new meaning.
"The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work, and then they get elected and prove it." -- P. J. O'Rourke (conservative author)
I don't get it; Big Business wants it both ways. They want the USA to protect their corporate interests around the world *at taxpayer expense*, and then, their CEOs get on TV and shout that we need smaller government, and the government should get it's nose out of business, and there needs to be less regulation.
Well sure. If the fat cats want unbridled capitalism with no restraint, then I say let that also be the end of copyright law, patent law, and every other government agency that works for Big Business, but is paid for by the common man.
Let Big Business hire private security to protect their interests.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
The current Swedish prime minister uses Karl Rove as a political advisor. Says it all, really.
"This is just a trivial translation error." You overlooked your own translation error...it's "copyright" not "copy write".
Green isn't quite the color you're going for with that plan.
No argument here: you /are/ a cockroach. No doubt none of your posts to /. will be stained with anything resembling intelligence or insight. At least you get one thing right: you're society's retard, and you know it.
When Julian Assange was recently accused of sexual assault in Sweden, I maintained that this had "CIA discrediting campaign" written all over it. One of the main responses to this was "But the U.S. government doesn't have any control over Sweden or what they do."
There is a similar case going on just now. An Italian politician have, on an open street in Sweden, lifted his 12 year old son by the hair, the son was fleeing from a restaurant where his father had pounded him repeatedly in the face. One of the owners of the restaurant rushed out and was able to go in between, before the father did something worse. There are lots of witnesses to both incidents, the father/politician have not been judged yet, but he faces time inside a Swedish prison. If he was a Swede, his son would have been placed in protective care, until the father had learned how to behave like a "real" parent (the father will likely be judged to undergo behavioural therapy). Both the Italian politician and Italian media is upset because the Italian politician is punished because he "corrected" his sons behaviour.
Italian media (and likely many Italians) is very upset because of the "injustice" that is done to their countryman. There is two reason for this:
1) Cultural differences between Italians and Swedes. In Italy it is socially acceptable to give your offspring, student, et c. physical punishments. In Sweden, physical punishment of any kind is looked upon as barbaric, it deemed as even worse if you do it to a kid, and worse of all, if you do it to your own offspring or someone in your care (like if you are a teacher), compared to if you would hit some random strange kid that annoys you.
2) What happened is not reported correct in Italian media. According to Italian media, if they even report that the son was hit, the father only slapped his son with an open hand and grabbed him by the collar. What all witnesses say is that he pounded him with his fist in the face.
This is almost identical to how the Assange-case have been treated by internet media.
1) Cultural differences. At least in UK and NZ, Assange would face a similar punishment for the rapes as he would in Sweden (I'm not sure about Australia), the laws in those countries don't differ that much from Swedish laws (but the treatment in UK and NZ during prison time is much worse, so, de facto, the punishment would be harder then in Sweden). In many states of USA it wouldn't be considered rape, but in all states it would still be considered a crime, even if the punishment would be rather weak.
2) What Assange did to the girls have been downplayed by many foreign media. Much of the information, spread by internet, is outright lies in favour of Assange.
PS. An interesting detail is that most of the witnesses of the first beating of the son was not ethnic Swedes (it was inside a kebab restaurant), but from countries that is geographically and culturally close to Italy and still most of the witnesses was very chocked by the incident, most Italians would likely not even have noticed what happened.
if the population in this country is so dependent on entertaniment produced in the USA, then i can not, in front of "god" and truth, be uspet about the influence of USA on the government of this country...
if, on the other hand, we would keep to our own productions and culture, or even had one, for that matter, it would be different...
YHBT. HAND.
Celebrity worship is a poor substitute for Deity worship and costs more to boot.
Haven't you been listening to the US right's hatred and contempt for government?
Sure, I've listened to the rhetoric. I've also observed the reality. Conservatives despise government ... unless it's putting power in their hands and money in their pockets.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
Norway wasn't going to prosecute DVD Jon, but we (at the bidding of the MAFIAA) pressured them to do so, then to appeal his exoneration.
I like that my country is powerful and influential, but our influence shouldn't extend to interfering with the internal justice systems of foreign countries.
The Assange thing is really irrelevant as part of the revelation. It was clear Sweden was a US puppet state long before that when the Swedish police raided TPB at the request of US authorities, and when the Swedish judiciary later deemed a trial of the TPB owners by a judge who was an active member of a US oriented media industry lobby group to be fair. Even for those who believe Assange is guilty and the US has nothing to do with that there is still evidence enough of a separate issue here- the US has far too much influence in Sweden.
Quite how any of this could happen under an independent state I do not know which is why I simply believe it could not.
A difference with Okinawa is that the air base is essentially all that is left of the American occupation force following the conquest of Japan in World War II. In that sense, they sort of deserved it after their actions which started the Pacific theater of WWII. Yes, I know that you can keep pointing fingers in terms of "who started WWII", but Japan did start with the first bombs and bullets against America. If they didn't want Americans on their islands, they should have tried diplomacy first.
If Nazi Germany would have treated America with as much dignity and respect as America has treated Japan, with only a German air base on Manhattan in Central Park, I think it would be a rather modest compromise for what could have been. Seriously, Japan got off light if that is their only complaint.
BTW, it is important to note that the American people really don't support these international "intellectual property" treaties and conventions. They are just as controversial in America as elsewhere, perhaps more so. Indeed it disturbs me to no end to see the government representing the American people in such a manner.
"It was clear Sweden was a US puppet state long before that when the Swedish police raided TPB at the request of US authorities" Yes, anyone remember how the Swedes changed their laws about how anyone could view papers sent to their parliament when the scientology cult got involved andf bribed some US senators to interfere.
Without the paperwork.
He was a Libyan citizen who had worked to overthrow his government. We caught him and gave him back to his government.
Most of Swedish immaterial law (including the copyright act) is just an implementation of various EU directives. The Swedish government has no say in whether or not those directives are to be implemented, it can only affect in what way it is done. (Germany, that goes for you too; Constitutional Court be damned.) I'm the first one to jump on the omg-the-US-are-bullying-us-into-submission bandwagon, but it seems odd to do said bullying on a national level.
Oh, and yes, IAAL.
How is that not an act of war, if you prosecute people in other countries for you own benefits. Swedes may feel a little occupied and imprisoned in their country now.
It is sheat like this, that makes some Arabs and Latinos hate Ammmerica.
What Assange did to the girls have been downplayed by many foreign media. Much of the information, spread by internet, is outright lies in favour of Assange
Either you claim to have inside knowledge, which means you're either Assange or one of the two women, or you are lying. Which is it?
New Zealands new law was pretty much drafted by the US... and they also funded it with nearly $1m
Wow, pointless hostility towards one's own.
One's own? Only because geeks are carbon-based? Jock Science has proved that geeks aren't even human to begin with, so they're no more "of my own" as cockroaches are.
You had me at "jock science."
Brilliant troll there.
The world you experience is only a close approximation of reality.
Typical bias /. dribble from someone too stupid to look at the picture in its entirety.
Has nothing to do with right or left. For example, our energy issues were solved years ago with nuclear power. It's not the right that didn't want to build them for the last 30 some years. It's not the right that went to coal (LBJ) plants for cheap electricity and trended to global warming. It's not the right that pushed a solution that led to oil being dominant and funding the shit we're in, although that's partly the right to blame as well in that, given the military industrial complex, and the right took full advantage of the move the left put in play. The left is equally to blame, if not worse, at having intractable idiots dragging down practical solutions and policies--like those that don't want to fund experimental fusion reactors, because of the risk of meltdown, something I've read from 2 environmental groups now, one covered on /. a long while back.
You want to find where the left is going, look at where they want to involve the entrenched, established pockets and rip it apart. Want to know where the right is going, looked at the entrenched factions. Only a fool thinks they've "solved" everything. Hell, we've got a way of safely putting away tons of radioactive material sitting in pools and dry casks, ripe for an accident, away safely underground, and the left doesn't want to move it. Similarly, the right doesn't think double and triple lined chlorine tanks on rail is a good idea for cost reasons, absurdly.
Now we're so entrenched, we can't get our ass in gear to figure out a plan to put up windmills (NIMBYs are rarely the right) and solar panels en masse (a desert proposal has been hounded by environmentalists).
So take "these hypocrites" and shove it. You're just like the jackasses you hate, just from the other side. You can't even see how damn like them you are, repeating the cycle blaming others when you haven't cleaned your own ass. Worse, you haven't figured out that the reason the idiots like you run the farm, is because people like me and others like us (meaning excluding the likes of you), we're working to solve problems, and we'd never get elected, because we ultimately stand for nothing politically--you don't win elections by pissing off the established businesses (the right) and at the same time shoving a fork in the litigious (the left). Such solutions and change win you no friends.
Accusations of bias and incompetence? How many from the left have you ignored? Maybe you need to check your sources, since I can find crap from both sides that are extreme and incompetent. Funny how you only found one side, making you fucking wholly ignorant of the entire slate the non-right made. My guess is you're young and stupid, not seeing the entire picture, and you neither have the experience or the mental capacity or even will to want to try to learn the whole truth, less it show you how wrong you are.
The reality is--conservatives have FUCKED UP. Liberals have FUBAR'D AN ENTIRE GENERATION (baby boomers, fucking assholes). Both sides have done good things. The middle, the independent, is too shifty to fixate as a party. I'm not sure how to solve it, but I know DAMN well that people of your ilk sure as hell aren't the solution--for the Fox watcher Hannity moron ass kisser, there's an equal number if not more Rachel Maddow MSNBC viewers as well.
Although I am sorry for US citizens of good will, as a whole the influence of the USA in the world has been very detrimental lately. The issue of IP is just one example.
Therefore, I am quite happy with the self destructive ultra right wing tea party. It is the quickest way to get rid of the USA as a superpower. I can only welcome that.
In the UK we call it the "special relationship" because we are America's best buddies... Well, second best after Israel. US says jump, we say how high?
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Take hope in one important improvement: We did not support Mubarak, not this time, despite his friendliness with the US.
In the past, our government would have supported the ruler, as long as he professed friendship with the US, despite what US citizens or their people thought. The polite explanation was always "stability". Not so polite is "he's a bastard, but he's our bastard". Then the ruler and his cronies continue milking their people, who then hate us for supporting him. This always causes trouble, and undermines the very stability we sought. It's about time our government got smarter about this. Rulers who exploit and suppress their own people cannot be real friends of ours.
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"