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Al Gore Invented the Internet!

An anonymous reader sent us a link to a priceless wired article where you can read about presidential hopeful Al Gore's claims that he created the internet. I for one thank him. Without the hardware he designed, the protocols he defined, and the software he coded, think where the internet would be today. Good think he didn't have my vote, or he woulda lost it.

396 comments

  1. internet2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Are you some kind of retard? He obviously meant
    internet2, which kicks a$$ as anyone knows
    whos used it.

  2. After Commercial, Political. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After being commercial (RedHat support), Rob/Slashdot becomes Political. Funny.

  3. Gore invents the Internet...News at eleven by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why should anyone be surprised? It's a known fact that politicians have the tendency to talk out of their ASS on a daily basis. He's just displaying one of the symptoms of "Joe Izuzu" disease (a form of BS), which normally accompanies the political fingerpointing affliction known as the "Glass House Syndrome"....

  4. No Subject Given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone who has read "Where the Wizards Stay up Late" will know that Al Gore or US Millitary for example had nothing to do with the origins of INTERNET.

  5. LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That has to be one of the funniest things I have read in a while... I wish I could have seen it...

  6. How to say "router" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apparently, everyone in UK says it wrong, too. Ah well, glad you smart open-minded American folk always do what's right for the world. Helps me sleep at night.

  7. Whoa hold on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah. He's a real good guy. It's too bad his Clipper chip never took off. I'd feel a whole lot better if I had Al Gore looking over my shoulder.

  8. Created or destroyed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since Al Gore worked to push mainstream commerce onto the Internet, I guess he could be credited for helping to _destroy_ it.

  9. Pronouncing "router" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Someone could say that the English language cannot pronounce router properly...

  10. You are a ninny. Go away. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wailing about Slashdot going "commercial" is about as useful/productive as complaining about gravity. Where's your noncommercial/apolitical site? Or, wait a sec, are you one of those folks that merely complains and can't actually DO anything?

  11. Al Gore is An Alien....I Have Proof! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    just look at him.

  12. Al Gore... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Has he got the floppy it originally came on????

  13. Pronouncing "router" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's why I always pronounce "router" in Jivanese. I'm teaching my Irish ducks to say it that way, too.

  14. and fleecing of America.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The whole satellite 24/7 thing is assinine. There, I said it.

  15. That's not all he created. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    The tool also created gnulix.


    He invented computers


    He invented the light pen


    He invented MP3.


    He invented email


    Al Gore is a computer super genius, in fact he's only a politician so that he can use that power to further computational development by pooring federal funding into it.

  16. Al Gore Didn't Create It. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought GTE did!

    Thanks GTE!!

  17. Al Gore... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yep, but it's a 5 1/4 floppy...

  18. Jesus Christ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > I'd stoop to voting for a Republican
    > (as long as it wasn't their village idiot
    > Dan Quayle) over this moron.

    I don't know if I'd go that far. I'd vote for
    my neighbor's egg-sucking yellow dog before I'd
    vote Republican.

    But as much as Al sucks up to patent-abusing,
    IP-hoarding Sillicon Valley and Hollywood money,
    I probably will vote for whatever hopeless
    candidate the Greens or the Socialists put
    forward this time. I'd vote Libertarian if the
    US Libertarian party weren't a bunch of
    business-can-do-no-wrong right-libertarian
    idiots. Much like Al Gore: for him, any
    business that doesn't produce smog or cut down
    trees can do no wrong.

  19. Potatoe anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why does it always seem that Vice Presidents make an ass out of themselves?

  20. **** sigh **** by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's not going to be anyone I can vote for in the coming election, is there.


  21. what a guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Was this before or after Gore was the inspiration for the book Love Story?

  22. General rule: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you don't know what a router is, you don't know dick about the internet.

    I think that he has been supportive of the so-called "internet 2" but, as with most politicians, he is trying to claim credit for as much as he can. With enough campaigning and heartfelt speechs, people will believe him. That said, I expect that this quote was candid and that he doesn't plan to make quite so bold a statement during his campaign. But then again, who knows?

    --Lenny

  23. Some observations on Al Gore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. Al Gore does "rooters." Bill Clinton does hooters.
    2. Wolf Blitzer fawning over the Vice Stiff. What did you expect from the Clinton News Network?
    3. Al Gore? Vision?? In order to have vision, one must be awake!
    4. Al Gore has already lost one debate to Dan Quayle. That says something about his intelligence (or the lack thereof).
    5. Al Gore being in Washington requires a village in Tennessee to hire a new idiot.
    6. At least no one (except for possibly Tipper) uses the words "Al Gore" and "sex" in the same sentence.

  24. Whoa hold on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As I recell, [sic] he was the Net's chief supporter in congress, actually helped move the closed research oritented [sic] internet to the Internet we know today.

    When he's gone, will October come?

  25. So brits pronounce it "rooter"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    On another note, how do the french say "email," since "email" is already a french word?

  26. Did he also invent p0rn? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    meta tags on the Al Gore for Prez web site:

    I,invented,the,internet,macarena,global,warming,
    party,animal,I,invented,the,internet,macarena,
    global,warming,party,animal,I,am,i,am,superman,
    and,i,know,what's,happening,i,am,i,am,superman,
    and,i,can,do,anything,...

  27. send him mail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't send him email because that can just be bit bucketed. Rather send the mail to CNN and express your displeasure that they let such a blatent error slip by.

  28. But Al Gore is American by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And Americans pronounce it correctly (stupid brits)

  29. Stupid Brits by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can't speak English. That is so sad.

  30. If you're a liberal, vote socialist or green by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    (I'm assuming you're left-wing, as you described voting republican as "stooping.") If you don't like Gore (assuming he wins the nomination), and you don't want a Republican in office, why not help legitimize third parties by voting for one? Sure they won't win, but you'll be influencing politics in the long run. (Hell, it's better than not voting, anyway.)

  31. Forrest Gu(Gore) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    HI.

    My name is Al Gore. I am run ing for pre si dent. I would like to tell you that I in vent ed the int er net. I am very ex cite ed to fur ther the in for mat sheone hi way.

    My name is Al Gore. Ma-ma all ways said that life is like A box of choc O lates.

    You do not want to vote for a mean old re pub lickin. They are mean. They hurt lit ell old laid ees and starve the child ren.

  32. **** sigh **** by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, there's still Hulk Hogan...

  33. Above sponsored by Algore campaigners? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is something on your nose there buddy.

  34. Two words: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "CDA Supporter."

    'nough said. Friend of CDA == enemy of internet.

  35. Another reason by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Another reason why I'll be hoping for George W. Bush vs. Bill Bradley to the be the match up in 2000. They atleast seem alive and haven't come across that arrogant (yet anyway).

  36. So brits pronounce it "rooter"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    we pronounce it like the americans (at least here in quebec). but the correct french word for email would be "courriel".

    and we pronounce linux the correct way :)


    cob2k25

  37. What to do, what to do... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So in 2000, we're going to have the choice between Al "Look at me, I'm special!!! Really I am!" Gore, and Dan "Huh?" Quayle.

    My god, if Colin Powell runs as independant, he will be *guaranteed* to win.

    Think about it, we'll have a Black Independant president. There might be hope for this country.

    --
    Michael Chisari
    dominion@beyondtheweb.com

  38. ROFLMAO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now that was some funny shit.

  39. True liberals wouldn't vote for Gore anyways by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    especially considering his wife is a fascist. Or have we forgotton that fact?
    Yeah, I considered libertarians but they seem to forget what free-market capitalism did to America (prosperity in the 20s followed by....)
    There's always Greens.

    -ElCabron, not an AC
    I'm at work and forgot my password

  40. Al Gore and Steve Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not the inventor, but the exploiter that will get the credit. Ask Steve Jobs. I'm sick of pseudo-charismatic weenies.

  41. BAHAHAHA!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    nuff said !

  42. slashdot = rightwingdot ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So if Al Gore is so bad (getting snide remarks that don't really belong on /.) who should we vote for? Since you seem to want to tell us who to vote for who do you propose?

    It would be totally moronic to vote for Republicans that seem hellbent on commercializing everything and then censoring unapproved comment, or maybe you forgot about the CDA.

    Political debates and rantings on slashdot suck. Particularly quotes taken out of context, reminds me of the bull from mainstream media

  43. White House by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And your President invented the flavoured cigar.

  44. I've been on the internet since 1988 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And that was during the tail end of the Reagan era. The internet was already in full bloom at that time. Even the browser was invented while Bush was in office in 1992. NCSA's Mosaic was still just an interesting academic project, and Gopher was in widespread use doing much of what the web does today. It was during the Clinton adminstration that the general public happened to notice the internet and jumped on in droves in 1994 (the year September never ended). Gore just put his foot in his mouth big time.

  45. Al Gore did help by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lets not make such a big deal out of a small political comment.

    Al Gore has been reasonably tech-savvy for a while, and was a notable force behind giving the Internet and the importance of the Internet weight in congress, NII etc.

    Sure, he didn't create the 'Internet', but he supported it and helped it by showing political support for it, which is all you'd want from a politician anyways.

  46. If Clinton invented the Internet... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Classic!

  47. Vote Dole, Bush, or even Hogan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm glad Gore made such a stupid remark. Hopefully someone can use that to keep the idiot out of office. I don't want Gore or his wife anywhere near the White House after this term is up(although I wouldn't mind being near his daughters). Take a stand, vote.

  48. Gorenet. "We know what you're downloading" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The thought of Gore developping a totally new internet scares the bajeezes out of me. I'm sure it'll be chock full of goodies, like MPAA ratings and SSN numbers in the packet headers "to protect out children" and "for law-enforcement purposes". Of course, plenty of hooks will be left in to allow covert gov't monitoring. No thanks. I'll stick with the current internet thank you.

    On a related note wh are there so many proprietary chat programs? It seems every site has their own software you have to download to enter their chat rooms. Anyone ever hear of IRC? Of course, truly free speech is dangerous, so IRC is to be deprecated as much as possible.

  49. Gore == Quayle == STUPID by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    Gore's statement about the internet is as stupid as some of the MANY rediculous things that have come percolating up depths of Quayle's boundless wisdom. Quite frankly, I don't think Gore could tell what TCP/IP stands for (much less what it's used for) if it came up and bit him on his rear. Gore, like most other politicians, knows just enough to be dangerous.

  50. Al Gore is a fucking IDIOT (imho) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    can you say PMRC?
    Clipper Chip?
    Campaign Finance?


    I knew that you could.

    This guy has never worked a day in his life. He just wants to SPEND YOUR MONEY.

    All opinions mine.

  51. No, sappy lefty, this is relevant! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    There are not many tech-saavy politicians, but there are even fewer poseur whores like Al Gore. His claim, suring that interview, is pretentious, outrageous, and totally appropriate for Slashdot.

    We should Slashdot the whitehouse email with laughter and scorn.

    If you think the Democrats aren't hellbent on commercialization as much as the Republicans, then you are a naive fool. It's just that the Democrats are waiting to SPRING! and tax it to death when it is commericially viable.

    This brings to mind an old Reagan joke about the attitude of the Democrats to an industry: "If it moves, tax it! If it keeps moving, regulate it! And when it finally stops moving, subsidize it!"

    Also, the CDA had bipartisan support. You really need to read more.

  52. internet2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    maybe you should think before you speak.

  53. internet2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    maybe you should think before you speak. Moron.

  54. What Gore meant to say by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It was just a slip of the tongue. Instead of saying that "I invented the Internet", he meant to say that he "I helped spur investment in the Internet, which facilitated growth, and led to my greater access to hard core pornagraphy".

  55. True American liberals? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Damn, you're more pessimistic than I am.

    -ElCabron

  56. He's right about one thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wired snidely comments:

    "Gore told the audience how much he valued Chambers and one of the products Cisco produced. But he mispronounced "routers" as root-ers."

    But Gore is right: it should be pronounced 'root-er'. A 'row-ter' is what you use to finish countertops.

  57. Quayle for Pres by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I wish I could spend more time in Latin America but I don't know how to speak Latin."

    -Dan Quayle, former VP

  58. You are a ninny. Go away. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No - I am just one those guys who think that Slashdot sucks more and more with its stupid Gnome support, KDE hate and RedHat support. Gnome sucks. Gnome should never have been. Gnome 1.0 is a pity. You cannot not even compare it to KDE-alpha3 and all the press talks about Gnome 1.0. RedHat support to Gnome is a shame and Miguel De I Caza is a terrorist. Slashdot's goal is to sell you something. Don't be blind.

  59. What a stupid thing to diss on Gore for. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Of course. There are so many better things to diss Gore for.

    Hmmm all those teenagers that he pissed off in the 80's with the "PMRC" are voters now. Hope they remember that Gore tried to censor musical expression!

  60. Gore == Quayle == STUPID by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Duh! :o)

    It seems to be the 'thing' for modern US presidents to invest in "Impeachment Insurance".

    Reagan had the shrub,
    The shrub had Quayle,
    and Clinton has Gore.

    And Clinton is proof that it works... think about it - What's to bet that all of the Republican that voted against Clinton's impeachment have had extended conversations with Gore, and decided that as much as they hated Clinton, he actually has a clue, as opposed to what would replace him..

  61. Al Gore isn't YOUR VP (lucky for you) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and the whole point is, he didn't know how to pronounce it because he doesn't know what the hell a router is.

  62. Glass house syndrome.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't that "People in glass houses shouldn't get stoned?" :o)

    Bill "I didn't inhale" Clinton.

  63. When was the Internet invented? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My best guess is about 1986 when the NSF
    encouraged standarized bridges between the
    various academic networks- ApraNet, NSFNet, BitNET, MilNet (etc.)

    Hierarchial nameservers was another big help.
    We had to download /etc/hosts list every week
    to update addresses. When that was approaching
    10K entries it wasn't running so well.

    ric@kana.stanford.edu

  64. this explains something by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cos generally the 1% we mock are nitwits who flaunt themselves in public and expect to be taken seriously.

    If you stand up in a room full of seated people, and your pants fall down, you -will- be laughed at, if for no other reason than there's no one else looking as stupid as you at the moment.

  65. He definately helped! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hopefully, Gore's words were horribly out-of-context...He didn't invent the Internet (that's a silly-ass thing to say), but he _did_ play a major role in getting funding for the NCSA (which did a lot of work on the Internet and I2). Check out the High Performance Computing Act of 1991, by Al Gore Jr. Gore is stiff, but he's a good guy.

  66. No Really! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Al Gore brought his plans to me in 1967, when I was but a youth of -10, right after I invented the personal computer. He told me all about his plans and I told him that he should give it a shot.

    I thank Al Gore for realizing his vision of the Information Superhighway. Al, you've made life worth living!

  67. October by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ha! October will never come to the net!
    what is now, September 1980, 1993?

  68. Al Gore... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If my experience is right at all, the correct
    pronunciation of "router" is "Fucking piece of shit.... somebody get me a hammer..."

    :)

  69. Gore may be stupid... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...but this statement is a LIE. It is a moral flaw. He knows the truth, unless he is lying to himself as well (another moral flaw). Quayle may be a doofus (and he definitely shouldn't be allowed in front of a microphone, for his own protection), but what Algore has done here is something else entirely. He is LYING.

    Geeks see through this garbage, but Joe Sixpack won't (and, apparently, neither will journalists). For them, to say it is for it to be true. "Algore invented the Internet!"

    Unfortunately, even if the LIE is exposed, nothing will come of it. So it is a "safe" LIE. All it does is betray his true "character."

    Of course, for his supporters, he probably appears to be an actual SAINT in comparison to Perjurer/Obstructionist/Rapist/Cigar Lover Bill Clinton. So they won't care about his LIE(s) either.

    So don't worry. This doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if Algore is morally flawed. Go back to sleep, sheep.

  70. You are a ninny. Go away. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    boo hoo cry me a handful you loser

  71. That's the spirit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lies don't matter. Algore didn't lie; he just didn't have his facts straight. He's a lot better than the others.

    You're feeling sleepy...very sleepy...go back to sleep, sheep.

    Just moments ago I was typing away about how this would absolutely not matter to Algore supporters. Moral flaws don't matter to them. If they could back Perjurer/Obstructionist/Rapist Bill Clinton, they can easily smile at the paltry lies Algore tells, like this Internet thing.

    Of course, there was that larger problem of "no controlling legal authority" at a Buddhist monastery...oh well. That doesn't matter to Algoreites either. Go back to sleep, sheep!

  72. Good old fashioned political FUD! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    John "Dull as Dirt" Major lost the election. If he had the courage of the Iron Lady the tories would not have lost.

  73. Potatoe anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Um... It IS pronounced "root-ers." Ask any Englishman. A "rowt-er" would be would be an electronic device that sends your data screaming and running in all directions. I don't want to hear "but that's the way REAL people pronounce it, so that's the way it is!" If we let engineers define the English language, we're in deep shit. I hope I'm not losing anyone here. (notice the word lose has only 1 'o') I'm very tired of seeing people who don't know the difference between lose and loose, or accept and except (ESL speakers excepted.)
    BTW Potatoe is also an acceptable spelling. Quale's stupidity was in not knowing both were right and potato without the 'e' is more common.

    teasea

  74. The Free Market and the Great Depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.toonzone.net/wbc/wbcbb/cgi-bin/wwwthrea d.cgi?action=show&board=wbcbb.archive4&b num=4&num=513

  75. Bill Clinton Created Adultery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    yep. i read it on slashdot, so it must be true.

  76. Why NOT to bother with this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't give too much thought to the matter... He's not Y2K compliant. In a year, he'll start schpieling to us about how he revolutionized the automotive manufacturing process and will disavow any knowledge of the internet.

  77. No German says rooter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm a real sys admin since +10 years and I've never heard a German say "rooter." That sounds perverse or at least silly to German ears, somehow.

  78. PMRC and blank tape tax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Al's wife Tipper Gore was a central figure in the Parent's Music Resource Center (PMRC).

    Frank Zappa, who testified at the PMRC hearings, mentioned in his autobiography that Al was involved in passing a tax on blank recording media at about the same time. The tax provides compensation to various parts of the music recording industry for "lost revenue" associated with home taping.

    Although I'm sure it served other agendas as well, I suspect the PMRC sideshow was a convenient smokescreen to facilitate passing the blank tape tax.

  79. slashdot = rightwingdot ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So if Al Gore is so bad (getting snide remarks that don't really belong on /.) who should we vote for? Since you seem to want to tell us who to vote for who do you propose?

    Quit whining. CT wasn't trying to tell anybody who to vote for, he was just pointing out something utterly ridiculous.

    Try voting for a third party candidate. The republicrats (or democans if you wish) are all owned and operated by corporations who don't give a shit about you.

    I myself don't vote. It only encourages them.

  80. Rest of the world says "router" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are trying to say that because of local preferences someone would pronounce "router" as "rooter." Obviously, standard English pronounciation says it has to be pronounced as "router" and I'm fine with that. Btw, I've never heard someone saying "rooter" for years.

  81. Oh Boy ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Give that man a drug test!!

  82. See for yourself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    yep. i read it on slashdot, so it must be true.

    Please, by all means go read the original CNN transcript. Read the transcript -- direct from Algore's own lying mouth.

    What is your point? That you refuse to follow links to articles on Slashdot?

  83. Gore may be stupid... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    [ Geeks see through this garbage, but Joe Sixpack won't (and, apparently, neither will journalists). For them, to say it is for it to be true. "Algore
    invented the Internet!" ]


    Geeks see through this garbage, eh? I bet you
    voted for Bush, you moron.

    Politicians are morally flawed? Say it ain't so
    pollyanna!

    What about me, you ask? I have the good sense not to vote.

    The stupidest slaves are those who believe they're
    free because they get to choose thier masters.

  84. Fuck Al Gore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pompous motherfucker.

    i have nothing but contempt for Al and the rest
    of the lying, traitorous bastards that inhabit
    the administration.

    i'm tired of the bullshit.

  85. Forest and Trees by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's right. We all need to chip in and help the Vice Perjure^H^H^H^H^H^Hresident cover up his lie^H^H^Hexaggeration of reality.

    Go back to sleep, sheep.

    After all, he's better than Perjurer/Obstruction/Rapist Bill Clinton...

  86. Green groups want to kill you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All you dorks better get a clue, these "Green" groups want to eliminate people to "save" the environment. Geez think about that for a minute will you? They pray for a biological agent to kill off most of the people. Besides, they're just taking all your money just like those "evil" corps do, but heck at least I can drink my Coke I just paid for.

    Green groups are the New Nazis and they are all to happy to fire up the crematoriums.

    Sig Heil...

    jmr

  87. Al Gore and the Internet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Excuse me? "A bit exaggerated"? Al Gore "pushed the Internet into what it is today"? Al Gore designed web browsers, developed e-commerce systems, and funded Silicon Valley startups? Could you please identify exactly what Al Gore has done without which the Internet would not be what it is? As I recall Al's primary accomplishments in this area are supporting the CDA and the Clipper chip, both of which would have severely crippled the Internet had they survived. Al Gore may be a supporter of the Internet, but only if it's exactly how he and Tipper want it.

    1. RE: Al Gore and the Internet by SaDan · · Score: 1

      Al Gore isn't responsible for making the internet what it is today... The commercial backing and educational backing of the internet has shaped it into what it is now. Gore is just an idiot trying to get some credit where it is definately NOT due. The internet was alive and kicking and growing on its own without any help from Gore.

      He'd make a terrible president, BTW. I'm definately NOT voting for him.

      Danno

  88. Flawed Assumption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    I bet you voted for Bush, you moron.

    Actually that would be a totally baseless assumption there, tiger.

    What if I told you that I'm a principled and disgusted Democrat who is sick to death of the lowlife leeches populating the White House?

    (I'm not a Democrat, but I'm not Republican -- or Libertarian or Perotist -- either).

    The stupidest slaves are those who believe they're free because they get to choose thier [sic] masters.

    That's the spirit! "Since I gave up hope I feel a lot better! Go ahead! Beat on me! I know I'm just a slave and I've got no way of changing things, so why should I bother trying?"

    Go back to sleep, sheep. The wolves are coming, and they love sheep that don't even bleat while they're devoured.

  89. Danforth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dan Quayle's real name is Danforth Quail.

  90. I don't think so by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Internet started its explosive growth and commercialization when the world at large (non-geeks, that is) discovered it. The government had (thankfully) nothing to do with it.

    I'd say you have idealized the popularization of the Internet, but, well, I have no idea what ideal you're appealing to. "The world at large" did not spontaneously discover the Internet, although you may wish that they had. The Internet was controlled by the government and its military, neither of which is fond of relinquishing control of anything to anyone. If this network opened up, then that means that some politically-motivated mind thought that opening it was a good idea. I imagine there some politicians and some regulators involved either specifically with opening the Internet or generally with encouraging a large-scale data network. If you followed that group to see where its members are today and what they're doing, I'll bet you'd find Al Gore at the top of the totem pole.

  91. "The Year September Never Ended" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's when the people on television started talking about the internet a lot more, when the cool thing to do with a Wintel box was install Mosaic on it, when Pizza Hut started taking orders off a web page form, when thousands of ISPs suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and when IBM started advertising OS/2 Warp as a cool was to get on the internet. 1994 is when Joe-Sixpack non-technie became a node.

  92. Gore may be stupid... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So you don't vote, eh? Whooooooooo, that makes you *so* radical and independant! I'm almost impressed.
    Stop paying your taxes and *then* we'll see how free you really are.

  93. Power politics and everything else that's wrong... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just as there were Republicans who opposed the CDA, and there are Republicans who support relaxing encryption export rules, there were Democrats who opposed the CDA, and there are Democrats who support relaxing encryption export rules. The divisions do not seem to be drawn on political lines -- stances on that seem actually to vary a lot between individual politicians. (FWIW, in my biased opinion, the division transcends traditional party idealogies [which are facades anyway, right? ;) ] and lies with plain-old interest in freedom.) It should be noted that any support for relieving encryption controls is bound to come from the Congress, and not the White House, because the White House represents the _executive_ branch. It is the duty of people who are in the White House to take and preserve power whereever they feel doing so would be (a) legal, (b) moral, and (c) in keeping with their job description, and this is doubly true when we get involved with exports and non-domestic issues. ("The American people may know what they want, but they don't know much about the outside world.") In theory, Congress looks out for us, but there's a lot of power-hunger there, too, and politics plays an unfortunate role in determining many Congresspeople's stances. There are still honest politicians, though, which is why YMMV when seeking to take power away from the government. If there stands any organ of the US government which actively aims to be unbiased and apolitical, it is the Supreme Court. I suppose those that's a big "if", though.

  94. Hey! I?m the REAL Al G0re!!!1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I?m the real aL gORE!!!1111

    D0n?t shove 1n 0n MY TURF, d00d!

    cOME ON NOw, can?t w33 all ju5t Get al0ng????

  95. Here's the HTML for webmail to the WhiteHouse/Al G by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/Mail/html/Mail_Vice_P resident.html

    So go comment. I did.

  96. Gore gaff & low-power broadcasting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well. Al Gore didn't say he created the Internet. He said he "took the initiative in creating the Internet."

    There is a difference there, if you are intelligently parsing English and aren't just interested in throwing shit at politicians.... not that that's bad or anything.

    Had he said what he meant... "in the creation of" rather than "in creating" ... he'd have escaped some of the pies.

    Gore and Clinton deserve some credit in the history books for their support of the Net from the beginning of the Clinton era.

    If you want to toss some shit-cakes, consider the republocrat who's shitting on the FCC Chair for supporting low-power broadcasting? This ought to be far more important to the OSS community... those who can see that far.

  97. How to say "router" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I always pronounce "route" "root", and "router", "rooter". "rowt" just sounds gay.

  98. You are a ninny. Go away. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's the kind of argument that makes me believe I'm right :->

  99. moron by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    DARPA sponsored the internet's creation -

    _D_efense
    _A_dvanced
    _R_esearch
    _P_rojects
    _A_ssociation

    get your facts right. the internet was originally a militarily sponsored project.

  100. Al Gore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Whaddya mean, Al Gore?? Everyone knows that Bill Gates created the Internet!

    Well, at least Bill Gates is known outside the USA, but this Gore guy is a complete unknown in our parts here (Paraguay)... unless he's the guy who invented the al-gore-ithm... but wasn't that an Arab?

  101. It's a shame I'm not American. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    if gore becomes president I'm moving to .au

  102. Says more about CNN/Linus for president by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This Wolf Blitzer person must be one clued in person to not question this 'remarkable' statement.

    btw. Maybe this Linus for President wasn't a joke then?

    Breace

  103. "republicans" not enemy, "statism" is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It doesn't matter whether Gore is a democrat or a republican. All that matters is that he has a fascist worldview.

  104. If ever there is a place for flames.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I never participate in flaming, but if flames are EVER called for, its here. Taking credit for the hard work of everyone who has contributed to the Internet is the lowest thing he could have done.
    I hope he gets beat Dukakis style.

  105. It's a shame I'm not American. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The ratio of odd politicians to population in Australia is only exceeded by New Zealand.

  106. http://www.warroom.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Listen, be afraid. After hearing the truth you would never want to vote democratic. Their government control and outcome based education kick ass.

  107. Gore may be stupid... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Quayle may be a doofus (and he definitely shouldn't be allowed in front of a microphone, for his own protection)

    Now THIS is funny! How true, though.

    but what Algore has done here is something else entirely. He is LYING.

    If someone is lying, it implies that they KNOW the truth, but choose not to acknowledge it. I honestly don't think Gore knows enough to know the difference in this case. I'd equate Gore's understanding of the internet (and its development) to that of the average AOL user - in other words, almost non-existent. If, on the other hand, it turns out that Gore IS lying, I sure hope someone calls him on it!

  108. So basically, the GD was caused by greed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Greed, money grubbing, love of money. At least most geeks out there love tech more than money, which is why I am glad to be one.

  109. slashdot != rightwingdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    More likely: slashdot = libertariandot. (If
    anything.)

    Funny thing about libertarians: left-wingers
    think libertarians are right-wingers and right-
    wingers think libertarians are left-wingers.

    Which just goes to show that both groups suffer
    from crippling tunnel-vision.

  110. There's an internet timeline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    right here. The first entry is 1957, and there's no reference to "Gore" until 1991. There's another reference for the year 1993, but this only refers to the e-mail address of the vice president at the Whitehouse. Someone ought to tell the author of this timeline that Gore isn't getting anywhere near the credit he deserves.

    Oh...wait...yes he is.

  111. The Free Market and the Great Depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Great Depression wasn't limited to the US. It encompassed much of the world.

  112. how Cisco says "router" -> ROUTER not ROOTER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cisco invented the bloody thing, so I suppose they get to name it.

    However, the root of the word is route not rout and it should therefore be pronounced root.

  113. Enough of the liberal/revisionist conspiracy crap! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As soon as I see the words 'revisionism in today's textbooks', I immediately lose interest. I'm sick of that conspiracy bullshit. Enough already, okay?
    No one is out to get you. You have never been abducted by an alien. There is no liberal media conspiracy. The Trilateral Commission is not watching you every moment of the day. The Jews and the Rockefellers have never teamed up to take over the world.

    -ElCabron (tommorrow, I'm bringing my password to work)

  114. Out of Context you Idiots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He didn't really mean that he invented the internet he was just trying to say that he was always pro technology. God what a bunch of gullible idiots you all are. Al Gore would be a lot better for the internet and technology in general than any of the other candidates - not that I think politicians affect the internet all that much. I mean I keep hearing about how the internet is going to be taxed out of existence or sued out of existence and nothing ever happens. Just shutup about it until something news-worthy happens.

  115. plenty of alternatives by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    at last election, there were 7 people on the ballot for pres in my state.
    THIRD PARTY!!!!!!!!!!

  116. Out of Context you Idiots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You have a rather unusual interpretation of "I took the iniative in creating the Internet." I suppose if he had said "I performed the world's first heart transplant" that would me that he's done a lot for health care.

  117. Don't you want to know why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    left-wingers think libertarians are right-wingers because libertarians believe in free-market capitalism. right-wingers believe libertarians are left-wingers because libertarians want the gov't to stay the fuck out of the bedroom.
    now, if only there were a socialist party that advocated the same social agenda as the libertarians, then i'd stop voting for my butt.

  118. Warning: this government sector is Corrupted by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hey,

    Don't dis' Algore, he'll have Clinton's
    henchmen kill you, the IRS audit you,
    raise your taxes to build a library in his name,
    rape your daugher/wife, rape the country's time,
    scare you with his global warming rant,
    and design new internet protocols to prohibit
    homies rap,
    all while taking credit for entrepeneurs ideas.

    PS: Tripper Gore is still homely, even after
    her elective 'election' plastic surgury.

    http://www.freerepublic.com/

    This 'year of Clinton' was more laughable
    than Seinfeld, except this is laughing matter.

  119. Son of Quayle? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    Gore's b.s. is gonna eventually earn him that title. :)

  120. Ssshhhhhh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    it's all a conspiracy. yes, we want to kill you, but not all of you. we want your daughters but we have to kill you or you'll interfere.

    but you think we're bad, you have to see the libertarians. they want to legalize everything, including anal sex with monkies and king kong sized grandmother orgies.

    then there's the peace and freedom party. they'll never get elected because they're all too busy smoking crack.

    oh, did i forget to mention the america first! party? now, these guys are okay. their goal is to make america an empire, you know, conquering the entire western hemisphere by force.

    my bad! i forgot to mention the natural law party. their goal is to make marijuana so potent that if you smoke it, your best friend 2000 miles away gets stoned when he takes a dump.

    then there's the reform party. now those guys are whacked. their ultimate goal is rule by who is the better wwf wrestler/actor. now that hulk hogan is now hollywood hogan, i don't see them winning too many electorial votes though so don't waste your vote on them.

    then there's the american independent party. unfortunately, the far right "christian" wing has taken over that party so the first thing they'd do when they come into office is make us all drive station wagons with eight kids each to and from work, then stone to death welfare recipients. nah, i'm not that cruel. i think i'll stick to the green party.

  121. How to say "router" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gay? As in men having sex with other men? I don't follow.

  122. Liz for Pres!` by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, she'd make a great president. No issues whatsoever. She's great at waffling, almost as good as Slick Willie himself. She doesn't enjoy sex (can you blame her, being married to a guy who masterbated so much that his hand stayed like that?). She's the wife of a former Presidential contender. Yeah, Liz for Pres! Woohoo!

  123. Stay in Canada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Good, I'm glad you're not an American citizen. We don't need any more morons in this country. We have enough.
    Anyways, you'll be an American citizen soon enough though when we run out of trees in this country and take over your puny little country.
    But you say you have an air force. Oh, I'm scared. (Note the sarcasm).
    I piss on your air force! You have no chance against us, you misplaced Brit! You and your bad food and even worse talents. Damn the Canadians! The only things you've ever given us are Celine Dion and Alannis Morisette, two overrated and extremely ugly women, uglified from generations of inbreeding that those Canadians hold so dear.
    "If you can't keep it in your pants, keep it in the family," is the first thing they tell a Canadian male after he has his first wet dream. That's how Alannis More Upset got so ugly.
    I loathe your miserable nation with bad food. Though we will need your trees in about 15-20 years. Enjoy your independence while it lasts, you Canadian scumbag. Also, say goodbye to your health care because you won't get any when we take over. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!
    Burp.

  124. You're just jealous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That you never got a blowjob in your life, so you hate the President because he did. I hate you miserable, Puritanical Republicans. You make the Pope look like a pimp from Brooklyn.
    Enough of the purgery stuff. Ever President lies. That's their job. Bush "Read my lips, no new taxes", then he raised taxes. Reagan "I don't remember". Well, maybe he didn't remember because he had Alzheimers. Okay, we'll forgive Reagan. But how about Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon? Huh? Was he ever honest once in his life. Gerald Ford once confessed that he's "going to hell because he pardoned Nixon."
    So shutup about Clinton. The guys a bastard for killing innocent Iraqis and the CDA, but damn, if you're going to go after him for anything, don't go after him because he enjoys sex and you don't, you loser!

  125. vice president == spare tire by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    For example, if the big wheel goes flat, the vice pres is there to take his place. And after so much mileage, sometimes people like the same old wheels and toss on the spare.

    But their duties consist mainly of visiting second-rate disaster sites and dedication ceremonies.

  126. Not quite. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    People in stone houses shouldn't grow grass

  127. Al Gore and the Internet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gore is a complete idiot. Even Quale isn't that stupid

  128. Confusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I must have missed something - I was sure that Bill Gates invented the Internet, right after he invented Basic, the PC and DOS! Who's this Al Gore person?

  129. Bob Metcalfe for president! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He's not responsible for the internet either, but at least he contributed.

  130. Out of context + badly said by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "took initiative in creating the internet" probably has more than one interpretation.
    He obviously did not mean he alone created the internet.

    The point is Al Gore chose his words badly. If the interviewer had come back to that point, i'm sure Al would have clarified what he meant. But the interviewer ignored it, because the interviewer obviously didn't think it was important.

    It was a stupid thing to say, but y'all are taking it just a _little_ out of proportion. And it's too bad Al isn't getting a chance to defend himself. I doubt any non-cyberspace news sources will pick that up.

    Although if Al is gonna crown himself Geek-in-chief he oughta read /. once in a while.

  131. ^^^ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    fnord.

  132. How to say "router" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually Americans say it both ways, depending on the region. I am not sure why people are saying that it is required to be pronounced one way or another, both are correct. This reminds me of the slashdot poll in January asking how many languages you fluently speak. Most people answered one, however I have only met two people in my life that spoke any language fluently. I responded with a big zero.

  133. comment on lying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Now they are lying about China, and their complicity in the advancement of China's nuclear wepons. Regan got us through the Cold War and these fools just dragged us right back in.



    conspiracy

    Maby that was the point.

    /conspiracy

  134. Stay in Canada by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ha
    hahahaha
    hahahahahhahahahahah
    hahahahahahah
    hahahahhahahahha

    ROFL!!!!!

  135. Al Gore is a nice stiff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    nice, but her main themes mirror Bush's: decrease taxes, decentralize gov't, increase military spending. We're already doing that, and she doesn't have any other agendas.


    increase military spending:
    uh no. where not currently doing that.

  136. Pornography defines the Internet. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He may not have invented the internet but he's
    definitely a major contributor to it.
    You might even say that pornography created the
    internet the way it is today.

  137. How to say "router" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, "r ow! te". There's a big ow! in the middle of it.

  138. Al Gore... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ok, I pronounce "route" "root", because saying "rowt" makes me feel like I have bad breath.
    So how do people pronounce "data"? I say "dahta", whereas a lot of people seem to say "dayta".

  139. Out of context + badly said by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gore may be the most tech-savy candidate, but what about his Kung-Fu?

  140. Bwahahah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh man... I'm glad you reminded me of that.

  141. al gore is a PHILPHY NAZI GASS BAGG by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who'd a thunk it -- al gore out billing the greatest bill of all. Now that bill is al's toy puppy, everyone can be happy. Wuff-wuff said the puppy-bill to the philphy nazi gass bagg.

  142. Go Pat! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    At least with Buchanan you might have a president who would put a stop to big business importing aliens to take away tech jobs. The other GOP candidates are just as bad as the Democrats and Libertarians - might as well throw open the borders and do away with the concept of citizenship altogether. Then we can all bid on our chances to sell ourselves into wage slavery to the international corporations. Woo hoo! No wonder Pat doesn't have a chance; we really do prefer comfortable slavery to uncomfortable independence.

  143. It's a shame I'm not American. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pat Buchanan won't get nominated because he'll split the nutcase vote with Dan Quayle. Baby Doc Bush has the big name support but watch out for Elizabeth Dole. Dole has boatloads of charm, incredible poise, and speaks extremely well. Any negative campaign ads the competition run against her are going to make them look like bullying jerks. Plus, Elizabeth Dole is going to grab a big chunk of the women voters.

  144. But when was the last time He fucked? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Clinton is the Fucking idiot, IMO

  145. Sources? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If memory serves the alleged Quayle Latin America quote was actually a joke that got such wide circulation that news reporters started to report it on the assumption that he actually said it. Of course, you have a source for this quote which is a primary source, and not someone saying that they heard someone saying that Quayle said something or other....right? You do know what a primary source is, I assume? It might shock you to learn that not everything you read in the paper or see on TV is true. Anyone with any expertise in any field knows how lazy reporters are when it comes to fact checking.

  146. Sanctimonious Bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "If you don't vote you don't have a right to complain".

    What a load of sanctimonious bullshit. Not everyone who does not vote is lazy and apathetic; a lot of people do not vote because our "democratic" system has been rigged to ensure that their points of view and interests will NEVER be represented at the ballot box in any meaningful way. Now, if we had a "none of the above" option, and fewer legal hurdles for 3rd party candidates, and more open primary rules, and more proportional, rather than "1st past the post" election systems, then there would be fewer reasons not to vote.

    I prefer principled and informed non-voting to the alternative: unprinciple, uninformed, and apathetic voters who allow themselves to be led about like sheep by media spin control and FUD. Kinda like the average Windows user, come to think of it.

    Anyhow, as it now stands a vote for most establishment candidates is already a wasted vote; if one realizes this and choses not to vote, one has MORE of a right to criticize than one who knows this and votes anyway.

  147. bipartisanship by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, votes for and against CDA cut across party lines. Republicans who voted for it seemed to be responding to social conservative fears about pornography; given the tendency to use "the children" and other trojan horses as a wedge to introduce censorship of political speach, this was a very foolish vote on the part of conservatives (though understandable given the influence and importance of social conservatives in the Republican party). But still foolish, both now and long term.

    What bothers me are the liberal Democrats who voted for it; supposedly they are the paragons of free speach (going so far as to identify just about any activity, no matter how perverse or destructive, as "speach"). Since their constituency was not demanding curbs on pornography, it would seem to me that their real motivations were to use pornography as a "foot in the door" towards eventual censorship of views and ideas that they do not like - as has already happened in Canada and Europe and elsewhere.

  148. that must be some good crack you're smoking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Clinton the most conservative Democrat since "solid South" days? You are using "conservative" in a sense alien to most "solid South" voters who have gone over to the Republicans precisely because of "conservative Democrats" like Clinton. Get your head out of your ass and pass some of that crack around for the rest of us.

  149. i guess you didn't get it/NOR DO YOU by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There are many things presented as fact by the establishment that are not true, and people who try to correct these errors of historical fact are denigrated as REVISIONISTS. Nevertheless, the facts remain, whether they are called "revisionism" or not. History is always being revised by revisionists. A history that rejects revisionism is not History; it is narrow minded dogmatism. Fearful establishmentarians spit at "revisionism" said word being nothing more in most people's mouths than a swear word like "fascism", "racism", "communism" or whatever.

  150. how Cisco says "router" -> ROUTER not ROOTER by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >Damn, why the hell do people have to nit pick
    >these things to death.

    arent YOU nitpicking? (almost to the point of being obsessive about it.) calm down.

    life's too short, babe.

    --lazlo

  151. Green groups want to kill you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It spells "Sieg Heil"

    Does it fit into your world view that in Germany the Green Party is in the government now? I fly home (Germany) soon from NY to walk happilly into the gas chambers they are putting up erveywhere. Man, I am so excited!

  152. Al knows, all right. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unless he is little more than a potted plant (in which case he must be classed *below* Quayle, who I think only suffers from a severe inability to communicate and perhaps an inability to spell), Al knows that the Net preceded his chatter. After all, some staffer or other must have informed him that the thing existed in the first place so that he could babble about that "Information Superhighway".

    Al knows. I'm willing to cut people slack; but he deserves none in this case. He's lying.

  153. And they call Americans 'ethnocentric' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    I do not exactly know what's gone wrong with the white American culture, after all they all are European descendants. Is it because Europe shipped all the religious fanatics to this continent? Is it because the philosophical Enlightenment movement never got a stronghold in the US? Or did the US just retain the unhealthy nationalism that burned Europe in the first half of this century? Hopefully the demographics in the US shift fast enough (I am talking decades here) to prevent the worst.

    Here's a tip: don't go home yet. You don't understand American culture yet.

    The religious folk didn't get "shipped" here; they fled here to escape your "philosophically enlightened" European governments. As far as I can recall, the only "shipping" of people was your European prisoners to highly enlightened penal colonies like Australia (which seems to have recovered) and Devil's Island (which hasn't).

    We are grateful beyond measure that your "philosophical Enlightenment" didn't arrive here in quite the same way it did in, say, France, where thousands went to the guillotine for the sake of this "Enlightened Philosophy."

    For the record too, I think it ought to be said that Europeans weren't exactly innocent in the slave trade (lest you think that a uniquely American vice).

    When you speak of unhealthy nationalism -- let me make sure I understand. Do you mean the sort of "unhealthy nationalism" that is destroying Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Herzegovina, etc. right now? Sorry, no. We don't have any of that here (and yes, I wish we would keep our noses out your European problems. We have enough of our own).

    Go away silly troll.

  154. And we're happy to see you go. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Please forget to write. We beg you.

  155. It was IN Context, and it was a cheap lie. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    (Different AC here)

    "took initiative in creating the internet" probably has more than one interpretation.

    Now there's an interesting defense! Is that like "no controlling legal authority"? Just wondering. Please, could you share two or three of these interpretations (not including the one that Gore clearly meant: "I was a leader in creating the Internet")?

    He obviously did not mean he alone created the internet.

    Surely not. But he surely did mean that if not for his "leadership" the Internet might not exist today. Don't kid yourself. This is the man who refers to Perjurer/Obstructionist/Rapist Bill Clinton as one of the greatest presidents we've ever had. Anyone who can tell that whopper can easily claim to have helped make the Internet.

    The point is Al Gore chose his words badly.

    The point is that Al Gore told a bad lie and that Wolf Blitzer is not sufficiently clueful to have caught it or cared about it. And while we're at it -- I trust you were similarly a defender of Dan Quayle, who made a career out of badly choosing (and spelling) his words? I sure hope so. Otherwise I'd have to call you the obvious: a hypocrite.

    It was a stupid thing to say, Yes, it surely was. Not to mention arrogant. but y'all are taking it just a _little_ out of proportion.Oh, I don't think so. I would disagree with the people calling him an idiot over this, though. This wasn't a gaffe. It wasn't an airhead blunder. This was calculated. Al is Vice President, after all. He had a staffer or two explain to him all about this "Internet thing" (you don't think he came up with the idea all by himself, do you?). No, he said exactly what he wants everyone to think: that he played a major role in the development of the Internet.

    It's a lie, and a very poor one, and it betrays that Algore is morally flawed. But as I've said elsewhere, his supporters won't care because he seems like Saint Algore in comparison to the crimes committed by the Perjurer-In-Chief/Obstructionist-In-Chief/Rapist-I n-Chief Bill Clinton.

    Go back to sleep, sheep!

  156. Revisionist History by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Reagan did NOT raise taxes on the poor. Did you make that up, or did you hear it from Tom Brokaw? De-regulation is a good thing. Or don't you like $100 plane tickets? And please, don't get me started about the labor unions.

    he made the religious right's wacked out ideals mainstream

    Is that why AIDS exploded in the 80s -- because everyone was having heterosexual-only sex with their ONE wife or husband? Is that why Madonna and Prince were two of the biggest celebrities of the 80s -- because Christian ethics about sex prevailed in the popular culture? I'm just guessing, but I don't think you have one clue in the universe as to what you are raving about.

    Clinton did not get "busted" for having an affair. He was impeached (though, tragically, not convicted) because he committed perjury and obstructed justice. He lied to a grand jury. He lied in court. And of course now we also know that he's a rapist.

    But none of that matters, does it? Go back to sleep, sheep!

  157. He's right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    If you think the internet in America would have grown in to what it is without solid support from the executive branch, think again.

    Ok, so he's exaggerating about his personal role, but trashing him because of that isn't very smart.

    You want to see what America would look like otherwise, look at Germany, where less than 10% of households are online, the cheapest ISP costs $30/mo plus online charges and the local phone call costs another $3/hour. That's because most of the internet infrastructure here is not federally subsidized.

  158. Didn't Bill Gates invent it? ;-) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...according to major finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat he did.

    And if Bill can do it, why couldn't a politician?

  159. You are a ninny. Go away. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sheesh man... you're so right. Slashdot uses the gtk toolkit even, and whenever there's news about KDE, Rob always comments that "this sux anyway, use gnome"

    Yeh /. never posts ANYTHING about other distributions. Slashdot is just a front to something so malignant, it'll knock you're red hat off.

    You putz. Posts like yours drive me crazy.... I mean how clueless could you be? You're obviously in the student percentage, eh?

    If you're so sick of /., fuck right off! That's not too difficult. Just don't point your browser to www.slashdot.org.... noone forcing your hand

    AndyM

  160. How to say "router" - I'm an Aussie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And it's pronounced "rowter", damnit.

    "Rowter" just sounds _right_

    "rooter" sounds plain stupid. Makes it sound like something rude, or a detour sign. I'll forgive (but snigger at) people who pronounce it "rooter".

    Bah

    AndyM

  161. hey now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    don't poke fun. I can't think of a better activity for the government to pursue than better grass. The only problem is that previous experiments in public sector narcotics have resulted in crack and heroin and the like; one fears what decent bud could become...

  162. The Free Market and the Great Depression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You seem to have a very good knowledge of economics. I don't, however I think I disagree with that: In fact the boom that's happening right now _is_ much like the early 20's boom - a centrally controlled banking system is making credit too cheap, resulting in rampant speculation and buying on margin (only now it's larger scale, and market in banking, rising speculation and the resultant demand for credit lead to a corresponding increase in interest rates, causing a decrease in speculation on credit, and an increased level of investment in bonds rather than stocks and other risky investments. In fact, this used to happen bacck when many nations had free banking. Let's see, you are describing a world, where two markets are living side to side: a speculative market and a "real world" market (industry consomption, etc). This is a simplification because of the size of a post, I am sure you understand it. Then you take a variable that links those two markets: credit through interest rates. And you hjave this self regulated scheme : speculation raises credit which slows down economical activity, which in turn put some restrain on speculation. It is a tempting model, intellectually. Yet I think you forget some factors : main one is that slowing down the economical activity has a cost. Behind the word "slow down of economical activity" there are social damages we all know. Losses and delay in education, demography deflation, wealth destruction, psychological traumas that takes time to overcome, eg habit of saving and not consuming that takes time to change, etc. If I can put that in words of physics (more familiar to me), it seems that economy neglects the energy losses in a dynamic system. It looks that there models as perfectly undamped systems. There are two ways to waste energy in a dynamical system: 1/ keep on providing energy to an unefficient super damped system (this si too tightly regulated economies) 2/ letting a very lightly damped system move too quickly (this is a too deregulated economy) Anyway eventually you will have from time to time to input some energy (money) in teh system. Of course, unlike phisical systems, economicals system can provide endogeneous energy (growth). But when they fail to do so, you have to input some moeny, eg invest. In your model I don't see investment, and I beleive you need at a point somebody deciding to invest, and when the investment should turn profitable. So you cannot go without some degree of regulation. Isn't there a fundamental contradiction between teh need for middle and long term ivestment a the short economical cycles of free market? What your comment suggest to me is that you cannot let the speculation lead solely interest rates. There is a need for political control on interest rates, although subtle (don't get me wrong), which comes along with the same subtle political control on speculation. Another wording for that is that people are not masochistic. When it hurts to much they voice discontent. If theyhave the political power to change the economical politics to their advantage, they are the limiting factor in the losses I was talking about before. Probably the question is to know how you distribute the power of regulation between finance and people (providing that political power works fine, and that it really represent people's voice).

  163. It's all down to the e... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > Since the Americans actually came from Britain > in the first place

    Not my ancestors, bucko.

    -rick, the ex-patriot

  164. Potato(e) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wonder if he can spell potato (or is it paratoe :) )

    Rich and stupid, how glad am I not to be American - I think you guys are in troble. Having said that, if he ever does anything really stupid he can always divert attention by bombing Iraq....

    However, Root-er is a perfectly valid pronunciation here in the UK, just because you guys don't talk propperly.....

    D.

  165. Router IS pronounced root-er by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    well , I`m pretty sure it is pronounced root-er
    but yeah , like i ever need to pronounce it.
    I ain`t got no speech recognition on my servers.
    and irc still is char based ;-)

  166. Al's a genius by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hey, don't laugh. I heard that Al also invented gravity and fire in his basement one night. Thank God we have this gifted genius to protect us.

  167. Al Gore is not lying. I have proof! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Made you look. Hahahahahhahahaah!!!

  168. Ralph Nader by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >Incidentally, does anyone know what Ralph Nader's stance on the 2000 election is?
    I believe he's in favor of holding an election in 2000.

  169. Rowters, rooters, etc by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, to me a router is a devices which 'routes' stuff from network A to network B. A thing which routes things from A to B would, in my mind, be called a router.

    Now, most people pronounce 'route' as 'root', e.g. Route 66, etc. QED (?)

    Where I used to work, a router (pronounced 'rowter') was a flat-bed drilling machine which hacked up bits of plastic all day.

    Yours (not really that bothered),

    Patrick

  170. Out of Context you Idiots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sure, the govt has the power to pass laws that take away our freedoms but it rarely does. That is it's saving grace.

  171. Go Pat! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    World government? Spiffy! As long as *I* get to design the space program! Oh, *baby*. . .Terran Space Navy, anyone?

  172. Answers to your questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    I don't know if you'll see this, since this topic has scrolled...but just in case :-)

    For example: Why do people believe religiously in the death penalty?

    Because God says that the maximum penalty for certain crimes is death (multiple references in the Bible). Personally, I'll never understand why some people (in this country and elsewhere) think that prison "rehabilitates" the prisoner when we have more than enough evidence that it does the exact opposite. Moreover, I don't understand why they think the best thing to do with criminals is to isolate them from society, where they only learn how to do more evil. The death penalty is just in cases where the crime merits it -- rape, murder, etc.

    Why is the sexual life of a politician more important than his legislative record?

    First, Clinton was not on trial because he had an affair. He was on trial because he lied about it in court and because he tried very hard to keep the truth from coming to light. These are felonious offenses. Understand: Clinton would have faced no impeachment trial for the moral crime of adultery (whether or not he should have). But he lied about it under oath in a civil suit concerning whether he had abused his power as governor of Arkansas in sexually harassing a woman.

    Having said that, it seems to me obvious that a man's sexual appetites do have a bearing on his fitness for public office. Note: we now know we have a rapist as our president. Whether you think so or not, I believe that this matters.

  173. I love you too. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One AC loving the other AC just like himself ...

  174. How to say "router" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Of course we americans have to tell you how to say router. If we left things up to you europeans all our women would have hair pits. By the way, last time I checked Algore was American (communist as he may be)

  175. Some observations on Al Gore - 8-) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, Very very good funny. Me like Algore. I very good speak english. Rooh-ters!

  176. Mistake. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You didn't Initialize loop_choice either.

  177. You are a ninny. Go away. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hey! I'm in the student population! Don't compare me to that idiot. It's insulting.

  178. It's all down to the e... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    When a letter is followed by an 'e', then you pronounce it as it you were saying the letter alone.


    I don't think anyone is mispronouncing the t in route

  179. How to say "router" - I'm an Aussie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Exactly!


    And by the way, "damnit" is actially spelled dammit I think.

  180. Answers to your questions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This will almost certainly be my last post here, since I don't know how to look up a thread once it's left the "Older Stuff" section on page 1 of slashdot.

    This is almost certainly *not* a common opinion in the U.S., and it's certainly not the basis of our justice system: I believe justice ought to be concerned not simply with punishment but with restitution. The criminal has a responsibility, in my view, to repay those damaged by his crime.

    A fundamental issue is why people commit crime. I assert the reason is that people are fundamentally wicked. They can control their impulse to do evil, but they sometimes don't. One consequence of this is that rehabilitation is a superfluous goal: no prison is going to change human nature.

    We are left then with something like three goals of punishment for crime: deterrence, punishment, and restitution.

    I insist that strong, swift, consistently administered punishments are a deterrent. This is obvious from the following: if we repealed all laws against murder, a lot more people would be murdered. No cost associated with it => less reason not to kill someone who bothers me.

    Criminals must be punished. What they do is wrong, and the punishment must fit the crime (being neither too lenient nor too severe).

    Lastly, victims must be compensated by the criminal for their crime whenever this is possible.

    As to Clinton: the only people denying that he perjured himself were Clinton and his lawyers. Everyone else admitted it, including the Democrats in the Senate who voted to acquit him. That they did so in spite of Clinton's evident guilt is what outrages Clinton's opponents in both parties: the Senate overthrew the rule of law by acquitting him.

    As to Clinton being a rapist: he is charged by Juanita Broaddrick with forcibly raping her 20 years ago. Clinton will never stand trial for this because it happened so long ago. Nevertheless, he has offered nothing in the way of a denial of her charges (and even liberal journalists believe Broaddrick's story).

  181. BBSs were *lame* ?!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gumber sez:

    See you then. Have fun in BBSland.

    Personally, I miss the days when most of the people on USENET had something intellegent to say, but I don't like to spend much time mourning the pass.v

  182. Cisco by mfh · · Score: 1

    The people at Cisco call them routers (rowters), so I'm going to call them that too.


    - Mike Hughes

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    The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
  183. Rob by Shiska · · Score: 1

    Now that's sarcasm.

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  184. It's AOL's fault... by Shiska · · Score: 1

    I liked the internet a lot better when nobody else knew about it. fooey.

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  185. I've been on the internet since 1988 by Patrik+Nordebo · · Score: 1

    Gore was a congressman before 1994 (he was in congress in 1977 according to the article), and he claims he helped the internet in congress. So who was in office is irrelevant to his claims. The claims are still false, of course.

  186. More amusements by whoop · · Score: 1

    I liked his comment just after that (from the CNN transcript link in the article), "During a quarter century of public service, including most of it long before I came into my current job, ..."

    And here I always thought most of his 25 years were the six since '93. Go figure.

  187. MicroSoft invented internet2 by whoop · · Score: 1

    Oh yeah, well Intel invented it six hours before MS, and forgot to turn the switch off to take it out of 486 CPUs. So there.

  188. Jesus Christ... by Wakko+Warner · · Score: 1
    ...and people are actually contemplating voting for this mannequin? He's got all the personality of a piece of balsa wood, and he's almost as intelligent. I'd stoop to voting for a Republican (as long as it wasn't their village idiot Dan Quayle) over this moron.


    - A.P.
    --


    "One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promotional Ad

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    "Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
  189. It depends. by Wakko+Warner · · Score: 1
    I'll vote for whoever I think can do the job the best, of course. I guess, at this point in time, I don't think either Republicans or Gore can do it well. Unfortunately, I haven't been keeping up on other parties' candidates. Right now, from my admittedly limited viewpoint, it looks like "none of the above" will be the best choice...

    - A.P.
    --


    "One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promotional Ad

    --
    "Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
  190. slashdot = rightwingdot ? by mjwise · · Score: 1

    I myself don't vote. It only encourages them.



    Then you have no right to complain at all about the current elected officials. Stuff it.

  191. slashdot = rightwingdot ? by mjwise · · Score: 1

    I myself don't vote. It only encourages them.

    Then you have no right to complain at all about the current elected officials. Stuff it.

  192. Apocalypse Gore by Aaron+M.+Renn · · Score: 1

    The National Review (a conservative political magazine) ran an article entitled Apocalypse Gore which provides an interesting take on him.

    I also suggest that you check out How to tell the difference
    between Al Gore and the Unabomber.

  193. Go Pat! by deepone · · Score: 1

    >At least with Buchanan you might have a president
    >who would put a stop to big business importing
    >aliens to take away tech jobs.

    Well, I guess that would make our government happy...
    Over here the problem seems to be to get our people to stay...
    Swedes like to think of themselves as international...
    It's not hard to be more international than the average american... : )

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    -- No, no -- Not that one!
  194. Al Gore? by John+Campbell · · Score: 1

    Whaddya mean, Al Gore?? Everyone knows that Bill Gates created the Internet!

  195. internet2 by Analog · · Score: 1
    Actually, no, he's not. Gore has been proposing a large scale national network for some years. One which bore no resemblence to the current Internet. When the popularity of the net took off, he quietly started making it sound like the 'net was the network he was talking about (which anyone who has followed his comments on it would know).

    He knows the vast majority of people will never know the difference, so he's going to take whatever credit he can. He's been doing it quite awhile now. While this latest claim is the boldest one I've seen yet, it's basically business as usual.

  196. Quayle for Pres by Trepidity · · Score: 1

    "Hawaii is very important to American interests in the Pacific. That's because Hawaii is in the Pacific. Hawaii is an American island in the Pacific." -Speech by Dan Quayle in Honolulu.

  197. Al you are so full of crap... by Special+J · · Score: 1

    You think we're all stupid? That you can revise history and we'll believe it? You're revisionist tactics won't fool anyone...Everybody knows that Bill G. single-handedly coded everything that makes the 'net go.

    You just want to take the credit from MS so they will stop innovating. Stop stifling innovation!

    This sarcasm brought to you by...
    Special J
    (Too bad I can't not vote for him)

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    VENI! VIDI! VICI!
  198. I wonder where is the political in this by gavinhall · · Score: 1

    Posted by akor:

    The guy -- Al Gore -- in spite of all his technobabble, clearly talks out of his ass, and is generally in need of clues. True, this is extremely common among politicians, but is not limited to any political party.

    Akor

  199. I don't think so by gavinhall · · Score: 1

    Posted by akor:

    Yes, it IS useful to know the facts.

    Even leaving aside the question whether "the commercial Internet we have today" is a good thing, I heavily doubt that Al Gore is responsible for it. The Internet started its explosive growth and commercialization when the world at large (non-geeks, that is) discovered it. The government had (thankfully) nothing to do with it.

    "Net's chief supporter in Congress"?? Oh yeah? How much support did the 'net receive from Congress, anyway? YMMV, but my chain of associations goes Internet/Congress -> CDA -> CDA II...

    As to moving the "closed research oriented internet" somewhere, there never was any such thing. Almost from the very beginning Internet was open to anybody who had a computer and a connection. I still remember my dial-up account on a BBS...

    Al Gore is a politician and that, to a great degree, defines him. Saying patently ridiculous things is part of it.

    Akor

  200. Revisionist History by gavinhall · · Score: 1

    Posted by Akira410:

    Wow, He must be a genious or something. We should all bow before him. ROFL... *sigh* Its sad what some people will say HAHAH

    Well, I've had my laugh for today.

  201. Revisionist History by gavinhall · · Score: 1

    Posted by Parcells:

    This is just lunacy. Anyone ever read any Soviet history (propaganda stuff) ?

    It is quite frustrating to think this lawyer can go around saying this with no liability for lying.

    Figures.

  202. AL GORE = RETARD by gavinhall · · Score: 1

    Posted by US Marine:

    What a dufus.
    He wouldn't know TCP/IP if Koskinen slapped him in the face with it. Too bad Koskinen doesn't know a helluva lot either.

  203. Russia by gavinhall · · Score: 1

    Posted by Dr Pi:

    For someone who comes from Russia, I'm surprised you can't see the obvious: after 10 years of capitalist reform, Russia is worse off today than it was under communists. Russia would have eventually adopted free markets, but the Harvard ideologues wanted this overnight and thus the current disaster.

  204. Only 2 senators opposed CDA - 1 dem & 1 repub by DunbarTheInept · · Score: 1
    Only 2 senatars voted against the CDA (version 1), one of them a democrat, and one a republican. (I know the democrat was Russ Fiengold from WI, because that's my home state, but I don't remember who the Republican was.)

    This is not a party vs party issue. It's a common-sense vs. politician issue.

    --

    Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.

  205. Joe President by pingouin · · Score: 1
    First Al tries to fool us into thinking he's Joe Environment, now he wants us to think he's Joe Internet. He may be slightly more clueful than his opponents, but it probably won't show in his policies. Oh well. I need to brush up on my Dutch, I guess. Now where did I put my passport?

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  206. True liberals wouldn't vote for Gore anyways by pingouin · · Score: 1
    especially considering his wife is a fascist.

    Hey, ease up on Tipper! I should remind you that she used to be a rock'n'roll drummer. That PMRC junk? It was just trendy political maneuvering designed to shore up Al's "pro-family" credentials - I doubt the PMRC is even mentioned in Al'n'Tipper's press releases these days. You see how suck-cessful it was: he's had to wait until 2001 to become president. D'oh!

    Yeah, I considered libertarians but they seem to forget what free-market capitalism did to America (prosperity in the 20s followed by....)

    When I look at today's economy, I think of a steroid-enhanced athlete. We watch and cheer and marvel now, but in a few years, when the guy's body prematurely breaks down...

    There's always Greens.

    Or emigration :)

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  207. The Free Market and the Great Depression by pingouin · · Score: 1
    After that, the resulting depression was made far worse by FDR's New Deal policies - employment and output kept falling throughout much of FDR's term of office, bottommed out, and did not significantly rise again until the US entered WWII. This can clearly be seen in any graph of key economic indicators during the Depression.

    Which shouldn't imply that other courses of action would have been a significant improvement over what actually happened.

    I encourage you to study the subject further (and to vote Libertarian - the government screws things up just as much by messing with our economic freedoms as it does by messing with our social freedoms).

    Which shouldn't imply that study of New Deal-era economic history has anything to do with the Libertarian Party platform. Talk about margins all you want, but dysfunction is dysfunction, and that's what ties the 20's to the 90's; the times are different, but the ethos is similar, and the postmortem of this boom (if there is to be a postmortem) will no doubt touch on the Roaring Twenties for comparisons.

    If economic freedom is your thing, there's plenty of unfettered capitalism going on in Russia. Go take a look; you might like it there. Or if you know (or are married to) the right people, give Indonesia or Malaysia a shot.

    America: Love It Or Leave It!

    heh heh heh... couldn't resist!

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  208. The Free Market and the Great Depression by pingouin · · Score: 1
    All previous US ecnomic downturns ended _much_ faster. That certainly implies to me that New Deal style socialism is not the right answer to an economic downturn.

    Come on. It implies nothing. "New Deal style socialism"++ didn't seem to cramp the German wirtschaftswunder that followed the "economic downturn" known as WWII. They've even managed to digest the East.

    You've also ignored the rest of my post where I argued that the Great Depression was originally caused by economic interventionism, in the form of a newly established central bank making credit too cheap, leading to rising speculation.

    It's the Fed's fault? Nobody put a gun to people's heads and said "speculate!", just as no-one's saying "do really bad derivatives deals!" today; no-one's saying "make economies brittle by searching for the lowest common denominator of labor laws!". The motivating factor is excessive greed. If the Fed helps it along, shame on them. But they are not to blame. Yes, some agencies can go overboard - witness the IMF making countries keep ridiculous interest rates in order to prop up their currencies. The Fed is an itty bitty lamb in comparison.

    My mention of the Libertarian Party was on-topic because the poster I was replying too said he would not vote Libertarian because he believed that the Great Depression was caused by the free market. I believe I've made a decent case (considering the limited space in a post) that this is not true.

    That's fair. I think he may have meant something like "rampant or unrestricted free-market", rather than just tarring the whole thing with one brush.

    It happens that I am originally from a formerly communist country (take a look at my name) so this was a poor move on your part.

    No, it was a deliberate move. Both because of your geographic origins and because of the "shock treatment" prescription of the Bush-appointed experts. If we're going to say how great the free market is, or how victorious capitalism has been, we should look at those countries where there is even less regulation than in the United States, and at those places where the think-tank denizens had a much freer rein than in the US.

    Russia's pathology is the result of corrupt government officials selling out wholesale to so-called businessmen and other gangsters: selling off formerly state-owned industries at far below the market value as special favors, and generally passing a bunch of laws that favor the so-called "oligarchs". This is not a free market.

    This is why I'm not fond of capital-L Libertarian solutions (though there's bound to be some aspects that I agree with): we already have corruption (the gangsters are just more well-heeled here); a corrupted super-free market wouldn't be any better than what Russia has now. There is no such thing as a Free Market; there is no Invisible Hand - just an iron fist in a velvet glove, backed by economic, political, and military power. I wish people would stop deifying capitalism and the free market. It's not a silver bullet. We don't live in a vacuum; there is more to life and economics than cold-blooded financial ideals. If men were angels, maybe your solutions would work.

    Nontheless, despite the pain that Russia and some other post-communist nations are feeling, ultimately the process they are going through will lead to a far better society if they can get the corruption under control. I visited Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic recently and already they are much better off than they were under Communism.

    "They"? The US economy is only as good as the consensus opinion of it in Bed-Stuy and Appalachia; my opinion of Eastern Bloc economies would be the same, if I knew where to look. Please don't give me travelogues or macroeconomic statistics - I want to know the opinions of those at the receiving end of what's being dished out. I don't care about some amorphous "they".

    Please argue with facts and logic instead of name-calling.

    What names did I call you? Shall I show you what name-calling is? :) I don't know if you're aware of the origins of my little joke ending.

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  209. Freudian slip by pingouin · · Score: 1
    That's "magic bullet", not "silver bullet".

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  210. The Free Market and the Great Depression by pingouin · · Score: 1
    Strange you should mention this ["If men were angels..."]. This is exactly the reason why Socialism fails so dismally. In fact, *any* economic system (or political system) will fail if the people lack honor and morality. That is the real key to a successful nation.

    That was one of my points. We have a lot to learn from great economists of all stripes, whether we agree with their politics or not. But to swallow wholesale a school of thought, and advocate solutions divorced from ethics and morality, only rearranges the deck chairs on the Titanic. I tend to get especially incensed at Libertarians, since I really have problems with being a slaveowner-by-proxy-and-timeshare: the all-benevolent invisible hand of the market place has seen fit to apportion a 50/hr wage to many factory workers around the world - a situation that would be more widespread if there were even fewer restrictions on businesses. Yeah, cheap goods are great, but at what expense? We end up paying for it in other ways.

    yr hmbl & obed svnt, PINGOU~1

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  211. Compared to your rock? by pingouin · · Score: 1
    Clinton the most conservative Democrat since "solid South" days? You are using "conservative" in a sense alien to most "solid South" voters who have gone over to the Republicans precisely because of "conservative Democrats" like Clinton. Get your head out of your ass and pass some of that crack around for the rest of us.

    The GOP have inherited Strom Thurmond's Dixiecrats; they've inherited the old fellow himself, for that matter. The whole point of the DLC was to position people like Clinton and Gore as "pro-business" and moderate/center-right, which is what they were anyway; the positioning was needed in order to combat the "Democrat == liberal == commie" FUD that a generation of conservatives have been spewing. Why is it FUD? I refer you to the words of George Wallace (may God rest his soul): "there ain't a dime's worth of difference" between the Donkey Party and the Elephant Party. Aside from a Maxine Waters or a Henry Gonzalez, the average Democrat on the Hill only differed from the average Republican on abortion rights and in rhetoric; much of the rancor is really just Bloods v Crips posturing on the periphery of issues. Or to quote Mike Malloy of Chicago's WGN (formerly of WSB and CNN; someone who spent a large chunk of his life enduring Southern politics): "Clinton's the best Republican president we've had in years".

    I hope this clears things up.

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  212. The Free Market and the Great Depression by pingouin · · Score: 1
    (Thank you for going into more detail about Poland).

    To me, a fully free market specifically means a 100% separation of economics and state, i.e. that the government has no power, as established constitutionally, to affect influence or regulate the economy. Under such a system there is no meaningful influence for gangsters to buy or sell. Of course, with enough systematic corruption, constitutional limitations can be made irrelevant. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

    This is the part that scares me. Large corporations have already freed themselves from a good deal of oversight or regulation by governments - they subvert domestic labor or environment or tax laws by shifting capital elsewhere. They have almost total freedom in many non-Western countries. Some textile workers in Central America miraculously were able to organize themselves recently; the American contractor shut down the plant, rather than deal with collective bargaining. I don't see the gain in replacing one set of "dictators" (elected governments), with a new set (CEOs); I gravitate towards the former, since I don't get to vote for CEOs. All I see in your ideal New World is Brazilification, far and wide. Including my own back yard. And with such a Brazilification comes the (traditional) political instability of a Brazil or an Argentina. The freedom you seek is the socio-economic/political equivalent of the freedom to shout "Fire!" in a crowded movie theatre. So I see the quest for 100% separation as quixotic and harmful as my Christianity-mandated concern for the poor would probably look to you.

    Viva Quixote! :)

    Have a nice weekend. I'm glad to have elicited these good posts from you; it's the rare /. Libertarian who is able to explain things intelligently.

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  213. Whoa hold on by Erik+Hollensbe · · Score: 1

    Before you go flaming Al Gore, know the facts. Mr. Gore, as a senator is largely responsible for the commercial Internet we have today. As I recell, he was the Net's chief supporter in congress, actually helped move the closed research oritented internet to the Internet we know today. Granted, he did not "create" the Internet, but, of any presidential candidate, he is the most Internet friendly.

    Hell, I'd rather have the overcommercialized internet that we had 5 years ago than have the ID tracking, unsecure bullshit we call the internet today, loaded up with it's proprietary html formats and wonderful "active-everything" crap, and eveyrone and their mother owning a .com domain.

    And that's becasue I've only been a 'net junkie for 5 years or so, before that a BBS operator. I imagine more hardened i-net veterans would want it even earlier than that. Today's internet is over-promoted and over-hyped.

    -Erik-

  214. "The Year September Never Ended" by Brian+Knotts · · Score: 1
    Actually, it was 1993, IMO. When Delphi released its clueless horde on to Usenet.

    The 1994 thing is probably referring to AOL reaching Usenet.

  215. true... by pohl · · Score: 1

    ...but I lay claim to inventing the term "Information-Superhighway-Howdy". :-)

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    The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...

  216. good ole Al? by pohl · · Score: 1

    Is he to blame for that emarassing bulge I walk around with all day!? That @%$*&!

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    The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...

  217. I thought Potato had an E by DaBuzz · · Score: 1

    Didn't he also try to "create" a new Potato hybrid spelled with a ... *gasp* ... E?!?!

    If Gore is a robot (many feel he is), he needs a reboot or something because his memory is leaking.

    --
    If you can read this message, your threshold is too low.
  218. Big Deal by TedC · · Score: 1
    I invented TCP/IP. Without me Al would be nothing. ;-)

    TedC

  219. Bob Dole for First Lady! by TedC · · Score: 1
    I'm voting for Liz. :-)

    TedC

  220. Al Gore also created the world in seven days.. by adamsc · · Score: 1

    Isn't that what Clinton does all day?

  221. what an outrage by mackga · · Score: 1

    This dweeb prolly doesn't even know how to use the 'net fer chrissakes. I'm soooooooo sick of so-called prominent(sic) people spouting off about stuff they have clue -10 on. Al Gore for prez and BgatusdeBorg for his vp. That way, they can collectively claim they invented the universe and all the accessories. Sheesh. Would it be politic to email this luser and point out an appropriate book/website with the facts, or would that just be a futile gesture?

    --

    "shop smart:shop s-mart" ash

  222. Some observations on Al Gore - 8-) by mackga · · Score: 1

    ROFLMAO! Thanks! I needed that.

    --

    "shop smart:shop s-mart" ash

  223. Marketing!Marketing!Marketing! by LoCoPuff · · Score: 1

    hehe . . so true that it's the EXPLOITER and the one that has the backing of the people and manipulating them to BELIEVE something . . in which they have no knowledge of . .

    but it's sooo true, the way to have some power is to have the power to reach out to soooo many and force them to believe in something because they don't know what to believe so they need someone to TELL them what to believe . .

    It's that whole Citizen Kane thing . . I mean . . Susan Alexander didn't sing too well did she ?
    What a star ! =)

    (if you don't know what I am talking about RENT the movie)

    Manipulation of the ignorant masses is not funny.
    I know of a few dictators that started that way.

  224. What Gore meant to say by LoCoPuff · · Score: 1

    . . and also . . I don't want to allow the growth of stronger encryption . .because . . how would I get the nudie pics being sent out to other countries . . I invented the Internet so I get to see what goes out . . . thats' my job . .

    Did I mention I invented FIRE . . yeah . .it was really strange . . I turned on the stove and I did it . . I'll demonstrate it for you sometime.

  225. how Cisco says "router" -> ROUTER not ROOTER by Python · · Score: 1

    Nonsense. Inside Cisco its pronounced ROUTER. Not ROOTER. Gee, but I guess I wouldn't know - I just WORK THERE.


    --
    Python

    --

    Python

  226. Whoa hold on by Python · · Score: 1
    Sure, and with his Clipper Chip it will be even more friendly! Having actually worked for Al Gore back in 94-95, I can tell you that he is just as clueless as every other poilitician about the Internet. When we move www.whitehouse.gov to the White House (it used to be at JPL), and redesigned the site, Al Gore went out to CA to present "Welcome to the White House" to the world.


    Not only did he not know what a hyperlink was, but he couldn't even figure out that he was supposed to CLICK on hyperlinks! After he was told several times, coached, helped, scripted and everything else someone off screen finally had to move the mouse around because he was so freaking clueless.
    Al Gore is just another in a long line of scum sucking politicians trying to take credit for other peoples work. (And yes, I consider most - if not all - politicians to be scum sucking parasites).


    Al Gore is fucking clueless about the Internet. He doesn't even read his own e-mail! Its screened and anything he does get is printed out on paper! He doesn't like to use computers! Ugh... hes a PHB at best.

    --
    Python

    --

    Python

  227. how Cisco says "router" -> ROUTER not ROOTER by Python · · Score: 1

    In DC, where Al Gore is and lives, its pronounced ROWT, not root. The point is that the guy doesn't know what a router is, which is evidenced by a number of things not the least of which is that he doesn't even know how to pronounce it. And since Al Gore is an American, and since he lives in DC, and since its pronounced ROWTER in Washington DC, and the rest of the United States, and since the CEO of Cisco systems, the company that INVENTED the router was being introduced (and pronouces the word ROWTER - ask him sometime), and since Cisco Systems pronounces the word ROWTER (I work there) it stands to reason that Al Gore had no idea what he was talking about or what it is that Cisco makes - and in turn, that means Al Gore knows little about the Internet (the dolt couldn't even figure out how to use his Mac at the White House!). Which was the whole point of the article, how can the guy "invent" the Internet when he knows nothing about it, and can't even get simple things straight like how to pronounce things like router. Al Gore is not british - hes an American - and thats how we pronounce router here. Sheesh.

    Damn, why the hell do people have to nit pick these things to death. Its not that fsking complicated.

    --
    Python

    --

    Python

  228. Another good Gore quote... by Masem · · Score: 1

    (This from my sig, which I pulled from duh-2000.com...

    "How could this [y2k bug] be a problem in a
    country where we have Intel and Microsoft?"

    And imagine the implications of Gore getting
    Gates as Veep. Those two could rewrite the whole
    of history, even down to the missing 11th
    Commandment "Thou must use MS Windows"

    --
    "Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
    "I can see my house from here!" - ST:
  229. Al Gore? by Phil-14 · · Score: 1

    Well, to the AC from Paraguay: The guy
    who invented Algorithms is Al-Kwarism, I
    think, and he was from a place that was a
    part of Iran at the time (sort of), but is
    now in one of the Turkish republics, south
    of the Sea of Azov.
    Phil Fraering "Humans. Go Fig." - Rita

    --
    (currently testing something about signatures here)
  230. internet2 by tjones · · Score: 1

    WTF? You just looking to defend Gore?

    He's opposed manned spaceflight in Congress, yet never passes up a chance to schmooze with astronauts.

    He's taken money from the tobacco producers, yet demonizes them every chance he gets.

    He's called for campaign finance reform, yet accepts $5,000.00 checks in a buddhist temple from nuns who have sworn a vow of poverty and never thought to question the source of the funds.

    Face it, Al Gore is a hypocritical, self serving, self aggrandizing SOB who will try to be on the "right" side of an issue if it will bump him up a half point in the polls, since he has no strong convictions of his own other than that the people exist to serve government and not the other way around.

    In other words, he's just being a typical politician.

  231. If it's a router with a crossbar switch... by Troy+Baer · · Score: 1

    ...does that make it a roto-router? :)

    --Troy

    --
    "My life's work has been to prompt others... and be forgotten." --Cyrano de Bergerac
  232. Umm... by Scott+Wood · · Score: 1

    I don't know about you, but I do pronounce route as "r-ow!-te". "root" is what you have when you see an octothorpe, not the path something takes to arrive at its destination.

  233. Umm... by Scott+Wood · · Score: 1

    Yes, I am.

  234. What a stupid thing to diss on Gore for. by mill · · Score: 1

    Umm, wasn't that his wife Tipper Gore?

    /mill

  235. Gorenet. "We know what you're downloading" by Daniel · · Score: 1

    Errr, I think you're thinking of the Republicans. Although these days it's getting hard to tell the difference..

    Daniel

    --
    Hurry up and jump on the individualist bandwagon!
  236. Kewl, yeah... by red_dragon · · Score: 1

    and he probably thinks AOL bisks are kewl too.

    yet another reason why the government shouldn't stick its nose on technology, or why RMS should run for president (Linus can't, as you probably know already). :o)

    ^D

    --
    In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
  237. Still, I hope Cmdr Taco votes libertarian. by Derek+Pomery · · Score: 1

    Assuming they manage to get a candidate in.
    What are the alternatives?

    --
    -- perl -e'print pack"H*","6e656d6f406d38792e6f7267"' /. ate my old sig. Bastards.
  238. That would create the /. affect. by mikpos · · Score: 1

    Actually I thought that was the whole point.

  239. internet2 by Ralph+Bearpark · · Score: 1

    > He's opposed manned spaceflight in Congress

    He's right on that one at least. Manned spaceflight in a confined area like the Congress building would be very dangerous.

    Regards, Ralph.

  240. Q: How can you tell if Gore's lying? by Svartalf · · Score: 1

    A: His lips are moving...

    --
    I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
  241. The Info Super Highway was a CABLE system! by Black+Art · · Score: 1

    If anyone had actually watched the hearings on the much hyped "Information Super Highway", they would have realized that it was actually a national cable system! They were going to use the huge volume of bandwidth so they could start movies every 15 minutes!

    I really wish that the media would stop treating Gore as if he were some sort of "Wired Intelectual".

    Come to think of it, did'nt Gore also claim to be the inspiration to the book "Love Story" was based on? What next? Is he going to claim he invented the printing press and velcro?

    --
    "Trademarks are the heraldry of the new feudalism."
  242. Al Gore also created the world in seven days.. by Juliet · · Score: 1

    Just remember.. if it wasnt for good ole Al.. we probably wouldnt be walking erect yet.. =)

    --
    Victoria Palmer - I brake for unix.boys, Windows just breaks. - http://www.escape.com/~juliet
  243. Cisco rooters by cdipierr · · Score: 1

    I get this mental image of a bunch of Cisco employees standing around a computer cheering as a packet gets sent from the NIC, encouraging it to make it all the way to a router.

  244. Good old fashioned political FUD! by morbid · · Score: 1

    :-)

    It's called "negativie campaigning"
    It lost the British Conservative Party the last General Election.

    --
    I'm out of my tree just now but please feel free to leave a banana.
  245. Good old fashioned political FUD! by morbid · · Score: 1

    Well, the Iron Lady shouted and dictated till even the most dedicated fasci^H^H^H^H^Hconservatives saw through her, so no one could really keep up the pretence. John Redwood had a go for party leader, but there just weren't that many hard-liners left.

    Now we have Tory Plan B led by the ex-thatcherite Tony Blair :-)

    Maybe they _did_ win after all!

    .. and as for the House of Lords with it's in-builtd bias...

    --
    I'm out of my tree just now but please feel free to leave a banana.
  246. You obviously haven't used GNOME 1.0 by IGnatius+T+Foobar · · Score: 1

    GNOME 1.0 is roughly identical in functionality, good looks, and bug-free-ness as KDE 1.0 was. From your comment it appears that you haven't seen GNOME since the 0.30 release, and just assumed that 1.0 wasn't any different.

    --
    Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
  247. how Cisco says "router" by bcboy · · Score: 1

    I can tell you first hand there are American employees working for Cisco who pronounce it "rooter". Who cares? What a stupid thing to diss on Gore for.

  248. send him mail by kevin+lyda · · Score: 1

    why not add a mailto link to his name - it's vice.president@whitehouse.gov .

    --
    US Citizen living abroad? Register to vote!
  249. this explains something by akharon · · Score: 1

    Why is it that the 99% of americans have to give the other 1% a bad name?

  250. And he created the Pentium III for.... by cyberassasin · · Score: 1

    ....a better Internet experience. I just love those commercials that prey on the stupid people....and the politicians are right behind....

    --
    Who is the master of foxhounds, and who says the hunt has begun? -Pink Floyd
  251. This dude by mtony · · Score: 1

    The more Al Gore speaks, the more I wish Bob Dole was running in 2000. I mean dang, first he and his wife want to restrict what we can buy in music stores, now he wants to be the father of the information age.

    --
    And that's what I think.
  252. safty in idiots? by datazone · · Score: 1

    you alwasy make sure that you have a moron as the vice-president. this will prevent anyone from trying to kill the president. or so i believe.

    --
    Its spelt "L-I-N-U-X", but pronunced as "Free Beer"
  253. Declan McCullagh kicks butt! by TheSync · · Score: 1

    BTW, if you want to read more by Declan McCullagh, the guy who broke the story, check out Y2K Culture.Com or see him in video on Meeks Unfiltered

  254. Presumably he's talking NSFnet by Corbet · · Score: 1
    Since he's talking about his Congress time, I would assume that he's crowing about his support for the NSFNet, which was real. NSFNet was an important step in the creation of the net we have now, it was the backbone for some time.


    Nonetheless he has taken things a bit far...

    --
    Jonathan Corbet, LWN.net
  255. Revisionist History by edgy · · Score: 1


    Of course, if Microsoft made PC's easy to use, then Al Gore invented the Internet.

    I wonder how many things in history are attributed to the wrong people at the wrong time, and they didn't really happen that way.

    Who knows? Who cares? Shrug, it all doesn't really matter. A lot of people are probably going to believe him anyway.

  256. He invented CENSORSHIP by Ryandav · · Score: 1

    I'm totally serious, if you want to find something significant he has come up with (which is completely impossible, but let's say for the sake of argument its not), His good ol wife, Tipper, and he consolidated on a small committee and gave us the censorship stickers you see on records and cd's that warn parents of "evil things", as well as the ability to censor especially "bad" records by co-ercing the major labels. They also tightened the FCC's ability to censor things on the radio, NOT necessarily sex or profanity, but also things that they disagree with.

    The worst mistake anyone in this country can make, especially anyone who values their free speech, is to put Al Gore into office.

    --
    Check my Go-related blog for beginners: DGD
  257. Small Political comments are all we have left by Ryandav · · Score: 1

    In this unfortunate day and age, 12 second soundbytes and the occasional very-prepared interview are all we have left to see what the heads of our state are thinking. It's not that he should be crucified for mispronouncing router or misspelling "potato" or any other stupid vp-ism.

    It's both the pompous state of mind and obvious maneuvering to get into a hot new topic that we as the american people should call him on. Commander Taco is right, we should be offended that he would look at it that way, that he would try to use for political gain something that in the real world, he had very little to do with. Most people believe that almost nothing any politician does is on his own anyway, and I think it's naieve (sp?) to think that he's truly commited to the internet, especially if shows a continuing ignorance about it.

    I also submit his previous record on censorship, for which he very much in favor. Warning labels for "Parental Guidance" weren't done by an admitted right-wing conservative, but a closet conservative Democrat and his wife Tipper.

    --
    Check my Go-related blog for beginners: DGD
  258. Triana is a joke was:and fleecing of America.... by J05H · · Score: 1

    Triana is a joke.
    Having another Sun-synchronous satellite would be sweet, but not just for pretty pictures.
    For the cost of a webmaster, this site has done exactly what Triana is supposed to do, but does it today. Warning, requires some real bandwidth:
    http://farside.gsfc.nasa.gov/ISTO/dro/global/page1 .html

    --
    gigantino.tv - Heavy but weighs nothing.
  259. What about (aboot?) Barney? by unitron · · Score: 1

    Information Super-de-duper Highway! (Stop, Look, and Listen before crossing)

    (Don't watch Barney, watch a little kid watch Barney)

    --

    I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.

  260. Al Gore is An Alien....I Have Proof!---Nonsense!!! by unitron · · Score: 1

    He's obviously a hardwood native to North America!

    --

    I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.

  261. Revisionist History by Zagadka · · Score: 1

    Yeah, how many times have you heard "Microsoft saved us from DOS!"?

    cripes...

  262. Retraction by Art+Tatum · · Score: 1

    >> I wish we could hack congress and make *them*
    >> more efficient.

    Can you imagine if we turned Linus loose on 'em? Maybe he could improve their memory management (no more, "Uhh, I really don't recall that.")

  263. Thank you! by Art+Tatum · · Score: 1

    tjones for President!

  264. Oh, please... by Art+Tatum · · Score: 1

    Give me a break. Revisionism has nothing to do with conspiracies, aliens, liberals, the Trilateral Commission (I've never even heard of it), the Jews, the Rockefellers, or anything else. Revisionism is just bending the truth about what happens.

    Al Gore did talk up the internet, so in a way, he "encouraged" it. But he didn't invent it. He bent the truth.

    Stop attaching a bunch of unrelated issues together!

  265. The Free Market and the Great Depression by Art+Tatum · · Score: 1

    >> If men were angels, maybe your solutions would
    >> work.

    Strange you should mention this. This is exactly the reason why Socialism fails so dismally. In fact, *any* economic system (or political system) will fail if the people lack honor and morality. That is the real key to a successful nation.

  266. BBSs were *lame* ?!? by Art+Tatum · · Score: 1

    Come on! I, with open arms, would welcome the days of BBS again. It would be better than the graphical, spam-tastical, hype-filled smorgasboard of cluelessness that is the "Internet" today.

  267. The worst of both worlds by Art+Tatum · · Score: 1

    Socialist economics and relativist morals...sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. An honest and moral nation is the only hope for *any* economic or political model.

  268. Interesting by Art+Tatum · · Score: 1

    You seem to be unsure of what you hate. Do you hate opposition to sex or opposition to perjury? As to the "Ever President lies. That's their job." Not every president lies in front of a *jury*. And no, it isn't their job. It's a crime. Bush didn't lie before a jury (but I still don't mind him being gone). You seem to realize that Nixon *was* a crook, but this doesn't bode well for your case because Nixon was impeached (and rightly so) and resigned. As for Reagan, I was only 10 when Reagan left office, so I *myself* don't know everything about what went on during his presidency.

  269. i guess you didn't get it by Art+Tatum · · Score: 1

    There are many things that are presented as "historical fact" that are not fact. These things are collectively referred to as "revisionism."

  270. It's a shame I'm not American. by L.+Ron+McKenzie · · Score: 1

    More like Texas George Bush than Pat Buchanan. Or maybe Lizzy Dole. Pat Buchanan doesn't have a chance in hell

  271. No!!! Dan Quayle will NOT win the nomination by L.+Ron+McKenzie · · Score: 1

    Come on, Quayle will not get nominated in a million years. It would be suicide for the Republicans. My money is on Texas George Bush.

  272. Al Gore and the Internet by juuri · · Score: 1

    And what makes it stupid? Calling him on his amazingly inaccurate statement of creating the internet?

    If he can't keep his head straight and not lie on a cheezy cnn interview then he definetly isn't material to be president. The president has to be able to lie directly to the camera without blinking.

    He has not been a strong supporter of the internet. He has been supportive. He has however been a strong support of the clipper chip and both CDAs.

    I'd rather have either a cardboard box or a magic 8 ball as president than any of our potential canidate choices.

    ---
    Openstep/NeXTSTEP/Solaris/FreeBSD/Linux/ultrix/OSF /...

    --
    --- I do not moderate.
  273. Retraction by fishbowl · · Score: 1

    This is the kind of thing where we should
    demand a (front page, not Op-Ed) retraction.
    That would make quite a statement.

    --
    -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
  274. PATENT Infringement Anyone? by fishbowl · · Score: 1

    By making this broad claim, has he laid claim
    to anyone's patents? Can Cisco file a civil
    action against Al now? Can a VP be impeached :-)

    --
    -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
  275. slashdot = rightwingdot ? by mikec · · Score: 1

    Strangely enough, on internet related issued, the Republicans are usually on the right side and the Domocrats are usually on the wrong side. The Clinton administration pushed for the CDA, signed it, and argued for it before the Supreme Court. Quite a few Republicans opposed it. Also, it is the Republicans who are pushing bills to allow export of encryption, which are blocked by the Clinton administration.

  276. in 2000 by Hamhed · · Score: 1

    Stuff like this just solidifies my choice to vote for Hollywood Hogan in 2000.

  277. Al Gore and the Internet by bbcat · · Score: 1

    I find this flaming of the Vice President pure
    stupidity. Al Gore should have phrased it better.
    If you look back you will realize that his is the
    one who pushed the internet into what it is today.
    To claim that he actually invented it was a bit
    exagerated but put yourself in front of a camera
    and be asked a lot of questions you would likely
    be making a few mistakes as well.

    Al Gore has been for years a strong supporter of
    our rights to have satellite dishes as well as
    a strong supporter of the Internet.

    Al Gore is a good man and would make a fine
    president.

  278. Proud to be an American. by bbcat · · Score: 1

    Buchanan is a joke, a slightly better candidate
    than Pat Robertson was. The real choice will
    be between Al Gore and George Bush.
    Both Al Gore and George W Bush would make great
    presidents.
    Al's handicap is his wife and George's handicap
    is his kissing up to the fundies. We're in a fix,
    I rather have Tipper than a fundy. If George Bush
    tells the fundies to kiss off, I'll vote for him.

  279. *Sigh* by eponymous+cohort · · Score: 1

    I knew he would do that sooner or later, with him talking about the "Information Superhighway" Just before most Americans became aware of the Internet.

    --

    Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them

  280. Don't forget by eponymous+cohort · · Score: 1

    This is the same guy who gave that tear-jerking/barf-inducing speech at the '96 Democratic convention about how the evil tobacco industry killed his sister. Yet he was raised as a tobacco farmer, and he bragged about this fact in campaign speeches to tobacco farmers years after his sister died.

    So he's a typical Pol.

    --

    Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them

  281. If Clinton invented the Internet... by eponymous+cohort · · Score: 1
    --

    Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them

  282. If Clinton invented the Internet... by eponymous+cohort · · Score: 1
    --

    Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them

  283. Dumb English language question... by eponymous+cohort · · Score: 1

    If route is pronounced the same as root, then how would a word that was to be pronounced as r-OW!t-er be spelled? ROWTER? That looks like an abomination.

    The vowels OU in conjunction can be pronounced either way. Examples: "You"

    However, I think ou more often gives the "ow" sound:

    sour (not correctly pronounced "sewer", I hope ;-) )
    out (I think they say "oot" in parts of Canada, but I KNOW the British say OWT!)
    loud (not lewd!)

    --

    Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them

  284. In Canada, it's pronounced "root". by eponymous+cohort · · Score: 1

    Yeah, but you Canadians often give the "oo" sound to "ou".

    For instance, I have often heard Canadians pronounce "about" the same as "A boot"

    --

    Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them

  285. Whoa hold on by Cjoh · · Score: 1

    Before you go flaming Al Gore, know the facts. Mr. Gore, as a senator is largely responsible for the commercial Internet we have today. As I recell, he was the Net's chief supporter in congress, actually helped move the closed research oritented internet to the Internet we know today. Granted, he did not "create" the Internet, but, of any presidential candidate, he is the most Internet friendly.

  286. It's a shame I'm American. by Cid+Highwind · · Score: 1

    If Gore wins the presidency, crypto controls will be so tight it'll be a crime to export a cap'n crunch decoder ring. What a choice we have in America... inept but well meaning (democrats) vs. devious but good at it (republicans) vs. right, but ignored (liberetarians) *sigh* I'm moving to the moon... who's with me?

    --
    0 1 - just my two bits
  287. Potatoe anyone? by Cid+Highwind · · Score: 1

    Why does it always seem that Vice Presidents make an ass out of themselves?
    It's called "Impeachment Insurance".

    --
    0 1 - just my two bits
  288. Here's the quote: by brassrat77 · · Score: 1
    Excerpted from the show transcript: (comments & emphasis added)

    BLITZER: I want to get to some of those substantive domestic and international questions in a bit, but let's just wrap up a bit of the politics right now.

    Why should Democrats, looks at the Democratic nomination, the process, support you instead of Bill Bradley -- a friend of yours, a former colleague in the Senate -- what do you have to bring to this that he doesn't necessarily bring to this process?

    br77: Simple enough start-off question - "Why you over Senator Bradley?"



    GORE: Well, I will -- I'll be offering my vision when my campaign begins,and it'll be comprehensive and sweeping, and I hope that it'll be compelling
    enough to draw people toward it. I feel that it

    br77: "I won't tell you yet, but trust me, it'll be great!"



    will be. But it will emerge from my dialogue with the American people. I've traveled to every part of this country during the last six years. During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.

    br77: We need someone (Vint Cerf?) to chime in here: "I knew Jon Postel. He was my friend. And you're no Jon Postel" (profuse apologies if I've misspelled JP's name!)



    I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be

    br77: he sure likes the word "initiative", doesn't he? I'm from New Jersey, does initiative have any special meaning if you're from Tennessee?



    important to our country's economic growth, environmental protection, improvements in our educational system. During a quarter century of public service, including most of it long before I came into my current job, I have worked to try to improve the quality of life in our country and in our world.

    br77: Couldn't he have taken claim to accomplishing even ONE SINGLE SOLITARY THING?



    And what I've seen during that experience is an emerging future that's very exciting, about which I'm very optimistic and toward which I'm -- I want to lead.

    br77: "I want to lead" at least he was honest about it. And (no surprise, Gore's a politician and he's been studying under a master), notice he NEVER answered the question about why him rather than Bradley.

    I may have to change party affiliation to Demo just so I can vote against him.

  289. I invented Linux! by Mooset · · Score: 1
    I invented Linux! Well, I didn't actually write any of the code per se, and I've never played a roll of any sort in the development. But I did tell someone about Linux once, and that's gotta count for something eh?

    So if you really like Linux and want to support the free software movement, VOTE MOOSET!

  290. internet2 by Aglassis · · Score: 1

    >maybe you should think before you speak. Moron.

    Took you two posts to get it right? Hmm... methinks you didn't think before you posted. Or perhaps you intended youself to look just like what you were criticizing the above poster for: a moron.

    --
    Suddenly, the hairy finger of a familiar monkey tapped me on the shoulder. It was time.--G. T.
  291. Octothorpe? by MaggieL · · Score: 1
    Someone has wandered in from telephony land perhaps, the only place I've heard it called that.

    Reminds me of Brit/Yank confusion that set in once for a tech who worked for me years ago. She was trying to deal (over the telephone) with a problem with a printer attached to our corporate mainframe network (where the native code was EBCDIC) in the UK. The problem as described was that "the pound sign wasn't printing correctly". In the process of sorting out if it was the currency symbol (pounds, in the UK, of course) or the octothorpe that was the vicim, she unfortunatly asked if the glpyh in question looked like a "tic-tac-toe board". Took a few moments of confusion to elicit "Oh, you mean 'noughts and crosses'!"

    Besides...isn't a "r-ow!-ter" one of the power tools Norm uses on "New Yankee Workshop"?

    --
    -=Maggie Leber=-
  292. Al Gore... by Duke+of+URL · · Score: 1

    Al Gore. What a jacka**. How could he even think about making such a statement? The guy can't even pronounce routers properly.

  293. internet2 by Duke+of+URL · · Score: 1

    Al Gore didn't create "internet 2" either. I did. In my sleep. Yep it was me. Yep.




    By the way thats sarcasm. Maybe.

  294. I'd pay... by Duke+of+URL · · Score: 1

    I'd be willing for my tax dollars to go to a program that straps Al Gore's a** to a satellite and shoots him off into space. Except I'd want the cameras turned around so we could get a 24/7 picture of him mouthing his political rhetoric. We could bring him back down safe and sound after the election is over. That way we'd be spared from his future political commercials where he also makes claim to the "fact" that he's the one responsible for THE cure for cancer.

  295. DARPA? by xyzzy · · Score: 1

    What branch of the U.S. Government do you think DARPA is a part of?

  296. Al Gore Didn't Create It. by xyzzy · · Score: 1

    You must excuse the corporate hubris on the part of GTE. GTE now owns BBN, the company that DID do the initial work on the ARPANET. Yeah, yeah, it's a bit of a reach, I know...

  297. i guess you didn't get it by ElCabron · · Score: 1

    it was obviously mocking his tone. just like the liberals have their political correctness, the conservatives whenever presented with facts dismiss the facts as "revisionist history," thus cancelling out any chance of a rational argument.

  298. What went on by ElCabron · · Score: 1

    was Reagan lowered the taxes for the rich and raised the taxes for the poor, while de-regulating just about everything, and he did just about everything he possibly could to destroy labor unions.
    then of course, he made the religious right's wacked out ideals mainstream, sold arms to iran to fund the contras, and armed (along with the french) our good dear friend saddam hussein, who at the time of the reagan presidency was our ally since they were the "good guys" in the war iran-iraq war.
    i wasn't too clear about the AC's post either but i think he (or she) was implying a cynicism that the whole anti-clinton thing is bullshit because every president lied, yet only clinton got shafted. unfair? sure. not like i like clinton, especially since he continued the war against iraq, is for the gov't killing american citizens, bans guns, and sponsors orwellian bills like the cda, then ups the ante on the "war on drugs," lowers treatment for drugs, and puts more cops on the street. however, for all the things i don't like clinton for, busting him for getting a blowjob is just plain wrong and has only succeeded in getting any level-headed person in the country to hate the republican party.

  299. and fleecing of America.... by afniv · · Score: 1

    Gore also proposed sending a satellite into orbit for the sole purpose of putting a camera up there that can be accessed real time on the Internet 24/7. I thought this just fell through the budget cuts until I heard last week that my company is proposing some science instruments to go along with this camera and maybe make it more useful.

    I would hate to hear the things he would take credit for if he were ever to be president. Then again, maybe the U.S. would have less scandals....

    ~afniv
    "Man könnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wäre wie das Bier"
    "We could be happy if the air was as pure as the beer"

    --
    ~afniv
    "Man könnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wäre wie das Bier"
    Richard von Weizs
  300. That would create the /. affect. by afniv · · Score: 1

    You wouldn't want to bring the whitehouse server down. :)

    ~afniv
    "Man könnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wäre wie das Bier"
    "We could be happy if the air was as pure as the beer"

    --
    ~afniv
    "Man könnte froh sein, wenn die Luft so rein wäre wie das Bier"
    Richard von Weizs
  301. WTF?!?!?!?! by Pope+Ketric · · Score: 1

    Hahahahahahahahahahehehehehehehehhohohohohohohohoh ohohohaahahaheheheheh


    That's almost as good as:

    "640K should be enough for everyone". B. Gates 1984


    K

  302. clarification.... by cswiii · · Score: 1

    Mr Gore, you didn't invent the "internet". rather, you just invented that God-awful term, "the Information Superhighway".

  303. Clipper Chip by id · · Score: 1

    That would be Gore's pet project towards making 1984 a reality.

    But you are right it is becoming harder to tell the diffrence..

  304. I thought Potato had an E by nebby · · Score: 1

    Some of us have to at our working environments.

    (At home, on the other hand, my linux box is patiently waiting for me)

    Greg

    --
    --
  305. He invented C*NS*RSH*P by deathcubek · · Score: 1

    Our records have stickers with a warning from tipper
    'coz they're no good for kids
    If we'd get her we'd strip her
    --KMFDM

    If Gore is the future: Clipper, CDA, and mass censorship will only be the tip of the iceberg.

    He is the father^H^H^H^H^H^Hkiller of the vast network of free speach known as the Internet.
    --
    Four years in jail
    No Trial, No Bail
    *** FREE KEVIN ***

    --

    New worlds are not born in the vacuum of abstract
    ideas, but in the fight for daily bread
    --Rudolf Rocke
  306. Me too by pspeed · · Score: 1

    I supported it too. Will you vote for me? I won't claim to have invented it, but I always thought it was a good idea... and I was always against CDA and son of CDA. So that makes me better than Gore, right?

    Me for president! :)

    "Political Leader" is an oxymoron.

    --
    Edu. sig-line: Choose rhymes with lose. Chose rhymes with goes. Loose rhymes with goose.
    Comparing? THEN use THAN.
  307. Al Gore at MIT graduation by sbuckhopper · · Score: 1

    Al Gore spoke at my brother's graduation a few years ago (I think it was 1997 if you were there).

    He made two big mistakes there:

    1. Bragged about being a Harvard grad (he got booed for a good 2 minutes).
    2. Bragged about coining the term "Information Superhighway"

    Number 2 is why he thinks he invented the internet. What a panzy.
    ---

    --
    "Everybody knows the moon's made of cheese," Wallace.
  308. Umm... by afc · · Score: 1

    So come on, sing along:

    "Get your kicks, on r-owww-t 66..."

    Wait a minute, that damn Brit Nat King Cole!!!

    --
    Information wants to be beer, or something like that.
  309. internet2 by dirty · · Score: 1

    You know what scares me most about al gore being president? Tipper being the first lady. She is the single most harmful person to free speech and freedom of expression this country has ever seen. Her desire to make every child on the planet a "PG kid in an X-Rated society" frightens me.

    --

    -matt
  310. Quayle for Pres by dirty · · Score: 1

    I remember hearing this, right around when he said "it's a terrible waste to lose one's mind," instead of "a mind is a terrible thing to waste."

    --

    -matt
  311. Potatoe anyone? by dirty · · Score: 1

    The accepted pronounciation(i know i spelled it wrong, it's late and i don't care) of "router" is "rowt-er". I've never heard of a "root-er" in my life.

    --

    -matt
  312. Other Gore Fallacies by Augie+De+Blieck+Jr. · · Score: 1

    Don't forget, this is also the guy who once said that a leopard never changes its stripes. He's the environmental vice president who got lost hiking through the woods one time and needed two secret service guys to go in and bring him out.

    etc. etc.

    This guy is just as bad as Dan Quayle ever was, only the media never reports his goof-ups ad infinitum like they did in the Bush years.

    The good news is that he's since dropped his tree routine in favor of a quite hilarious southern preacher impression. . . Really. Catch him at a rally on CSPAN if you ever get the chance. They broadcast out over the Internet.

    -Augie

  313. Hack Congress by devinjones · · Score: 1

    Wasn't there a post on /. recently about a call
    by the ACM president to electronically open up congress and the legislative process?

    OhMyGod! I think I just agreed with Katz!

  314. Bill "I didn't inhale" Clinton by devinjones · · Score: 1

    I read a pundit that claimed Bill's initial comment "Yeah, but I didn't inhale" was actually a sarcastic joke that the media took seriously, and put Billy in the position of actually having to defend that position.

    Man this country is effd-up about drugs and sex!


  315. Al Gore... by BenJamin.G · · Score: 1

    hmm, In Australia we pronounce rout as root, but
    tend to pronounce router as row-ter.
    the reson for this is that, well in australian
    slang root, is much the same as f**k, but in
    a less ofencive way,(note you don't say root off, though, it is used like I have had a root.) So
    instead of having a rooter we have a row-ter.

    some times I wonder.

    --
    "sometimes I wish I was blind I thought I saw a whole lot more than this"
  316. /. Poll Idea: What's wrong with rooters? by miscellaneous · · Score: 1

    awright. nobody's gonna confuse me with an al gore fan, but there are two kinds of people in america: those who pronounce route 'root', and those who, um, don't.

    so, what's wrong, in theory, with saying 'rooters' instead of 'rowters'?

    the pronunciation of 'route' is largely regional, btw, so of *course* it sounds funny when somebody sez it wrong.

    laterz, -k. ^0^

    --
    -k. ^-^ ^D
  317. The Free Market and the Great Depression by Maciej+Stachowiak · · Score: 1

    Despite the revisionism in many textbooks, the Great Depression was _not_ caused by the free market. The rampant speculation during most of the 20's was caused by the artificially loose credit enabled by the then-new Federal Reserve System keeping interest rates artificially low. Many speculators bought on margin due to the cheap rates, keeping the spiral going, until the whole thing collapsed. After that, the resulting depression was made far worse by FDR's New Deal policies - employment and output kept falling throughout much of FDR's term of office, bottommed out, and did not significantly rise again until the US entered WWII. This can clearly be seen in any graph of key economic indicators during the Depression.

    I encourage you to study the subject further (and to vote Libertarian - the government screws things up just as much by messing with our economic freedoms as it does by messing with our social freedoms).

  318. The Free Market and the Great Depression by Maciej+Stachowiak · · Score: 1

    Which shouldn't imply that other courses of action would have been a significant improvement over what actually happened.

    All previous US ecnomic downturns ended _much_ faster. That certainly implies to me that New Deal style socialism is not the right answer to an economic downturn.

    You've also ignored the rest of my post where I argued that the Great Depression was originally caused by economic interventionism, in the form of a newly established central bank making credit too cheap, leading to rising speculation.

    In fact the boom that's happening right now _is_ much like the early 20's boom - a centrally controlled banking system is making credit too cheap, resulting in rampant speculation and buying on margin (only now it's larger scale, and we call it "hedge funds"). When there is a free market in banking, rising speculation and the resultant demand for credit lead to a corresponding increase in interest rates, causing a decrease in speculation on credit, and an increased level of investment in bonds rather than stocks and other risky investments. In fact, this used to happen bacck when many nations had free banking.

    My mention of the Libertarian Party was on-topic because the poster I was replying too said he would not vote Libertarian because he believed that the Great Depression was caused by the free market. I believe I've made a decent case (considering the limited space in a post) that this is not true.

    If economic freedom is your thing, there's plenty of unfettered capitalism going on in Russia. Go take a look; you might like it there.

    It happens that I am originally from a formerly communist country (take a look at my name) so this was a poor move on your part. Russia's pathology is the result of corrupt government officials selling out wholesale to so-called businessmen and other gangsters: selling off formerly state-owned industries at far below the market value as special favors, and generally passing a bunch of laws that favor the so-called "oligarchs". This is not a free market.

    Nontheless, despite the pain that Russia and some other post-communist nations are feeling, ultimately the process they are going through will lead to a far better society if they can get the corruption under control. I visited Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic recently and already they are much better off than they were under Communism.

    America: Love It Or Leave It!

    I'm not a flag-waving patriot-at-any-cost 'merkin. I believe that many radical reforms are necessary. Just not the same ones as you. Please argue with facts and logic instead of name-calling.

  319. Debating facts vs. debating words by Maciej+Stachowiak · · Score: 1

    First of all, I am not a conservative by any stretch of the imagination. If you read my post you would know that.

    Second, I presented some facts supporting the theory that the great depression was caused by government intervention rather than the free market. But instead of actually presenting contrary arguments, you chose to attack my use of the phrase "revisionism" to describe the other theory. Which one of us is "cacnelling out any chane of a rational argument"?

  320. The Free Market and the Great Depression by Maciej+Stachowiak · · Score: 1

    I can't explain this in detail in the small space
    of a slashdot post, but in brief, the economy is full of long-term private investors, and a large number of long-term investors seeking to maximize profits will regulate interest rates more effectively through market forces than any central planner, because no central planner can have possibly enough knowledge of the whole economy.

    Alan Greenspan is perhaps the most effective central banker this or any other country has ever seen, and he believes his job should be eliminated because no one can regulate as well as a free market.

  321. The Free Market and the Great Depression by Maciej+Stachowiak · · Score: 1

    It's the Fed's fault? Nobody put a gun to people's heads and said "speculate!", just as no-one's saying "do really bad derivatives deals!" today;



    People are greedy by nature. Regulation attempts to legislate against the greed. A free market makes greed naturally self-regulating. Considering this particular example: investors naturally want to maximize their profits. A free market in credit, however, naturally limits the damage high-risk but potentially high-yield investments can do to the economy as a whole. Interest rates, the price of the credit needed to speculate on other people's money, and incidentally also the return on lower-risk investments such as bonds, will naturally and gradually rise in such situations, making speculation less profitable relative to safer investments.



    The Fed destroyed the natural information signals like this that propagate through the economy by keeping interest rates too low (incidentally in the course of trying to help England prop up its currency at an unsustainably high level). That the ultimate result of an economy having key feedback paths destroyed this way was disaster is unsurprising. The Fed does a better job of regulating interest rates more intelligently today, but the same could happen again.



    Think of it as negative feedback cycles, the same way the human body regulates itself. Do you really think your body would run better if some central agent had to control all aspects of its metabolism?



    a corrupted super-free market wouldn't be any better than what Russia has now.



    To me, a fully free market specifically means a 100% separation of economics and state, i.e. that the government has no power, as established constitutionally, to affect influence or regulate the economy. Under such a system there is no meaningful influence for gangsters to buy or sell. Of course, with enough systematic corruption, constitutional limitations can be made irrelevant. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.



    The US economy is only as good as the consensus opinion of it in Bed-Stuy and Appalachia; my opinion of Eastern Bloc economies would be the same, if I knew where to look. Please don't give me travelogues or macroeconomic statistics - I want to know the opinions of those at the receiving end of what's being dished out. I don't care about some amorphous "they".



    My personal relatives appeared to be materially better off. People in general seem to be doing a much better job of creating their own opportunities instead of waiting for the state to take care of them, and that to me is even more important. The very worst off people are probably doing quite poorly, but that was just as true under Communism. However, I don't agree with your premise that the success of an economy is best measured by the material conditions of the worst off. Any socioeconomic system will have _some_ people in it who are suffering. This cannot be changed, and attempts to do so are Quixotic. The best you can do is maximize everyone's opportunity to improve his or her own condition.

    I can definitely say that for the average person, Poland has improved a great deal under "shock treatment". You don't have to wait for hours in line to get bread any more (literally - many people from better off countries can't believe this, but I experienced it). You don't have monthly rations for how much meat and sugar you can buy. You are free to start your own small business, and many people have. You are free to change jobs when you want, not when the state permits you. Of course, a lot of people can't get used to the idea that they are responsible for their own economic welfare.

  322. Whoa hold on-- friendly? by YeOldeGnurd · · Score: 1
    He's more internet-aware, but not necessarily internet-friendly.

    He promoted the clipper-chip, he did not stand up to the CDA and its bastard children.

    OTOH, he has done a heck of a job of re-engineering stupid government processes, and saved the good citizens billions of dollars in red tape.


    Bravery, Kindness, Clarity, Honesty, Compassion, Generosity

    --
    ...Nothing interesting here. Just move along...
  323. Whoa hold on-- friendly? by YeOldeGnurd · · Score: 1
    I did not say "reduced in size"...

    (BPR != Downsizing)

    Services are being provided in a far more efficient manner than they had been. In case you hadn't noticed, the Federal government has been running at a surplus for the first time in decades, despite the continuing debt load brought on by massive military deficit spending in the Ronald Raygun years.

    Bravery, Kindness, Clarity, Honesty, Compassion, Generosity

    --
    ...Nothing interesting here. Just move along...
  324. The internet was created for porn!!!porn!! by DaMan · · Score: 1

    I think the internet was made just for porn and spam. We are all just on barrowed time...


    :-)


    --
    Joshua Curtis
    Lancaster Co. Linux Users Group

  325. some truth... by Zebulun · · Score: 1

    inventing the internet is a bit much,
    but if i recall correctly, he was the
    one who pushed the legislation thru that
    in essence moved it from strictly arpanet
    and univeristies to the hands of NFS or
    whoever that let more people use it and
    develop into what we know today. Im sorry
    i dont have details.. its been awhile since
    i researched this. but i know he had a role.

    --
    I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going.
  326. Oh Good God by TopFlite · · Score: 1

    This just furthers the ideas that:

    a) All Politicians are lying, cheating, bottom feeders.
    b) The American voting public are total idiots

    No wonder people don't have any faith in politics anymore. The saddest part of this is the millions of AOL casual users who think the web is the internet will probably buy this hook, line & sinker.

    Sigh, what happened to Oceania? :(

    -TF

  327. Al Gore... by Lamesword · · Score: 1

    The guy can't even pronounce routers properly.

    While his claim is certainly pretentious, I think that it's unfair to discredit him simply because he knows nothing about the technology. As a politician, his role in anything will be political, not technical. I don't know what political role he had in encouraging the Internet; from all the chatter I get the impression that he had something to do with encouraging its growth at some point. Certainly, it's misleading to call that "creating the Internet," but his comments are not as far off the mark as what a lot of his critics say!

    Personally, I think it's silly to bicker about this when there are so many more substantial reasons to criticize Gore. In particular, why do he and Clinton have such a hardon for impeding freedom on the Internet? While I have been more pleased with the Clinton administration than Reagan or Bush, I've been really disappointed by their stance against civil liberties on issues like WIPO and encryption.

    Incidentally, does anyone know what Ralph Nader's stance on the 2000 election is?

  328. Regarding wasted votes by grappler · · Score: 1

    It is most definately NOT a wasted vote to vote third party. Far from it! For one thing, your vote has the same infinitesmal effect no matter who you vote on. But if lots of people go third party, not only is there that chance of winning, but it gets major attention. Ask anyone from Minnesota ;-)

    --
    Vidi, Vici, Veni
  329. Regarding wasted votes by grappler · · Score: 1

    It is most definately NOT a wasted vote to vote third party. Far from it! For one thing, your vote has the same infinitesmal effect no matter who you vote on. But if lots of people go third party, not only is there that chance of winning, but it gets major attention. Ask anyone from Minnesota ;-) To quote their new governor, "those wasted votes wasted them (the major parties)"

    --
    Vidi, Vici, Veni
  330. How to say "router" by dee^lOts · · Score: 1

    I think it's a good portion of the WORLD who pronounce it "rooter". It's the basterdized US English that pronounces it "rowter"

  331. send him mail by David+F. · · Score: 1

    Great idea.. send some flame mail to that address, then look out your window to see a mysterious black van parked out in front of your house indefinitely...

    --
    ---- Dave
  332. It's a shame I'm not American. by yAm · · Score: 1

    So we got that goin' for us, anyway...

    --

    Chris

    So Buddha walks into a pizza parlor and says: "Hey, make me one with everything."

  333. what a fucking complete moron by strider5 · · Score: 1

    see subject

    people like this give our entire species a bad name.

    --
    "All that glitters is not gold"
  334. You say "tom aah tow", I say ... by maroberts · · Score: 1

    .."tom eh! tow"

    Lets call the whole thing off!!

    P.S.
    Another Limey voting for rooter!! :-)

    --

    Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
    Karma: Chameleon

  335. It's a shame I'm American. by PanIc+RidE · · Score: 1

    I think Mars would be a much better choice. ;)

    ~PanIc~

  336. WUUUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! by Nassah+The+Zerg! · · Score: 1

    I am Mother Theresa Returned!

    I returned as Father Theresa!

    I PROVED FERMAT'S LAST THEOREM!

    I WHO ME? INVENTED SLASHDOT!

    --
    The kernel needs a Gtk/Gnome-based post-install device configuration tools "a la" make xconfig. (Better sig coming soon
  337. Gore may be stupid... by TWR · · Score: 1
    What about me, you ask? I have the good sense not to vote.

    If you don't vote, pay your taxes, and aren't going around throwing bombs for your revolution, who cares what you think? It's not like your stunning prose is going to incite the masses. You're irrelevant to the political process.

    The stupidest slaves are those who believe they're free because they get to choose thier masters.

    And what makes you any freer? Not choosing your master?

    -jon

    --

    Remember Amalek.

  338. The Free Market and the Great Depression by TWR · · Score: 1
    You've also ignored the rest of my post where I argued that the Great Depression was originally caused by economic interventionism, in the form of a newly established central bank making credit too cheap, leading to rising speculation.

    In fact the boom that's happening right now _is_ much like the early 20's boom - a centrally controlled banking system is making credit too cheap, resulting in rampant speculation and buying on margin (only now it's larger scale, and we call it "hedge funds"). When there is a free market in banking, rising speculation and the resultant demand for credit lead to a corresponding increase in interest rates, causing a decrease in speculation on credit, and an increased level of investment in bonds rather than stocks and other risky investments. In fact, this used to happen bacck when many nations had free banking.

    There are other parallels to what happened in the '20s which you've missed. Germany was forced to pay reparations after losing WWI. They were WAY out of line with Germany's actual ability to pay back the Allies. While there was relatively open trade between the various European countries (and America), the German economy was able to generate enough moolah to pay that huge international debt.

    Then isolationist/protectionist nitwits got into power, and countries started erecting trade barriers (Hawley-Smoot in the US). Money stopped flowing between countries. Germany just printed too much cash (inflation) to pay off its debts, the Mark became worthless and depression began in Germany. The contagion then spread from country to country.

    Not so much different from the 90's, where countries with huge international debts have to devalue their currencies and/or print worthless money to pay off debts. Hopefully, we'll avoid the problem this time around.

    -jon

    --

    Remember Amalek.

  339. If not gore, then someone like him? by Gumber · · Score: 1

    Man, I really dislike Gore, but I think CmdrTaco's snide remarks devalue other peoples contributions to the Internet.

    The Internet is about more than routers and protocols. There were a lot of policy decisions and initiatives which brought us to where we are today. In some cases, technical people were instrumental in progress in this area but pols, bureacrats, educators, and later, business people all helped move things along.

    Personally, I don't think we would be where we are today if someone(s) hadn't decided to charter NSFnet (remember them) to provide access to students at all US colleges and universites. It was this initiative that really opened up the net (some would say killed it). It moved it beyond the grasp of graduate students and faculty in computer science and high energy physics and into the hands of students in faculty in other sciences and even lowly undergraduate art majors.

    Among other things, this demostraited broad appeal of the Internet and proved the value of freindlier interfaces to internet information such as HTML pages. Such a clear market led us to commercialization of the backbone.

    Without this exposure I don't want to think about where we would be, but it would probably look like some ugly combination of MSN & AOL, circa 1995 with intractive television mixed in somewhere along with some lame network of local BBSs.

  340. How can you possibly justify your position? by Gumber · · Score: 1

    AC wrote:

    There is something on your nose there buddy.

    How can you tell from your vantage point?

    If you read my post as an endorsement of Al Gore then I have to conclude that you are a seriously psychotic individual

  341. True American liberals? by erhead · · Score: 1

    Are there enough "true liberals" left in the United States to make a difference to Gore?

  342. No Subject Given by erhead · · Score: 1

    it would seem to me that he certainly does know what it is and what it does.

    The router determines what route packets should take. It doesn't determine what "r-ow!-te". Al Gore may have claimed he invented the Internet but at least he didn't claim he invented the English language. That's a popular American mistake......

  343. Umm... by erhead · · Score: 1

    Are you American?

  344. Quayle for Pres by Tardigrade · · Score: 1

    Not so funny when you realize a (hopefully small) segment of the US populace doesn't have a clue where Hawaii is.

  345. Out of Context you Idiots by Anonymous+Psychopath · · Score: 1

    If Al gets his way you will not have the ability to post as an Anonymous Coward any more. The government has an enourmous impact on your personal freedom as it relates to electronic media, specifically in your right to privacy.

    If you think everyone besides yourself is a "gullible idiot", examine your perspective.

    --

    Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

  346. It's a shame I'm not American. by heinzkeinz · · Score: 1

    Sure will be fun picking between Al Gore and Pat Buchanan for your president in 2000!

  347. MicroSoft invented internet2 by BugMaster+ChuckyD · · Score: 1

    M$ thought of I2 three days before you did -- and they have the internal memos to prove it!

  348. A geek's Dan Quayle by wirefarm · · Score: 1

    I cannot believe this moron's arrogance.
    Before you forgive him, look at his statement:
    "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet."
    How can he possibly be doing anything but lying?
    What a tool this guy is...
    I hope he gets the public mocking that he deserves for this idiotic statement.
    I'd like to hear what *exactly* he thinks he did. What protocols he thinks he wrote, (or even suggested,) what funding he personally approved that resulted in anything - c'mon, mr. VP, show us a single line of code - anything!
    All he did was raise public awareness for something that never happened - the "Information Superhighway". (God, I hate that term.) Meanwhile, Tim Berners-Lee cobbed together some existing protocols and made the net useful to a much wider range of people. That didn't even happen in the US, let alone under Gore's influence.

    --
    -- My Weblog.
  349. Al Gore is a nice stiff by masterfres · · Score: 1

    While everybody on Slashdot flames Al Gore, I'll be an idiot and step in to the fire. Al Gore is not a charismatic man. Nobody debates that. But as far as Al Gore being some kind of regular politician, (or some kind of fake environmentalist/technology guy) well I want to disagree. No, Al Gore is not a rainforest specialist who's spent years researching strange tribes in the Amazon basin. What Al Gore seems to be is a regular guy who cares about important things that other national level politicians don't seem to pay attention to. Thus, Al Gore was the only US national politician who supported the Kyoto environmental meetings. If you think Al Gore is a fake environmentalist, well who does the Sierra Club or GreenPeace endorse?

    As far as Al Gore inventing the "Information Superhighway", well he made an idiot of himself. But remember your alternatives. George W. Bush scares the hell out of me, and I'm Texan. He's no better than Al Gore policy wise, and he cares jack about the environment. Liddy Dole might be nice, but her main themes mirror Bush's: decrease taxes, decentralize gov't, increase military spending. We're already doing that, and she doesn't have any other agendas. The other republicans are scary since they're two issue candidates: Raise Taxes and Turn everybody into a bible thumping christians.

    I just want /.'s to not jump on Gore's back for being a stiff, and remember that George Bush didn't back the Microsoft antitrust trial and republicans want to cut appropriations for the justice dept. antitrust division.

    Maybe i'm so paranoid because I'm black, and as J.C. Watt's father said (J.C. Watts is the only black republican congressman), a black person voting for a republican is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders.

  350. What an asshole! by PinheadX · · Score: 1

    Can we all get together as geeks and line up to repeatedly kick him in the balls?

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    I run BeOS. The rules don't apply.

    --

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    I run BeOS. The rules don't apply.
  351. Al Gore... by PinheadX · · Score: 1

    or an 8" one (those really old bastards)

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    I run BeOS. The rules don't apply.

    --

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    I run BeOS. The rules don't apply.
  352. Not quite. by SeanNi · · Score: 1

    People in grass houses shouldn't get stoned.
    --
    - Sean

    --
    It's a fine line between trolling and karma-whoring... and I think I just crossed it.
    - Sean
  353. In Canada, it's pronounced "root". by SeanNi · · Score: 1

    ...at least in this part of Canada it is, anyway.

    About the only place I've ever heard it pronounced "ruhwt" is on American TV.

    Not that I'm dissing you or anything.

    Hell, I don't even care. And that's my point. Some people pronounce it one way, some people pronounce it the other.

    You say tomato, I say tomato, Quayle says tomatoe.

    Get over it.
    --
    - Sean

    --
    It's a fine line between trolling and karma-whoring... and I think I just crossed it.
    - Sean
  354. Funny, twisted thought... by SeanNi · · Score: 1

    The Information Superhighway, according to Ned Flanders:

    The Information Super-diddly-ooper-highway!

    Ok, I'm sick.

    :-)
    --
    - Sean

    --
    It's a fine line between trolling and karma-whoring... and I think I just crossed it.
    - Sean
  355. "The Year September Never Ended" by SeanNi · · Score: 1

    Ummm... clueless stupid question...

    What's so special about 1994 (The year that September never ended)?

    I've seen a couple of references to it, but don't quite know what they're referring to.

    Anyone care to enlighten me? Thanks.
    --
    - Sean

    --
    It's a fine line between trolling and karma-whoring... and I think I just crossed it.
    - Sean
  356. Me 3! by SeanNi · · Score: 1

    Well... I would if I were American, anyway.

    Seriously, though, Bob Dole actually seems to be one of the few US politicians around that has half a brain in his head. (hey... half a brain is better than none!)

    I'd rather see him in office than his wife, but she's ok, too.
    --
    - Sean

    --
    It's a fine line between trolling and karma-whoring... and I think I just crossed it.
    - Sean
  357. Revisionist History by SeanNi · · Score: 1

    >Counting the seconds until he is out of office....

    Jeez... you are an optimist, aren't you?
    --
    - Sean

    --
    It's a fine line between trolling and karma-whoring... and I think I just crossed it.
    - Sean
  358. Retraction by SeanNi · · Score: 1

    I wish we could hack congress and make *them* more efficient.

    Hehe...

    congress.c:


    ...
    int loop_choice;
    int time_waster;

    do {
    switch (loop_choice) {
    case 1:
    for (time_waster = 0; time_waster = 10000; time_waster++) {
    // do nothing
    }
    break;

    case 2:
    waste_taxpayers_money();
    break;

    case 3:
    approve_stupid_patents();
    break;

    case 4:
    pass_moronic_laws();
    break;

    case 5:
    inhibit_freedom_of_speech();
    break;

    default:
    // NB this will never get executed
    do_something_smart();
    }

    loop_choice = (loop_choice < 5) ? loop_choice : 1;
    } until FALSE;
    ...

    --
    - Sean

    --
    It's a fine line between trolling and karma-whoring... and I think I just crossed it.
    - Sean
  359. It's all down to the e... by SeanNi · · Score: 1

    Thank you!

    I know I've always found it strange when someone pronounced it "rowte"... just never quite knew why...

    Now I know!

    (NB: I'm not trying to dis anyone who pronounces it that way... just saying it sounds funny.)
    --
    - Sean

    --
    It's a fine line between trolling and karma-whoring... and I think I just crossed it.
    - Sean
  360. Mistake. by SeanNi · · Score: 1

    Dammit! I screwed up... shows what happens when you don't proofread your code...

    That 3rd to last line should read:

    loop_choice = (loop_choice < 5) ? loop_choice++ : 1;
    --
    - Sean

    --
    It's a fine line between trolling and karma-whoring... and I think I just crossed it.
    - Sean
  361. ROFL!! by SeanNi · · Score: 1

    Thanks for the laugh... I needed that!

    :-)
    --
    - Sean

    --
    It's a fine line between trolling and karma-whoring... and I think I just crossed it.
    - Sean
  362. Mistake. by SeanNi · · Score: 1

    You didn't Initialize loop_choice either.

    No shit... I didn't, did I?

    Not only that, but in the "case 1:" block, the html swallowed the < in the

    time_waster <= 1000;

    bit.

    Boy, is my face ever red!

    (...on the other hand... stuff like that would explain how/why congress (doesn't) work...)
    --
    - Sean

    --
    It's a fine line between trolling and karma-whoring... and I think I just crossed it.
    - Sean
  363. Al Gore is a nice stiff by quax · · Score: 1

    I enjoyed reading a sensible, moderated and balanced statement here, no matter of pro or contra Gore. It is embarrassing to witness the poor quality of political "discussion" here. I am European - currently studying in the US. My reason to come here was to learn more about the culture of this country and to better understand it. I also tried to understand why it has such a crappy foreign policy. Well, now i know the political culture of this country. To be precise the lovely WHITE political culture of this country. Its plain scary.

    I think its funny that most of the stuff that people outside of this country love about the US has BLACK roots. Especially the music.

    I do not exactly know what's gone wrong with the white American culture, after all they all are European descendants. Is it because Europe shipped all the religious fanatics to this continent? Is it because the philosophical Enlightenment movement never got a stronghold in the US? Or did the US just retain the unhealthy nationalism that burned Europe in the first half of this century? Hopefully the demographics in the US shift fast enough (I am talking decades here) to prevent the worst.

  364. And they call Americans 'ethnocentric' by quax · · Score: 1

    Fair enough Europeans are fairly ethnocentric too.

    Here's a tip: don't go home yet. You don't understand American culture yet.

    somehow contradicts the standard

    Go away silly troll.

    You can never understand a culture completely anyway, especially none as rich as the American. So I will go home this year anyway.

    The religious folk didn't get "shipped" here; they fled here to escape your "philosophically enlightened" European governments.

    I am aware of this. But I don't think there ever was an enlightened government - at least not to my knowledge would be nice though, wouldn't it?

    Anyway the European governments at that time were certainly happy to get rid of people they perceived as potential trouble makers.

    We are grateful beyond measure that your "philosophical Enlightenment" didn't arrive here in quite the same way it did in, say, France, where thousands went to the guillotine for the sake of this "Enlightened Philosophy."

    No, i am not going to make a cheap reply in the technological advance of execution machines. I mean we know that the US always has the top of the line stuff.

    For the record too, I think it ought to be said that Europeans weren't exactly innocent in the slave trade (lest you think that a uniquely American vice).

    Look this is not for the record. It is not for saying yeah, we are so much greater because of ***bluberbluber --- fill in the space ***

    I am just wondering why the political culture in this country differs so much from Europe. For example: Why do people believe religiously in the death penalty? Why is the sexual life of a politician more important than his legislative record? I try to understand this, and I am not claiming that i've got an compelling answer. You are more than welcome to enlighten me if you think you've got an answer.

    When you speak of unhealthy nationalism -- let me make sure I understand. Do you mean the sort of "unhealthy nationalism" that is destroying Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Herzegovina, etc. right now? Sorry, no. We don't have any of that here (and yes, I wish we would keep our noses out your European problems. We have enough of our own).

    Well, are you sure you don't have any of this? Nationalism and racism are an attitude, war is the most radical outcome. Many of what i see here worries me.

  365. Answers to your questions by quax · · Score: 1

    I don't know if you'll see this, since this topic has scrolled...but just in case :-)

    Well, i saw it and appreciate the answers. Now of course I don't know if you will read it. Anyway I
    guess we are the last to post new messages to this threat :-)

    Interestingly enough your answers highlights the amazing cultural difference, that I perceive between
    Europe and the US. Let's take the first question. In most European countries prisons are
    designed to reintegrate people into society. That means for example you offer them the
    possibility to get an education in the prison. This idea is generally accepted and believe it or not
    works reasonably well. Of course you will also find criminals who stay criminal, but to my
    knowledge it fares statistically far better than the US prison system. Statistical results of
    the justice system are the benchmarks for European politicians. For me it is very alien to mix
    religion with that issue. I can just assume that on the other hand this rather emotionally detached
    result oriented approach to "engineer" a justice system must sound very alien to most Americans.

    To my knowledge their is no statistically significant study that shows that death penalty reduces the
    number of capital crime. Interestingly enough there is a study showing that the capital crime rate in
    Canada actually dropped after abolishing the death penalty.

    Regarding the Clinton issue: I can see your legal standpoint. I am in no position to make a
    judgment if those offense were for real or not. You said he lied under oath, well if that is a fact he
    should be convicted for it. Most Europeans simply do not understand why these trials were not put
    on hold until he is out of office, because the performance of the government is regarded as having
    the higher priority than private trials. Of course you say it has been proofed that he is a rapist. I did
    not follow that whole affair to closely, but I can not recall that he forced anybody to have sex. But
    perhaps we have a different definition of rape.

    If you made a survey in Europe regarding the question:

    Does a politicians sexual appetite influence your voting decision?

    You will find that a vast majority of people would answer you with a puzzled "No". Puzzled
    because that question does not even make a lot of sense to them. They might ask you: Do you
    mean that he/she has a very active sex live with different partners? If you answer "Yes" you might
    end up with a minority of people saying "Yes, that influences my decision because such a lifestyle is
    cool."

    I assume that my positions seem rather strange to you, so you might doubt that a majority of
    Europeans feel so differently. There is nothing i can do to "proof" this without major sociological
    research (which i believe exists, but its not my specialty - coding is more fun). Perhaps a longer stay
    in Europe would give you the same impression in terms how much European political and every-day
    culture differs from the US.

  366. forall X, vice-X is useless by King+Babar · · Score: 1
    Why does it always seem that Vice Presidents make an ass out of themselves?

    Because it goes along with the job description. Seriously, there really isn't very much for a vice president to do.

    Officially, the vice president can preside over the Senate. Once in a blue moon he or she can break ties in the Senate. The vice president is usually allowed to attend cabinet meetings.

    If the president resigns or dies or becomes incompetent according to some set of criteria, the vice-president can become the president. Officially, the whole job is basically attending meetings, breaking tie votes in the senate, twiddling your thumbs, and waiting for people to die.

    Unofficially, the vice president also gets to attend state funerals for people who weren't quite important enough for the president to bother to show up. That's more waiting for people to die.

    Then after four or eight years of thumb-twiddling, the vice president gets to run for president. By definition, running for president involves saying idiotic and contradictory things to all kinds of people. And also smiling a lot.

    Put it this way: if Al Gore had actually said "Well, the internet is just one of those things that exploded on the scene and surprised the heck out of all of us, even though I always kind of thought it had some potential," he would have been honest...and just as boring as ever. But by trying to take credit for the internet, he'll probably get a couple of hundred people to post vitriolic flames about him on /., and so become just a tiny bit less boring.

    King Babar

    --

    Babar

  367. internet2 by Ellis-D · · Score: 1

    That's been in the works for years.. It started off as a univeristy project.. Hmm.. I don't think that Gore is much of a tech nut, he seems more of a pussy whipped guy that does everything his wife say, and well I think she just wants the us to become the perfect christans(which she has shown to me that it's seems like the tottal opposite).. These comments are all IMO..

    --
    I ate my tag line.
    -=Ellis (D)25=-
  368. I invented TCP/IP by mecca · · Score: 1

    No Really!!

    --
    Have you checked out Zoid.com yet? Zoid.com
  369. Retraction by zagmar · · Score: 1

    We could threaten to slashdot CNNinteractive, eh?

    I've been told that both the brothers bush will be running. Living in Austin, I'm sure to be able to update everyone on George Jr.'s campaign.

    Whoough. Makes me almost wish we could have Mondale back. Oh well, time to waste my vote by voting libertarian.

    I wish we could hack congress and make *them* more efficient.

    Zagmar

  370. Al Gore isn't YOUR VP (lucky for you) by zagmar · · Score: 1

    Rout'er, n. One that finds a route.

    Route, n. A path. Pronounced, variously, rowt and root.

    How do you people pronounce "Roto-Router?"

    Jeez. I say po'tay'to, you say po'tah'to. BFD.

    Zagmar

  371. What a stupid thing to diss on Gore for. by zagmar · · Score: 1

    Well, people tried to keep Clinton from getting elected by arguing that Hillary would be the real president...

    I think the best thing to dis him for would be his continued support of clipper and his hardline opposition to stuff like public key crypto and decriminalizing the export of strong crypto. If any of you like Sun, Novell, etc, you might be interested that they can't sell shite to other countries because of the stupid crypto export restrictions.

    Besides, while Tipper was the person behind the PMRC, Al was the one who told Dee Snyder (of Twisted Sister) "I am not a fan of your music."

    God, I wish I still had my SST sticker that looked like the "Parental advisory" stickers, but said "Fuck parental advice. SST Records." Ahhh, those were carefree days.

    Zagmar

    Does this mean I gotta vote?

  372. Regarding wasted votes by zagmar · · Score: 1

    Ooh, maybe we can get "Hollywood" Hogan elected! Actually, that would just confirm in lots of people's minds that America has lost ours.
    Good point about "wasted" votes, though. Perot (though he was insane) is another example of what a third or independent candidate can do. Just think if he had made some sense, he might have gotten elected.

    Of course, my solution to the entire mess is to force every incumbent out of office, and make term limits of 12 years total. After all, government was never intended to be a lifetime career, rather a service to one's country. Kind of like open source: you make your contribution, and you let it go.

    Zagmar

  373. Go Pat! by zagmar · · Score: 1

    Well, it's called the "global marketplace." And Pat "sig heil" Buchanan can't do anything to change it. The fact is, the president was an invention for a common people who needed a king so they could put a face on the government. (It's a lot easier to rant about "that fucking Clinton jerk I didn't vote for" instead of really looking at what causes the problems with our government and our society.

    And yes. Why don't we eliminate the idea of citizenship. Why not have a world government? One that can actually exercise some control over those corporations you are complaing about?

  374. Revisionist History by zagmar · · Score: 1

    Nah, he just has a lot of time on his hands.

    Zagmar

  375. Dumb English language question... by JosefK · · Score: 1

    Because /rowt/ is another accepted pronunciation of route. And, also according to Webster's, "router", meaning something that routes, can be pronounced either way.

  376. Al Gore... by JosefK · · Score: 1

    Check your dictionary. Webster's at least shows both pronunciations as acceptable.

  377. Sure.... by Nicholas+Schumacher · · Score: 1

    Internet friendly...sure - the man who pushed for the clipper chip and wants to keep the restrictions on encryption technology is internet friendly...

    --
    -Nick
    My name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. You killed my master. Prepare to die.
  378. He created it... by shingle · · Score: 1

    and Tipper censored it....

  379. If Clinton invented the Internet... by NetStorm · · Score: 1

    If Clinton invented the Internet he would call it the InternNet... Hehe :->

  380. I don't think so by laura20 · · Score: 1

    >As to moving the "closed research oriented internet" somewhere, there never was any such thing. Almost from the
    >very beginning Internet was open to anybody who had a computer and a connection. I still remember my dial-up
    >account on a BBS...

    Um. No. If you are going to criticize stupid statements by politicians, it's best not to do it by making stupid statements yourself. Either your 'dial-up account on a BBS' was very late in Internet history (or more precisely, Arpanet-Internet history) or you were accessing something else, not the Internet. When I worked at DARPA, one of my jobs was maintaining the lists of what sites were authorized. It's only in the late 80s that you even got widescale student access and any commercial access at all, and not until the early nineties that you got widescale commercial access.

    Almost from the very beginning. Ha.

    That's almost as good as all the ISPs that were claiming 10 or 15 years experience in the 1997 Washington Post survey of local net access. As someone who knew very well that Grebyn was the sole entity that had existed more than five years ago.

    Laura

  381. Whoa hold on-- friendly? by tkeubank · · Score: 1

    OTOH, he has done a heck of a job of e-engineering stupid government processes, and saved the good citizens billions of dollars in red tape.

    You can't be serious. The only true reduction in the size of the government has come from decimating the Military. A first hand account of this is what my father is currently doing. He retired as a State Trooper and later went to work providing security for the federal court system where he lives. This used to be the job of the U.S. Marshall's Service. So in a claim to reduce the size of gov. they got rid of that service... but they contracted it out to a private service at a higher rate than what it cost them in the first place, but that lets them claim they reduced the size of that divison of the gov.

  382. ROTFL by tkeubank · · Score: 1

    Thats good, I forgot about that quote. Funny how he keeps claiming to be the technology expert yet continues to make stupid statements like this. If I don't know something I generally try to keep my mouth shut untill I know a little about it.

  383. comment on lying by tkeubank · · Score: 1

    Lets not make such a big deal out of a small political comment

    That small political comment was a LIE and he knows it. Just like Clinton lies about everything. People kept putting thier head in the sand and saying "well he only lied about sex", but the lies are a pattern of behavior with these people. Now they are lying about China, and their complicity in the advancement of China's nuclear wepons. Regan got us through the Cold War and these fools just dragged us right back in.

    Suckers

  384. comment on lying by tkeubank · · Score: 1

    It was not my intention to imply a conspiracy, just to show that lying is part of someones character. If they lie on the small stuff then they will lie on the big stuff. As far as a conspiracy I think in this case its more related to greeed. Clinton didn't want to step on the toes of his bigest campaign contributors.

  385. nor would they vote for Clinton by for(;;); · · Score: 1

    The vehemence with which the right wing goes after Clinton has always baffled me. He's probably the most conservative Democrat since the "solid south" days.

    --

    "Whatever happened to fair use?"
    -- Duff-Man
  386. I like to eat at Houter's by for(;;); · · Score: 1

    Although the food sucks

    --

    "Whatever happened to fair use?"
    -- Duff-Man
  387. Well, I do :) by BazHob · · Score: 1

    Does not sound strange to me at all. I'm neither
    an admin nor a pervert. Mhm...

    --
    life would be much easier if you could have a look at the sourcecode
  388. "The Year September Never Ended" by rwald · · Score: 1
    According to http://www. nyupress.nyu.edu/netwars/textonly/pages/chapter01/ ch01_.html September is a reference to when college/university students return to school and new batch of freshmen (freshpeople?) are first given access to the Internet, start breaking netiquette, posting messages about the modem tax and the Good Times virus, etc. Only that year, the wave of newbies never stopped.

    The link above (excerpting net.wars?) attributes this notion to the alt.culture.usenet FAQ.

    - rod

  389. plenty of alternatives by MindStalker · · Score: 1

    What state do you live in???
    Can I move there..
    My state usualyl only has the two canidates..and barly has even perot last time

  390. Gorenet. "We know what you're downloading" by MindStalker · · Score: 1

    Republicans?? HAHAH read your history on which individuals in government had the most negative effects on personal privacy. And you will note it is largly Democrats (I'm a independent by the way)
    Republicans though while have this certain moral code thing, they don't believe in invading privacy to achieve such ends.. Though I'm sure you can find some cases, they would be few and far between the cases comming from the democrats

  391. It's all down to the e... by BeAT · · Score: 1

    Simple English language tutorial here:

    When a letter is followed by an 'e', then you pronounce it as it you were saying the letter alone.

    Example:

    Route. Followed by a 'e', so the 'u' gets pronounced as U ("you"); clearly "root". Same with router.
    Sour. No 'e', so it's "our" prefixed with "s".
    Out. "Owt".

    Since the Americans actually came from Britain in the first place, all these differences are clearly their own doing - I don't mean to flame, that's just how history has it.

  392. Al Gore = Bill G. by TheMime · · Score: 1

    Anyone ever noticed that Al Gore might be Bill Gates way into the White House? Therefore by Al saying HE created the internet; he is talking from a Bill Gates brainwashed victim POV? It makes you think, Doesn't It?

  393. Router IS pronounced root-er by pawlie · · Score: 1

    Well, it is if you speak British English.

    (we invented it guys ;) )

  394. See also this link by El · · Score: 1

    http://www.techserver.com/story/0,1643,26978-43529 -322106-0,00.html

    The republicans are having a field day with this...

    --

    "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney

  395. World Govt? Are you nuts? by Sabu+mark · · Score: 1

    That's a great idea, a world government. It will be run just like the United Nations, only less efficiently! If such inefficiency is possible to achieve.

    The Balkan states apparently won't be satisfied until each person has a republic consisting only of himself. We're moving away from world government instead of toward it.

    Not that world government is a good thing. Yeah, I want to split my vote with Red China, fundamentalists of every single religion, and the Incredible Climbing Tax Rate of Europe and Canada. Come to think of it, I don't want to split my vote with American fools either. I want my own republic.

    --

    What Would Jesus Do
    (for a Klondike bar)?