"ACLU has long taken the position that the Second Amendment protects a collective right rather than an individual right"
The ACLU is made up of lawyers. Legal professionals have a vested economic interest in having contradictions in the legal system. Excessive law, contradictory laws, inconsistent laws, confusing laws, scary laws: these all create demand for the services of the legal profession.
As someone who is married to a lawyer... hell no, lawyers do not -like- contradictory or confusing or inconsistent laws. It creates uncertainty, uncertainty that they cannot rely on in the courtroom. Any inconsistency can just as easily be used against them, and a lawyer wants and needs -certainty-. Lack of certainty will drive lawyers away and lead them to not picking up cases.
Their selection only sucks if you are expecting blockbuster new releases
I've found their selection to be equally shitty for new releases and for old. Even rather older or not-as-mainstream titles that I couldn't imagine would cost a lot.
I have found many of the the disks from Netflix (and previously Blockbuster) to be badly damaged. Between the scratches and mysterious gunk that I have to remove so it doesn't ruin my player the disks often won't play well. I've largely stopped ordering disks because of this.
Are you somehow not experiencing this?
I would say only about 5% of the disks I've ever gotten from Netflix have been in that condition. A few of them, some careful wiping got them to work. I can count the number of completely unwatchable disks on one hand, and every time I reported it to Netflix they sent a replacement disk before waiting for the original to come back.
Many of those things (DHS, Defense, etc) are things that the US has to do to some capacity at least. But we don't NEED NASA. We don't NEED space exploration. Why would we go to Mars? To say we did? What absolutely concrete things will it give us other than a sense of accomplishment? When our economy is in shambles and we are crumbling under debt, what is the point of a mission to Mars?
And don't forget flooding every square mile of land with light at night (gotta have those porch and deck lights on at all hours) just.. because. You know, somehow that's secure.
Hybrid foods are not the same as GMO foods, and making such a claim reeks of either ignorance or willful collusion. GMO foods, the ones that most people have problems with, contain genes that can not happen in nature. Forcing bacteria genes into corn for example to get them to produce insecticides on the stalk (as one of many foreign genes introduced into GMO corn).
The problem is that "GMO" is a useless term, since it can mean almost anything. Yes, we have been "genetically modifying" food for thousands of years -- the DNA of human-modified and bred crops is far different from their wild cousins. Or, it can also refer to "roundup-ready" crops. Or pesticide-producing crops. Or a tomato that has no difference from another tomato other than it's a little bigger.
Well the "Axis of Evil" referred to Iran, Iraq, and North Korea, and no one's really done anything about North Korea. They just stopped rattling sabers around the same time the Middle East blew up (again).
I don't think Manning's leaks really had much at all to do with the Arab Spring.For one thing, nothing really came out of those leaks that everyone didn't already know, aside from one ill-advised helicopter attack.
It had a lot to do with the peoples' perception that they were kept down and not served by their own governments, and they didn't need a Youtube video to tell them that.
If Obama saying he is going to do stuff (and not actually doing them) is enough to get him a Nobel prize, then why can't Seattle win this for saying they will improve things?
I think our standards (and everyone's standards really) should be a weeeee bit higher than the Nobel committee's.
It's true, having a megabit connection to your backbone would be pointless if that backbone has a T1 line to the rest of the Internet. Australia has had that problem as well -- terrible service to other countries because their remoteness made ping times untenable, and bandwidth difficult. What do the Internet connection speeds of these lists really measure?
The anti-bush tirade is at +4 and this is at -1? Come on mods, you might well think the above is wrong but at least someone is thinking here.
The "I doubt Muslims took over those planes, stupid media" conspiracy bullshit should be enough to put it at -1. I would consider that definite Flamebait, if not outright trolling.
Amtrak is underfunded (overpriced and underfunded, heh). It's biggest problem is they have to share a limited resource (rail lines) with others... others who will always get usage priorities over them. So Amtrak is slow and unreliable.
You're half right. Infrastructure should be initially built by the government, but immediately spun off as a nonprofit corporation, a la TVA
I've no problems with how we deliver water and electricity in the US (for the most part..) but communications infrastructure is a disaster in the US. Far too often the infrastructure is tied to the end providers. I'll state that flat-out, Comcast could not own the cable lines. They should lease them like other cable providers. AT&T should not own phone lines. They should lease them from the government who maintains infrastructure. We had a half-assed solution which was that Comcast/AT&T could lay out lines but then had to lease them to third parties for a reasonable fee, but that was struck down and now you have extremely anti-competitive legal monopolies in the US communications markets.
Slashdot Mirror
"ACLU has long taken the position that the Second Amendment protects a collective right rather than an individual right"
The ACLU is made up of lawyers. Legal professionals have a vested economic interest in having contradictions in the legal system. Excessive law, contradictory laws, inconsistent laws, confusing laws, scary laws: these all create demand for the services of the legal profession.
As someone who is married to a lawyer... hell no, lawyers do not -like- contradictory or confusing or inconsistent laws. It creates uncertainty, uncertainty that they cannot rely on in the courtroom. Any inconsistency can just as easily be used against them, and a lawyer wants and needs -certainty-. Lack of certainty will drive lawyers away and lead them to not picking up cases.
Direct from the fucking summary
When it comes to getting to the truth, there's little worse than quoting a Slashdot summary.
I don't recognize gag orders. Only if it comes from a bonefid judge and bonafid court (not FISA).
But in Soviet America, gag orders recognize you!
Ignore them at your peril. I plan to, if I ever (doubtful) get into the position where I'd be legally required to respect one.
Their selection only sucks if you are expecting blockbuster new releases
I've found their selection to be equally shitty for new releases and for old. Even rather older or not-as-mainstream titles that I couldn't imagine would cost a lot.
I like the service
I have found many of the the disks from Netflix (and previously Blockbuster) to be badly damaged. Between the scratches and mysterious gunk that I have to remove so it doesn't ruin my player the disks often won't play well. I've largely stopped ordering disks because of this.
Are you somehow not experiencing this?
I would say only about 5% of the disks I've ever gotten from Netflix have been in that condition. A few of them, some careful wiping got them to work. I can count the number of completely unwatchable disks on one hand, and every time I reported it to Netflix they sent a replacement disk before waiting for the original to come back.
Radio Shack? How are they even still in business?
Not even the CEO knows how that company stays afloat.
If you were in his place, would you allow inspections?
Yes, because the survival rate for dictators who have blocked inspectors has been fairly low.
Many of those things (DHS, Defense, etc) are things that the US has to do to some capacity at least. But we don't NEED NASA. We don't NEED space exploration. Why would we go to Mars? To say we did? What absolutely concrete things will it give us other than a sense of accomplishment? When our economy is in shambles and we are crumbling under debt, what is the point of a mission to Mars?
Well, that's because shooting people requires almost no training and can run on long-ago created stocks of weapons and bullets.
It's far easier to tear down than build up!
Not to mention that stopping hunger/poverty/etc often requires the recipients to change their behavior.
I say el oh el a bit. Though usually it's a sarcastic usage.
Hurricanes have his Manhattan before, it's just unusual. They usually run aground much further south.
And don't forget flooding every square mile of land with light at night (gotta have those porch and deck lights on at all hours) just.. because. You know, somehow that's secure.
Do you have a problem with their actual numbers, or do you just like to shoot the messenger?
Hybrid foods are not the same as GMO foods, and making such a claim reeks of either ignorance or willful collusion. GMO foods, the ones that most people have problems with, contain genes that can not happen in nature. Forcing bacteria genes into corn for example to get them to produce insecticides on the stalk (as one of many foreign genes introduced into GMO corn).
The problem is that "GMO" is a useless term, since it can mean almost anything. Yes, we have been "genetically modifying" food for thousands of years -- the DNA of human-modified and bred crops is far different from their wild cousins. Or, it can also refer to "roundup-ready" crops. Or pesticide-producing crops. Or a tomato that has no difference from another tomato other than it's a little bigger.
So, to be clear, you're fine with Syria killing its own citizens with chemical weapons?
I'm not -happy- with it, no. Am I willing to declare war on them for it? Also no.
THE AXIS OF EVIL.
I think only Iran remains...
Well the "Axis of Evil" referred to Iran, Iraq, and North Korea, and no one's really done anything about North Korea. They just stopped rattling sabers around the same time the Middle East blew up (again).
I don't think Manning's leaks really had much at all to do with the Arab Spring .For one thing, nothing really came out of those leaks that everyone didn't already know, aside from one ill-advised helicopter attack.
It had a lot to do with the peoples' perception that they were kept down and not served by their own governments, and they didn't need a Youtube video to tell them that.
If Obama saying he is going to do stuff (and not actually doing them) is enough to get him a Nobel prize, then why can't Seattle win this for saying they will improve things?
I think our standards (and everyone's standards really) should be a weeeee bit higher than the Nobel committee's.
It's true, having a megabit connection to your backbone would be pointless if that backbone has a T1 line to the rest of the Internet.
Australia has had that problem as well -- terrible service to other countries because their remoteness made ping times untenable, and bandwidth difficult.
What do the Internet connection speeds of these lists really measure?
The anti-bush tirade is at +4 and this is at -1? Come on mods, you might well think the above is wrong but at least someone is thinking here.
The "I doubt Muslims took over those planes, stupid media" conspiracy bullshit should be enough to put it at -1. I would consider that definite Flamebait, if not outright trolling.
Come on, in no way are Germany and Great Britain the same country in the same way that Washington and Florida are.
Maybe back in the 1700s you could have made that argument, but during the 20th century in the United States, Federalism won, completely.
Well sure, the US's reputation on human rights is going down the tubes, but I don't see anyone holding up Russia or China as paragons.
And that's somehow different from how the US works as well? Everyone subsidizes everyone else's network, we just all get shit service.
Amtrak is underfunded (overpriced and underfunded, heh). It's biggest problem is they have to share a limited resource (rail lines) with others... others who will always get usage priorities over them. So Amtrak is slow and unreliable.
You're half right. Infrastructure should be initially built by the government, but immediately spun off as a nonprofit corporation, a la TVA
I've no problems with how we deliver water and electricity in the US (for the most part..) but communications infrastructure is a disaster in the US. Far too often the infrastructure is tied to the end providers. I'll state that flat-out, Comcast could not own the cable lines. They should lease them like other cable providers. AT&T should not own phone lines. They should lease them from the government who maintains infrastructure. We had a half-assed solution which was that Comcast/AT&T could lay out lines but then had to lease them to third parties for a reasonable fee, but that was struck down and now you have extremely anti-competitive legal monopolies in the US communications markets.