Ah. The old "[name favourite despot] is worse than us, so we must be okay!" gambit.
Look, jackass, the parent poster was the one grumbling about how "stupid" America is and speculating about moving to Canada where they are presumably ever so much more enlightened. I was pointing out that his assumption that things are better in other countries is not necessarily correct.
I don't like this law any better than he did, but it's not enough to make me call my fellow citizens "stupid" and move to another country, as I am not a leftist ignoramus who looks for the worst in everything.
If anything, this proves the exact opposite of your crack about our "favorite despot". There are some people who take any evidence that America is less than perfect as proof that it is completely and irredeemably imperfect.
There is a sign at the site saying "No Photography Permitted", which as far as I know is legitimate, as any reasonably close site from which a picture could be taken is on private property.
There's nothing they can do to prevent you taking a picture of it from a helicopter, assuming you stay clear of FAA flight regulations. But the developers who own 17-Mile Drive, Pebble Beach, etc., also say that the image is part of their trademark, so any commercial use of the image requires paying a fee.
Of course, there are similar or worse restrictions on photography in other countries.
For example, in France, a professional photographer must pay 5,000 euros per day for a license to use a tripod when taking photographs of public buildings like the Palace of Versailles. If you can't prove that you are a professional photographer, you may not buy a tripod permit at any price.
Looks like you're the stupid one, after all.
But of course, lefty soreheads who belittle the USA are usually ignorant malcontents who don't realize how good they have it.
I think he did it because of our support for Israel, our ties with the Saudi family and our military bases in Saudi Arabia. You know why I think that? Because that's what he fucking said!
He also said that he's still pissed off about the "Tragedy of Andalusia" of six hundred years ago, and intends to see Spain re-conquered by Islam at the point of a sword. He also said he wants to see Islam conquer all the rest of the infidel world as well. He also said that we could avoid being attacked if we all converted to Islam.
I don't care what his motivations or excuses are. I don't care at all. The only thing I care about is that we put our boot on the throat of the Muslim world and ruthlessly slaughter every Muslim who thinks this way. Every one. Millions if necessary. Kill them fast and hard. I am upset that Bush is not being more aggressive about this.
If America had no military bases in the Middle East, would September 11th have happened?
I believe so. Or something very much like it. Remember, Osama and his ilk don't just want us out of the Middle East. They want to wipe Israel off the map, kill every Jew, re-conquer lost Muslim lands such as Spain, and eventually force everyone in the world to become Muslim or die. They are quite clear and vocal about this. So long as we exist in a non-Muslim nation, we are targets for this type of Muslim.
I want my government to find all Muslims who think like this and kill them quickly and ruthlessly.
And yet as governor he allowed for 152 state executions to take place in his state.
Were you aware that under the laws of Texas, the Governor is powerless to prevent an execution? He can issue a one-time stay of execution for six months, but all pardons, paroles, and commutations have to originate with the state board of pardons.
Personally, I don't think we're putting nearly enough people to death. Most violent felonies, child molestation, etc., ought to be death on the first offense. Three felonies of any kind are proof enough for me that the perpetrator is a sub-human monster who ought to be put down with no more remorse than we spare for a rabid dog.
It tells you, for example, that recycling is marginally beneficial but owning a smaller home saves lots of energy--hardly mindless hug-the-whales behavior.
Agreed!
Henceforth I will ignore any blather from the lips of mansion-dwelling Hollywood liberals or hypocritical lefty politicians who want me to turn my life upside down in the name of environmentalism.
Fuck you, clown. Check my number, I was here a long time before you, and I'm as hard right as it gets.
I actually remember a time when right-wing and libertarian opinion on this site was as common as all this leftist drivel. Then all the college English-Lit majors thought it would be so kewl to come and hang out with the nerds. Fuck off commie wankers!
Let's not pretend there is a single mainstream politican, republican or democrat, in the country that gives two shits about the enviornment with the exception of gaining support and voter base.
This goes for loud mouthed celebrities and professional do-gooders of all stripes as well.
RFK Jr. has all kinds of coercive, job-killing prescriptions for how the average American should live his life, yet flies around in private jets and opposes wind power in Nantucket Sound because it would spoil the view from the deck of his yacht.
Barbara Streisand and a hundred other Hollywood locusts never shut up about the environment, but live in monstrously wasteful air-conditioned mansions, and tool around Malibu and Beverly Hills in limousines.
Al Gore pompously lectures Middle America about the need for "wrenching change" to their comfortable lifestyles, then goes and has four kids, doubling his own claim on the Earth's non-renewable resources.
If these leftist scumbags really cared about any of this shit, rather than self-aggrandizement and the ammassing of political power, they'd shut up and set a good example through their own actions. But as long as they do not, I will happily and proudly drive around in my Land Cruiser, and global warming be damned.
Lefty scientist (reading aloud from report): We counted 73 mating pairs of yellow-breasted bung suckers in our sector this year. Last year, there were 87. This is clear evidence that global warming is caused by obese SUV drivers, and we cannot rule out the possibility that President Chimpy has been boiling the bung suckers alive to make tallow that he can sell to his friends at Halliburton.
Middle manager (nervously): Ah, very well, but you might want to take out the part about the President and Halliburton. I don't think that's been proven yet.
The WMDs in Iraq is proof that the Bush administration is more than willing to bend the truth to unresonable extremes to support their holy causes.
Can you go over that again? I still haven't figured out how Bush thought that going to war shortly before an election, knowing that there were no WMD's to be found, and not bothering to plant any fakes of his own, would work to the benefit of his "holy causes." Qui bono?
Am I missing something? Did not every serious observer, from John Kerry to MI5, believe that Saddam had WMD's prior to the war? Are you saying that they were all so stupid and gullible that they could be misled by the smooth lies of the inarticulate smirking chimp moron Bushitler?
morals no longer seem to matter in our reltavistic society.
You can say that again. Though I must say, that sounds pretty comical coming from the lips of a leftist... Jacques Derrida, call your office....
It can accomplish a lot. If the police have determined the location of several of these pictures and can locate that a suspect has travelled to these places, it is the basis (albeit not the be-all-end-all) of a good case against them.
I agree. Police agencies surely have a large database of suspected or convicted child molesters. And the hotel should have a database of everyone who has stayed there. A simple SQL query should provide police with a very small, very helpful list of suspects deserving of home searches and interrogation.
Horse shit. Government regulators have a lot to answer for.
Whenever you see wacky pricing like this, it is never a function of pure free-market economics or corporate greed. It is ALWAYS a result of government mucking things up again with taxes, tariffs, onerous rent-seeking regulations, monopoly franchises, or other abuses of free enterprise.
Of course, economically illiterate leftists howl about how it's the fault of Big Business. Or "economists." But it's not. The ignorant leftists did it to themselves, through their love of government regulation.
Your rant is amusing, but laughably wrong. By far the majority of the crimes of Enron (and Global Crossing, and WorldCom, and all of the rest of the recent corporate scandals) actually took place on the watch of the Clinton White House, not the current one.
Bush's Justice Department is prosecuting corporate crooks who committed their crimes under Clinton, yet you use this as an opportunity to slam Bush.
You remind me of a squawking parrot who has been locked in a room with a Michael Moore mockumentary on continuous loop. Your statements are not just unfounded, but the very mirror image of reality. The corporate crooks were, by and large, in bed with Clinton and other prominent Democrats (Rubin, McAuliffe, etc.), and now they are getting prosecuted by Bush, and you think this is a reason to slam the Bush White House?
Much of what you think you know from watching the mainstream media is a lie. Get a grip and quit being blinded to reality by your own irrational hatred, you pathetic ignorant fool.
There is only one thing that will stop global warming. Show women that it is not advantageous to them to have so many babies.
Hear, hear!
That is why I have a hard time taking blowhards like Al Gore seriously. He never stops pontificating about the many ways we selfish peons need to turn our lives upside down to save the Earth, yet he goes and has four kids. His footprint on the Earth's non-renewable resources is twice my own, therefore I will feel no shame in buying a car that uses twice as much fuel as Gore would like to force me to buy.
Same goes for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. This pious hypocrite is overflowing with proposals for coercive governmental action to save Earth from all us greedy SUV drivers, but his lordship sees nothing wrong with flying around in private jets. My Land Cruiser uses as much fuel in a year as he does in one trip back to Hyannisport. Of course, he has four children too, the selfish hypocrite. And what's more, he is opposing the Nantucket Sound wind farm, despite its being the most economically viable location for renewable wind energy in the whole Northeast, because it spoils the views from his family mansion and the deck of his yacht.
Then we get to all the empty-headed Hollywood stars like Barbara Streisand, living in 12,000 s.f. mansions with six different HVAC zones keeping things at a comfy 73 degrees year round, flying around the world in Gulfstream jets, driving in limousines and armored Suburbans, yet shrieking with self-righteous fury as they point their fingers at Joe Six-pack in his pickup truck.
So-- by their actions, these nags and windbags are proving to me that their environmental concerns are mere posturing for their bien-pensant friends and acquaintances. If the situation were truly as dire as they claim, wouldn't they have fewer children and live a more modest lifestyle?
Don't feel so smug, liberals, you are not the intellectual giants you imagine yourselves to be. It takes no more genius to believe in socialist economics than it does to believe in Santa Claus, and for the same reason.
Of course it took only a few posts before someone jumped in with a "Global Warming" scare.
As if giant icebergs never calved off glaciers before the first caveman tamed fire.
I swear, the intellectual sophistication of the watermelon Left (green on the outside, red on the inside) is PATHETIC. Lyndon LaRouche groupies and homeopathic quacks can't hold a candle to you guys, with your glib, sweeping, and laughably wrong assertions.
I learned FORTRAN programming with paper punch cards on a DEC-10 mainframe back in the 70's. It was a big step up when we got paper-feed TTY terminals and could program in BASIC using a real directly-connected keyboard. Eventually I did some COBOL on a VT-52.
It was at least a decade before I got to ANSI C on an IBM compatible, about the time all of you little nose-pickers were born.
you'll lose the ü ö ä etc. but that's just a minor thing since you can easily use alt-u, then the char you need with an umlaut.
How often do German-speakers just say "to hell with it" and make 'ö' to 'oe', 'ü' to 'ue', 'ß' to 'ss', etc. Is that seen as vulgar?
I don't speak German, but I know that nationalists and pedants get very annoyed when the accent marks are dropped in French and Spanish. It is (of course!) just one more excuse for Frenchmen to sneer at America, the other Anglo-Saxon countries, and the Internet.
Slashdot Mirror
Look, jackass, the parent poster was the one grumbling about how "stupid" America is and speculating about moving to Canada where they are presumably ever so much more enlightened. I was pointing out that his assumption that things are better in other countries is not necessarily correct.
I don't like this law any better than he did, but it's not enough to make me call my fellow citizens "stupid" and move to another country, as I am not a leftist ignoramus who looks for the worst in everything.
If anything, this proves the exact opposite of your crack about our "favorite despot". There are some people who take any evidence that America is less than perfect as proof that it is completely and irredeemably imperfect.
-ccm
There is a sign at the site saying "No Photography Permitted", which as far as I know is legitimate, as any reasonably close site from which a picture could be taken is on private property.
There's nothing they can do to prevent you taking a picture of it from a helicopter, assuming you stay clear of FAA flight regulations. But the developers who own 17-Mile Drive, Pebble Beach, etc., also say that the image is part of their trademark, so any commercial use of the image requires paying a fee.
Of course, there are similar or worse restrictions on photography in other countries.
-ccm
The problem is actually worse in a lot of other countries.
For example, in France, a professional photographer must pay 5,000 euros per day for a license to use a tripod when taking photographs of public buildings like the Palace of Versailles. If you can't prove that you are a professional photographer, you may not buy a tripod permit at any price.
Looks like you're the stupid one, after all. But of course, lefty soreheads who belittle the USA are usually ignorant malcontents who don't realize how good they have it.
-ccm
He also said that he's still pissed off about the "Tragedy of Andalusia" of six hundred years ago, and intends to see Spain re-conquered by Islam at the point of a sword. He also said he wants to see Islam conquer all the rest of the infidel world as well. He also said that we could avoid being attacked if we all converted to Islam.
I don't care what his motivations or excuses are. I don't care at all. The only thing I care about is that we put our boot on the throat of the Muslim world and ruthlessly slaughter every Muslim who thinks this way. Every one. Millions if necessary. Kill them fast and hard. I am upset that Bush is not being more aggressive about this.
-ccm
I believe so. Or something very much like it. Remember, Osama and his ilk don't just want us out of the Middle East. They want to wipe Israel off the map, kill every Jew, re-conquer lost Muslim lands such as Spain, and eventually force everyone in the world to become Muslim or die. They are quite clear and vocal about this. So long as we exist in a non-Muslim nation, we are targets for this type of Muslim.
I want my government to find all Muslims who think like this and kill them quickly and ruthlessly.
--ccm
Were you aware that under the laws of Texas, the Governor is powerless to prevent an execution? He can issue a one-time stay of execution for six months, but all pardons, paroles, and commutations have to originate with the state board of pardons.
Personally, I don't think we're putting nearly enough people to death. Most violent felonies, child molestation, etc., ought to be death on the first offense. Three felonies of any kind are proof enough for me that the perpetrator is a sub-human monster who ought to be put down with no more remorse than we spare for a rabid dog.
-ccm
Agreed!
Henceforth I will ignore any blather from the lips of mansion-dwelling Hollywood liberals or hypocritical lefty politicians who want me to turn my life upside down in the name of environmentalism.
Says who? I don't believe you. This country is more heavily forested now than it has been in the past hundred years. Abandoned agricultural land is returning to forest everywhere.
-ccm
I actually remember a time when right-wing and libertarian opinion on this site was as common as all this leftist drivel. Then all the college English-Lit majors thought it would be so kewl to come and hang out with the nerds. Fuck off commie wankers!
-ccm
This goes for loud mouthed celebrities and professional do-gooders of all stripes as well.
RFK Jr. has all kinds of coercive, job-killing prescriptions for how the average American should live his life, yet flies around in private jets and opposes wind power in Nantucket Sound because it would spoil the view from the deck of his yacht.
Barbara Streisand and a hundred other Hollywood locusts never shut up about the environment, but live in monstrously wasteful air-conditioned mansions, and tool around Malibu and Beverly Hills in limousines.
Al Gore pompously lectures Middle America about the need for "wrenching change" to their comfortable lifestyles, then goes and has four kids, doubling his own claim on the Earth's non-renewable resources.
If these leftist scumbags really cared about any of this shit, rather than self-aggrandizement and the ammassing of political power, they'd shut up and set a good example through their own actions. But as long as they do not, I will happily and proudly drive around in my Land Cruiser, and global warming be damned.
-ccm
Middle manager (nervously): Ah, very well, but you might want to take out the part about the President and Halliburton. I don't think that's been proven yet.
Lefty scientist: Oh ho! See? See? Censorship! McCarthy! Halliburton! Enron! Chimpy! Bushitler! WMDs! Arsenic! Kyoto!
Can you go over that again? I still haven't figured out how Bush thought that going to war shortly before an election, knowing that there were no WMD's to be found, and not bothering to plant any fakes of his own, would work to the benefit of his "holy causes." Qui bono?
Am I missing something? Did not every serious observer, from John Kerry to MI5, believe that Saddam had WMD's prior to the war? Are you saying that they were all so stupid and gullible that they could be misled by the smooth lies of the inarticulate smirking chimp moron Bushitler?
morals no longer seem to matter in our reltavistic society.
You can say that again. Though I must say, that sounds pretty comical coming from the lips of a leftist... Jacques Derrida, call your office....
I agree. Police agencies surely have a large database of suspected or convicted child molesters. And the hotel should have a database of everyone who has stayed there. A simple SQL query should provide police with a very small, very helpful list of suspects deserving of home searches and interrogation.
-ccm
Horse shit. Government regulators have a lot to answer for.
Whenever you see wacky pricing like this, it is never a function of pure free-market economics or corporate greed. It is ALWAYS a result of government mucking things up again with taxes, tariffs, onerous rent-seeking regulations, monopoly franchises, or other abuses of free enterprise.
Of course, economically illiterate leftists howl about how it's the fault of Big Business. Or "economists." But it's not. The ignorant leftists did it to themselves, through their love of government regulation.
-ccm
Bush's Justice Department is prosecuting corporate crooks who committed their crimes under Clinton, yet you use this as an opportunity to slam Bush.
You remind me of a squawking parrot who has been locked in a room with a Michael Moore mockumentary on continuous loop. Your statements are not just unfounded, but the very mirror image of reality. The corporate crooks were, by and large, in bed with Clinton and other prominent Democrats (Rubin, McAuliffe, etc.), and now they are getting prosecuted by Bush, and you think this is a reason to slam the Bush White House?
Much of what you think you know from watching the mainstream media is a lie. Get a grip and quit being blinded to reality by your own irrational hatred, you pathetic ignorant fool.
-ccm
Hear, hear!
That is why I have a hard time taking blowhards like Al Gore seriously. He never stops pontificating about the many ways we selfish peons need to turn our lives upside down to save the Earth, yet he goes and has four kids. His footprint on the Earth's non-renewable resources is twice my own, therefore I will feel no shame in buying a car that uses twice as much fuel as Gore would like to force me to buy.
Same goes for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. This pious hypocrite is overflowing with proposals for coercive governmental action to save Earth from all us greedy SUV drivers, but his lordship sees nothing wrong with flying around in private jets. My Land Cruiser uses as much fuel in a year as he does in one trip back to Hyannisport. Of course, he has four children too, the selfish hypocrite. And what's more, he is opposing the Nantucket Sound wind farm, despite its being the most economically viable location for renewable wind energy in the whole Northeast, because it spoils the views from his family mansion and the deck of his yacht.
Then we get to all the empty-headed Hollywood stars like Barbara Streisand, living in 12,000 s.f. mansions with six different HVAC zones keeping things at a comfy 73 degrees year round, flying around the world in Gulfstream jets, driving in limousines and armored Suburbans, yet shrieking with self-righteous fury as they point their fingers at Joe Six-pack in his pickup truck.
So-- by their actions, these nags and windbags are proving to me that their environmental concerns are mere posturing for their bien-pensant friends and acquaintances. If the situation were truly as dire as they claim, wouldn't they have fewer children and live a more modest lifestyle?
-ccm
"Earth has been cooler"
Surely you are not implying that this is a myth?
Both of these statements are true, to a much higher degree of certainty than the existence of anthropogenic global warming at present.
-ccm
Of course not, we just build the hardware they run on.
Don't feel so smug, liberals, you are not the intellectual giants you imagine yourselves to be. It takes no more genius to believe in socialist economics than it does to believe in Santa Claus, and for the same reason.
-ccm
And I LOVE my Mac!
-ccm
Mod parent funny. I'm a Bush man, but I know when to say 'touché.'
-ccm
As if giant icebergs never calved off glaciers before the first caveman tamed fire.
I swear, the intellectual sophistication of the watermelon Left (green on the outside, red on the inside) is PATHETIC. Lyndon LaRouche groupies and homeopathic quacks can't hold a candle to you guys, with your glib, sweeping, and laughably wrong assertions.
I learned FORTRAN programming with paper punch cards on a DEC-10 mainframe back in the 70's. It was a big step up when we got paper-feed TTY terminals and could program in BASIC using a real directly-connected keyboard. Eventually I did some COBOL on a VT-52.
It was at least a decade before I got to ANSI C on an IBM compatible, about the time all of you little nose-pickers were born.
-ccm
Control4 looks especially interesting.
-ccm
How often do German-speakers just say "to hell with it" and make 'ö' to 'oe', 'ü' to 'ue', 'ß' to 'ss', etc. Is that seen as vulgar?
I don't speak German, but I know that nationalists and pedants get very annoyed when the accent marks are dropped in French and Spanish. It is (of course!) just one more excuse for Frenchmen to sneer at America, the other Anglo-Saxon countries, and the Internet.