It's sad when you, or I, or anyone gets modded down for stating their opinions and views. Truly sad. Chances are, the people doing so aren't intelligent enough to participate in the discussion, but they can see that your views don't match the latest soundbytes from their favorite talking heads.
No matter how many arms you should, or do, keep in your armory, there is no excuse for the militant attitudes we see reported all around the nation today.
A nintey-something veteran killed, because he refused to take medications? A mentally challenged adult male refused to get into the ambulance that was taking him to an appointment, so his OBVIOUSLY mentally challenged mother calls the cops for assistance - and they kill him. Just a day or two ago, a young teen saw spotted with a replica assault rifle, with an orange plug sticking our of the "barrel" - and the cops killed him. Again, and again, and again, we read of gung-ho trigger happy cops killing people, often enough when they have gone to the wrong address to raid for drugs.
The militarization of the police forces includes attitudes and goals, as much as it refers to the weapons they choose to carry.
Deploying a swat team to investigate a false alarm from a medical alert device is just infuckingSANE. I believe that dude was in New York, and another veteran.
What I fear is, the Neocons have their sights set on one or more countries already, and they're just waiting for their next stooge to be elected to act.
Of course, the stooge in the White House now was dead set on starting a war in Syria. We the people lose either way.
Indeed they do. That phrase was used to defraud the American people out of billions of dollars. And, I stand by my original statement. If you require explanation, then here it is: Those banks should have been allowed to fail, or they should have been nationalized, then parceled out at auction. We have witnessed (I have, at least, I'm getting close to 60) huge banks swallowing smaller banks for decades. Hostile takeovers and such nonsense, have resulted in thousands of hometown banks and neighborhood banks disappearing from the landscape. We don't NEED those huge megacorporation banks, and no one in their right mind wants them.
BofA and all the rest should have been broken up, assets sold to small-time people with the will and the skills necessary to run them.
"To big to fail" literally means "to damned big for anyone's good".
"requiring them to give up rights is a a reasonable cost for that."
I disagree. In fact, I strongly disagree, for multiple reasons.
First - a corporation exists at the sufferance of the people. So long as a corporation offers a service or a product that they people actually want or need, the people suffer it's existence, and in fact, subsidize that existence. But, a corporation has no "right" to exist.
Second - the PEOPLE who comprise the corporation can not be coerced or persuaded to "give up rights". Becoming a member of a corporation, in any capacity, does not require that any individual surrender any right, whatsoever.
Third - the government's only concerns with corporations should be that a) they pay their fair share of taxes and b) that they aren't defrauding the people and c) that their product is safe for consumer's use. When government goes beyond those legitimate concerns, they are in fact trampling on the rights of the individuals associated with that corporation.
A board of directors, and the CEO's, collectively, have the right to decide how much they will cooperate with law enforcement and/or the government.
Bingo. Even at the height of prohibition, when Al Capone and his ilk were carrying Thompsons, the police forces throughout most of our nation were still carrying six-shooters. City police forces didn't respond to Tommy guns by purchasing tanks and bazookas. Alright, so maybe New York, Los Angeles and Chicago don't have tanks today, but they do have APC's that they refer to as "rescue vehicles". Mounting a machine gun or a small cannon on one of these is simple enough. A similar model with a main gun isn't much of a reach at all.
I'm only partly guilty of mixing metaphors. 1984 also had it's "forever war", but didn't use that precise term. "We've always been at war with Eastasia"
AC already stated the obvious - we never were a democracy, constitutional or otherwise. We are a constitutional REPUBLIC. There are some subtle differences between the two. Government seems to like to promote the idea that it is a democratic government, which encourages fools to act in a stupid manner. In a democracy, at least theoretically, the majority rules. In a republic, the majority's voice is easily ignored. With a tyrannical government, no one even listens to the people's voice. We haven't become a tyranny yet, but we are moving in that direction.
Remember - we "knew" a lot of what Snowden reported. We just didn't have public awareness. I could search to see when the first post on Slashdot told us about things like Echelon and Carnivore. Those programs have simply evolved and grown over the past two decades, Snowden didn't actually report anything "new". We gave our tacit consent years ago, and the NSA has taken the ball and run with it. Let's be grateful that Snowden managed to wake up some of the masses, but let's not exaggerate what he has done.
The American people have the power to change this - UNTIL the second amendment is defeated. Have you noticed how the Democrats support gun control? Just like some National Socialist in the 1930's, at every opportunity our Democratic Socialist party today wants to undermine a free man's right to keep and bear arms.
The right to keep and bear arms is the defining difference between a free man and a slave.
You HAVE read 1984, right? We are actually in a Forever War. The War on Drugs has become the War on Terrorism, and every year our "police forces" become more and more militarized.
How can you possibly know that? The Bush administration was arguably the most secretive administration ever. The fact that the Obama administration has let slip 100 times more than the Bush admin did, does not indicate that Obama is more prying than Bush. It MAY only mean that Obama/Biden is more inept than Bush/Cheney. That, plus there are more whistle blowers.
Do you have any citations, regarding the number of executioners deriving pleasure from the killing? I've never personally met an executioner, but the reading I've done suggests that few if any enjoy the job.
Heh - I agree. I'm a meat eater, and I have butchered my own meat. Pork, venison, and beef. Yes, it's eye opening. Everyone should have the experience.
Could I pull the trigger on a guy I had condemned? Yeah. Would I enjoy it? Nope - not one bit. But, yes, I could do it.
Funny thing is - fewer people than ever would be condemned to death, if the people condemning had to perform the execution. Few people are willing, even if they are able, to perform the task.
I invite you to get out into the countryside, and to learn about those local schools.
I'm a transplant to Arkansas. I attended a relatively wealthy school district in Pennsylvania. My wife grew up here. She attended a high school where the graduating class ranged from ten to thirty students over a one hundred year history. That little school excelled. I mean, it seriously excelled. Students routinely placed very high in all college tests, military tests, you name it.
Soon after our kids started school in that same school, governor Bill Clinton made it his business to start consolidating smaller schools with larger schools. Our kids attended k-6 in the old school building, but the high school kids were being bussed to another school, in another county. Today - the old small school system is completely gone - everyone is bussed somewhere.
And - all of the schools involved have attained a roughly equal level of mediocrity.
Excellence in education doesn't depend on large sums of money. Really, it doesn't. The fact is, schools that have a lot of money today, tend to spend that money on sports, rather than education.
The guy on Linux is MORE LIKELY to be secure than the guy running Windows.
Not because it's LInux - but because the guy on Linux is PROBABLY more savvy than the Windows guy. You will note please, that I said PROBABLY. A truly tech savvy Windows administrator can give the best Linux guy a run for his money. But, hundreds of millions of Windows users are truly clueless.
Uhhhmmmm - a number of people are clueless. That's ONE reason to commit nefarious deeds on the internet using Windows.
Other people think they are smarter than you, me, or the government, and they believe they can actually "secure" Windows against attack.
I have "met" one guy, who actually, seriously believes that Win98 was the last secure version of Windows. He won't trust any more modern version of Windows - and never did trust anything else. The guy is weird, what can I say? But, he's probably not unique.
The BEST idea is, if you are intent on subverting the government - don't use the internet to do it.
Slashdot Mirror
You misunderstand. I'm not cheering for the cops to be outgunned. I am booing the cops showing up at every opportunity, loaded for bear.
It's sad when you, or I, or anyone gets modded down for stating their opinions and views. Truly sad. Chances are, the people doing so aren't intelligent enough to participate in the discussion, but they can see that your views don't match the latest soundbytes from their favorite talking heads.
More important that Al Queda's motivation or abilities, is our willingness to drastically alter our way of life in response to them.
What was it old Ben said? Something about, those who are willing to lay aside essential liberties for security are deserving of neither.
No matter how many arms you should, or do, keep in your armory, there is no excuse for the militant attitudes we see reported all around the nation today.
A nintey-something veteran killed, because he refused to take medications?
A mentally challenged adult male refused to get into the ambulance that was taking him to an appointment, so his OBVIOUSLY mentally challenged mother calls the cops for assistance - and they kill him.
Just a day or two ago, a young teen saw spotted with a replica assault rifle, with an orange plug sticking our of the "barrel" - and the cops killed him.
Again, and again, and again, we read of gung-ho trigger happy cops killing people, often enough when they have gone to the wrong address to raid for drugs.
The militarization of the police forces includes attitudes and goals, as much as it refers to the weapons they choose to carry.
Deploying a swat team to investigate a false alarm from a medical alert device is just infuckingSANE. I believe that dude was in New York, and another veteran.
What I fear is, the Neocons have their sights set on one or more countries already, and they're just waiting for their next stooge to be elected to act.
Of course, the stooge in the White House now was dead set on starting a war in Syria. We the people lose either way.
Indeed they do. That phrase was used to defraud the American people out of billions of dollars. And, I stand by my original statement. If you require explanation, then here it is: Those banks should have been allowed to fail, or they should have been nationalized, then parceled out at auction. We have witnessed (I have, at least, I'm getting close to 60) huge banks swallowing smaller banks for decades. Hostile takeovers and such nonsense, have resulted in thousands of hometown banks and neighborhood banks disappearing from the landscape. We don't NEED those huge megacorporation banks, and no one in their right mind wants them.
BofA and all the rest should have been broken up, assets sold to small-time people with the will and the skills necessary to run them.
"To big to fail" literally means "to damned big for anyone's good".
"requiring them to give up rights is a a reasonable cost for that."
I disagree. In fact, I strongly disagree, for multiple reasons.
First - a corporation exists at the sufferance of the people. So long as a corporation offers a service or a product that they people actually want or need, the people suffer it's existence, and in fact, subsidize that existence. But, a corporation has no "right" to exist.
Second - the PEOPLE who comprise the corporation can not be coerced or persuaded to "give up rights". Becoming a member of a corporation, in any capacity, does not require that any individual surrender any right, whatsoever.
Third - the government's only concerns with corporations should be that a) they pay their fair share of taxes and b) that they aren't defrauding the people and c) that their product is safe for consumer's use. When government goes beyond those legitimate concerns, they are in fact trampling on the rights of the individuals associated with that corporation.
A board of directors, and the CEO's, collectively, have the right to decide how much they will cooperate with law enforcement and/or the government.
Bingo. Even at the height of prohibition, when Al Capone and his ilk were carrying Thompsons, the police forces throughout most of our nation were still carrying six-shooters. City police forces didn't respond to Tommy guns by purchasing tanks and bazookas. Alright, so maybe New York, Los Angeles and Chicago don't have tanks today, but they do have APC's that they refer to as "rescue vehicles". Mounting a machine gun or a small cannon on one of these is simple enough. A similar model with a main gun isn't much of a reach at all.
I'm only partly guilty of mixing metaphors. 1984 also had it's "forever war", but didn't use that precise term. "We've always been at war with Eastasia"
AC already stated the obvious - we never were a democracy, constitutional or otherwise. We are a constitutional REPUBLIC. There are some subtle differences between the two. Government seems to like to promote the idea that it is a democratic government, which encourages fools to act in a stupid manner. In a democracy, at least theoretically, the majority rules. In a republic, the majority's voice is easily ignored. With a tyrannical government, no one even listens to the people's voice. We haven't become a tyranny yet, but we are moving in that direction.
Remember - we "knew" a lot of what Snowden reported. We just didn't have public awareness. I could search to see when the first post on Slashdot told us about things like Echelon and Carnivore. Those programs have simply evolved and grown over the past two decades, Snowden didn't actually report anything "new". We gave our tacit consent years ago, and the NSA has taken the ball and run with it. Let's be grateful that Snowden managed to wake up some of the masses, but let's not exaggerate what he has done.
The American people have the power to change this - UNTIL the second amendment is defeated. Have you noticed how the Democrats support gun control? Just like some National Socialist in the 1930's, at every opportunity our Democratic Socialist party today wants to undermine a free man's right to keep and bear arms.
The right to keep and bear arms is the defining difference between a free man and a slave.
You HAVE read 1984, right? We are actually in a Forever War. The War on Drugs has become the War on Terrorism, and every year our "police forces" become more and more militarized.
"expanded it 100-fold."
How can you possibly know that? The Bush administration was arguably the most secretive administration ever. The fact that the Obama administration has let slip 100 times more than the Bush admin did, does not indicate that Obama is more prying than Bush. It MAY only mean that Obama/Biden is more inept than Bush/Cheney. That, plus there are more whistle blowers.
You err. Extraordinary men are called by rank - ordinary men are called "civilian".
Don't they have a pill for anal retentive people yet?
Do you have any citations, regarding the number of executioners deriving pleasure from the killing? I've never personally met an executioner, but the reading I've done suggests that few if any enjoy the job.
Heh - I agree. I'm a meat eater, and I have butchered my own meat. Pork, venison, and beef. Yes, it's eye opening. Everyone should have the experience.
Could I pull the trigger on a guy I had condemned? Yeah. Would I enjoy it? Nope - not one bit. But, yes, I could do it.
Funny thing is - fewer people than ever would be condemned to death, if the people condemning had to perform the execution. Few people are willing, even if they are able, to perform the task.
Those tough talking weenies are always so amusing. "My neighborhood is the baddest in the world" but they've never been anywhere to compare it to.
I invite you to get out into the countryside, and to learn about those local schools.
I'm a transplant to Arkansas. I attended a relatively wealthy school district in Pennsylvania. My wife grew up here. She attended a high school where the graduating class ranged from ten to thirty students over a one hundred year history. That little school excelled. I mean, it seriously excelled. Students routinely placed very high in all college tests, military tests, you name it.
Soon after our kids started school in that same school, governor Bill Clinton made it his business to start consolidating smaller schools with larger schools. Our kids attended k-6 in the old school building, but the high school kids were being bussed to another school, in another county. Today - the old small school system is completely gone - everyone is bussed somewhere.
And - all of the schools involved have attained a roughly equal level of mediocrity.
Excellence in education doesn't depend on large sums of money. Really, it doesn't. The fact is, schools that have a lot of money today, tend to spend that money on sports, rather than education.
http://espn.go.com/dallas/story/_/id/8323104/allen-texas-high-school-ready-unveils-60m-football-facility
The wig improves internet reception?
LOL - I missed that. I run Debian these days. Ubuntu is Debian based. Yeah, I know - it isn't Debian, it is merely Debian based. Sorry!
No miracle at all. If installing the driver is a challenge, just get smxi scripts to do it for you.
http://smxi.org/site/about.htm
The guy on Linux is MORE LIKELY to be secure than the guy running Windows.
Not because it's LInux - but because the guy on Linux is PROBABLY more savvy than the Windows guy. You will note please, that I said PROBABLY. A truly tech savvy Windows administrator can give the best Linux guy a run for his money. But, hundreds of millions of Windows users are truly clueless.
Uhhhmmmm - a number of people are clueless. That's ONE reason to commit nefarious deeds on the internet using Windows.
Other people think they are smarter than you, me, or the government, and they believe they can actually "secure" Windows against attack.
I have "met" one guy, who actually, seriously believes that Win98 was the last secure version of Windows. He won't trust any more modern version of Windows - and never did trust anything else. The guy is weird, what can I say? But, he's probably not unique.
The BEST idea is, if you are intent on subverting the government - don't use the internet to do it.