The number of groups who want to prosecute people for incorrect thoughts and speech grows by the day.
To watch the liberals, who have taken us down this path, arguing the legal definition of this or that is quite depressing. At least a few people are intelligent and aware enough to realize where we are headed, will they be able to grab the wheel long enough to change course? I am beginning to doubt it.
It is astounding to me that anyone in their right mind would:
Defend any of this under any circumstances
Blame it on the victim - Fox News and the A/P
Pretend this happened as an isolated incident. Pretend that the DHS never went after political enemies, the EPA didn't grant waivers to friends and aggressively prosecute political enemies, the IRS didn't grant 501(c)(4) to thousands and thousands of liberal groups, and deny thousands and thousands of conservative groups the same treatment, the DOJ didn't selectively enforce all kinds of laws based on politics.
Invoke the "Well the other guy committed a crime that maybe was kind of sort of the same as this, so that justifies all the crimes my guy committed" defense.
The plain truth is that we have an administration that wants to persecute people for incorrect thoughts and speech. This should fill any intelligent thinking person with sheer terror. Especially those who talk about "fairness" and the need to defend "individual liberties"
I suggest the people reading this outlandish exchange... take some time and read the British press websites. Do it for a few years. Read the left and right wing papers. Then go back and consider the statement that their healthcare system does a, and I quote "great job"
Given that his solution is to increase funding (raise taxes) we certainly know where is coming from. No matter what the problem, throw more money at it, that always increases efficiency in government programs.
No worries for me. In Obama's Amerika I'll be denied health care because I am not a converted progressive troll. Hey, the IRS is doing it. The DHS is doing it. The EPA is doing it. Do you think that ObamaCare will be any different? Fortunately I have sufficient funds to pay for my own health care. The rest of you will get what you voted for so no whining!
The cities with the strongest gun control laws - have the most gun crime.
The public believes gun violence is on the rise. Actually, the exact opposite is true.
The argument against an armed citizenry goes like this "When more people have guns, there are more gun accidents, its a fact". Actually, that statement is a lie at worst, selective statistics at best -- that treat being brutally murdered the same as accidentally burning myself.
What else about guns do I really need to know? Not much.
Our elected officials are dumber than you could possibly imagine.
Thank you so much for speaking actual reality instead of the blathering I read here about how the government can solve all our problems because they are so smart, and so enlightened, and so educated!! Let me add:
Never underestimate the idiocy of large numbers of humans in groups.
You are correct. Add to this the cozy relationship between the Administrators and the Politicians, and the natural tendency to create benefit and retirement packages that the taxpayers will never, ever be able to pay for...
So you're a racist, homophobic right wing nut job clinging to guns and religion, totally out of touch with what is good for America.
Soon the IRS will show you what the penalty is for incorrect thoughts, and speech. Please report to the nearest train station, bring warm clothes, and a shovel.
If you don't think this is where we are headed, please remove head from ass, or sand, and pay attention.
The electric car in 1908 had a range of about 40 miles, and took 6-8 hours to charge. Back then a lot of folks thought all cars would be electric.
Fast forward one hundred years and the electric car has a range of about 45 miles, takes 4 hours to charge. Today, a lot of folks want all cars to be electric.
What? Our government wasted billions of dollars on this kind of research and an 18 year old kid solved the problem? OMFG!! The Oil Companies will be out of business in months, and the progressive utopian unicorn fantasy of renewable energy will come true! Nobody will have to work, or pay taxes, or do anything other than party and fornicate. Yippeee!!
Oh wait, it's just a salacious headline designed to get my attention.... with no basis in reality.
Thanks Slashdot. Betcha some nut job argues with me this week that the electric car with the batteries that recharge in 30 seconds has already been invented, and reminds me what a horrible, terrible person I am for driving a full sized pickup truck.
In other words, use the laws to punish your political enemies, selectively.
Isn't that exactly the system we are marching towards anyway? Don't enforce the laws we have, in order to whip up the public emotions, in order to pass more draconian laws?
Many people willingly support this out of a lack of knowledge.
Let's put the Federal Government in charge of everything, screw the States, eradicate them. Let's let some civil servant, who wasn't elected, and isn't accountable to anybody in charge of everything.
This system worked so well for the Soviet Union, why it was a worker's paradise! The stores were always full of products to buy, the engine of commerce ran perfectly, and everybody was happy.
We don't need no stinkin constitution with separation of powers. Just enlightened, progressive intellectuals with book learning.
Instead of lowering the BAC, let's outlaw bottles and cans. That makes much more sense. We can stop driving and texting by outlawing smart phones. We can stop smoking by outlawing fire. A citizens's army, ratting each other out for more food rations, that's the way to go about this.
Restaurants and Bars? Screw them, They are just evil capitalists exploiting the workers in the name of greed. Liquor producers? They give money to Republicans!! They are pure evil and need to be destroyed. Put every Federal Agency on investigating them. Oh wait, we already did that last one, never mind.
Besides, who gave you the right to decide how much you can drink? The Federal Government knows how you should behave, and think. They know what you should eat, and not eat, and if you want to live in a free, open society you must have the correct words, and thoughts or you are a menace to everyone, and must be eliminated for the good of the overall health of the nation.
Even if we had the technology to record every bit that flows across the Internet (Petabytes and Petabytes of data)... and a way to catalog and index it... and the storage to save it for a very long time... there is the human factor to consider.
The more humans that are involved, the greater the inefficiency, the slower decisions are made, and less gets done. Information is compartmentalized, as information translates to political power, and influence. The kind of organization required to operate a system of this magnitude... only exists in movies, and in the minds of the conspiracy theorist, who has little experience dealing with large organizations.
Look at the Boston Marathon debacle. The inter-agency squabbles were in full play. The only reason we caught the guys at all was due to the vigilance of a few ordinary folks. The billions doled out by DHS to the states and cities produced a lot of fancy paramilitary equipment being driven around, none of it was all that useful. After the event far more resources are being expended spinning the wheel of blame, as everybody tries to cover their asses.
Republicans the best choice? Those ARE the folks who gave us the TSA, in case your memory is conveniently lost.
Ah "The Beloved Liberal Narrative" a.k.a. "propaganda" that immediately follows any comment that tarnishes the beloved and glorious people's party.
If a Republican is in the White House, the he and he alone is responsible for EVERYTHING that happens under his watch, even when there is an overwhelming Democratic majority in the house. If there is a Democrat in the white house, then they are responsible for nothing bad - that's the Republicans fault - and if a Republican majority in the house accomplishes something good - then the Democrats take all the credit. "The Narrative" says that Democrats are as pure as the driven snow, the Republicans are pure evil, people who hate grandma, want to starve children, etc. I am so, so, so tired of this brainwashed, knee jerk reaction to everything.
So let's talk about something called THE TRUTH:
After 9/11 the cabinet, the Congress, the Administration - EVERYBODY identified two challenges 1) Security at Airports needed to be tightened 2) We had serious inter agency communication problems. The solutions that EVERYBODY came up with were the TSA and the DHS.
Like many well intentioned government ideas the execution only succeeded in creating new silos, new fiefdoms, and new ways to squander the taxpayer's money. The TSA fails it's own security tests just about every time. It's created a lot of nice, cushy jobs, that pay union dues (money for Democrats, yeah!) and a number of juicy contracts that were split across powerful senators districts (money for Republican's yeah!), but other than spread our money around to buy influence and votes it is a complete and utter failure. DHS has sucked an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars, and has accomplished the exact opposite of what was intended. The Boston marathon bombings demonstrated to everyone that the DHS is IMPEDING inter-agency communication, not improving it. All that fancy paramilitary equipment that the cities bought with DHS money couldn't find ONE GUY. The pot bellied cops driving the things were an embarrassment. The printed material, press releases, announcements, etc. that come out of both of these agencies is, at times, laughingly incompetent.
So please, people, put your brainwashing aside, stop the wheel of blame, and just admit that both of these agencies are a complete and utter failure, a perfect example of how good government goes bad. They need to be eliminated, now, we cannot afford them anyway. The old way of handling national security worked better, cost less, and was just as effective.
This doesn't work because the Justice department is now a political arm of the Executive branch, and only enforces the laws they are told to enforce for political reasons.
You don't actually have any business skills, do you?
So what you are suggesting is that as business owner, I should spend thousands of dollars training people (during which time they generate no income) in the hopes that a few of them will stay with me long enough to recoup the cost of training -- When the reality is that many of them will take the training and leave, and many of them will turn out to be poor employees anyway.
And I'm sure you are dead set against me passing those higher costs on to YOU, upon which time you'll declare me evil and greedy....
The job market is selectively bad. If you are a 20 something it's terrible. If you're in your 40's or 50's and are an honest, hardworking person it's pretty good. If you're a minority, you're screwed. What I can't figure out is how the Democrats manage to screw their biggest constituencies year after year and yet these people remain loyal.
Your statements are the "narrative" and they are, as is often the case, completely false.
"supposed" increase - Are you an employer" Do you know the actual cost of premiums? I am, and they have gone up since Obamacare started taking effect.
The largest cost increases are coming because the government is terribly inefficient compared to private industry, and because Obamcare forces everyone into the same plan. It is as if you walked into the car dealership, and and the only car you can buy is a Cadillac.
The government is "solving" these problems by lowering payments to providers. This is exactly what they are doing with Medicare, and this is exactly what they are going to do with Obamacare. They have no choice. So sure, theoretically everyone has coverage, but the reality is that fewer and fewer providers will see patients. Less providers, lower quality of care for everyone. This is exactly what they did in the UK, which is why people die waiting for operations. This is what we are in for. In every country where they have single payer, this is what the operators of the system have done. No exceptions. Have you visited these places?
By doing this they are forcing people to die - yes, that is exactly what they are doing TODAY with Medicare. This isn't some theoretical ideological battle my friend. Obamacare isn't fully implemented and already the quality of coverage for many of us has gone down while the prices have gone up.
Remember, the "narrative" said our premiums wouldn't go up. The "narrative"... is a LIE.
What eventually happens in a government command and control system is the same thing that has happened for the last three, four thousand years.
A small group of extremely smart folks with zero compassion for their fellow man eventually enslave everyone else and live glorious lives of pure narcissistic pleasure.
Remember this, all you liberals screaming for the complete elimination of the opposition. You aren't going to get UTOPIA you're going to get the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Medieval Rule, the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, etc. etc. etc. We are a lot closer to this today than we ever have been already.
Whenever you read a DIRE prediction about anything, you need to translate this immediately to:
Budget battle underway, cut in funding is imminent, must create panic now.
This has been going on ever since Governments started handing out your money to people who's ideas weren't good enough to survive in the free market.
I predict that in the next ten years, people will continue to shout their ideology at each other while claiming to understand science, physics, and math better than the other guy. People will believe damn near anything if it's dire enough, worrisome enough, and has the end of life as we know it associated with it. Double this effect if some amorphous entity is setup as the straw man to be hated and despised, particularly if the believer can be convinced that these entities have it better than they do. The more emotion, the more proven the "science". The simple fact that GREED is one of the most powerful of all human forces next to LOVE is lost on many people. A FEW people here get this, and they are to be commended. I'd wager they are older than your average "The World is going to End unless" folks.
Microsoft's big clients (The Fortune 500, the U.S. Military) are the customers that drive Microsoft's decisions.
There's a few of those left running XP, this ensures that they upgrade.
Microsoft support if you are a big fish - is absolutely phenomenal. When I was working for a big fish, they were the most responsive company I have ever worked with. Now I am a little fish, I can hardly get them to answer the phone, and when they do, I get a completely clueless person...
Slashdot Mirror
The number of groups who want to prosecute people for incorrect thoughts and speech grows by the day.
To watch the liberals, who have taken us down this path, arguing the legal definition of this or that is quite depressing. At least a few people are intelligent and aware enough to realize where we are headed, will they be able to grab the wheel long enough to change course? I am beginning to doubt it.
It is astounding to me that anyone in their right mind would:
Defend any of this under any circumstances
Blame it on the victim - Fox News and the A/P
Pretend this happened as an isolated incident. Pretend that the DHS never went after political enemies, the EPA didn't grant waivers to friends and aggressively prosecute political enemies, the IRS didn't grant 501(c)(4) to thousands and thousands of liberal groups, and deny thousands and thousands of conservative groups the same treatment, the DOJ didn't selectively enforce all kinds of laws based on politics.
Invoke the "Well the other guy committed a crime that maybe was kind of sort of the same as this, so that justifies all the crimes my guy committed" defense.
The plain truth is that we have an administration that wants to persecute people for incorrect thoughts and speech. This should fill any intelligent thinking person with sheer terror. Especially those who talk about "fairness" and the need to defend "individual liberties"
We have alignment here my new friend.
I suggest the people reading this outlandish exchange... take some time and read the British press websites. Do it for a few years. Read the left and right wing papers. Then go back and consider the statement that their healthcare system does a, and I quote "great job"
Given that his solution is to increase funding (raise taxes) we certainly know where is coming from. No matter what the problem, throw more money at it, that always increases efficiency in government programs.
No worries for me. In Obama's Amerika I'll be denied health care because I am not a converted progressive troll. Hey, the IRS is doing it. The DHS is doing it. The EPA is doing it. Do you think that ObamaCare will be any different? Fortunately I have sufficient funds to pay for my own health care. The rest of you will get what you voted for so no whining!
The cities with the strongest gun control laws - have the most gun crime.
The public believes gun violence is on the rise. Actually, the exact opposite is true.
The argument against an armed citizenry goes like this "When more people have guns, there are more gun accidents, its a fact". Actually, that statement is a lie at worst, selective statistics at best -- that treat being brutally murdered the same as accidentally burning myself.
What else about guns do I really need to know? Not much.
Our elected officials are dumber than you could possibly imagine.
Thank you so much for speaking actual reality instead of the blathering I read here about how the government can solve all our problems because they are so smart, and so enlightened, and so educated!! Let me add:
Never underestimate the idiocy of large numbers of humans in groups.
You must be the exception, or an OFA troll. To claim that the N.I.H. in the UK does a "great job" is a fantasy of astounding proportions.
You are correct. Add to this the cozy relationship between the Administrators and the Politicians, and the natural tendency to create benefit and retirement packages that the taxpayers will never, ever be able to pay for...
OMFG you dared question "THE NARRATIVE"
So you're a racist, homophobic right wing nut job clinging to guns and religion, totally out of touch with what is good for America.
Soon the IRS will show you what the penalty is for incorrect thoughts, and speech. Please report to the nearest train station, bring warm clothes, and a shovel.
If you don't think this is where we are headed, please remove head from ass, or sand, and pay attention.
Have you ever actually LIVED in a country where they have single payer, or just read about it?
It works great, as long as you don't get sick, or grow old. Ask somebody in their sixties, or seventies with health problems, not a twenty year old.
Agreed, probably longer.
The electric car in 1908 had a range of about 40 miles, and took 6-8 hours to charge. Back then a lot of folks thought all cars would be electric.
Fast forward one hundred years and the electric car has a range of about 45 miles, takes 4 hours to charge. Today, a lot of folks want all cars to be electric.
Do the math...
What? Our government wasted billions of dollars on this kind of research and an 18 year old kid solved the problem? OMFG!! The Oil Companies will be out of business in months, and the progressive utopian unicorn fantasy of renewable energy will come true! Nobody will have to work, or pay taxes, or do anything other than party and fornicate. Yippeee!!
Oh wait, it's just a salacious headline designed to get my attention.... with no basis in reality.
Thanks Slashdot. Betcha some nut job argues with me this week that the electric car with the batteries that recharge in 30 seconds has already been invented, and reminds me what a horrible, terrible person I am for driving a full sized pickup truck.
In other words, use the laws to punish your political enemies, selectively.
Isn't that exactly the system we are marching towards anyway? Don't enforce the laws we have, in order to whip up the public emotions, in order to pass more draconian laws?
Many people willingly support this out of a lack of knowledge.
Let's put the Federal Government in charge of everything, screw the States, eradicate them. Let's let some civil servant, who wasn't elected, and isn't accountable to anybody in charge of everything.
This system worked so well for the Soviet Union, why it was a worker's paradise! The stores were always full of products to buy, the engine of commerce ran perfectly, and everybody was happy.
We don't need no stinkin constitution with separation of powers. Just enlightened, progressive intellectuals with book learning.
Instead of lowering the BAC, let's outlaw bottles and cans. That makes much more sense. We can stop driving and texting by outlawing smart phones. We can stop smoking by outlawing fire. A citizens's army, ratting each other out for more food rations, that's the way to go about this.
Restaurants and Bars? Screw them, They are just evil capitalists exploiting the workers in the name of greed. Liquor producers? They give money to Republicans!! They are pure evil and need to be destroyed. Put every Federal Agency on investigating them. Oh wait, we already did that last one, never mind.
Besides, who gave you the right to decide how much you can drink? The Federal Government knows how you should behave, and think. They know what you should eat, and not eat, and if you want to live in a free, open society you must have the correct words, and thoughts or you are a menace to everyone, and must be eliminated for the good of the overall health of the nation.
Even if we had the technology to record every bit that flows across the Internet (Petabytes and Petabytes of data)... and a way to catalog and index it... and the storage to save it for a very long time... there is the human factor to consider.
The more humans that are involved, the greater the inefficiency, the slower decisions are made, and less gets done. Information is compartmentalized, as information translates to political power, and influence. The kind of organization required to operate a system of this magnitude... only exists in movies, and in the minds of the conspiracy theorist, who has little experience dealing with large organizations.
Look at the Boston Marathon debacle. The inter-agency squabbles were in full play. The only reason we caught the guys at all was due to the vigilance of a few ordinary folks. The billions doled out by DHS to the states and cities produced a lot of fancy paramilitary equipment being driven around, none of it was all that useful. After the event far more resources are being expended spinning the wheel of blame, as everybody tries to cover their asses.
Do you live in Michigan, Douglas? Or are you just spouting OFA propaganda?
Republicans the best choice? Those ARE the folks who gave us the TSA, in case your memory is conveniently lost.
Ah "The Beloved Liberal Narrative" a.k.a. "propaganda" that immediately follows any comment that tarnishes the beloved and glorious people's party.
If a Republican is in the White House, the he and he alone is responsible for EVERYTHING that happens under his watch, even when there is an overwhelming Democratic majority in the house. If there is a Democrat in the white house, then they are responsible for nothing bad - that's the Republicans fault - and if a Republican majority in the house accomplishes something good - then the Democrats take all the credit. "The Narrative" says that Democrats are as pure as the driven snow, the Republicans are pure evil, people who hate grandma, want to starve children, etc. I am so, so, so tired of this brainwashed, knee jerk reaction to everything.
So let's talk about something called THE TRUTH:
After 9/11 the cabinet, the Congress, the Administration - EVERYBODY identified two challenges 1) Security at Airports needed to be tightened 2) We had serious inter agency communication problems. The solutions that EVERYBODY came up with were the TSA and the DHS.
Like many well intentioned government ideas the execution only succeeded in creating new silos, new fiefdoms, and new ways to squander the taxpayer's money. The TSA fails it's own security tests just about every time. It's created a lot of nice, cushy jobs, that pay union dues (money for Democrats, yeah!) and a number of juicy contracts that were split across powerful senators districts (money for Republican's yeah!), but other than spread our money around to buy influence and votes it is a complete and utter failure. DHS has sucked an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars, and has accomplished the exact opposite of what was intended. The Boston marathon bombings demonstrated to everyone that the DHS is IMPEDING inter-agency communication, not improving it. All that fancy paramilitary equipment that the cities bought with DHS money couldn't find ONE GUY. The pot bellied cops driving the things were an embarrassment. The printed material, press releases, announcements, etc. that come out of both of these agencies is, at times, laughingly incompetent.
So please, people, put your brainwashing aside, stop the wheel of blame, and just admit that both of these agencies are a complete and utter failure, a perfect example of how good government goes bad. They need to be eliminated, now, we cannot afford them anyway. The old way of handling national security worked better, cost less, and was just as effective.
It was accepted into the Enterprise because Microsoft support at that level is fantastic
You're premise assumes that business operates at the same level as Joe Consumer is absurd.
This doesn't work because the Justice department is now a political arm of the Executive branch, and only enforces the laws they are told to enforce for political reasons.
You don't actually have any business skills, do you?
So what you are suggesting is that as business owner, I should spend thousands of dollars training people (during which time they generate no income) in the hopes that a few of them will stay with me long enough to recoup the cost of training -- When the reality is that many of them will take the training and leave, and many of them will turn out to be poor employees anyway.
And I'm sure you are dead set against me passing those higher costs on to YOU, upon which time you'll declare me evil and greedy....
The job market is selectively bad. If you are a 20 something it's terrible. If you're in your 40's or 50's and are an honest, hardworking person it's pretty good. If you're a minority, you're screwed. What I can't figure out is how the Democrats manage to screw their biggest constituencies year after year and yet these people remain loyal.
Your statements are the "narrative" and they are, as is often the case, completely false.
"supposed" increase - Are you an employer" Do you know the actual cost of premiums? I am, and they have gone up since Obamacare started taking effect.
The largest cost increases are coming because the government is terribly inefficient compared to private industry, and because Obamcare forces everyone into the same plan. It is as if you walked into the car dealership, and and the only car you can buy is a Cadillac.
The government is "solving" these problems by lowering payments to providers. This is exactly what they are doing with Medicare, and this is exactly what they are going to do with Obamacare. They have no choice. So sure, theoretically everyone has coverage, but the reality is that fewer and fewer providers will see patients. Less providers, lower quality of care for everyone. This is exactly what they did in the UK, which is why people die waiting for operations. This is what we are in for. In every country where they have single payer, this is what the operators of the system have done. No exceptions. Have you visited these places?
By doing this they are forcing people to die - yes, that is exactly what they are doing TODAY with Medicare. This isn't some theoretical ideological battle my friend. Obamacare isn't fully implemented and already the quality of coverage for many of us has gone down while the prices have gone up.
Remember, the "narrative" said our premiums wouldn't go up. The "narrative"... is a LIE.
What eventually happens in a government command and control system is the same thing that has happened for the last three, four thousand years.
A small group of extremely smart folks with zero compassion for their fellow man eventually enslave everyone else and live glorious lives of pure narcissistic pleasure.
Remember this, all you liberals screaming for the complete elimination of the opposition. You aren't going to get UTOPIA you're going to get the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Medieval Rule, the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, etc. etc. etc. We are a lot closer to this today than we ever have been already.
Whenever you read a DIRE prediction about anything, you need to translate this immediately to:
Budget battle underway, cut in funding is imminent, must create panic now.
This has been going on ever since Governments started handing out your money to people who's ideas weren't good enough to survive in the free market.
I predict that in the next ten years, people will continue to shout their ideology at each other while claiming to understand science, physics, and math better than the other guy. People will believe damn near anything if it's dire enough, worrisome enough, and has the end of life as we know it associated with it. Double this effect if some amorphous entity is setup as the straw man to be hated and despised, particularly if the believer can be convinced that these entities have it better than they do. The more emotion, the more proven the "science". The simple fact that GREED is one of the most powerful of all human forces next to LOVE is lost on many people. A FEW people here get this, and they are to be commended. I'd wager they are older than your average "The World is going to End unless" folks.
Windows 7 does the same, exact thing, it's called "System Restore" and it works quite well... Took MS years and years to give us this of course.
Microsoft's big clients (The Fortune 500, the U.S. Military) are the customers that drive Microsoft's decisions.
There's a few of those left running XP, this ensures that they upgrade.
Microsoft support if you are a big fish - is absolutely phenomenal. When I was working for a big fish, they were the most responsive company I have ever worked with. Now I am a little fish, I can hardly get them to answer the phone, and when they do, I get a completely clueless person...