No, route is not part of Windows. It's part of tcpip. If you don't install tcpip, you don't get route.exe. Nor do you get ping, or telnet, or any of the other tcpip goodies. (recalled from the bad old nt3.51/netware days when we'd run netbeui and ipx/spx only networks)
- I don't have to worry about Viruses because I run Macintosh. - I don't have to worry about vendor-lock, because I run Linux. - I don't have to worry about frog-boiling, because I'm not an American. - . . .
"Whoring" by definition, is doing something you don't want to do because you want the money. Selling out one's principles. Copulating with a person with whom you wouldn't copulate if it weren't for the money.
If someone genuinely believes that Windows NT/2K/XP is inherently insecure by-design compared to other mainstream operating systems, and says so, and gets karma for it, then it's not whoring.
If what they say happens to be objectively true, then that's icing on the cake.
I also need to note: My description of the hamstring stretch is how I'm doing it now. Not how I started. When I started, I was in a lot of pain. I would lie on my back, and had my wife lift one leg up, holding my knee semi-straight. We got about 30-degrees or so at firt, with my left leg (problem was worse on the left side). So I couldn't even put my leg up on a table or my bed back then. When I remember that and think back, I've made a lot of progress in range-of-motion.
The hamstring stretch; I'll stand next to a waist-high table, couch back, or my bed (my bed sits up pretty high compared to most). I'll put one leg out, horizontally, and straight, and bring my head down toward my knee. Most people will say to try to keep your knee straight. I can't. I have very tight hamstrings. So I just do my best, and keep it mostly straight. It's not optimal stretching, but it's better than nothing.
The gluteal stretch; Lying on my back, I'll lift one knee, bent at about a 90-degree angle, then reach down with my hands, and grab my foot, and pull it up towards my crotch, then shift one of my hands to the knee. I'll pull my knee and my foot towards my head. I can remember when I was a kid, I could put my toe in my mouth. I can't get my foot within 12" of my head now.
I know there's a good yoga pose that does the same thing as this gluteal stretch, I've been experimenting with it because as I described it, it hurts my ankle, but this is how the therapist told me to do it.
The theory behind this, I suppose, was that my muscles are very tight and inflexible, and my ligiments were suffering some atrophe, which was compressing the disk, maybe cutting off some blood supply, which contributed to the degeneration (as well as the sitting-8-hours-a-day stuff). So the stretching is loosening up the L4-L5 ligaments, and giving the disk a little relief.
Another benefit: a year ago, I couldn't ride my bike for more than 5 minutes without feeling severe lower-back pain (I was even considering getting a recumbant - but I really prefer off-road cycling, road-biking is kind of boring to me).
The stretching took a really long before I even started to notice improvement. About 8 weeks or so, I guess. I also iced the area a lot. That helped with the inflammation and swelling - I couldn't see it, but I could FEEL it. I had tried a couple of other exercise programs, including the MacKenzie "pain-free life" program, and didn't have any success. I hope this helps for you.
Orthodics are typically for people with fallen arches. I have very robust arches. However, I think I'll look into this because I've been thinking about maybe looking at some Dr. Scholls gel insoles, maybe some arch-support will help too.
I grew to love the memory stick, because Sony got the licensing deal with Carl Zeiss for the nifty camera lenses - so I've pretty much exclusively bought Sony cameras. I can't stand the tiny DC-1 though. In anything but outdoor bright sunlight, it's worthless. In bright sunlight, however, it does take spectacular pictures. And the thing fits in a shirtpocket.
For me, the absolute most damaging thing I did was work at a company with crappy health insurance, and crappy doctors. (Blue Cross Blue Shield, later Aetna) -
When my lower-back problems first arose, it was nearly impossible to get a doctor to do anything other than "take a couple advil". Next step was "take a couple vicodin". Or unhelpful or obvious advice like "lose some weight" (duh).
My problems got progressively worse year by year. Until last year, when I was hurt so bad I could barely work. Each time I had a hurt, it was extreme pain that would last 8-10 weeks, or more. I'd get x-rays, and the doctor would say there's nothing wrong. Sometimes I'd get chiropractic - which also did nothing to help the long-term problem.
FINALLY, a new doctor talked the insurance company into springing for an MRI. Degenerated L4-L5 disk (at this point, it had already been obvious). They talked about cortisone shots, but freinds I knew who had similar issues weren't helped. I've heard a lot of good things about surgery, where the bulging part of the disk was trimmed. But no doctor would do that unless I was physically impaired to the point where I could not walk, or lost bowel or bladder function. (I shit you not).
So it seemed as if I was doomed to keep experiencing these re-occurring episodes 2 to 3 times a year, with only reactionary treatment available, nothing preventative, nothing that would be a long term cure. Unless I paid for it myself and saw an out-of-network doctor.
I say this now: When the revolution comes, HMO accountants will be the first ones up against the wall. I swear, I will torture those motherfuckers until they beg for mercy. And then I'll keep torturing them.
Now, I had been sent to "physical therapists" before - heat treatments, microwave treatments, ultrasound treatments, traction, massage, etc. ALL a complete fucking waste of time.
Then, I saw one that specialized in sports-medicine, who simply proscribed a series of daily stretching excercise for my gluteals and hamstrings - that, coupled with an ergonomic workstation that allowed me to work standing-up during part of the day, then sitting for part of the day. These two things did more than anything else to help me.
Sit-stand tray and monitor stand. Hamstring and gluteal stretches.
That's all.
I still have a lot of pain and stiffness, particularly in the morning. And I still get sciatic pinching symptoms like patches of numbness on my leg, or burning sensations. But for the most part, I don't get these injury-episodes anymore where I can barely walk for 8-10 weeks. The stretching is the factor that helps the most. If I had a curious doctor, I suppose I'd go in for another MRI to see if there was any effect on my degenerated disk. But that's never going to happen. Not with my current insurance.
One side-effect, though; I usually stand for about the first four hours of the day, then I sit. But this has started to cause some soreness in my knees and ankles now, and, my mouse-wrist, because of the change-in-angle when I'm standing, so fixing the wrist problem was just a matter of changing my keyboard angle when I go from sit-to-stand, and vice-versa.
I'm hoping that the knee and ankle issues will be relieved, since I began a light weight-training program at the advice of the physical therapist.
This was probably the worst disaster in the history of the world.
(someone else might also want to talk about the flaws in the New Orleans levy system as well, the report just came out this week).
1. The name of the operation acronymized was "O.I.L." - which became a political problem when considering the credibility gap for the war's justification, and accusations that the "war was about OIL".
2. Many armchair military "experts" - as well as more than a few retired generals, as well as perhaps a few active duty generals (who remained silent for fear of their jobs) believed that in the area of 300,000 to 500,000 troops would be necessary for a successful occupation. The invasion proceeded with less than 150,000 troops, and since that time, troop levels were drawn down as low as 115,000. The results were devastating.
While America's superior military hardware technology made this one of the least lethal and quickest invasions in military history, the lack of planning and troops created a chaotic situation which has resulted in massive looting, armed gangs executing civillians in large numbers, weapons depots like Al Qa Qaa being raided, with hundreds of tons of high explosives falling into the hands of looters, (and from there, probably terrorists, who are now using it to murder civillians and US troops).
3. The civillain policy that went along with the invasion initially involved setting up a viceroy-like regime governed by the Iraqi National Congress, and organization run by Ahmed Chalabi, a convicted embezzler (we're talking $300 million here), and who was since proven to be an Iranian spy, and is alleged to be involved in the deaths of several postwar Iraqi politicians. This plan, along with the complete disenfranchising of any Iraqi that had been involved in the previous Iraqi government (ie. anyone who had any experience or knowledge in how to administer this country and it's government services and infrastructure) resulted in a huge violent backlash among religious extremists, which led to the issuance of an arrest warrant for one of it's leaders, Sadr. His followers then organized into armed gangs, which became a threat, and in order to quell this threat, the US was forced to offer a rival shiite leader some political say - which led to a collapse of the "original plan" - and forced the US to accept free elections (one of Sistani's demands - NOT a part of Bush's original plan). The Bush Administration's rhetoric changed accordingly, and suddenly, the war had a new excuse: democracy promotion.
4. Despite a new constitution being drafted, and elections being held, a new government with any legitimate force has still not been formed, and the country has been de-facto run by the various factions and armed gangs, with dozens of violent deaths occuring every day; groups of 10-40 bodies turning up, day after day, hands bound, showing signs of torture, often from electric drills.
5. While many Americans believed that by taking Saddam Hussein out of power, the country's oil supply would be loosed onto the market, bringing oil prices down, and the profits from the sales paying for the war - in fact, what has happened is Iraq's oil production has pretty much come to a halt due to sabotage and disorganization. Oil prices are now approximately double on the world market, what they were prior to invasion. And now, we're faced with the dilemma, if American troops leave, we may end up with a sectarian massacre. If American troops stay, we will continue to burn money at a rate of approximately $100 Billion a year, and tie up our forces in a foreign land where they will be unavailable for the defense of American interests elsewhere. (like rattling sabres at rogue states like Iran or North Korea as they attempt to perpetrate nuclear extortion).
6. The Iraqi Coalition Provisional Authority, which ruled Iraq before the election, lost - yes LOST $9 Billion. Call it theft, call it poor accounting practices, call it the fog of war. Nobody is investigating what happened, or
My guess is that the hard drives were imaged, and some MPAA forensic analysts are going to be making lists of IP addresses from the logs as fodder for future lawsuits in the US, and the servers will be returned to piratebay, no harm no foul.
Everyone I've asked seems convinced he created a situation to steal oil.
Talk about hyperbole.
This is just a smokescreen.
Bush created a situation to REMOVE OIL PRODUCTION FROM THE MARKET.
This drove up speculative investment, which, in turn, jacked up the price of oil from $20/bbl in 1999 to over $70/bbl today. Who profits? Exxon/Mobil sure as hell did. Nobody disputes that, it's in their SEC filings.
Who suffered? The same idiots who bought H2 Hummers and slapped a yellow-ribbon magnet and a "kick their ass, steal their gas" bumper sticker on it.
Did you know we've spent near $200 billion of our dollars on Iraq?
Try $300 Billion.
But Iraq, and Iraqis aren't getting this money. Crooked defense contractors, their bribery recipients, and CPA officials did. Are you aware that over $9 Billion went missing in Iraq in 2004, just plain lost - by sloppy CPA accounting practices. That money almost certainly went into somebody's pocket, and nobody is investigating it. That money was borrowed. The recent decline in the value of the US dollar is the result of this "Borrowing" - and all Americans, except those few with a net worth over a few hundred million, are going to suffer for it - yet they're happy, because they got their $300 tax-refund check.
I also believe that arrogance in our military leaders prevented them from forseeing the outcome of the scenario.
Then you are gullible.
Our military leaders did forsee this, and did know that we would need 300-500 thousand troops to provide security in post-invasion Iraq. Those leaders were told to shut up, and being good soldiers, they shut up, or even publicly claimed that they agreed with Rumsfeld, because they were afraid of the consequences of dissent (suffered by Shinseki and others).
The goal of this plan, was not to liberate Iraq, or protect the US from WMD, or fight terrorism, or even protect oil resources.
The ONLY way that this war plan makes any sense, is if the intent was to generate a conflict, that destabilized the region, caused oil prices to spike, caused a political split that would prevent an organized government from ever arising in Iraq within the next century, and funnelled hundreds of billions of dollars from a strong American middle-class, to wealthy investors in the oil industry, defense industry, and precious metals, and provided a propaganda mill with plenty of material to propagate the meme in the minds of Americans that government is always bad, and can never solve problems, and is unredeemably corrupt.
In the end, all this does is establish and strengthen a permanent American Aristocracy, and weaken the middle class, and undoes all the gains made since the New Deal. Which has pretty much been the goal of Neoconservativism since Hoover's time.
Define "dictatorship". 700 "signing statements" in which the president says he's above the law pretty much seals that definition in my book.
2. Bush certainly isn't forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism
Unless you consider "free speech zones". Or covert republican operatives posing as reporters in the White House press pool.
3. We're a capitalist society. The government doesn't control industry.
No, it only invades countries as an excuse to subsidize industry.
4. Nationalism isn't necessarily bad, unless it goes to extremes, which we haven't
Define "extreme". (I would argue that the word is poorly used in your sentance, and seems aimed towards making the entire statement non-declarative, because the meaning of the statement depends on one's individual definition of what is or is not extreme. - it belies an underlying attitude of intention to deter actual debate - it smells like an attempt to assert an indisputable non-fact).
5. I haven't seen any signs of racism in the current administration
Just because they have a couple of colored people on staff, does not mean that racism is not enshrined in policy.
The market is Artists buying Marketing (and bundled recording/distribution/touring services).
Artists have overwhelmingly chosen to purchase their marketing, recording, distribution, and touring services from RIAA companies.
This is where the key choices in the music market are made. Not by consumers standing in a Wal Mart electronics department in front of the CD rack.
If more artists would choose to instead record their own music, roll their own marketing and distribution via the internet, (and some have) - then the RIAA companies would go out of business. I think that some musicians have chosen this model, and have proven that it is a viable one. For talented artists. It's the ones whose products couldn't survive on it's own merits in a truly free consumer-end market, who often turn to the RIAA to use their monolithic control of radio-station promotion and marketing, and music-store chain distribution network, to gain the market presence necessary to "hit it big".
It is not enough for consumers to choose artists who "roll their own" distribution, recording, and marketing. In order for the "old model" to die like it richly deserves to, consumers have to stop also choosing RIAA-backed artists also.
While Apple is up front with it's customers about Fair Play, and provides information on how it works, Sony has not been up front with it's customers with regard to it's DRM rootkit installation. Free Market theory assumes that consumers have good information about the goods and or services they're buying. False advertising and outright lying eliminates that factor. We're not dealing with a free market when companies are permitted to lie about their products. Backlash from being caught in a lie can possibly play a role - but ask 100 music fans on the street if they can name all of the artists whose music is produced by Sony-affiliated companies, and I guarantee you you will not get a complete list - even if you compile all 100 answers together. Even KNOWING which products can install DRM on your system isn't enough, when the DRM, by design, removes administrative control of your hardware from it's owner. It's software that's programmed to lie, and therefore negate adverse market forces.
The sick part of it is; I think I enjoy the endless internet debate over whether Deckard is or is not a replicant, more than I did the movie. And I really enjoyed that movie.
I've worked on development teams where communication was so bad, when other coders changed things that broke my components, it sure seemed like intentional sabotage. (but wasn't - it was simple incompetence. On all our parts).
Slashdot Mirror
No, route is not part of Windows. It's part of tcpip. If you don't install tcpip, you don't get route.exe. Nor do you get ping, or telnet, or any of the other tcpip goodies. (recalled from the bad old nt3.51/netware days when we'd run netbeui and ipx/spx only networks)
So now that Apple has switched to Intel - of course Intel has to start falling behind in CPU performance. Anything else would be unnatural.
You're absolutely right. It's karma slutting!
Indeed it is!
Catalog of obligatories:
- I don't have to worry about Viruses because I run Macintosh.
- I don't have to worry about vendor-lock, because I run Linux.
- I don't have to worry about frog-boiling, because I'm not an American.
- . . .
"Whoring" by definition, is doing something you don't want to do because you want the money. Selling out one's principles. Copulating with a person with whom you wouldn't copulate if it weren't for the money.
If someone genuinely believes that Windows NT/2K/XP is inherently insecure by-design compared to other mainstream operating systems, and says so, and gets karma for it, then it's not whoring.
If what they say happens to be objectively true, then that's icing on the cake.
Well, all I can say is good luck sir, and thank GOD you don't develop software that other less-skilled people might have to use.
You can run your own cert server, and avoid the pitfalls of self-signing (scary popups).
I also need to note:
My description of the hamstring stretch is how I'm doing it now. Not how I started. When I started, I was in a lot of pain. I would lie on my back, and had my wife lift one leg up, holding my knee semi-straight. We got about 30-degrees or so at firt, with my left leg (problem was worse on the left side). So I couldn't even put my leg up on a table or my bed back then. When I remember that and think back, I've made a lot of progress in range-of-motion.
The hamstring stretch; I'll stand next to a waist-high table, couch back, or my bed (my bed sits up pretty high compared to most). I'll put one leg out, horizontally, and straight, and bring my head down toward my knee. Most people will say to try to keep your knee straight. I can't. I have very tight hamstrings. So I just do my best, and keep it mostly straight. It's not optimal stretching, but it's better than nothing.
The gluteal stretch; Lying on my back, I'll lift one knee, bent at about a 90-degree angle, then reach down with my hands, and grab my foot, and pull it up towards my crotch, then shift one of my hands to the knee. I'll pull my knee and my foot towards my head. I can remember when I was a kid, I could put my toe in my mouth. I can't get my foot within 12" of my head now.
I know there's a good yoga pose that does the same thing as this gluteal stretch, I've been experimenting with it because as I described it, it hurts my ankle, but this is how the therapist told me to do it.
The theory behind this, I suppose, was that my muscles are very tight and inflexible, and my ligiments were suffering some atrophe, which was compressing the disk, maybe cutting off some blood supply, which contributed to the degeneration (as well as the sitting-8-hours-a-day stuff). So the stretching is loosening up the L4-L5 ligaments, and giving the disk a little relief.
Another benefit: a year ago, I couldn't ride my bike for more than 5 minutes without feeling severe lower-back pain (I was even considering getting a recumbant - but I really prefer off-road cycling, road-biking is kind of boring to me).
The stretching took a really long before I even started to notice improvement. About 8 weeks or so, I guess. I also iced the area a lot. That helped with the inflammation and swelling - I couldn't see it, but I could FEEL it.
I had tried a couple of other exercise programs, including the MacKenzie "pain-free life" program, and didn't have any success. I hope this helps for you.
Orthodics are typically for people with fallen arches. I have very robust arches. However, I think I'll look into this because I've been thinking about maybe looking at some Dr. Scholls gel insoles, maybe some arch-support will help too.
I grew to love the memory stick, because Sony got the licensing deal with Carl Zeiss for the nifty camera lenses - so I've pretty much exclusively bought Sony cameras. I can't stand the tiny DC-1 though. In anything but outdoor bright sunlight, it's worthless. In bright sunlight, however, it does take spectacular pictures. And the thing fits in a shirtpocket.
His point is that this class of shows will include fewer, if any, good shows.
And good riddance.
For me, the absolute most damaging thing I did was work at a company with crappy health insurance, and crappy doctors. (Blue Cross Blue Shield, later Aetna) -
When my lower-back problems first arose, it was nearly impossible to get a doctor to do anything other than "take a couple advil". Next step was "take a couple vicodin". Or unhelpful or obvious advice like "lose some weight" (duh).
My problems got progressively worse year by year. Until last year, when I was hurt so bad I could barely work. Each time I had a hurt, it was extreme pain that would last 8-10 weeks, or more. I'd get x-rays, and the doctor would say there's nothing wrong. Sometimes I'd get chiropractic - which also did nothing to help the long-term problem.
FINALLY, a new doctor talked the insurance company into springing for an MRI. Degenerated L4-L5 disk (at this point, it had already been obvious). They talked about cortisone shots, but freinds I knew who had similar issues weren't helped. I've heard a lot of good things about surgery, where the bulging part of the disk was trimmed. But no doctor would do that unless I was physically impaired to the point where I could not walk, or lost bowel or bladder function. (I shit you not).
So it seemed as if I was doomed to keep experiencing these re-occurring episodes 2 to 3 times a year, with only reactionary treatment available, nothing preventative, nothing that would be a long term cure. Unless I paid for it myself and saw an out-of-network doctor.
I say this now: When the revolution comes, HMO accountants will be the first ones up against the wall. I swear, I will torture those motherfuckers until they beg for mercy. And then I'll keep torturing them.
Now, I had been sent to "physical therapists" before - heat treatments, microwave treatments, ultrasound treatments, traction, massage, etc. ALL a complete fucking waste of time.
Then, I saw one that specialized in sports-medicine, who simply proscribed a series of daily stretching excercise for my gluteals and hamstrings - that, coupled with an ergonomic workstation that allowed me to work standing-up during part of the day, then sitting for part of the day. These two things did more than anything else to help me.
Sit-stand tray and monitor stand.
Hamstring and gluteal stretches.
That's all.
I still have a lot of pain and stiffness, particularly in the morning. And I still get sciatic pinching symptoms like patches of numbness on my leg, or burning sensations. But for the most part, I don't get these injury-episodes anymore where I can barely walk for 8-10 weeks. The stretching is the factor that helps the most. If I had a curious doctor, I suppose I'd go in for another MRI to see if there was any effect on my degenerated disk. But that's never going to happen. Not with my current insurance.
One side-effect, though; I usually stand for about the first four hours of the day, then I sit. But this has started to cause some soreness in my knees and ankles now, and, my mouse-wrist, because of the change-in-angle when I'm standing, so fixing the wrist problem was just a matter of changing my keyboard angle when I go from sit-to-stand, and vice-versa.
I'm hoping that the knee and ankle issues will be relieved, since I began a light weight-training program at the advice of the physical therapist.
This was probably the worst disaster in the history of the world.
(someone else might also want to talk about the flaws in the New Orleans levy system as well, the report just came out this week).
1. The name of the operation acronymized was "O.I.L." - which became a political problem when considering the credibility gap for the war's justification, and accusations that the "war was about OIL".
2. Many armchair military "experts" - as well as more than a few retired generals, as well as perhaps a few active duty generals (who remained silent for fear of their jobs) believed that in the area of 300,000 to 500,000 troops would be necessary for a successful occupation. The invasion proceeded with less than 150,000 troops, and since that time, troop levels were drawn down as low as 115,000. The results were devastating.
While America's superior military hardware technology made this one of the least lethal and quickest invasions in military history, the lack of planning and troops created a chaotic situation which has resulted in massive looting, armed gangs executing civillians in large numbers, weapons depots like Al Qa Qaa being raided, with hundreds of tons of high explosives falling into the hands of looters, (and from there, probably terrorists, who are now using it to murder civillians and US troops).
3. The civillain policy that went along with the invasion initially involved setting up a viceroy-like regime governed by the Iraqi National Congress, and organization run by Ahmed Chalabi, a convicted embezzler (we're talking $300 million here), and who was since proven to be an Iranian spy, and is alleged to be involved in the deaths of several postwar Iraqi politicians. This plan, along with the complete disenfranchising of any Iraqi that had been involved in the previous Iraqi government (ie. anyone who had any experience or knowledge in how to administer this country and it's government services and infrastructure) resulted in a huge violent backlash among religious extremists, which led to the issuance of an arrest warrant for one of it's leaders, Sadr. His followers then organized into armed gangs, which became a threat, and in order to quell this threat, the US was forced to offer a rival shiite leader some political say - which led to a collapse of the "original plan" - and forced the US to accept free elections (one of Sistani's demands - NOT a part of Bush's original plan). The Bush Administration's rhetoric changed accordingly, and suddenly, the war had a new excuse: democracy promotion.
4. Despite a new constitution being drafted, and elections being held, a new government with any legitimate force has still not been formed, and the country has been de-facto run by the various factions and armed gangs, with dozens of violent deaths occuring every day; groups of 10-40 bodies turning up, day after day, hands bound, showing signs of torture, often from electric drills.
5. While many Americans believed that by taking Saddam Hussein out of power, the country's oil supply would be loosed onto the market, bringing oil prices down, and the profits from the sales paying for the war - in fact, what has happened is Iraq's oil production has pretty much come to a halt due to sabotage and disorganization. Oil prices are now approximately double on the world market, what they were prior to invasion. And now, we're faced with the dilemma, if American troops leave, we may end up with a sectarian massacre. If American troops stay, we will continue to burn money at a rate of approximately $100 Billion a year, and tie up our forces in a foreign land where they will be unavailable for the defense of American interests elsewhere. (like rattling sabres at rogue states like Iran or North Korea as they attempt to perpetrate nuclear extortion).
6. The Iraqi Coalition Provisional Authority, which ruled Iraq before the election, lost - yes LOST $9 Billion. Call it theft, call it poor accounting practices, call it the fog of war. Nobody is investigating what happened, or
Is it possible to link Java code into VB6?
I think you're exactly right.
Especially about Economics.
That's been an "armchair science" in the US since about 1980. Especially since 2000. The voodoo-doll industry has been booming since then too.
My guess is that the hard drives were imaged, and some MPAA forensic analysts are going to be making lists of IP addresses from the logs as fodder for future lawsuits in the US, and the servers will be returned to piratebay, no harm no foul.
Just like what George Bush is doing is not technically illegal under US law!
Everyone I've asked seems convinced he created a situation to steal oil.
Talk about hyperbole.
This is just a smokescreen.
Bush created a situation to REMOVE OIL PRODUCTION FROM THE MARKET.
This drove up speculative investment, which, in turn, jacked up the price of oil from $20/bbl in 1999 to over $70/bbl today. Who profits? Exxon/Mobil sure as hell did. Nobody disputes that, it's in their SEC filings.
Who suffered? The same idiots who bought H2 Hummers and slapped a yellow-ribbon magnet and a "kick their ass, steal their gas" bumper sticker on it.
Did you know we've spent near $200 billion of our dollars on Iraq?
Try $300 Billion.
But Iraq, and Iraqis aren't getting this money. Crooked defense contractors, their bribery recipients, and CPA officials did. Are you aware that over $9 Billion went missing in Iraq in 2004, just plain lost - by sloppy CPA accounting practices. That money almost certainly went into somebody's pocket, and nobody is investigating it. That money was borrowed. The recent decline in the value of the US dollar is the result of this "Borrowing" - and all Americans, except those few with a net worth over a few hundred million, are going to suffer for it - yet they're happy, because they got their $300 tax-refund check.
I also believe that arrogance in our military leaders prevented them from forseeing the outcome of the scenario.
Then you are gullible.
Our military leaders did forsee this, and did know that we would need 300-500 thousand troops to provide security in post-invasion Iraq. Those leaders were told to shut up, and being good soldiers, they shut up, or even publicly claimed that they agreed with Rumsfeld, because they were afraid of the consequences of dissent (suffered by Shinseki and others).
The goal of this plan, was not to liberate Iraq, or protect the US from WMD, or fight terrorism, or even protect oil resources.
The ONLY way that this war plan makes any sense, is if the intent was to generate a conflict, that destabilized the region, caused oil prices to spike, caused a political split that would prevent an organized government from ever arising in Iraq within the next century, and funnelled hundreds of billions of dollars from a strong American middle-class, to wealthy investors in the oil industry, defense industry, and precious metals, and provided a propaganda mill with plenty of material to propagate the meme in the minds of Americans that government is always bad, and can never solve problems, and is unredeemably corrupt.
In the end, all this does is establish and strengthen a permanent American Aristocracy, and weaken the middle class, and undoes all the gains made since the New Deal. Which has pretty much been the goal of Neoconservativism since Hoover's time.
1. We're not a dictatorship
Define "dictatorship". 700 "signing statements" in which the president says he's above the law pretty much seals that definition in my book.
2. Bush certainly isn't forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism
Unless you consider "free speech zones". Or covert republican operatives posing as reporters in the White House press pool.
3. We're a capitalist society. The government doesn't control industry.
No, it only invades countries as an excuse to subsidize industry.
4. Nationalism isn't necessarily bad, unless it goes to extremes, which we haven't
Define "extreme". (I would argue that the word is poorly used in your sentance, and seems aimed towards making the entire statement non-declarative, because the meaning of the statement depends on one's individual definition of what is or is not extreme. - it belies an underlying attitude of intention to deter actual debate - it smells like an attempt to assert an indisputable non-fact).
5. I haven't seen any signs of racism in the current administration
Just because they have a couple of colored people on staff, does not mean that racism is not enshrined in policy.
The next time someone says to you;
"The constitution isn't a suicide pact."
The appropriate response is:
"Give me Liberty or give me death!"
The next time someone says to you;
"that's pre-9/11 thinking."
The appropriate response is:
"that's pre-1776 thinking."
It is a semi-free market.
But the market is not consumers buying music.
The market is Artists buying Marketing (and bundled recording/distribution/touring services).
Artists have overwhelmingly chosen to purchase their marketing, recording, distribution, and touring services from RIAA companies.
This is where the key choices in the music market are made. Not by consumers standing in a Wal Mart electronics department in front of the CD rack.
If more artists would choose to instead record their own music, roll their own marketing and distribution via the internet, (and some have) - then the RIAA companies would go out of business. I think that some musicians have chosen this model, and have proven that it is a viable one. For talented artists. It's the ones whose products couldn't survive on it's own merits in a truly free consumer-end market, who often turn to the RIAA to use their monolithic control of radio-station promotion and marketing, and music-store chain distribution network, to gain the market presence necessary to "hit it big".
It is not enough for consumers to choose artists who "roll their own" distribution, recording, and marketing. In order for the "old model" to die like it richly deserves to, consumers have to stop also choosing RIAA-backed artists also.
Nobody is forcing DRM on you.
That's not exactly true.
While Apple is up front with it's customers about Fair Play, and provides information on how it works, Sony has not been up front with it's customers with regard to it's DRM rootkit installation. Free Market theory assumes that consumers have good information about the goods and or services they're buying. False advertising and outright lying eliminates that factor. We're not dealing with a free market when companies are permitted to lie about their products. Backlash from being caught in a lie can possibly play a role - but ask 100 music fans on the street if they can name all of the artists whose music is produced by Sony-affiliated companies, and I guarantee you you will not get a complete list - even if you compile all 100 answers together. Even KNOWING which products can install DRM on your system isn't enough, when the DRM, by design, removes administrative control of your hardware from it's owner. It's software that's programmed to lie, and therefore negate adverse market forces.
The sick part of it is; I think I enjoy the endless internet debate over whether Deckard is or is not a replicant, more than I did the movie. And I really enjoyed that movie.
I dunno.
I've worked on development teams where communication was so bad, when other coders changed things that broke my components, it sure seemed like intentional sabotage. (but wasn't - it was simple incompetence. On all our parts).