As an American, all I can say is that you're being impatient. We've only had about 5 years of this wacko-fundamentalist crap here - it's only been 5 years since the end of the "Clinton Era". Give it some time. Most of the intelligent people here are working too hard to care about politics. Once things get a little too out-of-hand, you'll see those people at the polls again. It's just going to take a little while.
Meanwhile, back in Europe, you guys were burning people at the stake for HUNDREDS OF YEARS. Oh, yeah, and your continent was filled with internacene warfare between Protestants and Catholics for like 400 YEARS. Let's see... there were the Crusades too. I don't remember any Americans being involved with that lovely affair. Isn't it nice that you guys don't do that stuff anymore?
So, hey, relax. Give us a few years. We'll get our heads together again. I agree with you that it's not good that America's in bed with Israel and Saudi Arabia, and yeah, we SHOULD be more friendly with our historical allies in Europe. But please don't fly off the handle because our errant, democratic system of government produced some undesirable results for a decade or two.
Meanwhile, take comfort in the fact that the U.K. and France and Russia and China have enough nukes to annihilate America.:)
Why move to a drastically different energy source when doing so will probably require the changing of a vast amount of infrastructure and markets? People's day-to-day lives will also probably have to change. We can spare ourselves all of this bother.
We've already got one of the best energy sources available in the world: the US military.
That's right: just take over small, oil-rich countries! Now that the gloves are off, the American Empire can just go ahead and pluck the oil-sources like ripened fruit. Who's going to stop us? Who wants a "real" (or, "hot") war with the USSA?
Granted, this strategy isn't really viable in the long-term. However, as the Emperor Nero once wisely said, "When I am dead, let the world be consumed by fire!"
Stealing something is always better for "the economy" than actually working for it. So, let us Americans stand with heads held high and make the world an offer it can't refuse: we'll trade you Democracy for Oil. If you don't want to do business on these lines, then you're against Democracy, and thus a threat.
Besides, I'm pretty sure that the ROTW (rest of the world) understands that America is the greatest country in the world. Who deserves the oil more? Iraq or the USSA? Think about it.
I just thought I'd share a story. When I was a kid (like 15-ish, I guess), I worked at a local computer shop repairing people's PCs... upgrades, installs, that sort of thing. Being concious of the respect one must give to people's privacy, I never really looked into people's Internet caches, data directories, etc., until one day when I, for the purposes of what I was doing, was forced to...
Now this machine, if I remember correctly, was a "family" PC.. games for the kids, productivity software (I think it was used to run a small business as well), lots of garishly colored Win95 Plus! themes, etc. And there was porn in the cache...
Strange porn...
Involving animals...
And leather...
And other things I don't care to remember!
No Joke. *shudder* Who knows how normal I would have turned out if I had never seen that stuff? Being a bit shocked and embarassed, I never mentioned it to the customer... though I probably should have said something...? *shrug*
Re:Does anyone remember the Fourth Ammendment?
on
HomeSec In the News
·
· Score: 1
There's always the chance of "postponed" elections, though I doubt that will happen for three reasons:
1.) The American People probably wouldn't stand for that. It's too obvious a breach of protocol. That's something Joe-six-pack can understand, and the Administration doesn't like being too obvious about these things. They'd rather take away freedom through legal vagueries, legislation so convoluted that even lawyers can't make sense of it.
2.) They don't need to. The duopoly of Dems and Pubs isn't really a duopoly, but rather a monopoly. They all scratch each other backs in the end, because their primary concern is keeping themselves in power over all else. Viz the Dems backing the "War" effort, being ersatz Republicans. Where's the bloody OPPOSITION Party? Do I have to become a Green or a Socialist to stand against these things??
3.) the American people have never switched presidents in the middle of a war before. That's why G.W.'s gonna time this one for a few months before the election. Again, it won't be too obvious... but wars take a while, right? That's my prediction.
Re:Does anyone remember the Fourth Ammendment?
on
HomeSec In the News
·
· Score: 1
Ok...
"Don't you think you're being just a little reactionary?"
Oh yes. But is this a bad thing? Or should we not react and let the power-mongers have their way? Tell me what aspect of life today is not in some way regulated or controlled by government. To me, the ability to spy on every American at will is a pretty darned powerful. The Fourth Ammendment obviously is supposed to protect against this.
I don't like John Poindexter either. He's a convicted felon. He lied to Congress under oath and destroyed evidence. He's only free on a technicality. The man ran his own personal foreign policy in the name of the People of the United States. And now we're to let him know everything about everyone? Please.
If you read the articles, you would note that the provisions of the CSEA don't allow reporting of information gathering to either Congress or the Courts. How can someone strike a law down if they don't know how/if/when/and to what effect it's being applied? This is why the Freedom of Information Act is so important, but this administration doesn't seem to like to honor FOI requests.
It is precisely because the people *are not* rising up to boot these people out of power that they politicos are slipping this draconian stuff in. And most people don't care about others' rights being violated. They care about television and their paycheque, and the price of gas, and beer. This is why the Roman Emperors gave away free bread and paid for games/circuses when they lost wars or generally embarrassed the nation. It distracts the populace from the facts. And would you characterise the first and second TV-generations as "easily distracted"? Sounds a lot like a retroactive $300 tax refund to me.
Oh, and I think you *will* wake up the the Gestapo. They just won't be called the Gestapo. There are already two American-born citizens who are being held in millitary brigs without ANY Constitutional rights. No lawyers, no charges, no due process, no free speech, indefinite incarceration. This is also blatantly unconstitutional, especially as we're not technically in "war-time" (no formal Declaration of War has been made by the Congress, as was the case in WWII). And if you're an American-born citizen, watch out. You can be held, hidden, and all they've got to do is call it terrorism or national security and there's nothing anyone's going to do or say about it. That sounds like unlimited power to me.
Re:Does anyone remember the Fourth Ammendment?
on
HomeSec In the News
·
· Score: 1
There is a difference between "limit(ing) certain liberties", and utterly undermining one of the 10 key protections afforded to the People by the Bill of Rights against excessively intrusive government.
The problem with freedom is that it's an abstract thing. People don't know what it is until they meet its opposite. We are gradually shifting in that direction, in my opinion. And as people become more and more accustomed to the idea that the government has some divine right to rule their lives, liberty will be reduced to a word on a coin.
This nation was founded on the 18th century liberalist concept of individual freedom. In the Founders' minds, EVERYTHING, by nature, is a right: this includes rape, murder, free speech, etc. It is only when we come together to form government that we decided which things (like rape and murder) we will not allow. Everything else is a right.
The Founders crafted the Bill of Rights as an afterthought. They added it just in case the implications of the main body of the Constitution were not understood. The Bill of Rights merely reiterates the implications of the Constitution. And as our Constitution now stands, such a law as the CSEA is blatantly illegal. Yet I fear it will pass. There are several unconstitutional provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act which *are* law.
We have lived through this before in America. I refer you to read about the Church Comission Report of 1976 and the political repression that existed in the USA in the 1950's, '60's, and '70's. The government, through abuse of surveillance powers, actively destroyed the lives of political dissidents. That is why those powers were curtailed in 1976.
But now that we're all afraid of some Arab blowing up everything from skyscrapers to nuclear powerplants, to the local pharmacy, we "brave" Americans are handing over our remaining liberties out of fear. The government offers an unkeepable promise: give up your liberty and we promise to protect you. I just don't understand the logic of awarding a failed intelligence and defense community (viz. WTC, Pentagon attacks) with more power and more money when they had all the power and money they needed to do the job in the first place and didn't! In what other arena is one rewarded so well for failure?
For anyone to argue that our American government would *never* become as repressive as Stalinist Russia or Hitler's Germany is naive. Even the Roman Empire was calling itself a "Republic" 200 years after the Republic had ended. I believe that precisely because we are so powerful, wealthy, and hegemonistic, we are in most danger of becoming totalitarian.
I would vote with my feet, but I still believe America is the greatest nation on Earth. I just think the margin is beginning to slip. I'm not ready to abandon ship yet.
As far as I'm aware, that sort of strong encryption is practically all but breakable - even when confronted by fantastical hypothetical situations involving all of the computing power on planet Earth...
And if that's not the case... if I am misinformed.. well, I still like believing it.:)
Does anyone remember the Fourth Ammendment?
on
HomeSec In the News
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
As a concerned 11th-generation American, I'm completely aghast at this latest bit of totalitarian legislation. Evidently, the CSEA (and the USA PATRIOT Act, for that matter) won't require *any* government agency to have "probable cause" to read/acquire anyone's personal information anymore. The Executive Branch will not even have to report to the Judiciary or Legislature on its frequent-as-you-like cyber-dragnets. Just in case you Americans out there on/. weren't aware of it, the United States Constitution is supposed to protect you from this sort of unfettered tyrannical power. Here's the text of the Fourth Ammendment:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
("and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause" - well, I guess if we don't bother with the warrants anymore, it's not really violating the Constitution, now is it?)
Granted, the Founding Fathers didn't include "emails" in the text. However, any reasonable interpretation of the intent of this Ammendment must include emails and other personal communications (as these protections had been extended to telephone conversations).
Our government now has unlimited powers. My tax collector and the Dept. of Education may get to snoop into my private life at will. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: we no longer have a Rule of LAW in this nation. We now have a Rule of POLITICS. The politicos, the senators and congressmen who may pass this anti-American rubbish into law, should they do so, will be in direct violation of their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.
We are now ruled by the lawless (viz Adm. Poindexter, convicted felon). And by the time We The People give a damn, Soviet Russia will look libertine in comparrison!
I just hope I don't get arrested for saying that one day.
I think that the idea that some AI code can tell what I'm truly interested in and what I'm going to buy is ridiculousness. While it may be true that most people do work in similar ways with the interfaces of web-published documents, what goes on in the individual mind during the process is certainly unknowable.
This technology sounds like it could cause more harm than good. I can see this sort of thing narrowing the scope yet again of what content is available online.
This will lead to the customisation of individual users' content without them even being aware that it is happening. "Can you imagine if I can actually tell that you wanted to press a link but didn't". (What?! Maybe there's a reason why I didn't!?)
It's bad enough that content it already spoon-fed to most people already - does it have to be chewed for us now first too? And when the people are only exposed to the things that the corporations will believe that we're interest in, it will lead further to the atrophy of the collective consumer consciousness.
Fortunately for me, I'm still using the 10th Edition of the Newspeak Dictionary... perhaps I'm a dying breed. *shrug*
Slashdot Mirror
Hrmm...
:)
As an American, all I can say is that you're being impatient. We've only had about 5 years of this wacko-fundamentalist crap here - it's only been 5 years since the end of the "Clinton Era". Give it some time. Most of the intelligent people here are working too hard to care about politics. Once things get a little too out-of-hand, you'll see those people at the polls again. It's just going to take a little while.
Meanwhile, back in Europe, you guys were burning people at the stake for HUNDREDS OF YEARS. Oh, yeah, and your continent was filled with internacene warfare between Protestants and Catholics for like 400 YEARS. Let's see... there were the Crusades too. I don't remember any Americans being involved with that lovely affair. Isn't it nice that you guys don't do that stuff anymore?
So, hey, relax. Give us a few years. We'll get our heads together again. I agree with you that it's not good that America's in bed with Israel and Saudi Arabia, and yeah, we SHOULD be more friendly with our historical allies in Europe. But please don't fly off the handle because our errant, democratic system of government produced some undesirable results for a decade or two.
Meanwhile, take comfort in the fact that the U.K. and France and Russia and China have enough nukes to annihilate America.
Why move to a drastically different energy source when doing so will probably require the changing of a vast amount of infrastructure and markets? People's day-to-day lives will also probably have to change. We can spare ourselves all of this bother.
We've already got one of the best energy sources available in the world: the US military.
That's right: just take over small, oil-rich countries! Now that the gloves are off, the American Empire can just go ahead and pluck the oil-sources like ripened fruit. Who's going to stop us? Who wants a "real" (or, "hot") war with the USSA?
Granted, this strategy isn't really viable in the long-term. However, as the Emperor Nero once wisely said, "When I am dead, let the world be consumed by fire!"
Stealing something is always better for "the economy" than actually working for it. So, let us Americans stand with heads held high and make the world an offer it can't refuse: we'll trade you Democracy for Oil. If you don't want to do business on these lines, then you're against Democracy, and thus a threat.
Besides, I'm pretty sure that the ROTW (rest of the world) understands that America is the greatest country in the world. Who deserves the oil more? Iraq or the USSA? Think about it.
Clever, but it only works in English.
You mention gullibility as a "negative quality", but isn't gullibility in a subordinate a good thing? I mean, isn't that how management works?
I just thought I'd share a story. When I was a kid (like 15-ish, I guess), I worked at a local computer shop repairing people's PCs... upgrades, installs, that sort of thing. Being concious of the respect one must give to people's privacy, I never really looked into people's Internet caches, data directories, etc., until one day when I, for the purposes of what I was doing, was forced to...
Now this machine, if I remember correctly, was a "family" PC.. games for the kids, productivity software (I think it was used to run a small business as well), lots of garishly colored Win95 Plus! themes, etc. And there was porn in the cache...
Strange porn...
Involving animals...
And leather...
And other things I don't care to remember!
No Joke. *shudder* Who knows how normal I would have turned out if I had never seen that stuff? Being a bit shocked and embarassed, I never mentioned it to the customer... though I probably should have said something...? *shrug*
There's always the chance of "postponed" elections, though I doubt that will happen for three reasons:
1.) The American People probably wouldn't stand for that. It's too obvious a breach of protocol. That's something Joe-six-pack can understand, and the Administration doesn't like being too obvious about these things. They'd rather take away freedom through legal vagueries, legislation so convoluted that even lawyers can't make sense of it.
2.) They don't need to. The duopoly of Dems and Pubs isn't really a duopoly, but rather a monopoly. They all scratch each other backs in the end, because their primary concern is keeping themselves in power over all else. Viz the Dems backing the "War" effort, being ersatz Republicans. Where's the bloody OPPOSITION Party? Do I have to become a Green or a Socialist to stand against these things??
3.) the American people have never switched presidents in the middle of a war before. That's why G.W.'s gonna time this one for a few months before the election. Again, it won't be too obvious... but wars take a while, right? That's my prediction.
Ok...
"Don't you think you're being just a little reactionary?"
Oh yes. But is this a bad thing? Or should we not react and let the power-mongers have their way? Tell me what aspect of life today is not in some way regulated or controlled by government. To me, the ability to spy on every American at will is a pretty darned powerful. The Fourth Ammendment obviously is supposed to protect against this.
I don't like John Poindexter either. He's a convicted felon. He lied to Congress under oath and destroyed evidence. He's only free on a technicality. The man ran his own personal foreign policy in the name of the People of the United States. And now we're to let him know everything about everyone? Please.
If you read the articles, you would note that the provisions of the CSEA don't allow reporting of information gathering to either Congress or the Courts. How can someone strike a law down if they don't know how/if/when/and to what effect it's being applied? This is why the Freedom of Information Act is so important, but this administration doesn't seem to like to honor FOI requests.
It is precisely because the people *are not* rising up to boot these people out of power that they politicos are slipping this draconian stuff in. And most people don't care about others' rights being violated. They care about television and their paycheque, and the price of gas, and beer. This is why the Roman Emperors gave away free bread and paid for games/circuses when they lost wars or generally embarrassed the nation. It distracts the populace from the facts. And would you characterise the first and second TV-generations as "easily distracted"? Sounds a lot like a retroactive $300 tax refund to me.
Oh, and I think you *will* wake up the the Gestapo. They just won't be called the Gestapo. There are already two American-born citizens who are being held in millitary brigs without ANY Constitutional rights. No lawyers, no charges, no due process, no free speech, indefinite incarceration. This is also blatantly unconstitutional, especially as we're not technically in "war-time" (no formal Declaration of War has been made by the Congress, as was the case in WWII). And if you're an American-born citizen, watch out. You can be held, hidden, and all they've got to do is call it terrorism or national security and there's nothing anyone's going to do or say about it. That sounds like unlimited power to me.
There is a difference between "limit(ing) certain liberties", and utterly undermining one of the 10 key protections afforded to the People by the Bill of Rights against excessively intrusive government.
The problem with freedom is that it's an abstract thing. People don't know what it is until they meet its opposite. We are gradually shifting in that direction, in my opinion. And as people become more and more accustomed to the idea that the government has some divine right to rule their lives, liberty will be reduced to a word on a coin.
This nation was founded on the 18th century liberalist concept of individual freedom. In the Founders' minds, EVERYTHING, by nature, is a right: this includes rape, murder, free speech, etc. It is only when we come together to form government that we decided which things (like rape and murder) we will not allow. Everything else is a right.
The Founders crafted the Bill of Rights as an afterthought. They added it just in case the implications of the main body of the Constitution were not understood. The Bill of Rights merely reiterates the implications of the Constitution. And as our Constitution now stands, such a law as the CSEA is blatantly illegal. Yet I fear it will pass. There are several unconstitutional provisions in the USA PATRIOT Act which *are* law.
We have lived through this before in America. I refer you to read about the Church Comission Report of 1976 and the political repression that existed in the USA in the 1950's, '60's, and '70's. The government, through abuse of surveillance powers, actively destroyed the lives of political dissidents. That is why those powers were curtailed in 1976.
But now that we're all afraid of some Arab blowing up everything from skyscrapers to nuclear powerplants, to the local pharmacy, we "brave" Americans are handing over our remaining liberties out of fear. The government offers an unkeepable promise: give up your liberty and we promise to protect you. I just don't understand the logic of awarding a failed intelligence and defense community (viz. WTC, Pentagon attacks) with more power and more money when they had all the power and money they needed to do the job in the first place and didn't! In what other arena is one rewarded so well for failure?
For anyone to argue that our American government would *never* become as repressive as Stalinist Russia or Hitler's Germany is naive. Even the Roman Empire was calling itself a "Republic" 200 years after the Republic had ended. I believe that precisely because we are so powerful, wealthy, and hegemonistic, we are in most danger of becoming totalitarian.
I would vote with my feet, but I still believe America is the greatest nation on Earth. I just think the margin is beginning to slip. I'm not ready to abandon ship yet.
As far as I'm aware, that sort of strong encryption is practically all but breakable - even when confronted by fantastical hypothetical situations involving all of the computing power on planet Earth...
:)
And if that's not the case... if I am misinformed.. well, I still like believing it.
As a concerned 11th-generation American, I'm completely aghast at this latest bit of totalitarian legislation. Evidently, the CSEA (and the USA PATRIOT Act, for that matter) won't require *any* government agency to have "probable cause" to read/acquire anyone's personal information anymore. The Executive Branch will not even have to report to the Judiciary or Legislature on its frequent-as-you-like cyber-dragnets. Just in case you Americans out there on /. weren't aware of it, the United States Constitution is supposed to protect you from this sort of unfettered tyrannical power. Here's the text of the Fourth Ammendment:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
("and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause" - well, I guess if we don't bother with the warrants anymore, it's not really violating the Constitution, now is it?)
Granted, the Founding Fathers didn't include "emails" in the text. However, any reasonable interpretation of the intent of this Ammendment must include emails and other personal communications (as these protections had been extended to telephone conversations).
Our government now has unlimited powers. My tax collector and the Dept. of Education may get to snoop into my private life at will. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: we no longer have a Rule of LAW in this nation. We now have a Rule of POLITICS. The politicos, the senators and congressmen who may pass this anti-American rubbish into law, should they do so, will be in direct violation of their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.
We are now ruled by the lawless (viz Adm. Poindexter, convicted felon). And by the time We The People give a damn, Soviet Russia will look libertine in comparrison!
I just hope I don't get arrested for saying that one day.
If anyone out there has a hobby of creating mirrors of websites of doomed companies, someone get a copy of www.lindows.com now while you still can.
SIG:"Plurimae leges, corruptissima re publica"
This is yet a little more frightening...
I think that the idea that some AI code can tell what I'm truly interested in and what I'm going to buy is ridiculousness. While it may be true that most people do work in similar ways with the interfaces of web-published documents, what goes on in the individual mind during the process is certainly unknowable.
This technology sounds like it could cause more harm than good. I can see this sort of thing narrowing the scope yet again of what content is available online.
This will lead to the customisation of individual users' content without them even being aware that it is happening. "Can you imagine if I can actually tell that you wanted to press a link but didn't". (What?! Maybe there's a reason why I didn't!?)
It's bad enough that content it already spoon-fed to most people already - does it have to be chewed for us now first too? And when the people are only exposed to the things that the corporations will believe that we're interest in, it will lead further to the atrophy of the collective consumer consciousness.
Fortunately for me, I'm still using the 10th Edition of the Newspeak Dictionary... perhaps I'm a dying breed. *shrug*