What makes STATE governments any less troublesome than the FEDERAL government?
The rights, for what they're worth, belong to the individual. The only purpose any government should serve is to protect the individual from any other individual or group.. When the state fails to do that, the feds have every right to step in with its civil rights acts, etc.
I find it much more troubling that the courts would consider that some people or groups don't qualify for 1st amendment protections.. The right to speak as one wishes is universal. The 1st amendment is very explicit on that.. there are absolutely no qualifications spelled out on that... and that's what the courts should ultimately recognize, but they never will.. Since too many people believe the 1st amendment goes too far in protecting those rights, they ought to have their little constitutional convention to fix that, instead of reading into existing law what's not there.
...but you smoke a joint in front of the police station and those negotiations mean jack squat.
There...
We have 'negotiated' nothing.. we simply submit to authority to avoid being beaten to death... 'might makes right' still applies as much as it ever has.. it's hardly an 'anarchist' concept
...it certainly allows for bloodless arguments to be settled...
It does nothing to protect us from punitive authority.. Yeah, the occasional beat cop will always get thrown under the bus for PR purposes, but the systematic abuse continues unhindered... The only people actually fighting against that are the ones with nothing left to lose.. This is why there will be no significant opposition for a very long time.. And when they do win a bit of power, they become just like those that they conquered. The nature of authority is that corrosive.. It is universal, not limited to any particular group or nation.. It is an infinite loop.. Humans are all a little bit fascist. This is why the solution can never be a political one. Politics is a symptom.. In fact, it's a distraction from the underlying motivators that dictate our behavior.
Our politicians will continue to violate the law with near total impunity.. Regardless of what happens to various individuals, the system will remain as it has for many thousands of years.
Seems to me that the civil war put to rest the issue of nullification and secession, took five years, but in the end, look who prevailed...
Real ID? If the feds want it bad enough, they will get it..The fact is we already have it, thinly disguised as it is... Try to fly without one.. Try to get back into the country without one... For now they are willing to let the states handle the job for them... Looks better on the budget anyway... pragmatism at work while providing the illusion of freedom... of what kind, I don't know
Weed? he feds are indeed still telling the states that they will submit to federal law, and they are still busting the dispensaries like never before.. The main reason there is that the profiteers control that commodity, not the government per se
Those lawsuits over Libya? Pure show that will obviously go nowhere... all part of the perpetual campaign season we now live in... And I have yet to see an actually successful lawsuit brought against the federal government... sovereign immunity, and all that... Which Supreme Court decision are you referring to?
What I've noticed is that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution stand in direct contradiction to each other.. Try to exercise the Declaration, and you will end up in prison for a very long time, or even be executed.
This thing is we are allowed to pretend this government operates under the 'law' only as long as we so easily submit.. The 'constitutional' government is merely a facade.. If anybody, including those inside of the government, steps out of bounds, all bets are off... The lucky ones will merely be scandalized and driven out of town
Conformity is the objective in most places.. Critical thinking is an anathema.. The fact is that government is a creation of those with the most capital, so naturally they will set the agenda to suit their needs
If you think offshore servers are safe from the long arm of US law, you're in for a big surprise.. It all looks good when they go after spammers and such, but next it will be anything the FBI, DEA, or DHS, or whoever considers a 'threat'..
Of course all that depends on the other jurisdictions also telling the US to fark off.. which doesn't happen very often.. Usually they are more than happy to cooperate.. They might not knock you offline, but they will get what they are looking for.. The authorities can interpret the law any way they wish and have the weaponry to make you an offer you can't refuse. Networking needs to be much more 'ad-hoc' and less dependent on corporate service providers if we want serious protection against this. A hosting company is a single point of failure... oops! So sorry.. we thought you were someone else..... Of course they could always blame that on the 'terrorists'
Of course it's bullshit, but when nobody fights back, it doesn't matter... The authorities get away with this because people accept it.. Nobody will challenge authority when it means risking what little power they have over their own little corner of the their world.. It's what you call a monkey trap
Slashdot Mirror
That would consume more water than gasoline
You work for Symantec?... use ntfsclone or partimage from a live CD instead
What makes STATE governments any less troublesome than the FEDERAL government?
The rights, for what they're worth, belong to the individual. The only purpose any government should serve is to protect the individual from any other individual or group.. When the state fails to do that, the feds have every right to step in with its civil rights acts, etc.
I find it much more troubling that the courts would consider that some people or groups don't qualify for 1st amendment protections.. The right to speak as one wishes is universal. The 1st amendment is very explicit on that.. there are absolutely no qualifications spelled out on that... and that's what the courts should ultimately recognize, but they never will.. Since too many people believe the 1st amendment goes too far in protecting those rights, they ought to have their little constitutional convention to fix that, instead of reading into existing law what's not there.
Don't bogart that joint!
...but you smoke a joint in front of the police station and those negotiations mean jack squat.
There...
We have 'negotiated' nothing.. we simply submit to authority to avoid being beaten to death... 'might makes right' still applies as much as it ever has.. it's hardly an 'anarchist' concept
...it certainly allows for bloodless arguments to be settled...
It does nothing to protect us from punitive authority.. Yeah, the occasional beat cop will always get thrown under the bus for PR purposes, but the systematic abuse continues unhindered... The only people actually fighting against that are the ones with nothing left to lose.. This is why there will be no significant opposition for a very long time.. And when they do win a bit of power, they become just like those that they conquered. The nature of authority is that corrosive.. It is universal, not limited to any particular group or nation.. It is an infinite loop.. Humans are all a little bit fascist. This is why the solution can never be a political one. Politics is a symptom.. In fact, it's a distraction from the underlying motivators that dictate our behavior.
Our politicians will continue to violate the law with near total impunity.. Regardless of what happens to various individuals, the system will remain as it has for many thousands of years.
Seems to me that the civil war put to rest the issue of nullification and secession, took five years, but in the end, look who prevailed...
Real ID? If the feds want it bad enough, they will get it..The fact is we already have it, thinly disguised as it is... Try to fly without one.. Try to get back into the country without one... For now they are willing to let the states handle the job for them... Looks better on the budget anyway... pragmatism at work while providing the illusion of freedom... of what kind, I don't know
Weed? he feds are indeed still telling the states that they will submit to federal law, and they are still busting the dispensaries like never before.. The main reason there is that the profiteers control that commodity, not the government per se
Those lawsuits over Libya? Pure show that will obviously go nowhere... all part of the perpetual campaign season we now live in... And I have yet to see an actually successful lawsuit brought against the federal government... sovereign immunity, and all that... Which Supreme Court decision are you referring to?
What I've noticed is that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution stand in direct contradiction to each other.. Try to exercise the Declaration, and you will end up in prison for a very long time, or even be executed.
This thing is we are allowed to pretend this government operates under the 'law' only as long as we so easily submit.. The 'constitutional' government is merely a facade.. If anybody, including those inside of the government, steps out of bounds, all bets are off... The lucky ones will merely be scandalized and driven out of town
Money... and money
You're overlooking the more important statement in the parent's post which illustrates the difference between theory and reality;
Don't be fooled by the stated intention.
"Offtopic" - Ouch! nicked again by the troll stalker mods - bring it, baby!
Of course not! Somebody has to stand up for *cough*... principles... That why we have lawyers
If you right-click on 'Reply to This' and open it in a new tab, it will open to the old D1 format and is much easier to control..
I still prefer that comments can't be edited and hope it stays that way You can always just reply again
The incessant 503s on the other hand are a much bigger issue and is getting worse... The 'deciders' here have their priorities a bit mixed up
"Giant funnels' - That would look just lovely.. as if the skies weren't dark enough already...
Giant vacuum cleaners would be much better, to suck the clouds out of the sky so the Brits could see what the sun looks like
Merely one of those things that makes public indistinguishable from private, when both function to advance common interests of the powerful
Dig it:
In addition, the age of children depicted through content on the sites must be younger than 13 years of age, or perceived to be less than 13.
Nice little catchall there
Conformity is the objective in most places.. Critical thinking is an anathema.. The fact is that government is a creation of those with the most capital, so naturally they will set the agenda to suit their needs
...
...
3) Profit!
Copyright is to protect the privileges of the distributor, never the creator...
*sigh* such bullshit...
And just where do you think your little 'pro-freedom' ISP is going to find safe haven?
If you think offshore servers are safe from the long arm of US law, you're in for a big surprise.. It all looks good when they go after spammers and such, but next it will be anything the FBI, DEA, or DHS, or whoever considers a 'threat'..
Be sure to hide the roaches..
...we are happy working with the authorities...
Of course all that depends on the other jurisdictions also telling the US to fark off.. which doesn't happen very often.. Usually they are more than happy to cooperate.. They might not knock you offline, but they will get what they are looking for.. The authorities can interpret the law any way they wish and have the weaponry to make you an offer you can't refuse. Networking needs to be much more 'ad-hoc' and less dependent on corporate service providers if we want serious protection against this. A hosting company is a single point of failure... oops! So sorry.. we thought you were someone else..... Of course they could always blame that on the 'terrorists'
Of course it's bullshit, but when nobody fights back, it doesn't matter... The authorities get away with this because people accept it.. Nobody will challenge authority when it means risking what little power they have over their own little corner of the their world.. It's what you call a monkey trap
Which one of those words doesn't belong?
I share my files over samba
They can buy it back at the auction... Probably at a pretty good price