You're darling. Look at you thinking a bunch of weekend warriors with rifles are going to do anything against a modern military (except get shot).
I'm sure the aristocracy of England thought the same thing of those pesky colonists circa the 1770's.
If you don't like being oppressed, you need something more than "Freedom". You need economic security. The reason those people don't speak out is they're just barely hanging on (Seriously. Studies shows less than 50% of Americans could weather a $1000 critical expense). That's real oppression. You want security? You need health care a guaranteed right and basic income to weather tough times when the rich crash our economy.
Completely agree; our current system, in which one can be bankrupted for nothing more than getting sick, is anti-social, counter-productive, and plain ol' bullshit.
Regarding finances, I had an idea a while back that could be the answer to our economic woes: cap all corporate profits at 30% - anything else must be reinvested in the company, or turned over to the government. Doing so would encourage businesses to (if they're smart, anyway) reinvest in their employees, who in turn would have more money to spend on their products, which in turn boosts the economy and makes more profit for the company; rinse, repeat.
Is it a perfect plan? Probably not, but it's leaps and bounds ahead of anything proposed by the Republicrats.
The trouble with Libertarians is all they get is paradise
While all men are created equal, that doesn't mean we all have to march in lockstep when it comes to philosophy. I think, if you actually took the time to speak with some Libertarians instead of relying on propaganda from anti-Libertarian third parties, you might find that we are not nearly as extreme as you want to believe. That's not to say we fear taking arms to defend liberty, but most of us would much rather prefer a diplomatic solution that works out well for everyone.
Equating making a stink at an airport security checkpoint with the American Revolution is a little idiotic.
Not nearly as idiotic as standing around doing nothing while our rights are chipped away piece by piece. Besides, every revolution has to start somewhere, and that was but one example.
The founding fathers didn't hassle individual British tax collectors and tell themselves they were fighting the good fight.
They also had channels of communication that were not being constantly monitored by the powers that be for words and phrases that imply revolutionary thought. A sad irony that our modern, global communication systems actually hamper our ability to communicate about certain things, like preservation of liberty.
If you have something like that for our modern situation (for example, the National Opt-Out Day) then that's worth talking about.
Now that is an idiotic idea: advertise the crap out of some stupid token gesture, so that every douchebag troll and his mom can do their best to fuck up your efforts.
Apparently you don't get it: Fighting for liberty is not something you can plan to do one day per year and succeed - it is a daily battle. To paraphrase a famous idiom, freedom wasn't founded in a day.
But suggesting people should screw themselves over with no hope of actually changing things is self-righteous and silly.
The suggestion is that people stand the fuck up for each other, not just themselves. As for "screwing themselves over," A) it wouldn't happen if folks like you actually had a pair and stood up for the rights of your neighbors, and B) as I stated before, freedom isn't free. If you're not willing to risk your ass for the liberties and freedoms this country is supposed to stand for, you don't deserve them.
I mean, heck, you could go to your nearest airport right now and heckle the TSA goons, and yet somehow I doubt you're about to. Maybe because you don't have any desire to inconvenience yourself for no appreciable gain.
You don't get it, and I doubt you have any intention to do anything but heckle me for my willingness to stand up for you. Kind of a fucked up way of thinking, but hey, to each his own, right?
Just know, even though you are obviously unwilling to stand up for my rights, I will defend yours from tyrannical oppression. To the death.
I completely agree - I was more referring to the amount of money we spend on mainstream 'news' that never really tells us anything we want or need to know.
Piss poor attempt at social commentary on my part. I'll try to be more clear in the future.
Gotta say, the smug self-righteous arrogance of calling everyone "brainwashed parrots" simply because they don't understand or care about your personal favoritest political ideology EVARRRR sure as hell isn't helping convince people to learn about it.
More "smug[,] self-righteous arrogance" than your entirely false generalization that I was referring to "everyone?" I don't think so.
If you see a TSA agent getting ready to feel up some terrified child, stand up and say something; encourage those around you to do the same.
...and end up getting dragged away to be forcibly strip-searched, detained for several hours and then permanently banned from ever flying again.
You know all those right-wing pudwhacks who go around parroting the catch phrase, "freedom isn't free?" Well, this is what that phrase really means. Besides, you think that's bad? The guys who had the balls to secede from England (who, for the record, had the largest military force in the world at the time) risked not only their ability to travel by a certain means, but their lives and the lives of all their loved one's.
So, the question we have to ask ourselves is, how much are we willing to pay for freedom? If you're not even willing to delay your travel plans for liberty, let alone lay down your life, then you're part of the problem.
Frankly, I'm about on the verge of taking the 4th option - cutting my losses and leaving.
Then get the fuck out, you chickenshit turncoat. The less of you traitorous sort we have to deal with, the easier it will be to take our nation back.
What do you suppose it says about our society, that with an entire industry devoted to "news," up to and including multiple 24-hour networks, that the only trustworthy source is a guy who makes jokes for thirty minutes a day, five days a week?
Science is not allowed in the courtroom. Pseudo-science, such as fingerprint analysis and ballistic 'forensics,' sure, but real science won't make it past the courthouse steps in 99% of cases.
What is allowed, in lieu of actual scientific evidence, is the testimony of "experts" who got their expert certification from an open-book, online test for the low low price of $599.99.
The problem with libertarianism is that it only curtains the power of government. It gives by default even more power to corporates to run he world
That is the main reason I refuse to identify as libertarian, even though I agree with the rest of the party philosophy.
The guys who wrote the Constitution were damn smart, and made sure to make it as clear as they could which rights belonged to the federal government, which belonged to the states, and which belonged to the people.
One will quickly notice a conspicuous absence of rights for corporations, even though at the time of the Constitution's writing incorporation was not a new concept.
As I said, the founders were damn smart. Their descendants, not so much...
I like how the fore fathers set up the US, with the constitution and all.
Trouble is...it has gotten so bastardized, that I dunno how we can 'reset' the clock so to speak on things.
Simple: Stand up not only for your own rights, but the rights of the people around you, regardless of personal peril and what you think of them as individuals. If you see a TSA agent getting ready to feel up some terrified child, stand up and say something; encourage those around you to do the same. There's no way they would be able to engage in these horrific violations of individual liberty if we just plain ol' stopped putting up with it.
Our society is to a point where we essentially have only 3 options left:
Keep taking it up the ass from government and big business and lose our liberties forever,
Start standing up for the rights of ourselves and our fellow Americans publicly, loudly, and en masse, or
People who mod parent down are either delusional or they are part of the grand scam itself.
Right, because folks who make broad, sweeping generalizations regarding entire races, with no consideration for culture or individual belief structure, presumably because of a superiority complex stemming from frustration at the minuscule dimensions of their own genitalia, are far from delusional...
Natch.
Re:They have lost all trust, but they retain distr
on
In Nothing We Trust
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· Score: 2
I wish. Split tickets = split government.
Considering my 30 years experience in dealing with the alternative, I wonder whether or not split government would be a bad thing...
Because slashdot and reddit are unbiased and in no wayh inflammatory.
At least on slashdot and reddit, unlike traditional media outlets, individuals have the opportunity to question what a person says, and that person has an opportunity to 'put their money where their mouth is,' so to speak.
Think about it -- when was the last time one someone on one of the mainstream news outlets actually got held accountable for what they said? And by 'held accountable,' I don't mean 'forced to give some bullshit, insincere apology or risk their professional talking-head career,' I mean actually called out and held to the fire for the bullshit they speak?
Yea, but what better way to remove support for a movement than to demonize it as essentially being anarchy?
What really gets me are the brainwashed parrots who prattle on and on about a political movement they, by their own admission, know so very little about, yet somehow 'know' that the current uni-partisan system (masquerading as bicameral) is so much better, never realizing that they are tying the noose for their own necks... and ours as well.
I don't give a shit about us politics or us culture. This isn't in any way tech news.
I don't give a shit about your not giving a shit; "tech news" isn't the only news nerds care about. Don't like it, don't read it.
wtf is this doing on here?
I could ask the same of your post.
Re:Pitch for Ron Paul coming 3... 2... 1...
on
In Nothing We Trust
·
· Score: 1
There's a reason for that, and it has to do with their economy.
FTFY.
In case you have yet to notice, our economy hasn't been doing so well lately, all the while the military/prison industrial complex (and those who benefit from it) have been moving ahead full-steam.
Which party is trying to enact consumer protection laws,
Neither of them. At least, not anything with any teeth. Look at the absolute joke Dodd-Frank has turned into, in no small part thanks to members of the Democratic party.
regulations to protect home buyers,
Neither of them. Seriously, what regulations have been passed since the '08 meltdown that does anything to protect home owners and buyers? None I can think of.
Which party passes laws protecting the rights of women and minorities or makes environmental protection a priority?
Again, neither of them. Where's the evidence? Sure, Obama pushed a law forcing insurance companies to cover women's reproductive medications, but as soon as the right balked he withdrew support of his own initiative. What good does it do women and minorities if the leadership reneges every time the opposition harrumphs?
I could go on and on, listing substantial policy differences between the Democratic and Republican parties.
Which wouldn't do a lick of good, considering that their differences pale in comparison to their similarities. It's like you're implying a bulldog and a German shepherd are two completely different species, because they have different color fur. But really, your perception isn't what matters - it's the fact that no matter what you think of them, they're both going to lick their own balls before they put tongue to your face.
I accept that both parties want power, but it seems like only one party even pretends to have a token interest in using the least bit of that power to protect my interests in even the most minimal of ways.
So, in other words you prefer leaders who will lie to your face about how their about to fuck you, rather than ones who will straight up say, "we're going to fuck you"?
Slashdot Mirror
once you go into the real world and hand out business cards you are operating a business, it's no longer free speech.
Uh... not a Constitutional scholar, I take it?
You're darling. Look at you thinking a bunch of weekend warriors with rifles are going to do anything against a modern military (except get shot).
I'm sure the aristocracy of England thought the same thing of those pesky colonists circa the 1770's.
If you don't like being oppressed, you need something more than "Freedom". You need economic security. The reason those people don't speak out is they're just barely hanging on (Seriously. Studies shows less than 50% of Americans could weather a $1000 critical expense). That's real oppression. You want security? You need health care a guaranteed right and basic income to weather tough times when the rich crash our economy.
Completely agree; our current system, in which one can be bankrupted for nothing more than getting sick, is anti-social, counter-productive, and plain ol' bullshit.
Regarding finances, I had an idea a while back that could be the answer to our economic woes: cap all corporate profits at 30% - anything else must be reinvested in the company, or turned over to the government. Doing so would encourage businesses to (if they're smart, anyway) reinvest in their employees, who in turn would have more money to spend on their products, which in turn boosts the economy and makes more profit for the company; rinse, repeat.
Is it a perfect plan? Probably not, but it's leaps and bounds ahead of anything proposed by the Republicrats.
The trouble with Libertarians is all they get is paradise
While all men are created equal, that doesn't mean we all have to march in lockstep when it comes to philosophy. I think, if you actually took the time to speak with some Libertarians instead of relying on propaganda from anti-Libertarian third parties, you might find that we are not nearly as extreme as you want to believe. That's not to say we fear taking arms to defend liberty, but most of us would much rather prefer a diplomatic solution that works out well for everyone.
Sorry, but someone had to say it...
Equating making a stink at an airport security checkpoint with the American Revolution is a little idiotic.
Not nearly as idiotic as standing around doing nothing while our rights are chipped away piece by piece. Besides, every revolution has to start somewhere, and that was but one example.
The founding fathers didn't hassle individual British tax collectors and tell themselves they were fighting the good fight.
Not a history buff, are we?
They had a plan of action with a clear endgame.
They also had channels of communication that were not being constantly monitored by the powers that be for words and phrases that imply revolutionary thought. A sad irony that our modern, global communication systems actually hamper our ability to communicate about certain things, like preservation of liberty.
If you have something like that for our modern situation (for example, the National Opt-Out Day) then that's worth talking about.
Now that is an idiotic idea: advertise the crap out of some stupid token gesture, so that every douchebag troll and his mom can do their best to fuck up your efforts.
Apparently you don't get it: Fighting for liberty is not something you can plan to do one day per year and succeed - it is a daily battle. To paraphrase a famous idiom, freedom wasn't founded in a day.
But suggesting people should screw themselves over with no hope of actually changing things is self-righteous and silly.
The suggestion is that people stand the fuck up for each other, not just themselves. As for "screwing themselves over," A) it wouldn't happen if folks like you actually had a pair and stood up for the rights of your neighbors, and B) as I stated before, freedom isn't free. If you're not willing to risk your ass for the liberties and freedoms this country is supposed to stand for, you don't deserve them.
I mean, heck, you could go to your nearest airport right now and heckle the TSA goons, and yet somehow I doubt you're about to. Maybe because you don't have any desire to inconvenience yourself for no appreciable gain.
You don't get it, and I doubt you have any intention to do anything but heckle me for my willingness to stand up for you. Kind of a fucked up way of thinking, but hey, to each his own, right?
Just know, even though you are obviously unwilling to stand up for my rights, I will defend yours from tyrannical oppression. To the death.
I completely agree - I was more referring to the amount of money we spend on mainstream 'news' that never really tells us anything we want or need to know.
Piss poor attempt at social commentary on my part. I'll try to be more clear in the future.
Calling our modern judiciary the "justice" system is the biggest, least funny joke in American history.
That's why it's called the criminal justice system. It is indeed.
+1 Zing!
Gotta say, the smug self-righteous arrogance of calling everyone "brainwashed parrots" simply because they don't understand or care about your personal favoritest political ideology EVARRRR sure as hell isn't helping convince people to learn about it.
More "smug[,] self-righteous arrogance" than your entirely false generalization that I was referring to "everyone?" I don't think so.
If you see a TSA agent getting ready to feel up some terrified child, stand up and say something; encourage those around you to do the same.
...and end up getting dragged away to be forcibly strip-searched, detained for several hours and then permanently banned from ever flying again.
You know all those right-wing pudwhacks who go around parroting the catch phrase, "freedom isn't free?" Well, this is what that phrase really means. Besides, you think that's bad? The guys who had the balls to secede from England (who, for the record, had the largest military force in the world at the time) risked not only their ability to travel by a certain means, but their lives and the lives of all their loved one's.
So, the question we have to ask ourselves is, how much are we willing to pay for freedom? If you're not even willing to delay your travel plans for liberty, let alone lay down your life, then you're part of the problem.
Frankly, I'm about on the verge of taking the 4th option - cutting my losses and leaving.
Then get the fuck out, you chickenshit turncoat. The less of you traitorous sort we have to deal with, the easier it will be to take our nation back.
Sorry, compelled to point out that bicameral refers to a two-house congress...
Good catch... I presume someone who actually knows the meaning of 'bicameral' doesn't require an in depth explanation.
... and he, by his own admission, is a comedian.
What do you suppose it says about our society, that with an entire industry devoted to "news," up to and including multiple 24-hour networks, that the only trustworthy source is a guy who makes jokes for thirty minutes a day, five days a week?
Science is not allowed in the courtroom. Pseudo-science, such as fingerprint analysis and ballistic 'forensics,' sure, but real science won't make it past the courthouse steps in 99% of cases.
What is allowed, in lieu of actual scientific evidence, is the testimony of "experts" who got their expert certification from an open-book, online test for the low low price of $599.99.
Forensic science is anything but.
If you're in a courtroom, you should ALWAYS assume than anyone presenting evidence has an agenda (because they almost always do).
It's not so much the lawyers presenting the 'evidence' you have to worry about; it's the unqualified 'expert witnesses' who are allowed to testify, even though the only thing they're experts in is getting certified as an expert witness.
Calling our modern judiciary the "justice" system is the biggest, least funny joke in American history.
The problem with libertarianism is that it only curtains the power of government. It gives by default even more power to corporates to run he world
That is the main reason I refuse to identify as libertarian, even though I agree with the rest of the party philosophy.
The guys who wrote the Constitution were damn smart, and made sure to make it as clear as they could which rights belonged to the federal government, which belonged to the states, and which belonged to the people.
One will quickly notice a conspicuous absence of rights for corporations, even though at the time of the Constitution's writing incorporation was not a new concept.
As I said, the founders were damn smart. Their descendants, not so much...
I like how the fore fathers set up the US, with the constitution and all.
Trouble is...it has gotten so bastardized, that I dunno how we can 'reset' the clock so to speak on things.
Simple: Stand up not only for your own rights, but the rights of the people around you, regardless of personal peril and what you think of them as individuals. If you see a TSA agent getting ready to feel up some terrified child, stand up and say something; encourage those around you to do the same. There's no way they would be able to engage in these horrific violations of individual liberty if we just plain ol' stopped putting up with it.
Our society is to a point where we essentially have only 3 options left:
Keep taking it up the ass from government and big business and lose our liberties forever,
Start standing up for the rights of ourselves and our fellow Americans publicly, loudly, and en masse, or
Civil war.
What about the religion of anti-theism?
People who mod parent down are either delusional or they are part of the grand scam itself.
Right, because folks who make broad, sweeping generalizations regarding entire races, with no consideration for culture or individual belief structure, presumably because of a superiority complex stemming from frustration at the minuscule dimensions of their own genitalia, are far from delusional...
Natch.
I wish. Split tickets = split government.
Considering my 30 years experience in dealing with the alternative, I wonder whether or not split government would be a bad thing...
Because slashdot and reddit are unbiased and in no wayh inflammatory.
At least on slashdot and reddit, unlike traditional media outlets, individuals have the opportunity to question what a person says, and that person has an opportunity to 'put their money where their mouth is,' so to speak.
Think about it -- when was the last time one someone on one of the mainstream news outlets actually got held accountable for what they said? And by 'held accountable,' I don't mean 'forced to give some bullshit, insincere apology or risk their professional talking-head career,' I mean actually called out and held to the fire for the bullshit they speak?
Yea, but what better way to remove support for a movement than to demonize it as essentially being anarchy?
What really gets me are the brainwashed parrots who prattle on and on about a political movement they, by their own admission, know so very little about, yet somehow 'know' that the current uni-partisan system (masquerading as bicameral) is so much better, never realizing that they are tying the noose for their own necks... and ours as well.
It's time to refresh the tree of liberty?
I don't give a shit about us politics or us culture. This isn't in any way tech news.
I don't give a shit about your not giving a shit; "tech news" isn't the only news nerds care about. Don't like it, don't read it.
wtf is this doing on here?
I could ask the same of your post.
There's a reason for that, and it has to do with their economy.
FTFY.
In case you have yet to notice, our economy hasn't been doing so well lately, all the while the military/prison industrial complex (and those who benefit from it) have been moving ahead full-steam.
Which party is trying to enact consumer protection laws,
Neither of them. At least, not anything with any teeth. Look at the absolute joke Dodd-Frank has turned into, in no small part thanks to members of the Democratic party.
regulations to protect home buyers,
Neither of them. Seriously, what regulations have been passed since the '08 meltdown that does anything to protect home owners and buyers? None I can think of.
regulations to reign in bank fraud?
3 for 3.
Which party passes laws protecting the rights of women and minorities or makes environmental protection a priority?
Again, neither of them. Where's the evidence? Sure, Obama pushed a law forcing insurance companies to cover women's reproductive medications, but as soon as the right balked he withdrew support of his own initiative. What good does it do women and minorities if the leadership reneges every time the opposition harrumphs?
I could go on and on, listing substantial policy differences between the Democratic and Republican parties.
Which wouldn't do a lick of good, considering that their differences pale in comparison to their similarities. It's like you're implying a bulldog and a German shepherd are two completely different species, because they have different color fur. But really, your perception isn't what matters - it's the fact that no matter what you think of them, they're both going to lick their own balls before they put tongue to your face.
I accept that both parties want power, but it seems like only one party even pretends to have a token interest in using the least bit of that power to protect my interests in even the most minimal of ways.
So, in other words you prefer leaders who will lie to your face about how their about to fuck you, rather than ones who will straight up say, "we're going to fuck you"?
That's smart.
It's well documented...
Yet you couldn't be bothered to provide a single piece of the documentation you say exists.
Funny, that.
sudo mod this up!