So you want to keep the farm subsidies, the oil subsidies, etc? Is it just a free-for-all? Any new thing needs a subsidy?
What ever happened to American individualism and entrepreneurship? What ever happened to taking risk in order to earn the reward? Would we even need all these subsidies if we got rid of them? We'd have more money to go around. Why does the federal government need to take our money to then turn around and use it to "help" us pay for things?
Who is accountable? Anyone? We subsidized the heck out of the phone companies, where is our high speed Internet?
FAA oversight of drones is truly helping that technology. No for-profit use allowed, no guarantee when they might get around to allowing it. Now let's oversee some robotics!
No shit. Do you think the majority of the population supports this? Especially after all the known incidents of domestic spying, illegal wiretaps, secret no fly lists, free speech zones for demonstrators, etc. There's very little freedom left in our free country. I'm not against surveillance, but tracking each person individually is a slippery slope. Attend a protest the administration doesn't like, they pull the video footage, next thing you know.. everyone there is on a watch list and is about to be audited by the IRS. You might even end up on a secret list for health care, kind of like the secret waiting lists at the VA. Ooo, I'm sorry, we have no openings for you.
By the way, your summary of our system of government is wrong. We elect people, but they don't represent us. Any talk of that ends the moment they win the election.
Say what? It's in your library whether you want it or not. That's why Apple had to create a special web page to remove it.
Yes, you can disable auto-download to specific devices, but that's BS. I shouldn't have to opt to manually manage the songs on my devices just because Apple decided upon themselves to throw unwanted crap in my music library.
That's like saying telemarketing calls are fine. If you don't want to talk to anyone, don't answer your phone.
If the return on investment doesn't exceed the cost of setting up the licensing and distribution rights, it won't happen. Even then, it has to exceed costs by a high enough amount, otherwise the entities involved will focus their efforts on something else that's more lucrative. But they're not going to just let people access the content, because it might become profitable enough at some point.
To me, this is the biggest disappointment of the Internet. If I want to watch the local news in some other part of the country, why can't I? If I want to purchase music from iTunes France, why can't? If I want to buy a product from Amazon Japan, why can't I? Same thing with DVD and BluRay and their ridiculous region scheme. We've made it a lot easier to access goods and entertainment from a person's own country or continent, but it doesn't stretch much further than that in many cases.
The "global economy" isn't there at the consumer level.
Right, because not having control over your own music library is perfectly fine. Sure, there's bigger shit going on, but if people don't want to hear U2 from their own music collection, they shouldn't have to. Apple could have done what they always do and it made it free to grab off of the iTunes store. The fuck the whiner crowd is as annoying as the fuck U2 and fuck Apple crowd.
have used 'letter-of-the-law' sophistry to justify their behavior
That's basically how everything in this country works. It's inevitable given the government's desire to regulate and tax every facet of human existence. If you want a run a business in a way no one else has, you need to take some risks and flout some laws.
The Soviets also mounted quite a propaganda campaign against the US placing armaments near the USSR even as the USSR tried the same with us. Regardless, the US could never allow for missiles to be pointed at us from Cuba. Any country with the means would have reacted swiftly and forcefully to such a brazen act of aggression. What transpired should have been predictable, and obviously the USSR wouldn't stick around to help out afterwards when the plan fell apart. There's no compelling reason for the US to assume that anything would be different if it were to relax the embargo today, so it continues. Considering that Poutine is hell bent on reclaiming former Soviet territories, I wouldn't be surprised if relaxing the embargo were to lead to second missile crisis.
I don't disagree. I was just pointing out how this ends up happening for the non USians among us. I strongly support state's rights, it is how the nation was intended to work and it brings far more positives than it does negatives. The federal funding scam is abhorrent and the states need to find an effective way of fighting it. DC never will, it's how they force their views on states that don't agree with them. No politician elected is going to want to surrender power they just gained. Even Ron Paul participated in schemes he campaigned against, for "the good of his state".
Things like this are often done at the state level, so there's really no one to hold them accountable for it. The federal government can't go after a state for how it chooses to tax entities within its own borders. Surrounding states have no leverage either, other than to make similar concessions in a kind of bidding war. Happens constantly near the state borders. My state loses a lot of opportunities because the state just to our south will do anything a company asks. Personally, I think this is one of many barriers that start ups face and it reeks of excessive and inappropriate regulation. All companies should be on equal footing.
There's nothing noteworthy in all of that. You're mad about a military base and a revolution that you can't really connect to US policy. So there's that, versus Soviet missiles aimed at the United States. One of these isn't like the other. I know hating on America is popular, but Cuba deserves what it got. You threaten us, we crush you.
What do you expect of the US? Were we supposed to just overlook the serious threat those missiles posed to our people? Oh, you got a bad leader and we put that base there.. so sorry. Go ahead and let the Soviets install missiles to slaughter us. That's absurd.
BTW, the US doesn't hate Cubans. All they have to do is get on dry land and they're welcomed into this country with open arms.
I vaguely remember a missile crisis of some sort.. a Cuban missile crisis. They're being punished because their cooperation with the Soviet Union could have devastated the mainland US. They're a warning to others not to do the same thing. I know it's confusing in an age where there are no consequences for bad acts anymore.
She was involved with one of the participants, was she not? She chose to split hairs as you are doing, and now she's bitter about it. Had she come clean up front, it wouldn't look like she was trying to hide something.
If most people's lives are as tough as mine, why aren't there major demonstrations demanding higher taxes on the rich to alleviate the most severe hardships for everyone else.
Are you kidding? Did you miss Occupy Wall St or the more recent $15 minimum wage walk out protests? The first half of Obama's presidency was all about punitive taxation of the wealthy and wealth redistribution. Remember "we need to spread the wealth around"? Joe the plumber?
I literally lay awake at 3am wondering how I'm going to feed my family when my current contract runs out.
I've been there as a tech worker. Right now isn't so bad, but it has been before and will likely be again. I wouldn't say I work on things that no one else has ever worked on, but if I don't pick employers carefully or if I don't learn the right technologies at the right times, I can end up being unemployable. I've seen it happen to folks I've worked with. Granted it takes a while to get that far behind. When the dot com bust happened, a lot of people left technology and went into other professions.
Terrorism is a hot issue because oddly enough, people don't want to be killed by jihadists. Death versus being stuck in traffic for an hour, one seems more pressing than the other, despite one happening every day and the other extremely unlikely to occur to any one of us. That's the news cycle. If it bleeds, it leads. If you're judging what's going on here by what you see on the media, no wonder you're confused.
We do need to spend more time relaxing. I agree with that. I tend to doubt my own worthiness at points if I get too wrapped up in work. You can't force creativity and it does need to be recharged from time to time. It's just that when you're in the thick of it, that's hardly the time to take a long weekend and relax.
The allegation is that she lied by omitting her involvement with violent radicals. Terrorists don't generally carry ID cards, nor do they publish a list of members. Yes, the two orgs she claimed to be involved with are probably peaceful and harmless. But if you know people that used violence to carry out an agenda that you met while spending time in activist groups and someone asks you a question like that, you ought to mention it. Throw the facts out on the table. Yes, I was a member of these peaceful groups, and while I was involved with them I met these other folks who were using violence. I've kept in touch with one of them ever since. I can't imagine this is something that just slipped her mind. Did she forget why her friend was in prison?
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So you want to keep the farm subsidies, the oil subsidies, etc? Is it just a free-for-all? Any new thing needs a subsidy?
What ever happened to American individualism and entrepreneurship? What ever happened to taking risk in order to earn the reward? Would we even need all these subsidies if we got rid of them? We'd have more money to go around. Why does the federal government need to take our money to then turn around and use it to "help" us pay for things?
Who is accountable? Anyone? We subsidized the heck out of the phone companies, where is our high speed Internet?
I can't tell if you're agreeing or disagreeing.
Is your point that government is tangled up in so much stuff already that it doesn't matter what it gets involved in anymore? You see no issue here?
Woohoo. Solar charger. Now the taxpayers can subsidize your car and your electricity.
What else can subsidize here?
FAA oversight of drones is truly helping that technology. No for-profit use allowed, no guarantee when they might get around to allowing it. Now let's oversee some robotics!
We need less federal government, not more.
Then paintball some government cameras.
No shit. Do you think the majority of the population supports this? Especially after all the known incidents of domestic spying, illegal wiretaps, secret no fly lists, free speech zones for demonstrators, etc. There's very little freedom left in our free country. I'm not against surveillance, but tracking each person individually is a slippery slope. Attend a protest the administration doesn't like, they pull the video footage, next thing you know.. everyone there is on a watch list and is about to be audited by the IRS. You might even end up on a secret list for health care, kind of like the secret waiting lists at the VA. Ooo, I'm sorry, we have no openings for you.
By the way, your summary of our system of government is wrong. We elect people, but they don't represent us. Any talk of that ends the moment they win the election.
Anything done with our tax money should be done with the consent of the governed.
I do not consent.
Say what? It's in your library whether you want it or not. That's why Apple had to create a special web page to remove it.
Yes, you can disable auto-download to specific devices, but that's BS. I shouldn't have to opt to manually manage the songs on my devices just because Apple decided upon themselves to throw unwanted crap in my music library.
That's like saying telemarketing calls are fine. If you don't want to talk to anyone, don't answer your phone.
If the return on investment doesn't exceed the cost of setting up the licensing and distribution rights, it won't happen. Even then, it has to exceed costs by a high enough amount, otherwise the entities involved will focus their efforts on something else that's more lucrative. But they're not going to just let people access the content, because it might become profitable enough at some point.
To me, this is the biggest disappointment of the Internet. If I want to watch the local news in some other part of the country, why can't I? If I want to purchase music from iTunes France, why can't? If I want to buy a product from Amazon Japan, why can't I? Same thing with DVD and BluRay and their ridiculous region scheme. We've made it a lot easier to access goods and entertainment from a person's own country or continent, but it doesn't stretch much further than that in many cases.
The "global economy" isn't there at the consumer level.
Right, because not having control over your own music library is perfectly fine. Sure, there's bigger shit going on, but if people don't want to hear U2 from their own music collection, they shouldn't have to. Apple could have done what they always do and it made it free to grab off of the iTunes store. The fuck the whiner crowd is as annoying as the fuck U2 and fuck Apple crowd.
A special lane on rail trails would be nice for rollerbladers, bordered with razor wire.
Maybe the same way Comcast and their ilk gets around being a common carrier. The riding the razor's edge of the law and greasing the right pockets.
Why don't you have your own insurance? You're the one that wants to be protected.
My state doesn't even require auto insurance.
have used 'letter-of-the-law' sophistry to justify their behavior
That's basically how everything in this country works. It's inevitable given the government's desire to regulate and tax every facet of human existence. If you want a run a business in a way no one else has, you need to take some risks and flout some laws.
Thank you Captain Killjoy.
The Soviets also mounted quite a propaganda campaign against the US placing armaments near the USSR even as the USSR tried the same with us. Regardless, the US could never allow for missiles to be pointed at us from Cuba. Any country with the means would have reacted swiftly and forcefully to such a brazen act of aggression. What transpired should have been predictable, and obviously the USSR wouldn't stick around to help out afterwards when the plan fell apart. There's no compelling reason for the US to assume that anything would be different if it were to relax the embargo today, so it continues. Considering that Poutine is hell bent on reclaiming former Soviet territories, I wouldn't be surprised if relaxing the embargo were to lead to second missile crisis.
I don't disagree. I was just pointing out how this ends up happening for the non USians among us. I strongly support state's rights, it is how the nation was intended to work and it brings far more positives than it does negatives. The federal funding scam is abhorrent and the states need to find an effective way of fighting it. DC never will, it's how they force their views on states that don't agree with them. No politician elected is going to want to surrender power they just gained. Even Ron Paul participated in schemes he campaigned against, for "the good of his state".
Things like this are often done at the state level, so there's really no one to hold them accountable for it. The federal government can't go after a state for how it chooses to tax entities within its own borders. Surrounding states have no leverage either, other than to make similar concessions in a kind of bidding war. Happens constantly near the state borders. My state loses a lot of opportunities because the state just to our south will do anything a company asks. Personally, I think this is one of many barriers that start ups face and it reeks of excessive and inappropriate regulation. All companies should be on equal footing.
There's nothing noteworthy in all of that. You're mad about a military base and a revolution that you can't really connect to US policy. So there's that, versus Soviet missiles aimed at the United States. One of these isn't like the other. I know hating on America is popular, but Cuba deserves what it got. You threaten us, we crush you.
What do you expect of the US? Were we supposed to just overlook the serious threat those missiles posed to our people? Oh, you got a bad leader and we put that base there.. so sorry. Go ahead and let the Soviets install missiles to slaughter us. That's absurd.
BTW, the US doesn't hate Cubans. All they have to do is get on dry land and they're welcomed into this country with open arms.
I vaguely remember a missile crisis of some sort.. a Cuban missile crisis. They're being punished because their cooperation with the Soviet Union could have devastated the mainland US. They're a warning to others not to do the same thing. I know it's confusing in an age where there are no consequences for bad acts anymore.
She was involved with one of the participants, was she not? She chose to split hairs as you are doing, and now she's bitter about it. Had she come clean up front, it wouldn't look like she was trying to hide something.
If most people's lives are as tough as mine, why aren't there major demonstrations demanding higher taxes on the rich to alleviate the most severe hardships for everyone else.
Are you kidding? Did you miss Occupy Wall St or the more recent $15 minimum wage walk out protests? The first half of Obama's presidency was all about punitive taxation of the wealthy and wealth redistribution. Remember "we need to spread the wealth around"? Joe the plumber?
I literally lay awake at 3am wondering how I'm going to feed my family when my current contract runs out.
I've been there as a tech worker. Right now isn't so bad, but it has been before and will likely be again. I wouldn't say I work on things that no one else has ever worked on, but if I don't pick employers carefully or if I don't learn the right technologies at the right times, I can end up being unemployable. I've seen it happen to folks I've worked with. Granted it takes a while to get that far behind. When the dot com bust happened, a lot of people left technology and went into other professions.
Terrorism is a hot issue because oddly enough, people don't want to be killed by jihadists. Death versus being stuck in traffic for an hour, one seems more pressing than the other, despite one happening every day and the other extremely unlikely to occur to any one of us. That's the news cycle. If it bleeds, it leads. If you're judging what's going on here by what you see on the media, no wonder you're confused.
We do need to spend more time relaxing. I agree with that. I tend to doubt my own worthiness at points if I get too wrapped up in work. You can't force creativity and it does need to be recharged from time to time. It's just that when you're in the thick of it, that's hardly the time to take a long weekend and relax.
The allegation is that she lied by omitting her involvement with violent radicals. Terrorists don't generally carry ID cards, nor do they publish a list of members. Yes, the two orgs she claimed to be involved with are probably peaceful and harmless. But if you know people that used violence to carry out an agenda that you met while spending time in activist groups and someone asks you a question like that, you ought to mention it. Throw the facts out on the table. Yes, I was a member of these peaceful groups, and while I was involved with them I met these other folks who were using violence. I've kept in touch with one of them ever since. I can't imagine this is something that just slipped her mind. Did she forget why her friend was in prison?
She stayed in contact with an associate who was in prison. I don't think she can claim innocence.
I wasn't suggesting that it would be practical.