The USA is not and never has been a democracy- its a republic. Pretty big difference.
America is a Republic in this sense: An autonomous or partially autonomous political and territorial unit belonging to a sovereign federation. Each independant 'autonomous territiorial unit' is a democracy in itself.
Please, if you want to debate symantics, be honest about it...
Systemic? Are you nuts? It was popular racism, perpetrated by the very people you want to fight for, not some governmental agency.No. Systemic infers constant, calculable, and predictable. There was a definite system involved - not simply school-yard close-mindedness - it was certainly institutionalized (think: white/black bus seats, white/black water fountains, white/black 'renal policies', white/black hiring policies etc).
These people are against "something" without offering any alternatives whatsoever.
They (I) am/are for:
equality
economic sustainability
true, community-based & participatory democracy
environmental preservation
Blind Justice
Economic 'fairness', modern riches should be shared by all in a reasonable manner. True economic equality is an unmanageable burden (simple administrative problems) but no person should be able to steal $5-10-200 million while people starve all over the world, people toil in dangerous jobs, people don't have access to basic medial treatments. Its disgusting and inhuman.
Insert other social-justice issues here that arent being addressed by the worlds governments, instead they race to the bottom in their service to their undemocratic corporate masters.
This is anarchy - Anarchy does *NOT* mean chaos. Anarchists assert that governments, of all manner, are oppressors. Some people have an issue with being oppressed - thankfully some of us (myself) do feel it reasonable to accept the reasonable bounds of community in exchange for security (vs. mad-max lawless-ness) or at least immaturity at its best. - Thats pretty cynical isnt it? Never mind having goals, accept and exploit the present condition for yourself, you cannot change the system. Everybody sing: I fought the law and the law won... Does this make you comfortable? It sickens me to no end. I will not end the struggle until the world is as i wish - I may be wrong in some respects, but I am principled. I will not die an lonely, empty shell of self-serving greed.
Why would I join people like that?
odds are our *goals* are the same, the methods to achieve these goals are what is at debate. It is easily provable that the present 'free-market Capitalist system is failing to deliver the goals of the majority, it should be adjusted significantly to afford everyone the ability to meet these goals. There is no reason to let 99% of your country to suffer while a few become increasingly powerful and wealthy.
These sorts of regulations and increased intrusion of the government into our lives will be our downfall
This is a very unique American perspective - you do realize, that your government, if it wasn't so corrupt, and your neighbours (as yourself) weren't so complacent to this corruption that it would truly be a democratic and responsive body. ONLY BECAUSE YOU fear and loathe it does it become as it is now. When your democratically elected officials have widdled away the 'bounds' that it can operate, when it has sold enough of itself so thoroughly, when Private, Moneyed Interests declare the rules - and you have no legal recourse - will you understand that your government is a collection of your neighbours, meaning to exercise their will (and yours) and that a 'Corporate Government' is none at all. Americans will, if they havent been completely zombie-ized by television and the Consumer-ism Religion's lies - start another revolution. Be certain that the status quo will be as one voice opposing these heretics... the question is will the fathers of the next revolution be able to break through the apathy and fear of the public (of this future) and be able to engage these people with 'other-than-self-serving and grand' ideals... the same ones that started The First American Revolution.
No, it is you who is delusional.
Every looked at this whole "mess" from that angle ?
are you suggesting that I am manufacturing this myself? well, maybe... but dismissing it offhand, as you attempt to, by suggesting I am paranoid is a little flippant, no? My point (in this case) was that your rulers are not 'open' and 'accountable' as a democratic body should be... why do you accept that they keep secrets? Who are they keeping them from? for instance,have you been paying attention? This is an EXACT example of the problem that I was addressing.... Am I making this UP?
Except look at the current 'business friendly' Whitehouse. Oh well, better luck in 2004, guys.
It is going to take more than 3 years for the Americans to start voting, and demanding democratic reforms, that will enable them to re-ignite their democracy. The Republicrats have been colluding to exclude all others for 150 years - why does it matter who they elect, there will be no change from either party... nothing of consequence... maybe they'll debate about education reform or public health care - yet again...
The entire political system is so corrupt (literally) that it is an outright sham(e).
against monopolies. In and of itself, monopolies are not illegal
Well, if this is the case, Id like to stand up and suggest that they *should be*. I have no interest in being a servant to monopolies - nor do I have interest in being a martyr (like living in the bush without electricity to avoid the power company).
Most people would agree - and guess what, in a democracy, people make the laws of the land... even those that affect the economy (*gasp*). I suggest when a market doesn't have fair competition it should:
A) be 'bought' by the government and offered as a non-profit public service (because the free-market 'advantages' are not at work.. and they are the purpose of this whole capitalism thing (as far as the citizens are concerned))
B) be broken into competing business to encourage/stimulate competition, price movements, innovation.
People have been so polluted by corporate-speak media that they actually feel it is not 'right' to enact law that might effect the economy - free markets rule today - and democracy can take a back seat... "Power" should exist in no entity that is not democratically* elected.
Plus wonderful countries like Brazil and South Africa are starting the horrendous trend of taking property and intellectual rights from corporations.
Intellectual property is to property as fools gold is to gold. I am under no obligation to *not* use the information that I know - and certainly not in the face of my dying countrymen. You have got to be kidding - moreover, you must also believe the BULLSHIT sold to you about R&D by BigPharm - they spend FAR AND AWAY more money on marketing than they do R&D.. a great deal of that is to win mindshare of opinions like yours. What they do spend on R&D is subsidized by grants and tax breaks.
They usually use the phrase "for the good of the people" but it simply proves business are subject to governments.
You must be American - unlike America, the rest of the world's communities like to share with one another. Its simple. "Good for the people" means "Taking from the Rich" in America, where "sharing" is unknown. It really is that fucking simple. You know, we all live a more stable, secure, enriched, rewarding, fruitful, happy life if we think about our communities instead of ourselves for a minute - cynics will say it is naive - but unless you stop foaming at the mouth, bearing down with all your might to exploit at every opportunity, no one else will either... and you'll be force to live in a community of rabid, hysterical chaos of thieves (capitalists), cheats(corrupt-republicrat-plutocratic-politicians ) and liars (marketers). You want to learn about happy mediums? Think Switzerland, Denmark, France, Canada(of 20 years ago).
you really dont have to look much further than Modern America(TM). The RIAA/MPAA/Microsoft/NAWCAT/BigThree/BigPharm/Repub licrats etc are really a product of this community - they live on this attitude. The 'good of all' does always outweigh the 'good of the few'. That is the definition of community and democracy. All people have a right to direct the economy - via there democratic rights - not solely by the 'vote with your dollars' fantasy - which serves the master(capitalist)/slave(consumer) paradigm well.
If you disagree, I have a lovely Church/King/Fascist/Plutocratic(present america?)/Military run system Id like to discuss with you... we'll then let *you* pick.
Would somebody please explain this to governments around the world? One day the companies will be TOO BIG to enforce anything upon! If one company owns, say 75% of the media, they can make AND break politicians because this company OWNS the public opinion (sad but true).
Absolutely!
When you dominate public opinion, when you are the SOLE arbiter of public discourse, you set the frame of debate, you define all the 'truisms' and allow your 'pundits' to repeat the same unimportant facets of a story over and over and over and over until there is no overcoming the apathy that has been built into the public psyche w/ regards to your issue-du-jour.
I am overwhelmed by the sheer lack of public awareness of all things around them. People have such a shallow understanding of the issues presented to them in the 'Television News' that I am astounded that no one questions its validity - so few people are upset that the media dosnt discuss the GROWING concern of media concentration, plutocratic/corrupt government, American militarism (and how it is used as a tool by American Business), the deafening silence about ECHELON in the USA (surprise! Surprise! Secret industrial-espionage system is being hushed-up by those who wield/benefit from it!), the lack of REAL political debate (republican/democrat domination of politics in america for the last 150 years - that situation is TRULY astonishing, has no one had a good-idea in the last 150 years or have they simply been marginalized by colluding business partners/politicians(really the same thing..)).
Am i paranoid? No. Am i a radical? Yes. The status-quo is building up methods to maintain its domination (allowing mega-super-mergers of this nature) in the face of growing discontent and mistrust. The government - under the direction of the powerful/rich - are not paying attention to the fact that the people are dissatisfied with the present state. People KNOW that the US government is BOUGHT AND PAID-FOR, there is no opposing voice because the 5th Estate (media) is now a mouth piece for said establishment.
In the 60's people raged in the streets, opposing the McCarthy-Inspired aggression in Vietnam && systemic racism.. those people *did* manage to create change - but fell sadly short of a lot of their goals, which was to change the structure from preventing these abuses in future... now weve come again to a place where people - The Anti-Capitalists who now Rage in the Streets - demand change in the face of unjust politics. Join them. Support them. Defend their ideals - these people (myself) included want a democracy restored - freed of capitalist domination of All Things.
There was a time (pre-Regan) where there were effectual regulation that prevented this kind of stifling 'oneness' of voice powered by moneyed-interests in the media - those days are gone... if the Americans dont want to live in a terrifying future of numbness and malaise ala the worst of Fahrenheit 451, I suggest *you* do something about your government.
I hope to hell you do - because the "american empire" is real and powerful, it dosnt so much prove the 'rightness' of your 'system' as it shows, like every empire before it, that history and circumstance makes interesting times - it is truly funny that a people who claim to be the height of democracy and 'open-ness' can really be at the fore-front of this modern delusion. What you are witnessing people, is a very important time in history - people will either look back at this time as an era where people *finally* woke up to discover the Capitalist, King or Church always enslave or a great sleep enters the people as there kept fat, happy and stupid (think bread and circuses)... a dystopian dark age... I sincerely hope its the former.
. I know that if it weren't for/. that I would be totally insane by now. Mental Note to Subtle Nuance: Spudnic is questioning his own sanity. Pay attention to his posting on/., email him, r00t him, etc - make sure he goes nuts for the amusment of the slashbots and yourself....
You can keep your rage against the machine, tool, korn, limp bizkit, incubus, whatever.Common now - i think you are unjustly lumping RATM with these pissants for no good reason. Rage is a Revolutionary band, both socially and politically - they are hardly limp bizkxjkajzquick
Well there you have the *real* crux of the problem. When see your involvement in this world, and the art you appreciate, as a function of being a consumer then they have you. When you stop to realize, that you are allowing your community, your government to enforce/condone and prosecute based on these kinds of fascist-business laws (intellectual property laws in general) you are in for a very serious uphill battle.
These publishing houses, *MUST* be made accountable to the public they wish to serve. They must not collude (RIAA) to abridge the rights of citizens.
If you think that your 'voting with your dollars' will make change - forget it. This is the way the USA presently works, and it really only works if you have *LOTS AND LOTS* of dollars. Otherwise you have no rights - your rights only exist in relation to your function in the economy.
Thats just plain wrong. The USA is a Plutocracy, and crap like this (extortion of people in the marketplace) is allowed to persist - you can forget about any 'human rights' and Really start considering yourself a consumer instead of a citizen.
Whats my point? Please dont call yourself a "consumer", and dont call me a "consumer" when you do so you give up your power in the struggle, you accept the pretence (above) as being the frame of debate (the 'playing field' or 'perspective') to those who will justify this type of corporate action in the name of 'free markets' (etc), and you re-enforce the myriad of propaganda-enforced memes and words used in your culture. The last 15 years the USA has been bombarded with images/language and crap that tells its citizens they are 'consumers' their involvment in the world around them is embodied in the way they shop - this is a terribly impotent position. When faced with the power struggle that is described in this article, the corporate interests will *always* be served when you accept the master|corporation|king|church - slave|consumer|fife|congregation relationship.
If you think it dosnt matter; your wrong, go read some Chomsky.
Games-wise, it's anticipated HomeStation will play both PC and Xbox titles.
MS is entering some interesting territory, they are COMPETING with their own customers. Compaq, Dell, IBM *also* sell PCs for this purpose... I wonder how they will feel when the XBox v2.0 starts to serve the same functions, in the home setting, as their product.
One of the cardinal rules of business: Never take a product 'direct' to market, and compete with your customers with the product that they BUY FROM YOU. It will leave a bad taste in the mouths of the people who *used* to be your customers.. there will be desire, on their part, to collectively THUMP you.
The Xbox is the single-handedly most astonishingly brash thing MS is doing right now - they are really looking at taking over the Home-PC market. Will XBox v4.0 be a Proprietary Computer? Will MS start selling full featured PC work-a-likes, sure they might call them appliances... but if it smells like a monopoly, and acts like a monopoly....
Not a happy day for fans of open source business models
What? Caldera buying SCO was the biggest bone head move of all time - they bought the least-likely-to-survive Unix on the planet when faced against Linux. I understand some of the motivation was for their distributors, sales channels and support/tech but really, SCO was a pile of bricks. Bad Move.
On top of it all, Caldera, under the lead of Ransom Love, has got to be the least amiable of the Linux Companies - he has said some *very* stupid things and really dosnt *get* what GNU/Linux will do to the software world... frankly, im glad to see the "Caldera Company" go. On the other hand, i do feel some pain for their employees - best of luck to the *people* involved.
does this device have an X10 interface? according to the hardware doesnt say specifically, but when you look at the logo on their index.html has a little subscript '10' next to the "X" in TuX
Anyone care to comment? Still a very interesting little device...
http://www.radiofreenation.com/rfn_news_titlepage. html
What hell is that crap? Stick your 'license' up your arse... if its for your own legal defence, as a grand CYA (cover-your-ass) I suggest you move onto something a little less 'risky' - try selling soda pop to americans or somesuch.
Leave the freedom to people with a spine, and who are not interested in lashing people with bullshit legal crap.
Right. That's partly the reason why we Canadians pay a CD levy tax
Yes, but we are legally entitled to copy music CDs for ourselves now. Ie: I take your CD, copy it and return it to you. My copy is now my own and completely legal.
is traditionally implemented with dictatorial rule of the state by force
yes, in the past it sometimes took tyrants to enforce Communism.
This dosnt make the idea (communism) wrong, but the tyrant. No one is saying the means justify the ends.. Im saying we have problems, we need a goal. We would be better off to find a working model to implement a Socialist/Communist community *without* the tyranny... it is possible.
It speaks to health care costs && approaches. I am Canadian, and we too have a national health system, and I am extremely gratefull for it. The alternative is unthinkable.
From the Article:
place American and Canadian performance in a comparative context. She failed to tell her audience (or did not know) that Canada insured 100 percent of its citizens for $2,250 per person in l998 while the United States expended $4,270 per person insuring only 84 percent of our citizens.
Basically - dont let Blair or his Neo-Liberal twits sell you out to the Yankee Health Businesses - Canadians are watching the WTO, FTAA and the rest licking their lips at the thought of putting us all under their clutches... I wont let them, and YOU SHOULDNT LET THEM!
the "me too" drugs are more profitable but less helpful overall.
Me-too Drugs are created when companies must side-step patents. If we have no patents than this becomes unnecessary... am I missing something in your point.. you seem to be agreeing with me.
go with research in drugs that are less likely to be "pirated"
Did you read the article? You realize that the industry serves itself, public health is not a concern.
the short-term public good
...you are 100% mis-understanding this situation, the 'SHORT-TERM' public good occurs when some BigPharm can lock up a drug for themselves, and use their publicly-subsidized research to extort profit. The LONG TERM good would be served to eliminate private drug-patents and the private health industry and make people healthy: all people, in all possible ways, all the time. The public only has to pay enough to make themselves and their neighbours healthy - not put some fat-boss in a new Porsche in Beverly Hills.
and we'll just have to believe everything they tell us.
What - you cant read? The idea is transparent, repeatable, fully open reasearch... *everyone* would have to be part of a the coverup to misrepresent public research when it is fully disclosed.
The present state is 'trade secrets' obscuring flawed-profit-motivated 'research'.
This should make sick every one of you that has a Free* bone in their body.
Most everyone else on the planet dosnt believe that they are "free" to abuse government greed (gov-granted monopolies) to kill people, in effort to make themselves massive profit. Drugs are inventions, as much as gadgets are inventions, and this is IP theft, plain and simple.
IP dosnt exist. Intellectually free societies cannot have 'intellectual property' lest they be complacent hypocrites. Patent law was a condition, an agreement, where people would forsake their rights to do as they wanted in effort to reward creation. This is obviously, especially in this case NOT a 'fair deal'. People are dying -> your profit 'right' ceases. Simple.
If I spent a fortune researching and creating a drug, you bet I would be pissed if someone else started making my drug without my permission.
You dont know anything about BigPharm. They spend far more on Marketing (pen-giveaways/junkets/propaganda) than research. Even their research is Seriously subsidized by public grants && further aided by massive tax breaks for what they do spend. See: http://www.mercola.com/2000/june/24/pharmaceutical _industry.htm
Does Libertarian now mean "misguided, myopic, clueless freemarket fetishist"? I always knew libertarianism was an extreme free-market religion where people wage economic wars, and 'economic' might was right where capital owners could do as they pleased. Have Libertarians devolved into street-thug-styled-anarchists* without a conscience?
*Apologies to cluefull Anarchists, Anarchist in the Traditional-Political sense, not the clueless USA synonym for 'street-thug who advocates chaos.'
Personally, I'm hoping that some day it'll get modded down for missing the obvious fact that if people circumvent the intellectual property rights of drug companies, the result is less money for research, less new drugs, and ultimately less lives saved.
WRONG!
BigPharm spends more money on Marketing than they do Research AND that research enjoys heavy government subsidy (grants) AND tax breaks.
Americans are so blinded by FreeMarket Capitalist Dogma to see that they are dying for profit. Literally.
stop developing drugs no one will ever pay you for
or turn over pharmaceutical research duties to Universities. That way the Uni's can peruse research that leads to *HEALHTY PEOPLE* and not to simple economic-profit.
Congratulations Brazil. Your government, and people should be given a great thanks from the rest of us - YOU have finally started standing up to these capitalist whores.
Slashdot Mirror
The USA is not and never has been a democracy- its a republic. Pretty big difference.
America is a Republic in this sense:
An autonomous or partially autonomous political and territorial unit belonging to a sovereign federation.
Each independant 'autonomous territiorial unit' is a democracy in itself.
Please, if you want to debate symantics, be honest about it...
These people are against "something" without offering any alternatives whatsoever.
They (I) am/are for:
equality
economic sustainability
true, community-based & participatory democracy
environmental preservation
Blind Justice
Economic 'fairness', modern riches should be shared by all in a reasonable manner. True economic equality is an unmanageable burden (simple administrative problems) but no person should be able to steal $5-10-200 million while people starve all over the world, people toil in dangerous jobs, people don't have access to basic medial treatments. Its disgusting and inhuman.
Insert other social-justice issues here that arent being addressed by the worlds governments, instead they race to the bottom in their service to their undemocratic corporate masters.
This is anarchy - Anarchy does *NOT* mean chaos. Anarchists assert that governments, of all manner, are oppressors. Some people have an issue with being oppressed - thankfully some of us (myself) do feel it reasonable to accept the reasonable bounds of community in exchange for security (vs. mad-max lawless-ness)
or at least immaturity at its best. - Thats pretty cynical isnt it? Never mind having goals, accept and exploit the present condition for yourself, you cannot change the system. Everybody sing: I fought the law and the law won... Does this make you comfortable? It sickens me to no end. I will not end the struggle until the world is as i wish - I may be wrong in some respects, but I am principled. I will not die an lonely, empty shell of self-serving greed.
Why would I join people like that?
odds are our *goals* are the same, the methods to achieve these goals are what is at debate. It is easily provable that the present 'free-market Capitalist system is failing to deliver the goals of the majority, it should be adjusted significantly to afford everyone the ability to meet these goals. There is no reason to let 99% of your country to suffer while a few become increasingly powerful and wealthy.
These sorts of regulations and increased intrusion of the government into our lives will be our downfall
This is a very unique American perspective - you do realize, that your government, if it wasn't so corrupt, and your neighbours (as yourself) weren't so complacent to this corruption that it would truly be a democratic and responsive body. ONLY BECAUSE YOU fear and loathe it does it become as it is now. When your democratically elected officials have widdled away the 'bounds' that it can operate, when it has sold enough of itself so thoroughly, when Private, Moneyed Interests declare the rules - and you have no legal recourse - will you understand that your government is a collection of your neighbours, meaning to exercise their will (and yours) and that a 'Corporate Government' is none at all. Americans will, if they havent been completely zombie-ized by television and the Consumer-ism Religion's lies - start another revolution. Be certain that the status quo will be as one voice opposing these heretics... the question is will the fathers of the next revolution be able to break through the apathy and fear of the public (of this future) and be able to engage these people with 'other-than-self-serving and grand' ideals... the same ones that started The First American Revolution.
No, it is you who is delusional.
Every looked at this whole "mess" from that angle ?
are you suggesting that I am manufacturing this myself? well, maybe... but dismissing it offhand, as you attempt to, by suggesting I am paranoid is a little flippant, no? My point (in this case) was that your rulers are not 'open' and 'accountable' as a democratic body should be... why do you accept that they keep secrets? Who are they keeping them from? for instance,have you been paying attention? This is an EXACT example of the problem that I was addressing.... Am I making this UP?
The future is now friend; have you ever heard of Export Processing Zones?.
Except look at the current 'business friendly' Whitehouse. Oh well, better luck in 2004, guys.
It is going to take more than 3 years for the Americans to start voting, and demanding democratic reforms, that will enable them to re-ignite their democracy. The Republicrats have been colluding to exclude all others for 150 years - why does it matter who they elect, there will be no change from either party... nothing of consequence... maybe they'll debate about education reform or public health care - yet again...
The entire political system is so corrupt (literally) that it is an outright sham(e).
Well, if this is the case, Id like to stand up and suggest that they *should be*. I have no interest in being a servant to monopolies - nor do I have interest in being a martyr (like living in the bush without electricity to avoid the power company).
Most people would agree - and guess what, in a democracy, people make the laws of the land... even those that affect the economy (*gasp*). I suggest when a market doesn't have fair competition it should:
A) be 'bought' by the government and offered as a non-profit public service (because the free-market 'advantages' are not at work.. and they are the purpose of this whole capitalism thing (as far as the citizens are concerned))
B) be broken into competing business to encourage/stimulate competition, price movements, innovation.
People have been so polluted by corporate-speak media that they actually feel it is not 'right' to enact law that might effect the economy - free markets rule today - and democracy can take a back seat... "Power" should exist in no entity that is not democratically* elected.
Bollocks to that mess: see here friends
*as in 'real' democracy, not the circus of smoke and mirrors that the Plutocrats of USofAmerica organize every couple years...
Plus wonderful countries like Brazil and South Africa are starting the horrendous trend of taking property and intellectual rights from corporations.
s ) and liars (marketers). You want to learn about happy mediums? Think Switzerland, Denmark, France, Canada(of 20 years ago).
b licrats etc are really a product of this community - they live on this attitude. The 'good of all' does always outweigh the 'good of the few'. That is the definition of community and democracy. All people have a right to direct the economy - via there democratic rights - not solely by the 'vote with your dollars' fantasy - which serves the master(capitalist)/slave(consumer) paradigm well.
Intellectual property is to property as fools gold is to gold. I am under no obligation to *not* use the information that I know - and certainly not in the face of my dying countrymen. You have got to be kidding - moreover, you must also believe the BULLSHIT sold to you about R&D by BigPharm - they spend FAR AND AWAY more money on marketing than they do R&D.. a great deal of that is to win mindshare of opinions like yours. What they do spend on R&D is subsidized by grants and tax breaks.
They usually use the phrase "for the good of the people" but it simply proves business are subject to governments.
You must be American - unlike America, the rest of the world's communities like to share with one another. Its simple. "Good for the people" means "Taking from the Rich" in America, where "sharing" is unknown. It really is that fucking simple. You know, we all live a more stable, secure, enriched, rewarding, fruitful, happy life if we think about our communities instead of ourselves for a minute - cynics will say it is naive - but unless you stop foaming at the mouth, bearing down with all your might to exploit at every opportunity, no one else will either... and you'll be force to live in a community of rabid, hysterical chaos of thieves (capitalists), cheats(corrupt-republicrat-plutocratic-politician
you really dont have to look much further than Modern America(TM). The RIAA/MPAA/Microsoft/NAWCAT/BigThree/BigPharm/Repu
If you disagree, I have a lovely Church/King/Fascist/Plutocratic(present america?)/Military run system Id like to discuss with you... we'll then let *you* pick.
Would somebody please explain this to governments around the world? One day the companies will be TOO BIG to enforce anything upon! If one company owns, say 75% of the media, they can make AND break politicians because this company OWNS the public opinion (sad but true).
Absolutely!
When you dominate public opinion, when you are the SOLE arbiter of public discourse, you set the frame of debate, you define all the 'truisms' and allow your 'pundits' to repeat the same unimportant facets of a story over and over and over and over until there is no overcoming the apathy that has been built into the public psyche w/ regards to your issue-du-jour.
I am overwhelmed by the sheer lack of public awareness of all things around them. People have such a shallow understanding of the issues presented to them in the 'Television News' that I am astounded that no one questions its validity - so few people are upset that the media dosnt discuss the GROWING concern of media concentration, plutocratic/corrupt government, American militarism (and how it is used as a tool by American Business), the deafening silence about ECHELON in the USA (surprise! Surprise! Secret industrial-espionage system is being hushed-up by those who wield/benefit from it!), the lack of REAL political debate (republican/democrat domination of politics in america for the last 150 years - that situation is TRULY astonishing, has no one had a good-idea in the last 150 years or have they simply been marginalized by colluding business partners/politicians(really the same thing..)).
Am i paranoid? No. Am i a radical? Yes. The status-quo is building up methods to maintain its domination (allowing mega-super-mergers of this nature) in the face of growing discontent and mistrust. The government - under the direction of the powerful/rich - are not paying attention to the fact that the people are dissatisfied with the present state. People KNOW that the US government is BOUGHT AND PAID-FOR , there is no opposing voice because the 5th Estate (media) is now a mouth piece for said establishment.
In the 60's people raged in the streets, opposing the McCarthy-Inspired aggression in Vietnam && systemic racism.. those people *did* manage to create change - but fell sadly short of a lot of their goals, which was to change the structure from preventing these abuses in future... now weve come again to a place where people - The Anti-Capitalists who now Rage in the Streets - demand change in the face of unjust politics. Join them. Support them. Defend their ideals - these people (myself) included want a democracy restored - freed of capitalist domination of All Things.
There was a time (pre-Regan) where there were effectual regulation that prevented this kind of stifling 'oneness' of voice powered by moneyed-interests in the media - those days are gone... if the Americans dont want to live in a terrifying future of numbness and malaise ala the worst of Fahrenheit 451, I suggest *you* do something about your government.
I hope to hell you do - because the "american empire" is real and powerful, it dosnt so much prove the 'rightness' of your 'system' as it shows, like every empire before it, that history and circumstance makes interesting times - it is truly funny that a people who claim to be the height of democracy and 'open-ness' can really be at the fore-front of this modern delusion. What you are witnessing people, is a very important time in history - people will either look back at this time as an era where people *finally* woke up to discover the Capitalist, King or Church always enslave or a great sleep enters the people as there kept fat, happy and stupid (think bread and circuses)... a dystopian dark age... I sincerely hope its the former.
wow, weve /.ed IBM.
Bend to our will IBM l0z3rzz.
. I know that if it weren't for /. that I would be totally insane by now. /., email him, r00t him, etc - make sure he goes nuts for the amusment of the slashbots and yourself....
Mental Note to Subtle Nuance: Spudnic is questioning his own sanity. Pay attention to his posting on
You can keep your rage against the machine, tool, korn, limp bizkit, incubus, whatever.Common now - i think you are unjustly lumping RATM with these pissants for no good reason. Rage is a Revolutionary band, both socially and politically - they are hardly limp bizkxjkajzquick
otherwise - i completely agree with your take on punk, the ethos you describe and commend your altrusim... maybe we'll see you in Washington later this month...
trying to sneak this sort of crap past consumers.
.
Well there you have the *real* crux of the problem. When see your involvement in this world, and the art you appreciate, as a function of being a consumer then they have you. When you stop to realize, that you are allowing your community, your government to enforce/condone and prosecute based on these kinds of fascist-business laws (intellectual property laws in general) you are in for a very serious uphill battle.
These publishing houses, *MUST* be made accountable to the public they wish to serve. They must not collude (RIAA) to abridge the rights of citizens.
If you think that your 'voting with your dollars' will make change - forget it. This is the way the USA presently works, and it really only works if you have *LOTS AND LOTS* of dollars. Otherwise you have no rights - your rights only exist in relation to your function in the economy.
Thats just plain wrong. The USA is a Plutocracy, and crap like this (extortion of people in the marketplace) is allowed to persist - you can forget about any 'human rights' and Really start considering yourself a consumer instead of a citizen
Whats my point? Please dont call yourself a "consumer", and dont call me a "consumer" when you do so you give up your power in the struggle, you accept the pretence (above) as being the frame of debate (the 'playing field' or 'perspective') to those who will justify this type of corporate action in the name of 'free markets' (etc), and you re-enforce the myriad of propaganda-enforced memes and words used in your culture. The last 15 years the USA has been bombarded with images/language and crap that tells its citizens they are 'consumers' their involvment in the world around them is embodied in the way they shop - this is a terribly impotent position. When faced with the power struggle that is described in this article, the corporate interests will *always* be served when you accept the master|corporation|king|church - slave|consumer|fife|congregation relationship.
If you think it dosnt matter; your wrong, go read some Chomsky.
Seems like no better a time to repeat:
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. "
- Ben Franklin
Games-wise, it's anticipated HomeStation will play both PC and Xbox titles.
MS is entering some interesting territory, they are COMPETING with their own customers. Compaq, Dell, IBM *also* sell PCs for this purpose... I wonder how they will feel when the XBox v2.0 starts to serve the same functions, in the home setting, as their product.
One of the cardinal rules of business: Never take a product 'direct' to market, and compete with your customers with the product that they BUY FROM YOU. It will leave a bad taste in the mouths of the people who *used* to be your customers.. there will be desire, on their part, to collectively THUMP you.
The Xbox is the single-handedly most astonishingly brash thing MS is doing right now - they are really looking at taking over the Home-PC market. Will XBox v4.0 be a Proprietary Computer? Will MS start selling full featured PC work-a-likes, sure they might call them appliances... but if it smells like a monopoly, and acts like a monopoly....
Not a happy day for fans of open source business models
What? Caldera buying SCO was the biggest bone head move of all time - they bought the least-likely-to-survive Unix on the planet when faced against Linux. I understand some of the motivation was for their distributors, sales channels and support/tech but really, SCO was a pile of bricks. Bad Move.
On top of it all, Caldera, under the lead of Ransom Love, has got to be the least amiable of the Linux Companies - he has said some *very* stupid things and really dosnt *get* what GNU/Linux will do to the software world... frankly, im glad to see the "Caldera Company" go. On the other hand, i do feel some pain for their employees - best of luck to the *people* involved.
does this device have an X10 interface? according to the hardware doesnt say specifically, but when you look at the logo on their index.html has a little subscript '10' next to the "X" in Tu X
Anyone care to comment? Still a very interesting little device...
http://www.radiofreenation.com/rfn_news_titlepage. html
What hell is that crap? Stick your 'license' up your arse... if its for your own legal defence, as a grand CYA (cover-your-ass) I suggest you move onto something a little less 'risky' - try selling soda pop to americans or somesuch.
Leave the freedom to people with a spine, and who are not interested in lashing people with bullshit legal crap.
Right. That's partly the reason why we Canadians pay a CD levy tax
Yes, but we are legally entitled to copy music CDs for ourselves now. Ie: I take your CD, copy it and return it to you. My copy is now my own and completely legal.
is traditionally implemented with dictatorial rule of the state by force
yes, in the past it sometimes took tyrants to enforce Communism.
This dosnt make the idea (communism) wrong, but the tyrant. No one is saying the means justify the ends.. Im saying we have problems, we need a goal. We would be better off to find a working model to implement a Socialist/Communist community *without* the tyranny... it is possible.
Please see:0 00 7.marmorsul.html
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2000/
It speaks to health care costs && approaches. I am Canadian, and we too have a national health system, and I am extremely gratefull for it. The alternative is unthinkable.
From the Article:
place American and Canadian performance in a comparative context. She failed to tell her audience (or did not know) that Canada insured 100 percent of its citizens for $2,250 per person in l998 while the United States expended $4,270 per person insuring only 84 percent of our citizens.
Basically - dont let Blair or his Neo-Liberal twits sell you out to the Yankee Health Businesses - Canadians are watching the WTO, FTAA and the rest licking their lips at the thought of putting us all under their clutches... I wont let them, and YOU SHOULDNT LET THEM!
the "me too" drugs are more profitable but less helpful overall.
Me-too Drugs are created when companies must side-step patents. If we have no patents than this becomes unnecessary... am I missing something in your point.. you seem to be agreeing with me.
go with research in drugs that are less likely to be "pirated"
Did you read the article? You realize that the industry serves itself, public health is not a concern.
the short-term public good
...you are 100% mis-understanding this situation, the 'SHORT-TERM' public good occurs when some BigPharm can lock up a drug for themselves, and use their publicly-subsidized research to extort profit. The LONG TERM good would be served to eliminate private drug-patents and the private health industry and make people healthy: all people, in all possible ways, all the time. The public only has to pay enough to make themselves and their neighbours healthy - not put some fat-boss in a new Porsche in Beverly Hills.
and we'll just have to believe everything they tell us.
What - you cant read? The idea is transparent, repeatable, fully open reasearch... *everyone* would have to be part of a the coverup to misrepresent public research when it is fully disclosed.
The present state is 'trade secrets' obscuring flawed-profit-motivated 'research'.
Are you a troll or simply paranoid?
This should make sick every one of you that has a Free* bone in their body.
l _industry.htm
Most everyone else on the planet dosnt believe that they are "free" to abuse government greed (gov-granted monopolies) to kill people, in effort to make themselves massive profit.
Drugs are inventions, as much as gadgets are inventions, and this is IP theft, plain and simple.
IP dosnt exist. Intellectually free societies cannot have 'intellectual property' lest they be complacent hypocrites. Patent law was a condition, an agreement, where people would forsake their rights to do as they wanted in effort to reward creation. This is obviously, especially in this case NOT a 'fair deal'. People are dying -> your profit 'right' ceases. Simple.
If I spent a fortune researching and creating a drug, you bet I would be pissed if someone else started making my drug without my permission.
You dont know anything about BigPharm. They spend far more on Marketing (pen-giveaways/junkets/propaganda) than research. Even their research is Seriously subsidized by public grants && further aided by massive tax breaks for what they do spend. See: http://www.mercola.com/2000/june/24/pharmaceutica
Does Libertarian now mean "misguided, myopic, clueless freemarket fetishist"? I always knew libertarianism was an extreme free-market religion where people wage economic wars, and 'economic' might was right where capital owners could do as they pleased. Have Libertarians devolved into street-thug-styled-anarchists* without a conscience?
*Apologies to cluefull Anarchists, Anarchist in the Traditional-Political sense, not the clueless USA synonym for 'street-thug who advocates chaos.'
Personally, I'm hoping that some day it'll get modded down for missing the obvious fact that if people circumvent the intellectual property rights of drug companies, the result is less money for research, less new drugs, and ultimately less lives saved.
l _industry.htm
WRONG!
BigPharm spends more money on Marketing than they do Research AND that research enjoys heavy government subsidy (grants) AND tax breaks.
Americans are so blinded by FreeMarket Capitalist Dogma to see that they are dying for profit. Literally.
Please read:
http://www.mercola.com/2000/june/24/pharmaceutica
stop developing drugs no one will ever pay you for
or turn over pharmaceutical research duties to Universities. That way the Uni's can peruse research that leads to *HEALHTY PEOPLE* and not to simple economic-profit.
Pretty Fucking Simple(R)(TM) isnt it.
Congratulations Brazil. Your government, and people should be given a great thanks from the rest of us - YOU have finally started standing up to these capitalist whores.
Come to Washington, D.C., Sept. 28th, to Demand that the Governments of the rest of the planet start ruling on behalf of their citizens as well.
Bravo Brazil!