Correct me if I'm wrong, but I get the impression that PC hardware was much more commoditized before the first "blockbuster", Windows 95 (Plug and Pray had a way of blurring distinctions between hardware device competitors). Notice that in 1994-95, we had well over 4 major graphics chip companies on the market, and we're down to two and a half. There were at least 3 audio chip companies, now that field has the bottom cut out of it by cheap built-in audio. You could just as easily argue that the PC commoditization began with Compaq reverse-engineering the PC BIOS, because that opened up the possibility of making clone PCs. Once a company starts "outsourcing" hardware components, the regular Joe can, in turn, obtain them for their own PC builds.
Compared to the computing boom of the 80s and early 90s, PC hardware is arguably much more homogenized.
The end result will be that the government and the telcos will file a motion to dismiss because under this new FISA law, all they need is a pass from the President to legalize the wiretap, which he will be happy to produce. In such an event, I seriously doubt any trial against the government will even reach discovery because of their abuse of the state secrets privilege. A truly patriotic judge may deny the motion because the FISA amendment is unconstitutionally granting the telcos and government a free pass after the fact, but he'll be putting his career on the line if he does.
All this new law does is grant yet another unwarranted privilege to the executive. I don't know what the hell Pelosi and the others are thinking, but the last thing they should do is capitulate to the White House on a power trip.
They probably have a CMS that's way outdated and allows for last-minute amendments without committee approval to "speed up the process". What they really need are people willing to follow rules concerning amendments, like "Don't include an irrelevant amendment" and "Don't permit conflicts of interest".
Funny, yes, but the sort of "bill poisoning" you mention is a well-known tactic. I'll bet that it's also cause for 40% of the complaints that Congresspeople raise in session.
There is a mechanism for the various states to get together and amend the Constitution without the participation of the congress, but it has never been used and it is unlikely that it will ever be used.
That's because any such convention will result in deadlock from the states bickering over who gets to decide what.
Our best bet is probably the judiciary, but the SCOTUS will probably say "not our job"...
Bush Derangement Syndrome: An Irrational fear of anything related to the George W. Bush presidency, and a tendency to blame everything wrong with the US Government, America, the World, and one's own personal life solely on G.W. Bush.
I haven't read GP's comment in question, but the Bush administration has done much to threaten America's rule of law, its honor (what's left of it since 1945) and good standing with the international community, and the rights of its citizens. My personal opinion is that Bush is Cheney's patsy, who was fooled into doing Cheney's will and now is committed to the point of no escape, so your point that he isn't solely responsible most likely stands. However, the reckless actions of the White House have been cause for concern and alarm for many people on the left, so any hysteria and paranoia there is understandable.
I would refrain from using such an exaggeration of logic ("everything wrong with... one's own personal life"), since that will easily be pointed out as a straw man.
Neither goals are a hallmark of either party, although the Democrats will claim this distinction. Democrats are just as likely to try to prop up stupid measures to boost corporate support, they just don't do it with foolish, short-sighted tax breaks. Instead, they support stupid laws that give media corporations way too much control. Remember "Hollywood" Berman? Fritz Hollings? Both Democrats.
Note, of course, that this doesn't rule out that the SCOTUS can reverse itself. It just takes a generation or two, and several Presidential appointments...
"I voted for you, and I'm a Republican." "Thanks! Why are we whispering?"
Better yet, take it to both his Senate office and his campaign. If he knows that Americans still don't want the telecoms to get away scot-free, he can roast his House colleagues alive in stump speeches. It'd risk him losing support among House Democrats, but I think people will cheer him for calling for accountability if he does this.
Voting for the person/party that represents my views the best is never pointless. If you suggest that voting 3rd party is pointless because they'll never win, is much like saying developing Linux Kernal in 2001 when Linus released version was pointless because it couldn't compete with Windows or Mac.
It sounds like a good example, but it's not. When you choose Linux, you get an immediate, tangible benefit, whereas when your 3rd-party candidate loses, the general public doesn't care, and both party and candidate are marginalized. The only benefits you may get is a few additional supporters and maybe a bit more campaign cash.
People want real change this year, and neither Obama nor McCain offer it, not really. Both offer more of the same crap we've had since 88.
The problem with most of the 3rd-party supporters' "change" is that such change often entails a drastic regime and policy change that will most likely be isolated in the White House and blocked at every turn by Congress and the courts. Unless, of course, they manage to get a significant number of seats in the Capitol, which is no small feat, even incrementally. Putting down your opponents as "offering the same crap", no matter how true, will guarantee a loss for your candidate in the current political environment. Heck, Obama's made this point a hallmark of his campaign, even though some of his supporters can't seem to keep from flinging dung.
Paul demonstrated not too long back that he didn't win his Congressional seat by being a political dunce; he's decided to extend his grassroots campaign support to likeminded people so he can win seats in Congress. Even though it takes longer than simply grabbing the Presidency, having a significant number of seats there is often much more effective, especially if your message is convincing.
OT, but here goes: Given that the Bush administration, upon hearing that the CIA wouldn't manufacture WMD evidence for the Iraq war and instead made a division in the Pentagon who would, what makes you think that they, who already have a contempt for facts, wouldn't use this to trumpet NCLB as a monumental success?
Dragon Zakura is the perfect parody of the "game the system" conundrum, only the protagonist in the novel tells the students that if the system's going to be gamed by those in power, they should learn how to game the system themselves while it's flawed, so they can make some changes for the better when they're on top. A great way to flip the bird at any teacher who does game the system, but not without consequences.
I would say that the measure of a teacher is the ability of the entire classroom-- including the teacher-- to learn something new, and the ability of the teacher to help his students pursue their fondest dreams. The problem with that is, bureaucrats-- the Japanese politicians in particular-- can't measure that sort of success. They want numbers, they want grades, dammit, because they want to know how much they want to divvy up the minuscule resources they've allowed you to have.
If I had my druthers and children, I'd teach them myself, but you can't do that in Japan, even though school workbooks are commonly found in bookstores...
A tad OT, but I'm curious: Is it possible under the current Japanese education administration to have an English-only curriculum from the beginning, or a day or two out of the week where they can only speak English? Many foreign languages can't be picked up past primary school through rote learning and repetition (which the Japanese school system, IIRC has down to a science), more so the lexical, phonological, and grammatical mish-mash that is English; the best way is to literally force them to use it.
And by "use", I don't mean fleeting use, like "That will be 500 yen. Would you like a bag?" I mean, try to hold conversations, albeit simple ones.
You're addressing a crowd of cynics and iPhone complainers (well, maybe more of the former). Their argument is that the top could've done so much better without NCLB, and that the fundamental flaws of the policy remain despite the improvement.
If you applied this mindset as a US Navy SEALs instructor, you'd get some fine Marines.
But since you couldn't get that job, you turn your talents (or should I say, rage) on ESL students?? Has the grind of your job so hardened your cynicism that you can no longer have compassion for anyone in your classes, except those who ace every test you throw at them?
Imagine if you were a doctor! "Oh, he's only doing about 60%, he's going to die anyway." Or a physical trainer: "What, you can't bench 400? Get out of my gym and go die of heart failure!"
One too many underachieving student yells "Fuck you!" at you, so you decide to return the favor on the whole group. Your maturity is astounding.
It's the "American Dream" thing, which has frankly become elevated to the level of propaganda.
For those of you in Europe and Asia, here's how it goes: You go to college, get a degree, a good job, perhaps a spouse who won't slow you down, and when you get rich by working hard, you retire.
Here's reality for some: You get into debt to pay for college, exponentially higher according to the number of years you spend there, maybe land a job you can work in without tearing out your appendix in frustration, perhaps get married despite a staggering divorce rate, and when you finally pay off your student, home, and car loans (all 8 of 'em), you retire.
If you were growing up in today's Japan, you would have found that the worst bullies aren't those with jewelry, dyed hair, leather, and poor grades. The worst are those with more money than integrity, and have enough cronies to bully you by proxy until you quit school or commit suicide. Oh, and they tend to perform very well academically and are respected by teachers and younger students, so if you try to finger them as the ringleader, you're screwed.
Sadly, that form of bullying is common elsewhere, too.
The funny (ironic) thing is, they don't even need the ANWR oil, the oil corps simply aren't using over 80% of the offshore drilling rights they already have.
Anyone who's really tracked McCain these past 8 years knows he's now a patsy of the Bush administration, and this is simply a stunt to get all the technophile voters excited about him.
MEMO: The politician's first rule is not "The buck stops here", it's "When I'm in office, all promises are up for re-negotiation."
It's entirely about rudderless emotions, drama, and cheap, sophomoric, fair-weather outrage that's anything but constructive...
As opposed to inciting rudderless emotions, drama, and cheap, sophomoric, fair-weather outrage in order to get the populace to agree to a needless conflict and get the current fellas in the White House re-elected?
How about the fact that you're just as dead-set against that particular Democrat based on a single catch-phrase? I'm sure you wanted to keep your comment brief, just as he wants to keep his speeches engaging?
That's nice for you, clearly not living in the United States.
Clearly? He's simply talking about his everyday experience and you accuse him of lying earlier in the thread?
Or did it maybe not occur to you that trying to LEGISLATE a religious opinion definitely qualifies as "trying to shove it down my throat." To be honest, to a lot of people the "Jesus fish" probably says something along the lines of, "Hi, I'm probably one of the people trying to legislatively force my religious opinions down the entire country's throat."
Memo: He likely doesn't agree with the idiots in power trying to legislate a religious mandate, and many other religious people don't either. For that matter, the Jesus fish nowadays says more along the lines of "Lookit me! I gotz me a useless ornament for my car even though I don't act my faith!" Sure, they might be the same fools who voted in the same idiots in power, but I seriously doubt the majority of them really want you to be forced to discard your lack of beliefs.
I think Chomsky had it right when he posited that every time there's a crisis in a society, those in power will do anything to exploit it to their advantage, i.e., further strengthen their grip on power. The greater the shock on society, the more likely they are to succeed, because those who appear to act decisively, rather than responsibly, gain the adoration of the populace.
Oh, sure, communism the economic model crashed and burned, but largely because the hopelessly corrupt Soviet government it was tightly coupled to collapsed-- some may recall the KGB was behind the "failed" coup against Gorbachev that got the dominoes tumbling. Now we have an ex-KGB officer still in power as Prime Minister, because hey, maybe Medvedev will do something he doesn't want. Given the suspicious, spy-movie-esque deaths of dissidents and the fact that Putin has a much greater cult of personality* than Obama or Paul, one begins to wonder whether Stalin and the Soviets really are dead. We can say with some irony that perhaps the KGB ultimately didn't fail in their coup d'etat.
What's happening in the US and other Western nations is that the regimes in power are realizing that they can call the shots more and more because the populace doesn't want another catastrophic loss of life like we saw almost seven years ago, and because we don't demand responsibility rigorously and constantly, they will do everything to deny responsibility. Remember how big corporations got into the habit of breaking the law and paying the fine, because it was cheaper than doing it right in the first place? The people in power now break the law and disclaim responsibility, because the advantage gained through precedent is far greater than any penalty. You'll notice that no politician or news anchor who is in front of a television camera will ever claim responsibility for anything.
It no longer does us any good when the only thing protecting our rights is simply a sign that says, "don't take away our rights", because the document that gives that sign real teeth has been de-fanged. Now that the Bush administration has demonstrated how to govern with utter contempt for the rule of law, other governments are simply doing the same. It may not have been the ultimate aim of the administration (Katrina, for example, was a bungled "opportunity"), but much of their policies revolve around collecting power solely for the President. The priority of a politician is to remain in power, not to see to our needs.
* Of course, it's easy to brew a cult of personality when you have a gun to everyone's head. Just ask Joe Goebbels.
Slashdot Mirror
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I get the impression that PC hardware was much more commoditized before the first "blockbuster", Windows 95 (Plug and Pray had a way of blurring distinctions between hardware device competitors). Notice that in 1994-95, we had well over 4 major graphics chip companies on the market, and we're down to two and a half. There were at least 3 audio chip companies, now that field has the bottom cut out of it by cheap built-in audio. You could just as easily argue that the PC commoditization began with Compaq reverse-engineering the PC BIOS, because that opened up the possibility of making clone PCs. Once a company starts "outsourcing" hardware components, the regular Joe can, in turn, obtain them for their own PC builds.
Compared to the computing boom of the 80s and early 90s, PC hardware is arguably much more homogenized.
The end result will be that the government and the telcos will file a motion to dismiss because under this new FISA law, all they need is a pass from the President to legalize the wiretap, which he will be happy to produce. In such an event, I seriously doubt any trial against the government will even reach discovery because of their abuse of the state secrets privilege. A truly patriotic judge may deny the motion because the FISA amendment is unconstitutionally granting the telcos and government a free pass after the fact, but he'll be putting his career on the line if he does.
All this new law does is grant yet another unwarranted privilege to the executive. I don't know what the hell Pelosi and the others are thinking, but the last thing they should do is capitulate to the White House on a power trip.
They probably have a CMS that's way outdated and allows for last-minute amendments without committee approval to "speed up the process". What they really need are people willing to follow rules concerning amendments, like "Don't include an irrelevant amendment" and "Don't permit conflicts of interest".
Funny, yes, but the sort of "bill poisoning" you mention is a well-known tactic. I'll bet that it's also cause for 40% of the complaints that Congresspeople raise in session.
Our best bet is probably the judiciary, but the SCOTUS will probably say "not our job"...
I would refrain from using such an exaggeration of logic ("everything wrong with... one's own personal life"), since that will easily be pointed out as a straw man.
The new distraction: Congressional theater, starring the Hatfields and McCoys, er, Democrats and Republicans.
Only without guns. So far.
Neither goals are a hallmark of either party, although the Democrats will claim this distinction. Democrats are just as likely to try to prop up stupid measures to boost corporate support, they just don't do it with foolish, short-sighted tax breaks. Instead, they support stupid laws that give media corporations way too much control. Remember "Hollywood" Berman? Fritz Hollings? Both Democrats.
Yes, but it gets you very far among the vocal Apple opponents on Slashdot.
Note, of course, that this doesn't rule out that the SCOTUS can reverse itself. It just takes a generation or two, and several Presidential appointments...
"I voted for you, and I'm a Republican."
"Thanks! Why are we whispering?"
Better yet, take it to both his Senate office and his campaign. If he knows that Americans still don't want the telecoms to get away scot-free, he can roast his House colleagues alive in stump speeches. It'd risk him losing support among House Democrats, but I think people will cheer him for calling for accountability if he does this.
Paul demonstrated not too long back that he didn't win his Congressional seat by being a political dunce; he's decided to extend his grassroots campaign support to likeminded people so he can win seats in Congress. Even though it takes longer than simply grabbing the Presidency, having a significant number of seats there is often much more effective, especially if your message is convincing.
OT, but here goes: Given that the Bush administration, upon hearing that the CIA wouldn't manufacture WMD evidence for the Iraq war and instead made a division in the Pentagon who would, what makes you think that they, who already have a contempt for facts, wouldn't use this to trumpet NCLB as a monumental success?
Dragon Zakura is the perfect parody of the "game the system" conundrum, only the protagonist in the novel tells the students that if the system's going to be gamed by those in power, they should learn how to game the system themselves while it's flawed, so they can make some changes for the better when they're on top. A great way to flip the bird at any teacher who does game the system, but not without consequences.
I would say that the measure of a teacher is the ability of the entire classroom-- including the teacher-- to learn something new, and the ability of the teacher to help his students pursue their fondest dreams. The problem with that is, bureaucrats-- the Japanese politicians in particular-- can't measure that sort of success. They want numbers, they want grades, dammit, because they want to know how much they want to divvy up the minuscule resources they've allowed you to have.
If I had my druthers and children, I'd teach them myself, but you can't do that in Japan, even though school workbooks are commonly found in bookstores...
A tad OT, but I'm curious: Is it possible under the current Japanese education administration to have an English-only curriculum from the beginning, or a day or two out of the week where they can only speak English? Many foreign languages can't be picked up past primary school through rote learning and repetition (which the Japanese school system, IIRC has down to a science), more so the lexical, phonological, and grammatical mish-mash that is English; the best way is to literally force them to use it.
And by "use", I don't mean fleeting use, like "That will be 500 yen. Would you like a bag?" I mean, try to hold conversations, albeit simple ones.
You're addressing a crowd of cynics and iPhone complainers (well, maybe more of the former). Their argument is that the top could've done so much better without NCLB, and that the fundamental flaws of the policy remain despite the improvement.
If you applied this mindset as a US Navy SEALs instructor, you'd get some fine Marines.
But since you couldn't get that job, you turn your talents (or should I say, rage) on ESL students?? Has the grind of your job so hardened your cynicism that you can no longer have compassion for anyone in your classes, except those who ace every test you throw at them?
Imagine if you were a doctor! "Oh, he's only doing about 60%, he's going to die anyway."
Or a physical trainer: "What, you can't bench 400? Get out of my gym and go die of heart failure!"
One too many underachieving student yells "Fuck you!" at you, so you decide to return the favor on the whole group. Your maturity is astounding.
It's the "American Dream" thing, which has frankly become elevated to the level of propaganda.
For those of you in Europe and Asia, here's how it goes: You go to college, get a degree, a good job, perhaps a spouse who won't slow you down, and when you get rich by working hard, you retire.
Here's reality for some: You get into debt to pay for college, exponentially higher according to the number of years you spend there, maybe land a job you can work in without tearing out your appendix in frustration, perhaps get married despite a staggering divorce rate, and when you finally pay off your student, home, and car loans (all 8 of 'em), you retire.
If you were growing up in today's Japan, you would have found that the worst bullies aren't those with jewelry, dyed hair, leather, and poor grades. The worst are those with more money than integrity, and have enough cronies to bully you by proxy until you quit school or commit suicide. Oh, and they tend to perform very well academically and are respected by teachers and younger students, so if you try to finger them as the ringleader, you're screwed.
Sadly, that form of bullying is common elsewhere, too.
The funny (ironic) thing is, they don't even need the ANWR oil, the oil corps simply aren't using over 80% of the offshore drilling rights they already have.
Anyone who's really tracked McCain these past 8 years knows he's now a patsy of the Bush administration, and this is simply a stunt to get all the technophile voters excited about him.
MEMO: The politician's first rule is not "The buck stops here", it's "When I'm in office, all promises are up for re-negotiation."
How about the fact that you're just as dead-set against that particular Democrat based on a single catch-phrase? I'm sure you wanted to keep your comment brief, just as he wants to keep his speeches engaging?
That's okay, the next POTUS will just use Bush's unitary executive precedents to bypass it.
Just to be clear, the proposed FISA bill was introduced and backed by Democrats, notably Nancy Pelosi.
I think Chomsky had it right when he posited that every time there's a crisis in a society, those in power will do anything to exploit it to their advantage, i.e., further strengthen their grip on power. The greater the shock on society, the more likely they are to succeed, because those who appear to act decisively, rather than responsibly, gain the adoration of the populace.
Oh, sure, communism the economic model crashed and burned, but largely because the hopelessly corrupt Soviet government it was tightly coupled to collapsed-- some may recall the KGB was behind the "failed" coup against Gorbachev that got the dominoes tumbling. Now we have an ex-KGB officer still in power as Prime Minister, because hey, maybe Medvedev will do something he doesn't want. Given the suspicious, spy-movie-esque deaths of dissidents and the fact that Putin has a much greater cult of personality* than Obama or Paul, one begins to wonder whether Stalin and the Soviets really are dead. We can say with some irony that perhaps the KGB ultimately didn't fail in their coup d'etat.
What's happening in the US and other Western nations is that the regimes in power are realizing that they can call the shots more and more because the populace doesn't want another catastrophic loss of life like we saw almost seven years ago, and because we don't demand responsibility rigorously and constantly, they will do everything to deny responsibility. Remember how big corporations got into the habit of breaking the law and paying the fine, because it was cheaper than doing it right in the first place? The people in power now break the law and disclaim responsibility, because the advantage gained through precedent is far greater than any penalty. You'll notice that no politician or news anchor who is in front of a television camera will ever claim responsibility for anything.
It no longer does us any good when the only thing protecting our rights is simply a sign that says, "don't take away our rights", because the document that gives that sign real teeth has been de-fanged. Now that the Bush administration has demonstrated how to govern with utter contempt for the rule of law, other governments are simply doing the same. It may not have been the ultimate aim of the administration (Katrina, for example, was a bungled "opportunity"), but much of their policies revolve around collecting power solely for the President. The priority of a politician is to remain in power, not to see to our needs.
* Of course, it's easy to brew a cult of personality when you have a gun to everyone's head. Just ask Joe Goebbels.