Almost LIVE! I loved that show. It was even better than Saturday Night Live. Speedwalker, Billy Quan, Sluggy, The Ballard School of Driving ("you paid taxes for the whole road, right? So weave!") This here house, and the Lame List were all hilarious skits.
If you didn't live in Seattle in the late eighties, you missed out. They picked out pecularities of every town in the Puget Sound area and just ran with it. Well, except for my hometown Bremerton which just pretty much makes fun of itself.
Born in Clayton, Okla., Judge West graduated from high school in Antlers, Okla. He earned his bachelor's degree in government from the University of Oklahoma, where he was elected to the honorary scholastic fraternity Phi Eta Sigma.
Following service in the United States Marine Corps (1952-1954), Judge West earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law. He was selected by the faculty as the Outstanding Graduate of his law school class, served as editor of the Oklahoma Law Review and was named to the Order of the Coif. Judge West engaged in private practice in Ada, Okla., until he joined the University of Oklahoma College of Law faculty in 1961. During 1962-1963 he was a Ford Foundation Fellow in Law teaching at Harvard Law School were he earned an L.L.M. degree. Judge West returned to private practice in 1963.
In 1965, Judge West was appointed by Governor Henry Bellmon to serve as District Judge for the 22nd Judicial District of Oklahoma, serving also as Special Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals until 1973. During this time, Judge West graduated from the National College of State Trial Judges. President Richard Nixon appointed Judge West to the Civil Aeronautics Board, Washington, D.C., in 1973. He was designated the board's Acting Chairman by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.
Judge West was appointed U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. He served as Chief Judge of the Western District from 1993 until he took senior status in November, 1994. Since that time he has remained active, hearing cases at both the district and circuit level and serving as a settlement judge in complex and protracted cases throughout the 10th Circuit. He received the Award for Judicial Excellence from the Oklahoma Bar Association in 2000.
Judge West's life story was the subject of a recent biography, Law and Laughter, The Life of Lee West, by Bob Burke, a 1979 graduate of OCU School of Law, and the Honorable David L. Russell.
OCU School of Law's graduation ceremonies will also include remarks by Daniel Gerry, president of the graduating class from St. Louis, Mo., Kyna Roberts, vice-president of the graduating class from Odessa, Texas, and Jonathan Grammer, member of the graduating class from Austin, Texas. A reception in the Naifeh Family Foyer and Reception Hall will immediately follow the ceremonies. Family, friends, alumni and interested members of the public are invited to attend the ceremonies.
What about - the people fed feet first into woodchippers? - the people dipped into acid baths? - the (used) iron maiden found on the olympic commitee grounds - wives, daughters, sisters or mothers of political prisoners raped in front of them? - the gassed Kurdish and Shia villages? - the mass graves of women and children who had a single bullet hole to the back of their skulls? - the 50 palaces while regular people starved? - the people hung upside down by their knees with an electric wire attached to their genitalia - the systematic starvation and environmental degradation of the Marsh Arabs. - the 200,000 to 300,000 missing people, we may never get a full accounting.
Saddam Hussein survived 20 assasination and coup attempts and still has not been found with three or four US Army divisions looking for him after several months, and a $25 million bounty. Plus any assasination attempt would have to have included his two sociopathic sons.
Do you have proof the CIA killed Kennedy? Or do you just walk around with a tin-foil hat? If it would have been so "easy" to Saddam, there is a $25 million bounty. Easy money! Go get em tiger!
Iraq violated the cease fire and every UN resolution since 1991. The US and UK did the job the UN should have done. Why does the UN exist if it doesn't back up it's decisions?
I am Mormon. While I was not born and raised in Utah, I did live there for several years. You distort and stereotype Mormon and Utah thinking, and paint a what is a nuanced picture with a pretty thick brush. I have known many good Mormons who are Democrats. Also many prominent Mormons are Democrats.
Harry Reid Senate Minority Whip is both a Democrat and an active Mormon.
James E. Faust who is number three in the LDS church hierarchy is a Democrat.
I could go on and on . ..
A single first term member of the Utah Senate (hardly a leader) named Bill Wright uttered those infamous words. The leader of the church, Gordon B. Hinkley in a National Press Club press conference said (before Wright) "Good Mormons can be Democrats." I will take Hinkley's word over what LDS believe on what some politician says any day.
I dislike statements like yours that make blanket statements that distort the true picture. YES, most Mormons are Republicans, but the church itself takes a purposefully neutral political stance on all but a very few issues. I only remember them taking stands on "moral" issues like Abortion and gambling. The only non-moral position I remember was when the Church didn't want the MX missles based in Utah.
I resent being called a "sheeple". Mormons are always told to analyze, think and "find out for themselves" what they should do any given situation, when it comes to politics, and ESPECIALLY when it comes to religion.
Please do not continue false stereotypes like many of the statements listed above like polygamy. Speaking as a practicing Mormon, there is no such thing as a "Fundamentalist Mormon". If you "marry" a second wife, you are automatically excommunicated, no ifs, ands, or buts. Those people really are not members of my church.
I prefer using my debit card here in the states as well. It also comes right out of my checking account. I HATE getting coins as change because of pennies. Yeah, there are coin machines, but they charge you a percentage. I also like having a running automated tab of expenditures.
Plus when I use cash there is no way for the UN/New World Order to track me, so the black helicopters tend to follow me more often.
I've actually been to David Pogue's house, Twice. I knew their Nanny, and met him once. I really don't remember what was said, he did seem a little eccentric but nice. Anyway, I just remember watching "Fried Green Tomatoes" on their TV, (I had been outvoted.)
I do not mean to discount statements about potential safety problems with automobiles. However, I work in healthcare IT and I take my job VERY seriously. It is not inconceivable that if I do not do my job correctly, then the wrong information can be given about a patient causing the wrong treatment. One of our products is considered a "medical device" which requires safety notices along with registering with the FDA.
I have to follow ISO standards, follow written procedures as well record my training. We record and archive every keystroke that we make on a hospital server. Everything is checked and double checked.
Would you want your child to be treated with the wrong medical information?
That is just healthcare. What about airliner systems? You think a bad break job on a Mazda will cause problems? What about a computer system failure on a 747 or a downed control tower. (Yes, I know there are redundant systems, but consider what would happen if they all went down.)
I don't know about "government licensing", but a malfunctioning computer system can cause tremendous damage to a person's safety. If you don't think that they can, then you are just playing games or writing reports for school.
One of the funniest things that I ever read in a games magazine was when Ultima Online was a few months old. Lord British decided that he wanted to give a "State of the Game" address so he arranged for everyone to come to a certain place in the game at a certain time and he would speak. Some guy's character was in the first or second row and thought to himself "I'm never going to get this close again." He stole a spell scroll out of the backpack of the character next to him (it was a wall of flame) and cast it at Lord British mid speech.
Now normally British was immortal, but there had been a server crash and someone neglected to reset the immortal bit. When British saw the flame wave coming he typed "Ha, Ha, nice try" and then was surprised when the "you're dead" message popped up on the screen. Everything paused for a few seconds. ..and then all hell broke loose. People were casting demons, fireballs, and everything else you can think of. In the ensuing chaos and carngae, the "assasin" escaped.
If anyone else knows where the URL is for that magazine story, or BETTER YET if you were there (in a virtual sense) please let me know.
Allright, I admit it, I'm a sucker for a good story. This has the makings of a great story. How the heck did you almost get run over by a 100kg research robot?
Chief Jerold Ross of the Larry's Creek Volunteer Fire Department was investigating a scorched section of a corn field measuring 25 feet by 20 feet. .."I'm not sure there was any impact other than some form of fireball."
Well, myself personally none, but I have some friends at work who have. Also my company sells a lot of them to hospitals both in Tru64 and VMS. So this is a big deal to my company.
Of course my company was just purchased today so everything is up in the air.
Say this in your deepest Janeway/Gravelly/Tobacco voice - "TUVOK! Send an away team to the surface of that planet. See if they have a convenience store, I need some unfiltered Marlboros."
I think that you make some good points. I've always wondered whether ads make back the money that firms spend. I guess I always figured that did or else business wouldn't do it. Firms usually don't keep systematically doing stupid things or else they would go out of business. (Notice I said usually).
But still, how much does an ad on national TV cost? Does that ad actually nudge enough people to buy X number of Big Macs or Ford Explorers to justify the cost? I guess I always figured that they did, but now I'm not sure.
But really up till banner ads, there was no way of truly knowing "click-through".
Oh dear, I hope I'm not being redundant to previous discussions.
Ok. Well I'm not European, but I am married to one and I've spent a significant time living there, Around 18 months in three countries, Austria, the Netherlands, and Spain.
For all their bluster and talk about the environment, the reason why Europeans don't drive cars to work is due to money. It costs over a thousand dollars to get a license, car prices are outrageous, not to mention gasoline. Oh yeah, you also usually have to buy or rent a parking spot in front of your own apartment. But if they can afford it, they buy automobiles. I'm speaking in generalities of course.
Oh, and I still didn't like public transportation. My 40 minute bus commute in Amsterdam would be cut down to 10 minutes if I could catch a ride with a coworker. The 50 minute bus ride to church actually had a 10 minute loop in the route. (again, 10 minutes by car). One night while returning from a movie on the metro (kind of a subway) a woman lit up meth pipe two feet from me. There was all sorts of weird stuff like that all the time, and plus getting accosted at the stations.
Someone else I knew got mugged right after he got off the bus
I was just in Spain last week, and one bus we rode on had a nice urine/tobacco smell.
Now I bet some Euro-dude is going to get all upset and say just how trashy America is, but oh well, my wife prefers it here, and that is all that matters to me.
Well put. Dvorak is pretty much a troll, although sometimes he can be entertaining. Does anyone remember how he called Apple's new ibook a Barbie Doll makeup kit? (Or something like that).
But he may have gotten something right (but for the wrong reason). I won't claim credit for this idea, but I believe that in TIVO iteration 4 or 5 that the networks and advertisers will figure out that people aren't watching the ads and FORCE TIVO to put them back in. VCR's of course have the fast forward button, but they are in essense analog on a tape. I think that a few clever programmers along with a properly formatted digital TV signal could force viewers to watch the commercials.
But I agree, fair use is fair use. If you provide me with a product, I'll do with it what I want. I always rip out those cards in magazines anyway. And if I'm being paranoid, well, someone at/. will point that out.
To the great and all wise leaders of the People's Republic of China. My country, The United States of America, has done you a great harm. Since my foolish leaders have not apologized for the latest airplane incident, let me do it on behalf of the American People . ..
I'm sorry that no other country in the world recognizes that as China airspace.
I'm sorry that this particular pilot flew so close on previous occasions that our pilots could get his email address.
I'm sorry that you took no corrective action when we complained about this pilot before.
I'm sorry that you think that a turbo prop plane the size of a 737 can hit a fast, highly manueverable MIG fighter on purpose.
I'm sorry that you think that the US can give an apology without an inquiry first, by fully debriefing the crew or reading the flight recorders (black boxes) to gain an accurate picture as to what has happened.
I'm sorry that your air traffic controllers ignored the pilot calling "mayday - mayday".
I'm sorry that you are holding 24 Americans as hostage, and have violated american sovereign territory by boarding our plane.
Furthermore,
I'm sorry that you have killed millions of your own people in your cultural revolution and great leaps forward.
I'm sorry that you persecute religious minorities such as the Fulan Gong, Christians and Muslims.
I'm sorry that you feel you can impose your will on the people of Tibet and Taiwan.
I'm sorry that you regularly detain scholars who disagree with your policies.
I'm sorry that you use prison labor and export those products to my country.
Please note our sincere regrets and we humbly await your gracious forgiveness.
Hmm, well, you are probably the only person that I have heard call the break-up of Ma Bell as "more regulation" as opposed to deregulation. (I am old enough to remember the breakup). Almost anyone can become a phone company now. I believe that that is deregulation, and thank goodness for it.
Look at the airline industry. Before deregulation, airlines had their prices and routes determined by the government. Flights from LA to NY cost extra to subsidize near empty direct flights from a small town to a small town. After deregulation prices plummeted, service (as measured by the number of flights per city) went up and safety improved. Now, I realize that service (as measured by meals, general friendliness) has probably gone down, but if people want that they will pay extra. However the market says "We want low prices", and well, that is what they get. (Crowded airports and late departures are more of a function of not building enough runways, but that is getting off-topic)
Now, as for California, they really didn't deregulate power. They didn't deregulate retail prices and they didn't deregulate supply, ergo, no real deregulation.
Have you ever ran a small business? Six years ago I was trying to save up money for school. A family friend ran an auto body shop, and had around 10 employees. She told me about all the forms she had to fill out, the bookshelf of safety manuals she had to buy that no one read and on and on. All of those forms ate up most of her time when she could have been, well maybe, growing her business.
/. stands up and screams whenever the government tries to (horror of horrors) block some websites at libraries for some regulations. And it doesn't work, because the government screws it up almost every time.
Therefore if you want the government to regulate software, write your congressperson. We need to be protected from the evils of deregulated code.
In the meantime, the U.S. government is approaching the problem by eliminating regulations on the Baby Bells, which is sort of like combating street crime by taking police officers off the street.
Yes, and we all know how well government regulations helps competition!
Slashdot Mirror
Almost LIVE! I loved that show. It was even better than Saturday Night Live. Speedwalker, Billy Quan, Sluggy, The Ballard School of Driving ("you paid taxes for the whole road, right? So weave!") This here house, and the Lame List were all hilarious skits.
If you didn't live in Seattle in the late eighties, you missed out. They picked out pecularities of every town in the Puget Sound area and just ran with it. Well, except for my hometown Bremerton which just pretty much makes fun of itself.
They would probably be able to get some work done.
From the Oklahoma City University Law Press Room:
http://www.okcu.edu/law/press/nrl03020.asp
Born in Clayton, Okla., Judge West graduated from high school in Antlers, Okla. He earned his bachelor's degree in government from the University of Oklahoma, where he was elected to the honorary scholastic fraternity Phi Eta Sigma.
Following service in the United States Marine Corps (1952-1954), Judge West earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law. He was selected by the faculty as the Outstanding Graduate of his law school class, served as editor of the Oklahoma Law Review and was named to the Order of the Coif.
Judge West engaged in private practice in Ada, Okla., until he joined the University of Oklahoma College of Law faculty in 1961. During 1962-1963 he was a Ford Foundation Fellow in Law teaching at Harvard Law School were he earned an L.L.M. degree. Judge West returned to private practice in 1963.
In 1965, Judge West was appointed by Governor Henry Bellmon to serve as District Judge for the 22nd Judicial District of Oklahoma, serving also as Special Justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals until 1973. During this time, Judge West graduated from the National College of State Trial Judges. President Richard Nixon appointed Judge West to the Civil Aeronautics Board, Washington, D.C., in 1973. He was designated the board's Acting Chairman by President Jimmy Carter in 1977.
Judge West was appointed U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. He served as Chief Judge of the Western District from 1993 until he took senior status in November, 1994. Since that time he has remained active, hearing cases at both the district and circuit level and serving as a settlement judge in complex and protracted cases throughout the 10th Circuit. He received the Award for Judicial Excellence from the Oklahoma Bar Association in 2000.
Judge West's life story was the subject of a recent biography, Law and Laughter, The Life of Lee West, by Bob Burke, a 1979 graduate of OCU School of Law, and the Honorable David L. Russell.
OCU School of Law's graduation ceremonies will also include remarks by Daniel Gerry, president of the graduating class from St. Louis, Mo., Kyna Roberts, vice-president of the graduating class from Odessa, Texas, and Jonathan Grammer, member of the graduating class from Austin, Texas. A reception in the Naifeh Family Foyer and Reception Hall will immediately follow the ceremonies. Family, friends, alumni and interested members of the public are invited to attend the ceremonies.
Don't worry, he didn't spoil the ending. Not even close. Great movie. Enjoy!
OK, I'll bite.
What about
- the people fed feet first into woodchippers?
- the people dipped into acid baths?
- the (used) iron maiden found on the olympic commitee grounds
- wives, daughters, sisters or mothers of political prisoners raped in front of them?
- the gassed Kurdish and Shia villages?
- the mass graves of women and children who had a single bullet hole to the back of their skulls?
- the 50 palaces while regular people starved?
- the people hung upside down by their knees with an electric wire attached to their genitalia
- the systematic starvation and environmental degradation of the Marsh Arabs.
- the 200,000 to 300,000 missing people, we may never get a full accounting.
Saddam Hussein survived 20 assasination and coup attempts and still has not been found with three or four US Army divisions looking for him after several months, and a $25 million bounty. Plus any assasination attempt would have to have included his two sociopathic sons.
Do you have proof the CIA killed Kennedy? Or do you just walk around with a tin-foil hat? If it would have been so "easy" to Saddam, there is a $25 million bounty. Easy money! Go get em tiger!
Iraq violated the cease fire and every UN resolution since 1991. The US and UK did the job the UN should have done. Why does the UN exist if it doesn't back up it's decisions?
I am Mormon. While I was not born and raised in Utah, I did live there for several years. You distort and stereotype Mormon and Utah thinking, and paint a what is a nuanced picture with a pretty thick brush. I have known many good Mormons who are Democrats. Also many prominent Mormons are Democrats.
.
Harry Reid Senate Minority Whip is both a Democrat and an active Mormon.
James E. Faust who is number three in the LDS church hierarchy is a Democrat.
I could go on and on . .
A single first term member of the Utah Senate (hardly a leader) named Bill Wright uttered those infamous words. The leader of the church, Gordon B. Hinkley in a National Press Club press conference said (before Wright) "Good Mormons can be Democrats." I will take Hinkley's word over what LDS believe on what some politician says any day.
I dislike statements like yours that make blanket statements that distort the true picture. YES, most Mormons are Republicans, but the church itself takes a purposefully neutral political stance on all but a very few issues. I only remember them taking stands on "moral" issues like Abortion and gambling. The only non-moral position I remember was when the Church didn't want the MX missles based in Utah.
I resent being called a "sheeple". Mormons are always told to analyze, think and "find out for themselves" what they should do any given situation, when it comes to politics, and ESPECIALLY when it comes to religion.
Please do not continue false stereotypes like many of the statements listed above like polygamy. Speaking as a practicing Mormon, there is no such thing as a "Fundamentalist Mormon". If you "marry" a second wife, you are automatically excommunicated, no ifs, ands, or buts. Those people really are not members of my church.
OH!!! DARN!!! I had some mod points just a couple of days ago. This was a pretty funny comment :).
I prefer using my debit card here in the states as well. It also comes right out of my checking account. I HATE getting coins as change because of pennies. Yeah, there are coin machines, but they charge you a percentage. I also like having a running automated tab of expenditures.
Plus when I use cash there is no way for the UN/New World Order to track me, so the black helicopters tend to follow me more often.
I've actually been to David Pogue's house, Twice. I knew their Nanny, and met him once. I really don't remember what was said, he did seem a little eccentric but nice. Anyway, I just remember watching "Fried Green Tomatoes" on their TV, (I had been outvoted.)
I do not mean to discount statements about potential safety problems with automobiles. However, I work in healthcare IT and I take my job VERY seriously. It is not inconceivable that if I do not do my job correctly, then the wrong information can be given about a patient causing the wrong treatment. One of our products is considered a "medical device" which requires safety notices along with registering with the FDA.
I have to follow ISO standards, follow written procedures as well record my training. We record and archive every keystroke that we make on a hospital server. Everything is checked and double checked.
Would you want your child to be treated with the wrong medical information?
That is just healthcare. What about airliner systems? You think a bad break job on a Mazda will cause problems? What about a computer system failure on a 747 or a downed control tower. (Yes, I know there are redundant systems, but consider what would happen if they all went down.)
I don't know about "government licensing", but a malfunctioning computer system can cause tremendous damage to a person's safety. If you don't think that they can, then you are just playing games or writing reports for school.
One of the funniest things that I ever read in a games magazine was when Ultima Online was a few months old. Lord British decided that he wanted to give a "State of the Game" address so he arranged for everyone to come to a certain place in the game at a certain time and he would speak. Some guy's character was in the first or second row and thought to himself "I'm never going to get this close again." He stole a spell scroll out of the backpack of the character next to him (it was a wall of flame) and cast it at Lord British mid speech.
.and then all hell broke loose. People were casting demons, fireballs, and everything else you can think of. In the ensuing chaos and carngae, the "assasin" escaped.
Now normally British was immortal, but there had been a server crash and someone neglected to reset the immortal bit. When British saw the flame wave coming he typed "Ha, Ha, nice try" and then was surprised when the "you're dead" message popped up on the screen. Everything paused for a few seconds. .
If anyone else knows where the URL is for that magazine story, or BETTER YET if you were there (in a virtual sense) please let me know.
Thanks
Allright, I admit it, I'm a sucker for a good story. This has the makings of a great story. How the heck did you almost get run over by a 100kg research robot?
(Yes, this is off topic)
. . .mining on the moon.
Actually this was my favorite quote.
Chief Jerold Ross of the Larry's Creek Volunteer Fire Department was investigating a scorched section of a corn field measuring 25 feet by 20 feet. .Wow, what other form of fireball could it be?
hmm, well, come to think of it, that's about right.
Well, myself personally none, but I have some friends at work who have. Also my company sells a lot of them to hospitals both in Tru64 and VMS. So this is a big deal to my company.
Of course my company was just purchased today so everything is up in the air.
Don't forget skylab and the other space station that the Russians had (don't remember the name).
Yes this is a troll
Say this in your deepest Janeway/Gravelly/Tobacco voice - "TUVOK! Send an away team to the surface of that planet. See if they have a convenience store, I need some unfiltered Marlboros."
I think that you make some good points. I've always wondered whether ads make back the money that firms spend. I guess I always figured that did or else business wouldn't do it. Firms usually don't keep systematically doing stupid things or else they would go out of business. (Notice I said usually).
But still, how much does an ad on national TV cost? Does that ad actually nudge enough people to buy X number of Big Macs or Ford Explorers to justify the cost? I guess I always figured that they did, but now I'm not sure.
But really up till banner ads, there was no way of truly knowing "click-through".
Oh dear, I hope I'm not being redundant to previous discussions.
Ok. Well I'm not European, but I am married to one and I've spent a significant time living there, Around 18 months in three countries, Austria, the Netherlands, and Spain.
For all their bluster and talk about the environment, the reason why Europeans don't drive cars to work is due to money. It costs over a thousand dollars to get a license, car prices are outrageous, not to mention gasoline. Oh yeah, you also usually have to buy or rent a parking spot in front of your own apartment. But if they can afford it, they buy automobiles. I'm speaking in generalities of course.
Oh, and I still didn't like public transportation. My 40 minute bus commute in Amsterdam would be cut down to 10 minutes if I could catch a ride with a coworker. The 50 minute bus ride to church actually had a 10 minute loop in the route. (again, 10 minutes by car). One night while returning from a movie on the metro (kind of a subway) a woman lit up meth pipe two feet from me. There was all sorts of weird stuff like that all the time, and plus getting accosted at the stations.
Someone else I knew got mugged right after he got off the bus
I was just in Spain last week, and one bus we rode on had a nice urine/tobacco smell.
Now I bet some Euro-dude is going to get all upset and say just how trashy America is, but oh well, my wife prefers it here, and that is all that matters to me.
Well put. Dvorak is pretty much a troll, although sometimes he can be entertaining. Does anyone remember how he called Apple's new ibook a Barbie Doll makeup kit? (Or something like that).
But he may have gotten something right (but for the wrong reason). I won't claim credit for this idea, but I believe that in TIVO iteration 4 or 5 that the networks and advertisers will figure out that people aren't watching the ads and FORCE TIVO to put them back in. VCR's of course have the fast forward button, but they are in essense analog on a tape. I think that a few clever programmers along with a properly formatted digital TV signal could force viewers to watch the commercials.
But I agree, fair use is fair use. If you provide me with a product, I'll do with it what I want. I always rip out those cards in magazines anyway. And if I'm being paranoid, well, someone at /. will point that out.
Your cool man, it's ok.
To the great and all wise leaders of the People's Republic of China. My country, The United States of America, has done you a great harm. Since my foolish leaders have not apologized for the latest airplane incident, let me do it on behalf of the American People . . .
I'm sorry that no other country in the world recognizes that as China airspace.
I'm sorry that this particular pilot flew so close on previous occasions that our pilots could get his email address.
I'm sorry that you took no corrective action when we complained about this pilot before.
I'm sorry that you think that a turbo prop plane the size of a 737 can hit a fast, highly manueverable MIG fighter on purpose.
I'm sorry that you think that the US can give an apology without an inquiry first, by fully debriefing the crew or reading the flight recorders (black boxes) to gain an accurate picture as to what has happened.
I'm sorry that your air traffic controllers ignored the pilot calling "mayday - mayday".
I'm sorry that you are holding 24 Americans as hostage, and have violated american sovereign territory by boarding our plane.
Furthermore,
I'm sorry that you have killed millions of your own people in your cultural revolution and great leaps forward.
I'm sorry that you persecute religious minorities such as the Fulan Gong, Christians and Muslims.
I'm sorry that you feel you can impose your will on the people of Tibet and Taiwan.
I'm sorry that you regularly detain scholars who disagree with your policies.
I'm sorry that you use prison labor and export those products to my country.
Please note our sincere regrets and we humbly await your gracious forgiveness.
Hmm, well, you are probably the only person that I have heard call the break-up of Ma Bell as "more regulation" as opposed to deregulation. (I am old enough to remember the breakup). Almost anyone can become a phone company now. I believe that that is deregulation, and thank goodness for it.
Look at the airline industry. Before deregulation, airlines had their prices and routes determined by the government. Flights from LA to NY cost extra to subsidize near empty direct flights from a small town to a small town. After deregulation prices plummeted, service (as measured by the number of flights per city) went up and safety improved. Now, I realize that service (as measured by meals, general friendliness) has probably gone down, but if people want that they will pay extra. However the market says "We want low prices", and well, that is what they get. (Crowded airports and late departures are more of a function of not building enough runways, but that is getting off-topic)
Now, as for California, they really didn't deregulate power. They didn't deregulate retail prices and they didn't deregulate supply, ergo, no real deregulation.
Have you ever ran a small business? Six years ago I was trying to save up money for school. A family friend ran an auto body shop, and had around 10 employees. She told me about all the forms she had to fill out, the bookshelf of safety manuals she had to buy that no one read and on and on. All of those forms ate up most of her time when she could have been, well maybe, growing her business.
/. stands up and screams whenever the government tries to (horror of horrors) block some websites at libraries for some regulations. And it doesn't work, because the government screws it up almost every time.
Therefore if you want the government to regulate software, write your congressperson. We need to be protected from the evils of deregulated code.
In the meantime, the U.S. government is approaching the problem by eliminating regulations on the Baby Bells, which is sort of like combating street crime by taking police officers off the street.
Yes, and we all know how well government regulations helps competition!