I was actually thinking of including this one in the list I made earlier.
This episode is not terribly alarming.
Firstly, the troops were there for a "good cause": letting some black kids go to a white school.
Also, the federal troops where only called in after the governor sent in National Guard troops (supposedky to stop rioting by white mobs), a presence that was later countermanded by a federal judge.
So I don't think this episode indicates that our civil liberties are endangered by the armed forces.
In fact, this epidode shows that federal troops can be important in protecting our civil liberties, unless you are a white racist from Arkansas:~|
The military gets about 15% ($300 billion) of the federal budget. Most of these moneys go to paying soldiers salaries and benefits or to weapons systems unsuited to quelling domestic disturbance.
I don't see the US military getting involved in quelling dissenters to any considerable degree. This is not South America.
There have been instances where US National Guard troops have responded to domestic rioters or dissenters. These instances (Kent State, LA OJ Simpson Riots, "Bonus Army" riots in 1932 (scroll down)) have been of limited scope and usually warranted.
I'm not worried about US troops being used for wholesale domestic pacification. We're not anywhere close to having to worry about such a scenario.
Of that 2 thousand thousand thousand thousand dollars, about 30 thousand thousand thousand dollars can go under the general heading of "administration of justice".
So there are not unlimited funds available.
Just look at the case against Lindh. Here was a guy, caught red-handed fighting for the Taliban. THe Attorney General publically villifies him, and the Justice department has to settle for a plea bargain on technicalities.
The government has great power and there is potential for abuse of that power, but it is nowhere near omnipotent.
Congress does not need to make an explicit resolution for us to be in a state of war.
Since WWII, the US has not made a formal declaration of war. We still, very rightly, give the name of "war" to the conflicts in Kuwait, Korea and Vietnam.
Granted, knowing exactly who to fight is a tricky question. We do, however, know that we have been attacked. The Twin Towers did not fall over on their own.
I believe in the good faith of our government, even of men like Ashcroft. I just wonder at their judgement and competence.
It is a losing argument to say there are not compelling reasons for vigilance since 9/11. The most effective argument against increased government surveillance is that it is counter-productive.
There is an enemy, the proof of that is the rubble cleaned from downtown Manhattan. The elusive nature of that enemy requires intelligence to combat. Intelligence does not only come from increased information. I am afraid that too much energy is being spent on gathering vast amounts of useless data.
Don't argue the existence of the conflict, argue that the war is being ineffectively fought on the home front.
While theoretically troubling, this really isn't that horrific. The Federal Government just doesn't have the resources to persecute a lot of people. There have been various reporting requirements on financial transactions for quite a while. These new requirements are not coming out of the blue.
People also tend to forget that we are fighting a war. It's fine to be snide and cynical, but American troops are in combat abroad right now.
That all being said, I doubt these reporting requirements will do much to stop terrorism. The evidence is mounting that our failure to stop past terrorism was not due to a lack of power or resources, but due to ineffective leadership and incompetence. All the information in the world won't help our government agencies who in the past have shown a frightening lack of intelligence.
And I don't trust Ashcroft. He's grandstanding to score political points without actually achieving any worthwhile results. Of all the thousands of suspects rounded up and detained on suspicion of terrorism, only a handful have been charged with anything terrorist related, and all of those charged are pretty much low-level dupes (Lindh, Massaoui (sp?), etc.).
Let's face it, anyone competent enough to pull off a real terrorist attack is also probably competent enough to know about and know how to circumvent these reporting requirements. The only people caught by these new rules will be the stupid and the uninformed, both of which may be up to no good, or more likely just unaware that they are doing anything wrong.
Our country is at war and it is deadly serious. I just wonder if our biggest impediment to victory might be certain political hacks like Ashcroft who now find themselves in positions of unexpected power, with the ability to further agendas beside winning the war on terrorism.
Maybe we all ought to start exercising our Second Amendment rights, which seems to be the only ones he finds sacrosanct.
But noone would require them to realease the source.
admittedly, they would have headaches porting binaries for the various distros.
Maybe this is the thinking behind United Linux: make it easier to distribute binaries, not source that requires compiling and gives up intellectual property.
Regarding your disparaging RH as corporate assholes.
I used to think that way about them too, until I found them to have the most functional distrobution out there.
In fact, RH is much more supportive of open xsource software standards than the "united Linux" also-rans. At least RH supplies source code. United will not.
RH, while famous in our own little Linux world, are not very corporate at all. Your larger sized supermarkets (not a chain, just a single store) have more revenue.
RH is functional and is dedicated to open-source standards.
Speaking as someone who has worked in the technology press, I can tel you that writers love press releases.
Haven't you noticed that most tech-reporting is crap.
Some of the most successful tech writers just regurgitate press releases. Then the company they shill for rewards them by buying advertising in their magazine, or even better, buying the rights to reproduce the article for publicity purposes.
Tech writers are mostly lazy scum of the earth, who never met a freebie they didn't like.
If I was their customer, they would scare me into getting another ISP.
And I'm sure that this is being said a thousand times, but
WHAT THE FUCK IS THE FBI DOING WITH THIS SORT OF CHICKENSHIT CASE?
Sorry for yelling and cursing but I am just so appalled.
It's this kind of egregious abuse of search and seizure authority that makes me think twice about giving the government added powers in the "War Against Terrorism"
I put together this old computer about three years ago, all from online orders. Of course, that was during the christmas season when all the merchants were offering free shipping.
Here are my experiences. Please not that many of these stores are under new ownership or defunct.
TC Computers: Top Notch. Great Selection, Competitive pricing, and sent me a free heat sink and fan when I forgot to order one with my OEM CPU.
Outpost: Strangely, they had the best hard drive prices. Now owned by Fry's
NECX: Now owned by Gateway. They had good selection and very good choices.
Egghead: A nightmare. They sent me a monitor with a cracked case. I returned it.
If I had to do it all over again, I'd probably buy everything from TC Computers, since I had the best experience with them, and they are affiliated with Insight, which is a pretty trustworthy company.
Keep in mind that a lot of resellers are just middlemen for a nameless wholesaler, who actually is responsible for fulfilling the order.
Spending a couple of extra bucks is worth it if it gives you peace of mind.
Also, now that free shipping days are over, I would be more likely to do business with a local computer specialty store.
This thing is certainly more advanced than the TRS-80's and Apple II's I used in school. Hell, most palm pilots have more computing power than my first Mac SE.
It's not the size of the memory or the speed of the processor that counts, it's the skill of the programmer.
Goddammit! I hate it when people respond rationally to my inflammatory posts:}
Anyway, you're right in that it is not a question of intellect but morality that is causing Africa's many problems. The West certainly has it's own share of corruption, to take Enron as the most obvious example.
I stand corrected on the literacy issue. >90% is very high.
But that still has me scratching my head even more. Given such a relatively eductaed population, how could you let your country fall apart so terribly?
And Americans still have plenty to preach about democracy. In the Florida mess in 2000, there was incompetence and ultralegalistic working of the system by both sides. But when you got down to it, it really was a matter of a few hundred questionable ballots out of millions cast in a very close and fairly held election.
And our newspapers could and did report about what happened without fear of being imprisoned.
Black Africans are unable to constitute good government.
This is the real story here.
There simply does not exist any tradition of large-scale benevolent leadership in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The current leadership in Ex-Rhodesia is incredibly corrupt. The people themselves are mostly illiterate and lacking in any civic virtue as we recognize it in modern Western democracies.
Are my comments flamebait? Definitely. Are they also entirely accurate? Sadly, yes.
What's sad is, and I'm speaking from experience as a guy, that there is nothing you can do to get him over this. Don't try sex. It will fail miserably and you'll get your feelings hurt. That man has one thing on his mind right now and it is NWN.
Even trying to get him to wait for the patch will be worthless. Even if he waits for the patch, he'll think about it forever.
Make a deal with him. Talk to him ahead of time. Make playing NWN a reward for doing tasks. If you play your cards right, that poor sorry SOB will get all his work done early in return for his bone.
Slashdot Mirror
I was actually thinking of including this one in the list I made earlier.
:~|
This episode is not terribly alarming.
Firstly, the troops were there for a "good cause": letting some black kids go to a white school.
Also, the federal troops where only called in after the governor sent in National Guard troops (supposedky to stop rioting by white mobs), a presence that was later countermanded by a federal judge.
So I don't think this episode indicates that our civil liberties are endangered by the armed forces.
In fact, this epidode shows that federal troops can be important in protecting our civil liberties, unless you are a white racist from Arkansas
The military gets about 15% ($300 billion) of the federal budget. Most of these moneys go to paying soldiers salaries and benefits or to weapons systems unsuited to quelling domestic disturbance.
I don't see the US military getting involved in quelling dissenters to any considerable degree. This is not South America.
There have been instances where US National Guard troops have responded to domestic rioters or dissenters. These instances (Kent State, LA OJ Simpson Riots, "Bonus Army" riots in 1932 (scroll down)) have been of limited scope and usually warranted.
I'm not worried about US troops being used for wholesale domestic pacification. We're not anywhere close to having to worry about such a scenario.
For all the money the federal government spends, it is widely dispersed and little of it is discretionary.
For a somewhat detailed accounting of the federal budget, go here or here.
For a bird's eye view, go here
Of that 2 thousand thousand thousand thousand dollars, about 30 thousand thousand thousand dollars can go under the general heading of "administration of justice".
So there are not unlimited funds available.
Just look at the case against Lindh. Here was a guy, caught red-handed fighting for the Taliban. THe Attorney General publically villifies him, and the Justice department has to settle for a plea bargain on technicalities.
The government has great power and there is potential for abuse of that power, but it is nowhere near omnipotent.
So which branch of the armed forces are you a member of? How are you putting your life at risk for your country?
Or, as I suspect, do you find it easier to claim patriotic bravery than to practice it?
Congress does not need to make an explicit resolution for us to be in a state of war.
Since WWII, the US has not made a formal declaration of war. We still, very rightly, give the name of "war" to the conflicts in Kuwait, Korea and Vietnam.
Granted, knowing exactly who to fight is a tricky question. We do, however, know that we have been attacked. The Twin Towers did not fall over on their own.
I believe in the good faith of our government, even of men like Ashcroft. I just wonder at their judgement and competence.
It is a losing argument to say there are not compelling reasons for vigilance since 9/11. The most effective argument against increased government surveillance is that it is counter-productive.
There is an enemy, the proof of that is the rubble cleaned from downtown Manhattan. The elusive nature of that enemy requires intelligence to combat. Intelligence does not only come from increased information. I am afraid that too much energy is being spent on gathering vast amounts of useless data.
Don't argue the existence of the conflict, argue that the war is being ineffectively fought on the home front.
While theoretically troubling, this really isn't that horrific. The Federal Government just doesn't have the resources to persecute a lot of people. There have been various reporting requirements on financial transactions for quite a while. These new requirements are not coming out of the blue.
People also tend to forget that we are fighting a war. It's fine to be snide and cynical, but American troops are in combat abroad right now.
That all being said, I doubt these reporting requirements will do much to stop terrorism. The evidence is mounting that our failure to stop past terrorism was not due to a lack of power or resources, but due to ineffective leadership and incompetence. All the information in the world won't help our government agencies who in the past have shown a frightening lack of intelligence.
And I don't trust Ashcroft. He's grandstanding to score political points without actually achieving any worthwhile results. Of all the thousands of suspects rounded up and detained on suspicion of terrorism, only a handful have been charged with anything terrorist related, and all of those charged are pretty much low-level dupes (Lindh, Massaoui (sp?), etc.).
Let's face it, anyone competent enough to pull off a real terrorist attack is also probably competent enough to know about and know how to circumvent these reporting requirements. The only people caught by these new rules will be the stupid and the uninformed, both of which may be up to no good, or more likely just unaware that they are doing anything wrong.
Our country is at war and it is deadly serious. I just wonder if our biggest impediment to victory might be certain political hacks like Ashcroft who now find themselves in positions of unexpected power, with the ability to further agendas beside winning the war on terrorism.
Maybe we all ought to start exercising our Second Amendment rights, which seems to be the only ones he finds sacrosanct.
Come and get me coppers!
(Huh? What's that knocking on the door?) = ^ &
But noone would require them to realease the source.
admittedly, they would have headaches porting binaries for the various distros.
Maybe this is the thinking behind United Linux: make it easier to distribute binaries, not source that requires compiling and gives up intellectual property.
Everytime I read an article like this, it ticks me off.
If they can get this sort of application running on a Linux system, why can't dreamweaver and Adobe port their products to Linux.
Hell and damnation.
I mean it can't be that hard.
I guess the reason is because noone would buy the ports.
Is Linux ultimately only useful to the custom solution and server crowd. Will the professional and consumer desktop ever be tamed?
Regarding your disparaging RH as corporate assholes.
I used to think that way about them too, until I found them to have the most functional distrobution out there.
In fact, RH is much more supportive of open xsource software standards than the "united Linux" also-rans. At least RH supplies source code. United will not.
RH, while famous in our own little Linux world, are not very corporate at all. Your larger sized supermarkets (not a chain, just a single store) have more revenue.
RH is functional and is dedicated to open-source standards.
Pabst Blue Ribbon beats Jolt any day.
I also like those Japanese cold coffee drinks and the fruit drinks with the fruit still in 'em.
Yum.
And I wouldn't mind plain seltzer either.
Speaking as someone who has worked in the technology press, I can tel you that writers love press releases.
Haven't you noticed that most tech-reporting is crap.
Some of the most successful tech writers just regurgitate press releases. Then the company they shill for rewards them by buying advertising in their magazine, or even better, buying the rights to reproduce the article for publicity purposes.
Tech writers are mostly lazy scum of the earth, who never met a freebie they didn't like.
If I was their customer, they would scare me into getting another ISP.
And I'm sure that this is being said a thousand times, but
WHAT THE FUCK IS THE FBI DOING WITH THIS SORT OF CHICKENSHIT CASE?
Sorry for yelling and cursing but I am just so appalled.
It's this kind of egregious abuse of search and seizure authority that makes me think twice about giving the government added powers in the "War Against Terrorism"
I put together this old computer about three years ago, all from online orders. Of course, that was during the christmas season when all the merchants were offering free shipping.
Here are my experiences. Please not that many of these stores are under new ownership or defunct.
TC Computers: Top Notch. Great Selection, Competitive pricing, and sent me a free heat sink and fan when I forgot to order one with my OEM CPU.
Outpost: Strangely, they had the best hard drive prices. Now owned by Fry's
NECX: Now owned by Gateway. They had good selection and very good choices.
Egghead: A nightmare. They sent me a monitor with a cracked case. I returned it.
If I had to do it all over again, I'd probably buy everything from TC Computers, since I had the best experience with them, and they are affiliated with Insight, which is a pretty trustworthy company.
Keep in mind that a lot of resellers are just middlemen for a nameless wholesaler, who actually is responsible for fulfilling the order.
Spending a couple of extra bucks is worth it if it gives you peace of mind.
Also, now that free shipping days are over, I would be more likely to do business with a local computer specialty store.
Pack condoms.
Use them.
Especially if you meet flikx's mom.
:p
The whole point to a road trip is to get away from it all.
Ditch the "connectivity". Talk to people you meet. Go to a local bar, get drunk, try and get laid.
Jeez.
Actually, one great icebreaker is a digital camera.
But the best icebreaker is confidence and friendliness.
Remember that you don't have to worry about making a fool of yourself. That's why you are traveling.
This thing is certainly more advanced than the TRS-80's and Apple II's I used in school. Hell, most palm pilots have more computing power than my first Mac SE.
It's not the size of the memory or the speed of the processor that counts, it's the skill of the programmer.
Goddammit! I hate it when people respond rationally to my inflammatory posts :}
Anyway, you're right in that it is not a question of intellect but morality that is causing Africa's many problems. The West certainly has it's own share of corruption, to take Enron as the most obvious example.
I stand corrected on the literacy issue. >90% is very high.
But that still has me scratching my head even more. Given such a relatively eductaed population, how could you let your country fall apart so terribly?
And Americans still have plenty to preach about democracy. In the Florida mess in 2000, there was incompetence and ultralegalistic working of the system by both sides. But when you got down to it, it really was a matter of a few hundred questionable ballots out of millions cast in a very close and fairly held election.
And our newspapers could and did report about what happened without fear of being imprisoned.
Black Africans are unable to constitute good government.
This is the real story here.
There simply does not exist any tradition of large-scale benevolent leadership in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The current leadership in Ex-Rhodesia is incredibly corrupt. The people themselves are mostly illiterate and lacking in any civic virtue as we recognize it in modern Western democracies.
Are my comments flamebait? Definitely. Are they also entirely accurate? Sadly, yes.
You'd sell your soul for ~$2,500?
Isn't it embarassing that the old racist apartheid government looks competent in comparison to the current baboons in power?
This is a joke, right.
A husband and wife that both read slashdot.
What's sad is, and I'm speaking from experience as a guy, that there is nothing you can do to get him over this. Don't try sex. It will fail miserably and you'll get your feelings hurt. That man has one thing on his mind right now and it is NWN.
Even trying to get him to wait for the patch will be worthless. Even if he waits for the patch, he'll think about it forever.
Make a deal with him. Talk to him ahead of time. Make playing NWN a reward for doing tasks.
If you play your cards right, that poor sorry SOB will get all his work done early in return for his bone.
Good Luck.
Just in case the shit really hits the fan, I've been reading:
FM 21-76
Reprint of Department of the Army Field Manual
US ARMY SURVIVAL MANUAL
Here's a quote from Chapter 4, Field Expedient Weapons and Tools:
"You can make another type of sling club by putting sand or a rock in a sock. This type of weapon, however, is a one-shot deal."
It'll make for good reading on some foreign beach(head).
I've had enough of you whiners and complainers. ICANN operates in a fair and free fashion. Their meeting are open to the public.
Just because you missed their last meeting in Ghana, doesn't mean it's not too late catch the bus over to Romania.
I understand that the next meeting will be on the dark side of the Moon. They don't want the pale Lunarians feeling left out of the loop.
<deal><big>fuckin'</big></dea l>
So how much would you pay for the first zero-gravity Playboy pictorial?
What about the first film really filmed in high earth orbit