"One other thing... gross disparity of income leads to other extremely expensive social ills, like... badly educated populace"
I think you've got the cart before the horse. An uneducated populace is unable/unwilling to go out and provide for themselves, hence you have income disparity.
But when you have a government that tells people that even if they are unable/unwilling to earn themselves a living, there are always others who DO work that will pick up the tab. That kind of system rewards laziness and punishes hard work. A funny bumper sticker I once saw speaks the truth: "Work harder! Someone on welfare is counting on you!"
I also find the assertion of socialists that the government knows what's good for me better than I do insulting and extremely condescending. Many socialists proclaim to be educated, but have no problem with letting a parental government run their lives for them.
Is capitalism perfect? Far from it. There are always those who live off of the hard work of others, under any economic system. But government adaptation of that practice is an unacceptable alternative. I'll take my chances because I'm smart enough to not let anyone take advantage of me, and that I can and always will be able to take care of myself.
"Besides, isn't Robin Hood a hero? You presume that the rich never steal from the poor."
Not if you're the rich guy:) Of course, now you don't have to be rich to be bent over the proverbial barrel. But then I guess this is the same reason why folks like Jesse Jackson are also perceived as heroes by some.
If the US is generally becoming more conservative, and the socialists want to move to Canada, GOOD RIDDANCE! That's just that many fewer people here who will vote socialist Democrats into office.
Give these people a year. When they are tired of having the government take half of everything they earn, they'll be back. Unless, of course, they are the beneficiaries of the government-run Robin Hood steal-from-the-rich-give-to-the-poor.
"In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, 'Make us your slaves, but feed us.'" -Dostoevsky
Of course, there wouldn't be any PROFIT in it for the retailor, so I suppose they'd have no reason to set aside valuable store space for such a bin/display. Probably a huge hurdle across the board in the way of getting OSS to the masses.
A shame too. I'd love to not have to spend a day downloading the latest distribution of Mandrake....
While the usual knee-jerk response is usually "raise your kids to be trustworthy individuals", and that would always happen in a perfect world.
Of course we don't live in a perfect world, and kids don't always do what we want them to. If such behavior becomes a habit, I think any responsible parent would be well within their rights to use such a tool as a means to correct this bad behavior.
"Just because you have some extra cash doesn't mean you immediately have to start giving it all back."
It does if it's not your money to begin with. And I'd also venture that it would be best to pay back the people (citizens) who have a more immediate need for that money back than the creditors do.
And if government (both R's and D's) didn't waste so much of our tax dollars on social programs that we wouldn't even need if we weren't taxed so much, we wouldn't have a deficit. But that's an argument for another time.
Wouldn't a more accurate headline be something like "Police Target USERS OF Free Email"?
I won't say either way if this was an intentional inaccuracy, but nothing in the article suggests that free email providers are in any kind of trouble or even the subject of any investigation.
Now I know this sort of thing isn't THAT unusual (you know, business getting ungodly amounts of taxpayer money) but this especially doesn't surprise me since our new Governor is the same Ed (Fast Eddie) Rendell who "created" 50,000 no-show jobs in Philadelphia.
What reason did we have that he wouldn't do his best to run our state into the ground as well? It's not like much of the other candidates had a chance, really, but I did stick to my principles in the last election and voted Libertarian...
Would you volunteer to sift through all of the crap that surely inundates that inbox every second?
Your expectations are unreasonable and unrealistic. What you suggest may have worked before SPAM and trolls, but there's an awful high noise:signal ratio in today's e-mail. And paying people to sort it all out would be yet another waste of our tax dollars.
I'm afraid representation and filing a few briefs doesn't constitute success, IMHO. While I admire most of the causes they take up, I was unable to find a single case where the EFF successfully defended a defendant (redundant, I know) or got an unjust law (DeCSS, DMCA) thrown out.
This has bothered me quite a bit lately, and it's time I brought it out.
Exactly what is the purprose of the "Flamebait" moderation? Is it to hide posts that are intended simply to get people mad and produce predictable responses? That's already covered by the "Troll" moderation.
So the only conclusion I can come to is that the purpose of the "Flamebait" moderation is to hide posts that moderators simply disagree with. Might I remind you that silencing opinions that differ from the majority is the very difinition of fascism.
Whether you disagree with me or not, I think it's fair to say my post generated a genuinely positive discussion, not simply flame.
I thank those who chose to engage me in an honest debate. To those who anonymously (and cowardly, I might add) sought instead to silence my dissenting opinion, shame on you!
I'd like to see some examples of where the EFF has succeeded in defending our online freedoms, or affected actual change that has positively impacts our online freedoms.
Until they (or you, or anyone, I suppose) can prove that they are more than a money pit wrapped around a good idea, I'm afraid I can't consider the EFF a responsible investment.
I'll grant that while I respectfully disagree with your argument, it is a valid position.
From my point of view, civilian casualties are a regrettable side effect of war. I think the difference here is that while civilians are killed on both sides, only one side is specifically targeting them.
And for the record, anyone who picks up a weapon or straps on a bomb with the intent to use it/them ceases to be an innocent civilian.
That's a good point. That's why I refuse to involve myself in debates of a religious nature. I find that any group of people who are not even open to the possibility that their views and beliefs are incorrect is not worth the effort of an honest debate.
For those who haven't seen the movie Dogma (all twelve of you), I recommend you rent it tonight.
Slashdot Mirror
DirectX != Direct3D
You need DirectX to run Quake 3, but does that mean it uses Direct3D instead of OpenGL? No.
I think you've got the cart before the horse. An uneducated populace is unable/unwilling to go out and provide for themselves, hence you have income disparity.
But when you have a government that tells people that even if they are unable/unwilling to earn themselves a living, there are always others who DO work that will pick up the tab. That kind of system rewards laziness and punishes hard work. A funny bumper sticker I once saw speaks the truth: "Work harder! Someone on welfare is counting on you!"
I also find the assertion of socialists that the government knows what's good for me better than I do insulting and extremely condescending. Many socialists proclaim to be educated, but have no problem with letting a parental government run their lives for them.
Is capitalism perfect? Far from it. There are always those who live off of the hard work of others, under any economic system. But government adaptation of that practice is an unacceptable alternative. I'll take my chances because I'm smart enough to not let anyone take advantage of me, and that I can and always will be able to take care of myself.
"Besides, isn't Robin Hood a hero? You presume that the rich never steal from the poor."
Not if you're the rich guy :) Of course, now you don't have to be rich to be bent over the proverbial barrel. But then I guess this is the same reason why folks like Jesse Jackson are also perceived as heroes by some.
Summary: Functionally clumsy, but it looks cool!!
Give these people a year. When they are tired of having the government take half of everything they earn, they'll be back. Unless, of course, they are the beneficiaries of the government-run Robin Hood steal-from-the-rich-give-to-the-poor.
"In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, 'Make us your slaves, but feed us.'" -Dostoevsky
A shame too. I'd love to not have to spend a day downloading the latest distribution of Mandrake....
You mean like this one?
Alternatively, would you consider manufacturers offering PCs with NO operating system a viable substitute?
And I also wonder if anyone would take a free Linux CD from a free bin if places like Circuit City and Best Buy offered it.
Of course we don't live in a perfect world, and kids don't always do what we want them to. If such behavior becomes a habit, I think any responsible parent would be well within their rights to use such a tool as a means to correct this bad behavior.
It does if it's not your money to begin with. And I'd also venture that it would be best to pay back the people (citizens) who have a more immediate need for that money back than the creditors do.
And if government (both R's and D's) didn't waste so much of our tax dollars on social programs that we wouldn't even need if we weren't taxed so much, we wouldn't have a deficit. But that's an argument for another time.
...and wrote drivers for it, we wouldn't have much of a Linux today, now would we?
I won't say either way if this was an intentional inaccuracy, but nothing in the article suggests that free email providers are in any kind of trouble or even the subject of any investigation.
I have to agree on both points. U7:BG and SI were two of the BEST game plots I've had the pleasure of experiencing.
And propz to the Exult team for keeping the games playable for the non-dos masses.
Not as good as that "Cock'em", I'll admit. That's downright creepy.
Although now I'll never look at my old C=64 the same.... ugh!
What reason did we have that he wouldn't do his best to run our state into the ground as well? It's not like much of the other candidates had a chance, really, but I did stick to my principles in the last election and voted Libertarian...
Though, somewhat suspiciously, I haven't yet been paid that $5 for every person I forwarded it to...
Your expectations are unreasonable and unrealistic. What you suggest may have worked before SPAM and trolls, but there's an awful high noise:signal ratio in today's e-mail. And paying people to sort it all out would be yet another waste of our tax dollars.
...it's not like we had any reason to believe they were actually reading any of that e-mail anyway.
At least they're being honest about it now.
The Darwin Awards have opened a new award category.
I'm afraid representation and filing a few briefs doesn't constitute success, IMHO. While I admire most of the causes they take up, I was unable to find a single case where the EFF successfully defended a defendant (redundant, I know) or got an unjust law (DeCSS, DMCA) thrown out.
Exactly what is the purprose of the "Flamebait" moderation? Is it to hide posts that are intended simply to get people mad and produce predictable responses? That's already covered by the "Troll" moderation.
So the only conclusion I can come to is that the purpose of the "Flamebait" moderation is to hide posts that moderators simply disagree with. Might I remind you that silencing opinions that differ from the majority is the very difinition of fascism.
Whether you disagree with me or not, I think it's fair to say my post generated a genuinely positive discussion, not simply flame.
I thank those who chose to engage me in an honest debate. To those who anonymously (and cowardly, I might add) sought instead to silence my dissenting opinion, shame on you!
I'd like to see some examples of where the EFF has succeeded in defending our online freedoms, or affected actual change that has positively impacts our online freedoms.
Until they (or you, or anyone, I suppose) can prove that they are more than a money pit wrapped around a good idea, I'm afraid I can't consider the EFF a responsible investment.
Wouldn't any e-mail client that allows a user to send an attachment to 10 or more other users be considered an "enabler"?
...but granted, it is still scary nonetheless that people WE elected into office to represent us actually think this way.
From my point of view, civilian casualties are a regrettable side effect of war. I think the difference here is that while civilians are killed on both sides, only one side is specifically targeting them.
And for the record, anyone who picks up a weapon or straps on a bomb with the intent to use it/them ceases to be an innocent civilian.
For those who haven't seen the movie Dogma (all twelve of you), I recommend you rent it tonight.