Please cite a situation, which was not caused by legislation, that has been permanently improved by legislation and where the unintended consequences have not made the situation worse overall..
Well, I certainly enjoy living in a society where people can't legally grab me on the street and steal my wallet.
The path towards a police state justified by terrorism and the always reliable pedophilia.
What surprises me most about this miserable waste of skin is that she's from supposed progressive California.
This is the EXACT definition of "progressive". More and more powerful government. In every area of *citizens* lives.
Literally the only freedom that progressives acknowledge is abortion. Nothing else.
I'm all for a woman's right to make that choice, but damn, it's not the be all and end all of liberty.
She, like just about every Democrat politician (and most Republican ones too) wants to be high up in a totalitarian police state. No real mystery here.
Don't get all caught up and just focus on her stupid statements. Focus on the real issue: A never ending struggle to screw you and me. And our kids. Forever and ever.
I've freelanced on and off for over thirty years. I'm 62 and no degree and I'm currently making around $170,000 a year. Not as much as I'd like, but I'm getting by.
What are you whining about? Make yourself marketable or go away. I have learned whatever I needed over the years to to make myself desirable to clients. New languages, etc., whatever it takes.
Now as a member of the bewildered elderly, I simply told my current client I'd do whatever they need. No whining to be working only with the latest tech, no complaining about maintenance instead of new development (I'm doing both at the moment), just agreeing to make their life easier in return for a decent rate.
Clients (and employers) are very happy to get someone with serious skills and experience who'll just shut up and work. I have seen many, many younger "developers" who couldn't design a relational database properly if it meant the firing squad. Who think that a couple of years coding meant they deserved to be rich right now. Prima donnas who flock to the "latest" hot language without being able to do fundamental problem analysis.
I have an older friend who was a refugee in WWII. She was staffed by the Luftwaffe at one point and had to flee the Soviets later on.
When she came to the U.S. after the war, one of the jobs she had was dealing with jerks on the phone in an office in NY city.
Someone asked her how she could stay so calm on the job. She told them that the assholes on the phone were NOTHING, she had been attacked by professionals.
But most medicine is bullshit as well. Not that there aren't great and useful live saving medications, but so much crap is prescribed in the U.S. at least, essentially by the drug reps.
I know a pharmaceutical rep. Man, the stories he tells about getting doctors to prescribe crap based on at least as much bullshit as homeopathy.
Push, push, push a high profit drug. Don't actually practice medicine just push the drugs that make money.
Please stop writing. Everyone who read your post is a little dumber now.
All the libertarians that I know merely want to reduce the role and power of government over the lives of citizens. Reduce, not eliminate entirely.
My mind continues to be boggled by the assertion that a government that doesn't forcibly transfer goods and services from one citizen to another "shits on people who don't have money".
That's the same inane argument that the government not paying for peoples abortions is the same as outlawing abortions. Stupid, stupid stupid.
For sure, elements of society want to eliminate a woman's right to make that choice but a government that doesn't take money from woman A against her will to pay for woman B's abortion is NOT shitting on woman B.
I will never understand the concept that a vast government bureaucracy is more compassionate and wise than the individuals of a free society who still have the ability and responsibility to make choices in their own lives.
With which part of my rant do you disagree? Seriously, I'd love to be convinced that I'm wrong and liberty is nothing to be worried about or even desired.
Most posts so far have obsessed on the "how" and ignored the "what".
People have commented on the pros and cons of bio metrics, etc. The real story here is the governments elimination of private transactions between individuals. To prevent crime, to beat the terrorists, for the CHILDREN!
The whole point is the furtherance of the totalitarian state. For our own good.
Naw, that's just crazy talk! Warrantless access to email, browser histories, no private financial transactions, phone metadata collection, etc., etc., etc. These things are needed for FREEDOM!!
Next you'll be warning about concentration camps! That would NEVER happen in the U.S.!!!
It's probably impossible to design a system that couldn't be manipulated once you start disenfranchising people. Who gets to define the relevant "knowledge"? How do we measure " intelligence"?
I propose the MacDonalds test. If someone is too stupid to be able to quickly order something in a drive thru, they're too stupid to be allowed to vote.
Seriously, every system can be abused but encouraging stupid, uninformed people to vote promotes the worst in democracy.
Which of course is the whole point concerning things such as mandatory voting, automatic voter registration, not showing an ID at the polls, etc. If someone is too lazy to make even a small effort to vote, they shouldn't.
This has become a regular event in America. We can lay a lot of responsibility for this at the feet of the terrorist NRA and the corrupt legislators they pay off, with both these latter groups little more a bunch of bootlickers to the gun manufacturers.
There are more than 300 MILLION guns in this crazy nation - so many that *anyone* who wants to get a gun can get one, one way or another.
You say that Americans having lots of guns like it's bad thing.
300 million guns in civilian hands and gun deaths have steadily dropping for the past 20 years or so. The obvious correlation is that more guns means FEWER gun deaths.
Go check your meds, you may have forgotten a couple.
I haven't found out if the normal driving emissions are actually"bad" or just fall foul of U.S. automaker protectionist lobbying.
No flame here, just wondering. In my travels to Europe I haven't found them to be any worse pollution wise than American cities.
Are these cars really that bad physically or are we talking goofy government crap?
Why should anything be "free"?
Acknowledging that the education industry in America is screwed up isn't the same as saying stuff should be "free".
Someone has to provide the "free" services you want, "free' healthcare, "free" education, etc.
By "free" you mean that YOU shouldn't have to pay for the stuff you want, someone else should be forced to.
There's nothing magical or that difficult about paying your own benefits!! Medical is easy, just get a high deductible policy (and many of them since obama care came out are this way) of about $1200 deductible, you can also set up a HSA (Health Savings Account) and sock away about $3K annually pre-tax....for your routine meds and co-pays, etc.
Bullshit. The cheapest high deductible ObamaCrap policy that my wife and I (both contractors) can get in MN has a $13,000 out of pocket and costs us $8000 a year. For insurance we don't use.
Yeah, it's easy but it ain't cheap. All we want is a catastrophic policy, but we are forced to buy a POS that don't need in order to grease the pockets of Obama's campaign contributors. And this crap is going up approximately 50% in 2016. We'll probably drop the crap and just pay the fine. We'll save a lot of money. "But you might need that hideously expensive insurance some day". Perhaps, but if we were allowed to just buy a classic high deductible catastrophic policy, we'd be fine. But we can't. If we buy a catastrophic policy, the fucking ACA won't let us contribute to our HSA and we still get fined for not having ObamaCrap. AND on top of that, the fucking law only allows you buy one for 90 fucking days anyway! Bastards.
This is a basic tenet of the Church of the Invisible Hand. There's no problem that can't be solved by destroying nature and replacing it dollar-generating industries.
The basic tenet of the Church of the Totalitarian State is that there is no problem that can't be solved by just raising taxes and adding laws. Generally, "destroying nature" and the like can only be accomplished by a corrupt state supporting the big corporations, i.e., campaign donors. Even a corrupt state isn't too big a problem until it grows large. Even the Grant Administration had a limited short term effect because the size and scope of government was vastly smaller. The true Invisible Hand is rarely allowed to operate. Compare that to today where the government can simply force everyone to buy the products of the giant corporations that paid them off.
Why? you can already be denied employment for any reason in right to work states and importantly fired for any reason or not...
You say that like it's bad thing.
My entire working life (44 years and counting) has been in either a right to work state or in a non-union field. I have never had sympathy for the "I'm owed a job, whether the employer want's me or not!" whine.
I've worked for a number of employers who didn't have the sense to see my value. In some cases, I was let go for no discernible reason or I walked away and looked for a better job. I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't want to work for someone who doesn't want me around in the same way I damn sure don't want to be forced to work somewhere I hate. I might not like a job, but I have enough sense to appreciate it while I look for another gig.
This has NOTHING at all to do with socialism, and everything to do with corporate welfare and stacking the deck for them.
Sorry, but arguing about the difference between socialism and fascism is like arguing about the difference between Sprite and 7-Up.
You may well have a preference, but both are terrible for you.
Obama executed a nearly textbook example of Socialism with the takeover of GM. He fired the CEO, allocated resources directly to "Green" cars, etc. The government controlled a means of production.
He executed an almost perfect example of Fascism in the ACA that put the coercive power of government behind huge corporations so they can dictate behavior and spending requirements to citizens.
So, are he and his cronies Socialist or Fascist? Does it really matter? We're fucked either way.
You're a kid when you enter college, but an adult when you enter grad school and should accept that responsibility.
No, if someone is legally considered an adult, has the right to vote etc., he's an adult.
An adult makes decisions and is responsible for those decisions.
If we want to say 18 isn't an adult, fine. No drinking, voting or ability to sign a contract. Only children want both ways.
The Nazis, on the other hand, are held as the embodiment of evil, almost unanimously.
Because the Communists won the PR war. Literally. When Stalin decided to denounce someone he called them Fascist.
It boggles the mind that any former Communist, an ideology that killed over 60 million people can be accepted just fine today and any former Nazi is forever considered the worst creature to have walked the Earth.
This is not to cry over some perceived unfairness to the Nazi, but rather to stand astounded that all Communists aren't being rounded up today with the same fervor. You claim to want justice for totalitarian perpetrators of genocide? Great, just don't pick and choose.
You're an idiot. People over 50 are too old to buy cars!? Look at who has the money, in the U.S. at least. "Old people" who have far more money as a demographic than younger people.
I'm in my 60's, no college debt, no house payment, making money hand over fist as an IT consultant. Who the fuck do you think the car companies drool over? Some young demographic with a bleak future or me?
Slashdot Mirror
Please cite a situation, which was not caused by legislation, that has been permanently improved by legislation and where the unintended consequences have not made the situation worse overall..
Well, I certainly enjoy living in a society where people can't legally grab me on the street and steal my wallet.
Says you. What about this sort of thing? Asset forfeiture
The path towards a police state justified by terrorism and the always reliable pedophilia. What surprises me most about this miserable waste of skin is that she's from supposed progressive California.
This is the EXACT definition of "progressive". More and more powerful government. In every area of *citizens* lives. Literally the only freedom that progressives acknowledge is abortion. Nothing else. I'm all for a woman's right to make that choice, but damn, it's not the be all and end all of liberty.
Don't get all caught up and just focus on her stupid statements. Focus on the real issue: A never ending struggle to screw you and me. And our kids. Forever and ever.
What are you whining about? Make yourself marketable or go away. I have learned whatever I needed over the years to to make myself desirable to clients. New languages, etc., whatever it takes.
Now as a member of the bewildered elderly, I simply told my current client I'd do whatever they need. No whining to be working only with the latest tech, no complaining about maintenance instead of new development (I'm doing both at the moment), just agreeing to make their life easier in return for a decent rate.
Clients (and employers) are very happy to get someone with serious skills and experience who'll just shut up and work. I have seen many, many younger "developers" who couldn't design a relational database properly if it meant the firing squad. Who think that a couple of years coding meant they deserved to be rich right now. Prima donnas who flock to the "latest" hot language without being able to do fundamental problem analysis.
Aww, get off my lawn.
Someone asked her how she could stay so calm on the job. She told them that the assholes on the phone were NOTHING, she had been attacked by professionals.
I know a pharmaceutical rep. Man, the stories he tells about getting doctors to prescribe crap based on at least as much bullshit as homeopathy.
Push, push, push a high profit drug. Don't actually practice medicine just push the drugs that make money.
All the libertarians that I know merely want to reduce the role and power of government over the lives of citizens. Reduce, not eliminate entirely.
My mind continues to be boggled by the assertion that a government that doesn't forcibly transfer goods and services from one citizen to another "shits on people who don't have money". That's the same inane argument that the government not paying for peoples abortions is the same as outlawing abortions. Stupid, stupid stupid.
For sure, elements of society want to eliminate a woman's right to make that choice but a government that doesn't take money from woman A against her will to pay for woman B's abortion is NOT shitting on woman B.
I will never understand the concept that a vast government bureaucracy is more compassionate and wise than the individuals of a free society who still have the ability and responsibility to make choices in their own lives.
With which part of my rant do you disagree? Seriously, I'd love to be convinced that I'm wrong and liberty is nothing to be worried about or even desired.
People have commented on the pros and cons of bio metrics, etc. The real story here is the governments elimination of private transactions between individuals. To prevent crime, to beat the terrorists, for the CHILDREN!
Know your customer
The whole point is the furtherance of the totalitarian state. For our own good.
Naw, that's just crazy talk! Warrantless access to email, browser histories, no private financial transactions, phone metadata collection, etc., etc., etc. These things are needed for FREEDOM!! Next you'll be warning about concentration camps! That would NEVER happen in the U.S.!!!
It's probably impossible to design a system that couldn't be manipulated once you start disenfranchising people. Who gets to define the relevant "knowledge"? How do we measure " intelligence"?
I propose the MacDonalds test. If someone is too stupid to be able to quickly order something in a drive thru, they're too stupid to be allowed to vote. Seriously, every system can be abused but encouraging stupid, uninformed people to vote promotes the worst in democracy.
Which of course is the whole point concerning things such as mandatory voting, automatic voter registration, not showing an ID at the polls, etc. If someone is too lazy to make even a small effort to vote, they shouldn't.
Did you vote for Ron Paul?
This has become a regular event in America. We can lay a lot of responsibility for this at the feet of the terrorist NRA and the corrupt legislators they pay off, with both these latter groups little more a bunch of bootlickers to the gun manufacturers. There are more than 300 MILLION guns in this crazy nation - so many that *anyone* who wants to get a gun can get one, one way or another.
You say that Americans having lots of guns like it's bad thing.
300 million guns in civilian hands and gun deaths have steadily dropping for the past 20 years or so. The obvious correlation is that more guns means FEWER gun deaths.
Go check your meds, you may have forgotten a couple.
The US does not get to dictate law to foreign nations, no matter how much they'd like to.
Tell that to Swiss who dropped their pants and now report used-to-be-secret banking info to the damned IRS.
No flame here, just wondering. In my travels to Europe I haven't found them to be any worse pollution wise than American cities. Are these cars really that bad physically or are we talking goofy government crap?
Just asking.
Yes. White boy scares school morons . White girl scares school morons
Why should anything be "free"? Acknowledging that the education industry in America is screwed up isn't the same as saying stuff should be "free". Someone has to provide the "free" services you want, "free' healthcare, "free" education, etc. By "free" you mean that YOU shouldn't have to pay for the stuff you want, someone else should be forced to.
There's nothing magical or that difficult about paying your own benefits!! Medical is easy, just get a high deductible policy (and many of them since obama care came out are this way) of about $1200 deductible, you can also set up a HSA (Health Savings Account) and sock away about $3K annually pre-tax....for your routine meds and co-pays, etc.
Bullshit. The cheapest high deductible ObamaCrap policy that my wife and I (both contractors) can get in MN has a $13,000 out of pocket and costs us $8000 a year. For insurance we don't use.
Yeah, it's easy but it ain't cheap. All we want is a catastrophic policy, but we are forced to buy a POS that don't need in order to grease the pockets of Obama's campaign contributors. And this crap is going up approximately 50% in 2016. We'll probably drop the crap and just pay the fine. We'll save a lot of money. "But you might need that hideously expensive insurance some day". Perhaps, but if we were allowed to just buy a classic high deductible catastrophic policy, we'd be fine. But we can't. If we buy a catastrophic policy, the fucking ACA won't let us contribute to our HSA and we still get fined for not having ObamaCrap. AND on top of that, the fucking law only allows you buy one for 90 fucking days anyway! Bastards.
This is a basic tenet of the Church of the Invisible Hand. There's no problem that can't be solved by destroying nature and replacing it dollar-generating industries.
The basic tenet of the Church of the Totalitarian State is that there is no problem that can't be solved by just raising taxes and adding laws. Generally, "destroying nature" and the like can only be accomplished by a corrupt state supporting the big corporations, i.e., campaign donors. Even a corrupt state isn't too big a problem until it grows large. Even the Grant Administration had a limited short term effect because the size and scope of government was vastly smaller. The true Invisible Hand is rarely allowed to operate. Compare that to today where the government can simply force everyone to buy the products of the giant corporations that paid them off.
Why? you can already be denied employment for any reason in right to work states and importantly fired for any reason or not...
You say that like it's bad thing.
My entire working life (44 years and counting) has been in either a right to work state or in a non-union field. I have never had sympathy for the "I'm owed a job, whether the employer want's me or not!" whine.
I've worked for a number of employers who didn't have the sense to see my value. In some cases, I was let go for no discernible reason or I walked away and looked for a better job. I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't want to work for someone who doesn't want me around in the same way I damn sure don't want to be forced to work somewhere I hate. I might not like a job, but I have enough sense to appreciate it while I look for another gig.
This has NOTHING at all to do with socialism, and everything to do with corporate welfare and stacking the deck for them.
Sorry, but arguing about the difference between socialism and fascism is like arguing about the difference between Sprite and 7-Up. You may well have a preference, but both are terrible for you.
Obama executed a nearly textbook example of Socialism with the takeover of GM. He fired the CEO, allocated resources directly to "Green" cars, etc. The government controlled a means of production.
He executed an almost perfect example of Fascism in the ACA that put the coercive power of government behind huge corporations so they can dictate behavior and spending requirements to citizens.
So, are he and his cronies Socialist or Fascist? Does it really matter? We're fucked either way.
You're a kid when you enter college, but an adult when you enter grad school and should accept that responsibility.
No, if someone is legally considered an adult, has the right to vote etc., he's an adult. An adult makes decisions and is responsible for those decisions.
If we want to say 18 isn't an adult, fine. No drinking, voting or ability to sign a contract. Only children want both ways.
The Nazis, on the other hand, are held as the embodiment of evil, almost unanimously.
Because the Communists won the PR war. Literally. When Stalin decided to denounce someone he called them Fascist.
It boggles the mind that any former Communist, an ideology that killed over 60 million people can be accepted just fine today and any former Nazi is forever considered the worst creature to have walked the Earth.
This is not to cry over some perceived unfairness to the Nazi, but rather to stand astounded that all Communists aren't being rounded up today with the same fervor. You claim to want justice for totalitarian perpetrators of genocide? Great, just don't pick and choose.
I'm in my 60's, no college debt, no house payment, making money hand over fist as an IT consultant. Who the fuck do you think the car companies drool over? Some young demographic with a bleak future or me?
Dumbass.
If everything DOESN'T go to hell in 5 years, will the AGW people shut the fuck up? No, I didn't think so.
You mean like ObamaCare?