Congratulations! You have discovered the secret of Instant +5 Insightful here in our happy community:
"Blah blah [vapid knee-jerk complaining about vapid knee-jerk complaining and slashdot groupthink] blah blah," followed by a suggestion of patenting it.
The fact that this kind of rule may be unconstitutional means exactly nothing unless you can convince the judicial branch to rule it so, the executive branch to respect that ruling, and the legislative branch to bitchslap the executive if/when it refuses to behave.
There's at least two items in the list that I won't be holding my breath for.
You spend a lot of time yelling about stuff to yourself, don't you? Like on the way home from work in the car, or late at night with a pillow to deaden the sound.
Of course. I should have uncritically accepted the allegations without proof. And my initial failure was compounded by critically examining the evidence presented and finding it wanting.
And in your mind, always will. Which was, of course the AC's point, well proven by your response.
Ha. Well, then I guess there's no point in talking about it. You're so invested in thinking Obama a shady slimebag, you'll grasp at the thinnest of evidence as ironclad proof.
Mmm. Well, first, the bit about "borderline illegal" tactics by Obama is just kinda bullshit. From the linked article:
Obama's challenge was perfectly legal, said Jay Stewart of the Chicago's Better Government Association. Although records of the challenges are no longer on file for review with the election board, Stewart said Obama is not the only politician to resort to petition challenges to eliminate the competition.
"He came from Chicago politics," Stewart said. "Politics ain't beanbag, as they say in Chicago. You play with your elbows up, and you're pretty tough and ruthless when you have to be. Sen. Obama felt that's what was necessary at the time, that's what he did. Does it fit in with the rhetoric now? Perhaps not."
So, by "borderline illegal," you mean, "a completely legal application of the electoral rules of Chicago that sounds fairly well in keeping with the political climate in the city?"
A few months after Obama became a U.S. senator, he and Rezko's wife, Rita, bought adjacent pieces of property from a doctor in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood -- a deal that has dogged Obama the last two years. The doctor sold the mansion to Obama for $1.65 million -- $300,000 below the asking price. Rezko's wife paid full price -- $625,000 -- for the adjacent vacant lot. The deals closed in June 2005. Six months later, Obama paid Rezko's wife $104,500 for a strip of her land, so he could have a bigger yard. At the time, it had been widely reported that Tony Rezko was under federal investigation. Questioned later about the timing of the Rezko deal, Obama called it "boneheaded" because people might think the Rezkos had done him a favor.
So, there's the $300k under asking price sale from a doctor in Kenwood, not Rezko. The next door purchase of the vacant lot seems odd, but then of course, Obama did buy a bit of land for $104,500.
So your assertion that they gave Obama a deal on the house is merely untrue. That the gave him another deal on the plot of land next door is inaccurate - they bought it for ~600k, but he only bought a chunk of it. The most you could say is that the Rezkos somehow bought the land at full price to buy off the doctor to get him to sell Obama the house more cheaply, but that's at best a circumstantial argument.
Further, one thing I didn't see is any allegation of quid pro quo for the supposed payoff.
I've lived an hour from Obama's house. Trust me when I say I know him from the days before he went on this big campaign: the man is dirtier than a Lousiana mayor.
I fail to see why I or anyone else should take you at your word about Obama's supposed dirtiness. I see one bullshitty allegation, and one allegation that may be shady or may just be a stupid move that's relatively innocent.
Wikipedia definitely suffers from the problem of having a lot of know nothing jackasses writing articles, random defacements, and a lot of useless crap.
But Knol seems to be missing the best part of wikipedia - extensive internal links. Half the fun of wikipedia is looking up something, then wasting a couple hours wandering through topics till you get someplace you might not have gone otherwise.
Yeah, it'd seem that way, but read all of the statute:
Any civil action for patent infringement may be brought in the judicial district where the defendant resides, or where the defendant has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business.
Which seems pretty cut and dry. Except, of course, that it's not. In 1990, Congress updated the statute thus with 28 USC 1391:
For purposes of venue under this chapter, a defendant that is a corporation shall be deemed to reside in any judicial district in which it is subject to personal jurisdiction at the time the action is commenced.
which effectively means that you can file a patent suit anywhere, which interpretation was held in VE Holdings v. Johnson Gas Appliance Co. in 1990 (and tacitly affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1991 by refusal to grant writ of certiorari).
Yeah, sucks it, doesn't it? Write your congresscritter.
To some degree they do. It's rather common for patent trolls to pick specific court districts for filing their claims in, as those districts tend to find in favor of the patent holder more often - the Eastern District of Texas is pretty well known for this.
Granted, they can't pick the specific judge - they can, however, shop for a generally more favorable venue.
My, my - aren't we tetchy? That's quite a lot of self-justifying and pontificating in response to to such a small original comment.
You do a lovely little reductio ad absurdum at the end, though, with the "list all the areas in your glass house in which you expend energy to make your life better," bit. That's nice.
I'm sure no small part of the decision is also to either avoid legal problems form or to give a reacharound to the content producer industry. Lots of warez, mp3, and dvd rips get traded on usenet. Shutting off alt.* puts a dent in that. Temporarily, at least, till everyone moves elsewhere.
What we've been doing so far has just been punishment for being non-democratic
Horseshit.
What the US has been doing so far is largely punishment for nationalizing property during the revolution, somewhat overlapping with the ongoing pander to the Cuban exiles in South Florida; there's a bit of legacy anti-communist paranoia there, too. Anyone who thinks that the US maintains the embargo against the Cubans is because they're undemocratic is ignorant or deluded.
Slashdot Mirror
Congratulations! You have discovered the secret of Instant +5 Insightful here in our happy community:
"Blah blah [vapid knee-jerk complaining about vapid knee-jerk complaining and slashdot groupthink] blah blah," followed by a suggestion of patenting it.
This statement:
should automatically void your voter registration and require that you take a high school civics class before re-registering.
The fact that this kind of rule may be unconstitutional means exactly nothing unless you can convince the judicial branch to rule it so, the executive branch to respect that ruling, and the legislative branch to bitchslap the executive if/when it refuses to behave.
There's at least two items in the list that I won't be holding my breath for.
You spend a lot of time yelling about stuff to yourself, don't you? Like on the way home from work in the car, or late at night with a pillow to deaden the sound.
It's not healthy.
Yeah, and the best part is the triumphal attitude as he undoes himself. Truly classic.
Of course. I should have uncritically accepted the allegations without proof. And my initial failure was compounded by critically examining the evidence presented and finding it wanting.
Ha. Well, then I guess there's no point in talking about it. You're so invested in thinking Obama a shady slimebag, you'll grasp at the thinnest of evidence as ironclad proof.
Yes, well, the citations did make a difference. But, if you read my post, you'd see that, the citations don't really support the allegations.
So, they'd have counted if they did what they were purported to do; but sadly, they fell short.
Mmm. Well, first, the bit about "borderline illegal" tactics by Obama is just kinda bullshit. From the linked article:
So, by "borderline illegal," you mean, "a completely legal application of the electoral rules of Chicago that sounds fairly well in keeping with the political climate in the city?"
As for the Rezko thing, here's a better article (same author, more recent):
http://www.suntimes.com/news/watchdogs/757340,CST-NWS-watchdog24.article
So, there's the $300k under asking price sale from a doctor in Kenwood, not Rezko. The next door purchase of the vacant lot seems odd, but then of course, Obama did buy a bit of land for $104,500.
So your assertion that they gave Obama a deal on the house is merely untrue. That the gave him another deal on the plot of land next door is inaccurate - they bought it for ~600k, but he only bought a chunk of it. The most you could say is that the Rezkos somehow bought the land at full price to buy off the doctor to get him to sell Obama the house more cheaply, but that's at best a circumstantial argument.
Further, one thing I didn't see is any allegation of quid pro quo for the supposed payoff.
I fail to see why I or anyone else should take you at your word about Obama's supposed dirtiness. I see one bullshitty allegation, and one allegation that may be shady or may just be a stupid move that's relatively innocent.
What, pray tell, are those?
I expect specifics and citations. Bonus points if your citations aren't articles from worldnetdaily or the like.
Sorry, I'd never buy a car with a MS computer in it. Call me bigoted or whatever. I just won't.
Nothing quite as funny as gay prison rape.
Wikipedia definitely suffers from the problem of having a lot of know nothing jackasses writing articles, random defacements, and a lot of useless crap.
But Knol seems to be missing the best part of wikipedia - extensive internal links. Half the fun of wikipedia is looking up something, then wasting a couple hours wandering through topics till you get someplace you might not have gone otherwise.
Yeah, it'd seem that way, but read all of the statute:
Which seems pretty cut and dry. Except, of course, that it's not. In 1990, Congress updated the statute thus with 28 USC 1391:
which effectively means that you can file a patent suit anywhere, which interpretation was held in VE Holdings v. Johnson Gas Appliance Co. in 1990 (and tacitly affirmed by the Supreme Court in 1991 by refusal to grant writ of certiorari).
Yeah, sucks it, doesn't it? Write your congresscritter.
To some degree they do. It's rather common for patent trolls to pick specific court districts for filing their claims in, as those districts tend to find in favor of the patent holder more often - the Eastern District of Texas is pretty well known for this.
Granted, they can't pick the specific judge - they can, however, shop for a generally more favorable venue.
Hardly; given the rather small prompt, you spun out quite a bit of self-justification.
You're clearly rather tetchy WRT this subject.
My, my - aren't we tetchy? That's quite a lot of self-justifying and pontificating in response to to such a small original comment.
You do a lovely little reductio ad absurdum at the end, though, with the "list all the areas in your glass house in which you expend energy to make your life better," bit. That's nice.
isn't civilization, and the fact that you think it is indicates a deeply flawed view of the world.
You'd think it'd be obvious, but at slashdot, you actually do need to point that out to people.
Oh, fuck you.
Entirely understandable. I'd do the same if I didn't handle my stress with drinking.
I never said it was actually intended to do something productive, just that it's also part of the calculation.
I'm sure no small part of the decision is also to either avoid legal problems form or to give a reacharound to the content producer industry. Lots of warez, mp3, and dvd rips get traded on usenet. Shutting off alt.* puts a dent in that. Temporarily, at least, till everyone moves elsewhere.
sudo rm -f `find / *emacs*`
Nuke it from root. It's the only way to be sure.
Get some kneepads and stretch your jaw out. Also, bring lube.
Horseshit.
What the US has been doing so far is largely punishment for nationalizing property during the revolution, somewhat overlapping with the ongoing pander to the Cuban exiles in South Florida; there's a bit of legacy anti-communist paranoia there, too. Anyone who thinks that the US maintains the embargo against the Cubans is because they're undemocratic is ignorant or deluded.