We might think little of your Government, but we still love you, even if a lot of your countrymen don't.
Ditto here in Europe (hell yeah, even France !).
I wonder if someday we'll have to send a hospital ship cruising in international waters near the coast of Virginia and Florida, to provide abortions and medical care to women when abortion is outlawed in the US...
A dutch NGO did this some time ago for Portugal (where abortion -- and even divorce -- is still illegal). The authorities of portugal were not pleased...
That's a very interesting point. However, given the situation, do you think that any republican delegate in the EC is likely to vote *against* Bush ? Would it even be seen as legal ? Since they are registered as republicans, is there not a rule that forces them to vote for the republican candidate ?
I don't thing the EC would prevent some kind of Hitler from getting into power. His party would have appointed its own EC delegates first, and nothing would prevent them from voting for him.
But that's only my point of view. A further discussion on that point would be interesting, I'm pretty ignorant on those details of the US constitution...
That's a good point, since the left hand is traditionally dedicated to wiping one's ass... But then again, it makes sense when shaking hands with Wolfowitz or Rumsfeld, doesn't it ?
Shaking hands with Ken Lay would be a totally different matter: you should always count your fingers after shaking hands with a robber...
And yes, just in case you were wondering, your '-1, Troll' is my '+1, Funny'.
OK, you looked at the photo, now when you RTFA, it can't be more clear:
Tom Ridge has set an agenda in the US and beyond with his practice of eroding civil liberties in the name of national security.
IMHO, this is the most insightful comment on the whole list of personalities presented here. This guy is a villain appointed by the Bush government. Which in itself is a tautology.
No, that list is not only about tech trend setters, but also about politicos, if you read the front page. And between the DMCA, the consequences of PATRIOT act, the extension of patents to software, yeah, those politicos are on their way to give tech users a hard time.
from the Life of Brian:
Man 1
Don't you swear at my wife!
Cheeky
I was only asking her to shut up so we'd hear what he's saying, big nouse!
Wife 1
Don't you call my husband big nouse!
Cheeky
Well he has got a big nouse!
Man 2
Could you be quiet, please? What was that?
Cheeky
I don't know, was too busy talking to big nouse.
...
IMO, until after ALL polls are closed [...], the media should NOT be allowed to "call" any state.
Actually, that's the way it works in France, and I'm pretty sure it also works this way in quite a few other countries too. But I don't know how you can make such a rule compliant with the Freedom of Information Act.
As for a native port, one was planned but due to pressure on one of the programming team by a bunch of suits, he was told in no uncertain terms that he was not permitted to do the port.
That sounds interesting. Would you care to provide a pointer to more details or testimonies about this ? Like mailing-list archives or usenet posts...
His party is much less effective at passing legislation restricting citizens rights than is the Republican Party.
That's a good point. But, how effective will they be at cancelling the rights-restricting PATRIOT act and its sequels when Kerry gets into office, considering indeed that the GOP will still be in control of the Congress ? This would lead me to think that the Democrats need more legislative clout than they have right now.
the more precarious position of the Democratic Party makes it more responsive to activism from the people.
This could be seen as a weakness too: the Dems actually tend to be more responsive to right-wing activism for fear of losing those votes to the Republicans. Why the hell is Kerry so wishy-washy about social protection, abortion and so on ? I think this is a strategic error in the long run : Kerry needs to raise interest among the progressive-leaning citizens that did not vote in the last elections. Trying to adopt a conservative stance on 'sensitive' matters won't help much, and those people will say "what's the use voting for Kerry ? He sounds too much like Bush."
And you end up with more and more people either abstaining or spoiling their votes on Nader (looks like he won't be there this time), because the Dems refuse to take a clear progressive stance on such important points.
Well, actually photosynthesis is much closer to "light decryption" than sunburn. Which leads to the following business plan:
1 - Claim ownership of the sun
2 - License the use of photosynthesis to *all* farmers on earth, and have them pay a fixed percentage of their crops for growing them in the first place
3 - ???
4 - Profit !
You do have a representative democracy in the US, but it takes more than one person dragging their fuzzy ass off the couch to show up at the polls to counter well-funded lobbyists.
I'm going further offtopic, but, come on. In a 2-party political system, it is so easy for lobbyists to court both parties at the same time. Especially when both parties depend on these lobbies for campaign funding.
Sure, you get what you vote for. But do you really get what you deserve ? Do you really have a choice ?
When they get tired of being fed the same bullshit by both parties over and over, because of the underlying lobbies, citizens will need to organize and put forward someone who is not likely to fall under the influence of the same lobbies. This also means being granted access to the media. Which in turn implies that the media should not be controlled by major corporate interests and should really reflect the diversity of opinions. This is the main problem in the US now : having a real diversity of opinions in the media, for example in war coverage. Not just 'embedded war reporters' that parrot what the army officials tell them.
When all the media sources are just an army of clones, democracy is over.
Not exactly, this article specifies that the Asian elephant can weigh up to 7500 kg. Although exceptional, 8 tons does not sound impossible. And African elephants tend to top out at 12000 kg (biggest elephant shot, Angola 1974), not 4000 as you said.
The French resistance, for example, known for the excellent work it did and the dangers it exposed itself to.
And you'd better believe that it was a difficult choice to make. Some resistance acts ("terrorism" as the german propaganda named it) caused immediate retaliation against the civilians of the surrounding area. Most resistants knew they were endangering not only their lives, but also their relatives' lives. Lots of the civilians who hid "terrorists" or supported them were also aware of it. Yet they decided it was worth taking the risk.
Hundreds of them died for their freedom, resistants and civilians alike.
The French didn't even complain after allied raids during WW2 killed thousands of civilians.
And then some. Including unnecessary bombings such as Royan (Howard Zinn talks about his experience in that raid) were only done on the pretense of experimenting napalm.
Had the allies allowed Hitler to gain an even stronger foothold, the US would have been doomed, and the US knew that.
That is debatable, given that Stalin was beginning to give the Nazis the Hell they deserved. But the US needed to invade Western Europe, if only to balance Staline's forces and make sure the whole continent would not embrace communism when the Nazis would be defeated.
Excellent. Please remind me of putting the Coca-Cola company on my list of rogue corporations for fostering terrorism with their new super-sized bottles.
By the way, a 2-litre water rocket already has an impressive range (up to 300 feet if aimed well) which makes it an interesting weapon for junkyard wars.
If people are pissed off that all grain-based products cost 10x more than they did last election, those people are going to _LOSE THEIR JOBS_.
Lose their jobs, sure, but to whom ? Most lobbying firms make sure that they use their influence on people from both parties (Rep and Dem). People like Rick Boucher, who have the balls to stand up against corporate cronyism and the abuses of lobbying are few and far between.
Even if you want to kick your congresscritter out of office on next election, you may end up having to choose between two persons who are both devoted to corporate welfare. So you might consider preparing to bend over...
Can't agree with this one. No paper archive will provide you with a search engine to the database, enabling you to pick up only the relevant articles. This saves a huge amount of time, and I would be ready to pay for it. That's the beauty of online publishing.
Slashdot Mirror
Ditto here in Europe (hell yeah, even France !).
I wonder if someday we'll have to send a hospital ship cruising in international waters near the coast of Virginia and Florida, to provide abortions and medical care to women when abortion is outlawed in the US...
A dutch NGO did this some time ago for Portugal (where abortion -- and even divorce -- is still illegal). The authorities of portugal were not pleased...
I don't thing the EC would prevent some kind of Hitler from getting into power. His party would have appointed its own EC delegates first, and nothing would prevent them from voting for him.
But that's only my point of view. A further discussion on that point would be interesting, I'm pretty ignorant on those details of the US constitution...
[Scratches head after considering for a while] Err, wait a minute. What do the apple and the snake stand for in that metaphor ?
You're kidding, right ?
Here's five letters you need to be reminded of : P-L-A-M-E.
Shaking hands with Ken Lay would be a totally different matter: you should always count your fingers after shaking hands with a robber...
And yes, just in case you were wondering, your '-1, Troll' is my '+1, Funny'.
Tom Ridge has set an agenda in the US and beyond with his practice of eroding civil liberties in the name of national security.
IMHO, this is the most insightful comment on the whole list of personalities presented here. This guy is a villain appointed by the Bush government. Which in itself is a tautology.
No, that list is not only about tech trend setters, but also about politicos, if you read the front page. And between the DMCA, the consequences of PATRIOT act, the extension of patents to software, yeah, those politicos are on their way to give tech users a hard time.
'Cos God is a damn' yellow-livered flip-flopper, that's how it is !
from the Life of Brian: Man 1 Don't you swear at my wife! Cheeky I was only asking her to shut up so we'd hear what he's saying, big nouse! Wife 1 Don't you call my husband big nouse! Cheeky Well he has got a big nouse! Man 2 Could you be quiet, please? What was that? Cheeky I don't know, was too busy talking to big nouse. ...
as long as it's not "my Rusty is french". Oh, come on, it's only humor.
Confirmed anyway. Anybody noticed large flocks of flying pigs gathering for migration in that area too ?
That's a good point. But, how effective will they be at cancelling the rights-restricting PATRIOT act and its sequels when Kerry gets into office, considering indeed that the GOP will still be in control of the Congress ? This would lead me to think that the Democrats need more legislative clout than they have right now.
the more precarious position of the Democratic Party makes it more responsive to activism from the people.
This could be seen as a weakness too: the Dems actually tend to be more responsive to right-wing activism for fear of losing those votes to the Republicans. Why the hell is Kerry so wishy-washy about social protection, abortion and so on ? I think this is a strategic error in the long run : Kerry needs to raise interest among the progressive-leaning citizens that did not vote in the last elections. Trying to adopt a conservative stance on 'sensitive' matters won't help much, and those people will say "what's the use voting for Kerry ? He sounds too much like Bush."
And you end up with more and more people either abstaining or spoiling their votes on Nader (looks like he won't be there this time), because the Dems refuse to take a clear progressive stance on such important points.
Wooops, sorry, I meant "Freedom Software", of course ! ;-)
1 - Claim ownership of the sun
2 - License the use of photosynthesis to *all* farmers on earth, and have them pay a fixed percentage of their crops for growing them in the first place
3 - ???
4 - Profit !
Hell, I hope nobody at Monsanto reads /. ...
I'm going further offtopic, but, come on. In a 2-party political system, it is so easy for lobbyists to court both parties at the same time. Especially when both parties depend on these lobbies for campaign funding.
Sure, you get what you vote for. But do you really get what you deserve ? Do you really have a choice ?
When they get tired of being fed the same bullshit by both parties over and over, because of the underlying lobbies, citizens will need to organize and put forward someone who is not likely to fall under the influence of the same lobbies. This also means being granted access to the media. Which in turn implies that the media should not be controlled by major corporate interests and should really reflect the diversity of opinions. This is the main problem in the US now : having a real diversity of opinions in the media, for example in war coverage. Not just 'embedded war reporters' that parrot what the army officials tell them.
When all the media sources are just an army of clones, democracy is over.
Just my 2 cents anyway.
Not exactly, this article specifies that the Asian elephant can weigh up to 7500 kg. Although exceptional, 8 tons does not sound impossible. And African elephants tend to top out at 12000 kg (biggest elephant shot, Angola 1974), not 4000 as you said.
By the way, a 2-litre water rocket already has an impressive range (up to 300 feet if aimed well) which makes it an interesting weapon for junkyard wars.
You haven't really suffered until you've heard about Vogon mathematicians...
Even if you want to kick your congresscritter out of office on next election, you may end up having to choose between two persons who are both devoted to corporate welfare. So you might consider preparing to bend over...
Can't agree with this one. No paper archive will provide you with a search engine to the database, enabling you to pick up only the relevant articles. This saves a huge amount of time, and I would be ready to pay for it. That's the beauty of online publishing.
You did a "reply all", now, didn't you ?
So that would make it 335.00 and 370.00 euros.