"...search my body for a credit card before they'll think about helping me."
Ummm. Don't be so dramatic. You obviously don't live here with that sort of exageration. Tell me, do you get all you know from American TV? If so, then you know about as much as most Americans do about you - unfortuneate, but true.
I wouldn't want to live with incompetence either - surely there's a middle ground here?
Unlike you I have a proof of socialism's costs. Check this out if you dare:
http://kpmgpl.lcc.ch/dbfetch/52616e646f6d495686a af 6695afbcbb5c6ac64643b6f4bee/taxes_in_eu_acc_countr ies_completed_final.pdf
The E.U.'s own projected tax rates - and these cover most of your 'poorer' neighbors. Let's not visit the unreal costs of living for the Netherlands (yeah, go ahead and buy a house or car there), or Germany. If you count personal income, VAT, and other wonderful taxes you're looking at a MINIMUM of 45%. Wow, what a deal! Working half the year for a government that distrusts you. And God help you if you own a business!
There's a reason why the E.U. can't agree on a constitution you know. For all their 'unity' they have to admit that in their hearts there really isn't any. The E.U. is a purely economic entity and, if I may assume you are from the U.K., why not use the Euro over there, hmmmmm?
Sorry, Lenin you are wrong. The facts of the world have proved you wrong. Communism worked in one place - Paris... Until people started starving to death.
Humans are incompetent - most of them at most things. What's more, they're greedy bastards. This isn't necessarily evil, but it is inherant in our genes. What? Do you think that your capitalist boss isn't human, that's he's somehow SUPERHUMAN? He's just like you only with more power. Don't delude yourself man. Given enough money and power it would corrupt you as well.
Which leads to the fallacy of communism - that everyone will be happy with what they've got. I won't quote the whole song here, but Oingo Boingo's 'Capitalism' about sums up my attitude:
"There's nothing wrong with making some profit If you ask me I'll say it's just fine."
Have a link if you don't know the song:
http://www.metrolyrics.com/lyrics/38962/Oingo_Bo in go/Capitalism/
But the flipside of this is that you could end up with total incompetence in the workforce. That's fine if it's a janitorial position, but would you really want a dumbass to keep his/her job handling various functions in a nuclear reactor? What about in a financial institution you belong to?
Recourse IS available for those who qualify. I was fired unjustly from a company 15 years ago, believe me I know. I went to the employment board and filed a grievance. In 30 days I had the choice of getting my job back or taking a settlement - I took the settlement.
YOU don't know the full story in this situation either. Maybe a major security breach was found that the author of this article didn't know about. Maybe his company was looking to 'pare down' their IT staff anyway. My point is that in the U.S. shit can and will happen, but I believe the system works itself out. Not perfect, but then neither is a 75% tax rate under socialism.
Oh man, and driver support was THE SUCK back then. I remember getting a cheap (well, $400) Wearns 1X CD-R. The should've called it the 'coaster-maker' since that's all it seemed to do most of the time.
70+ minutes to find out that the burn failed anyway. CASSETTE TAPE was more reliable! Grrrr...
Interesting that this claim goes back that far. I wonder if they decided to wait until Roxio's spin-off and later reorganization took hold before filing. That would explain why the claim is only now being called.
Well, what you've said was fairly convincing until you got to the part about Arafat.
Both Arafat and Sharon are blood enemies to the end, end of story. Sharon builds his wall and Arafat tells him to 'go to hell'. Same old, same old. Precisely how Arafat gets a Nobel Peace Prize for rejecting a deal that would've brought an end to the Intifada is beyond my ken.
Face it, BOTH sides of that conflict have their points - this is not a one-sided conflict! Both have done some mean and nasty things to each other and neither side will be so likely to forget it either.
Bush has simply drawn a line in the sand and condemned terrorism in all forms; whether it be Wahabi or Palestinian matters not. I don't think anyone that resorts to terrorism deserves a place at the table under ANY circumstances.
NOTE: Although they all claim to care, no other Arab nation ever offers to take in the Pals from their 'oppression'. Why is that?
"Intercontinental trains will go a long way towards salvation, if we use them well."
Or the cultural fear will ultimately blow them up. Don't get me wrong Doc, I hope you're right. But if one culture fears another, the hate that can result from it can lead to things like 9/11.
The truth is, hardcore Wahabi's fear the kind of change that is occurring in their world, a world where women might be able to get a job or wear blue jeans once in a while. A world where 'pure' Islamic law might not be the law of the land. Western influences are shaking the foundations of their culture and they fear it. Some will fight any way they can. This is what al Qaeda is all about.
Understand me here - I'm not saying one is better than another (Americans have their own set of issues), I'm saying that one is influencing another more directly. It is far more likely that our Western 'decadence' is rubbing off on them rather than they other way around.
Case in point: None of our female students from Saudi or Pakistan ever wore any form of covering here at school unless a special occasion called for it. But you can bet that it all goes back on before they get home. One girl told me that if she went back home without it she was likely to be hit by a rock - which can be legally thrown by a passerby. And yet, her parents sent her here to be educated in America.
It seems a strange sort of hypocrasy but it's really no different than our local Amish who would never own a car, but be glad to take advantage of the newest automated milking machinery.
Look, that's not what I'm saying at all! Yes, I did a Google search before I posted. Go ahead and investigate terrorist activities in Morocco over the past several months. It's not like you can ignore them or the fact that they have, for the most part, been linked to al Qaeda in one way or another.
That said, if I had a mod point I'd give you one because you are totally right about Spain and the Basques. As an American (and therefore removed from most of this strife), I'm afraid I do tend to focus on Muslim terrorists because - unlike the Basques - they attacked us here. The hardcore segment (al Qaeda for instance) seem to have no points other than, death to Isreal, death to the 'infidels' (whoever the clerics say they are that month), removal of all foreigners from Arab held lands, and general subjugation of all other religions and peoples world-wide. They doesn't seem to be a middle ground in reasoning with them, even if that were an option.
The Basques are pretty uncouth also as they have targeted officials and skyscrapers. While they are not united (the ETA is but one group), most would be pacified if given their own national identity. That, at least, seems more reasonable to me, and certainly something to talk about. That doesn't mean they couldn't engineer a tunnel bombing, I just think al Qaeda would be the more likely to do it. That's not being a creedist or racist, that's being a realist.
As an aside, the Basques have apparently been doing a good deal of their training in North Africa. Care to guess how they're sponsored or who they train with? Their goals may be different but their 'tools of the trade' are the same.
While the gov't of Morocco is very strict (any terrorists they catch are subjected to long sentences), it is it's location in addition to harsh tactics that would make a tunnel like this a tasty target indeed.
Keep in mind, Saudi claims to be strict on terrorist activity as well, but most of the 9/11 'martyrs' were from that country. Proof that laws and civilization mean nothing to these people if its not their particular brand of Islam.
Not to be a wet blanket here but doesn't Morocco have issues with terrorism? Like, a LOT of them? Seriously, this tunnel just sounds like the ultimate target for these whacko groups.
They'd better have a lot of security/protection and check those SHOES!
It won't matter what the cost of gas, 5, 10, 15 dollars because ultimately people will pay it when there's no other reasonable alternative.
Case in point: All those toll roads. It's said that the tolls are necessary to keep the roads running, however there are plenty of roads out there that seem to manage just fine on gas taxes.
So why the extra $$? To cut down on the usage of the road! Force people to use more public transportation. Guess what? Places like the Northern Virgina Reston/Tyson's Corner toll road in Virgina are still bumper to bumper even though the tolls keep getting more and more ridiculous.
Of course, the only alternative if you live in Reston and want to get to DC is to take a bus... On the highway... Which.. Is.. Full of cars! Grrrrrrr.
...it's sure to bring out the assholes like you. Sorry, sometimes good things happen under Bush. Why does that bother you so much? Isn't 'good', good no matter whose leadership it falls under?
Wait a second. You aren't 'Goth' by any chance are you?
The female Cylon certainly has a belief in God - whatever he or she or it is and takes it seriously when she says, "You don't have to mock my faith..."
It's certainly an interesting concept. The Cylons leave the colonies and find... God? Hmmm... What other plot does this remind me of?
As an American citizen (and therefore not a constituent) I realize that this email probably won't mean much to you. However, I just wanted to encourage you folks to pass that tax on MP3 players and all forms of digital media. I don't think 20% is near high enough, but I'm sure it will mean plenty of business for your neighbors down south.
You know, with our flagging economy we could really use the extra sales here in the States.
...and do it NOW, is ORGANIZE! Put this to the people. I can see the commercials already - like Walmart's happy face logo replacing prices except way higher ones this time.
Since it appears that consumers in Canada are able to be trampled on just as much as they are in the U.S., why don't some of the retailers who are going to feel the pinch put pressure on the lawmakers?
...I mean, customers - who would be thrilled just to get more than 64k ISDN at home. Maybe they shouldset their sights a little more realistically, eh?
What if you're not from the U.S. but have to put up with this bullshit from SCO? What happens here will affect every other nation - thanks to our hand-in-hand trade laws.
What recourse do Linux users from other nations have against SCO? They already got the smackdown from Germany, and so have backed off, BUT this court case may decide the future of Linux as a going concern and there are companies and people's lives staked on it's success.
So while a DDOS may be distasteful, I can certainly empathize with the folks who are responsible.
You know this 'Java Desktop' thing has little or nothing to do with Java. But the funny thing was the guy who was interviewed who said something like, 'Well I don't know why we'd use it. It uses Java, and Java crashes computers..." Hmmm.. Good reporting there. Why not ask a chimneysweep or a horsemaster next?
"Ripping the nametag Linux off the OS software and replacing it with a Java title is something a greedy company would do."
Maybe, but I like to think more of it as something that a company that wants to MAKE MONEY would do. You'll recall, that's why companies often do this sort of thing.
The real question is: WHY?
Answer: To not only sell customers on the the desktop, but on the backend server architecture as well. The word 'Java' helps Sun distinguish itself from every other Linux distro.
You watch, Novell and Red Hat will eventually do this also with their distros. It's a good and important step in Linux' evolution.
"Just wait until X starts crashing on them and they can't get their plug'n play scanner working..." Blah, Blah, Blah.
Hmmm.. Installing software or hardware in this sort of environment shouldn't be left to users in the first place. If YOU don't know what you're doing that's your own problem.
I know plenty of doctors offices locally either using Unix-based apps under Windows (which really sucks), or are still using DOS-based ones (Wow, pick your poison). Please keep in mind that a national healthcare network shouldn't have to worry about whether or not it can play Half-Life 2.
Slashdot Mirror
I address this guy's 'logic' and I get modded down for it. Unbelievable. I guess it IS easier than actually writing a rebuttal though, eh?
"...search my body for a credit card before they'll think about helping me."
a af 6695afbcbb5c6ac64643b6f4bee/taxes_in_eu_acc_countr ies_completed_final.pdf
Ummm. Don't be so dramatic. You obviously don't live here with that sort of exageration. Tell me, do you get all you know from American TV? If so, then you know about as much as most Americans do about you - unfortuneate, but true.
I wouldn't want to live with incompetence either - surely there's a middle ground here?
Unlike you I have a proof of socialism's costs. Check this out if you dare:
http://kpmgpl.lcc.ch/dbfetch/52616e646f6d495686
The E.U.'s own projected tax rates - and these cover most of your 'poorer' neighbors. Let's not visit the unreal costs of living for the Netherlands (yeah, go ahead and buy a house or car there), or Germany. If you count personal income, VAT, and other wonderful taxes you're looking at a MINIMUM of 45%. Wow, what a deal! Working half the year for a government that distrusts you. And God help you if you own a business!
There's a reason why the E.U. can't agree on a constitution you know. For all their 'unity' they have to admit that in their hearts there really isn't any. The E.U. is a purely economic entity and, if I may assume you are from the U.K., why not use the Euro over there, hmmmmm?
Sorry, Lenin you are wrong. The facts of the world have proved you wrong. Communism worked in one place - Paris... Until people started starving to death.
o in go/Capitalism/
Humans are incompetent - most of them at most things. What's more, they're greedy bastards. This isn't necessarily evil, but it is inherant in our genes. What? Do you think that your capitalist boss isn't human, that's he's somehow SUPERHUMAN? He's just like you only with more power. Don't delude yourself man. Given enough money and power it would corrupt you as well.
Which leads to the fallacy of communism - that everyone will be happy with what they've got. I won't quote the whole song here, but Oingo Boingo's 'Capitalism' about sums up my attitude:
"There's nothing wrong with making some profit
If you ask me I'll say it's just fine."
Have a link if you don't know the song:
http://www.metrolyrics.com/lyrics/38962/Oingo_B
But the flipside of this is that you could end up with total incompetence in the workforce. That's fine if it's a janitorial position, but would you really want a dumbass to keep his/her job handling various functions in a nuclear reactor? What about in a financial institution you belong to?
Recourse IS available for those who qualify. I was fired unjustly from a company 15 years ago, believe me I know. I went to the employment board and filed a grievance. In 30 days I had the choice of getting my job back or taking a settlement - I took the settlement.
YOU don't know the full story in this situation either. Maybe a major security breach was found that the author of this article didn't know about. Maybe his company was looking to 'pare down' their IT staff anyway. My point is that in the U.S. shit can and will happen, but I believe the system works itself out. Not perfect, but then neither is a 75% tax rate under socialism.
Oh man, and driver support was THE SUCK back then. I remember getting a cheap (well, $400) Wearns 1X CD-R. The should've called it the 'coaster-maker' since that's all it seemed to do most of the time.
70+ minutes to find out that the burn failed anyway. CASSETTE TAPE was more reliable! Grrrr...
Interesting that this claim goes back that far. I wonder if they decided to wait until Roxio's spin-off and later reorganization took hold before filing. That would explain why the claim is only now being called.
`
Well, what you've said was fairly convincing until you got to the part about Arafat.
Both Arafat and Sharon are blood enemies to the end, end of story. Sharon builds his wall and Arafat tells him to 'go to hell'. Same old, same old. Precisely how Arafat gets a Nobel Peace Prize for rejecting a deal that would've brought an end to the Intifada is beyond my ken.
Face it, BOTH sides of that conflict have their points - this is not a one-sided conflict! Both have done some mean and nasty things to each other and neither side will be so likely to forget it either.
Bush has simply drawn a line in the sand and condemned terrorism in all forms; whether it be Wahabi or Palestinian matters not. I don't think anyone that resorts to terrorism deserves a place at the table under ANY circumstances.
NOTE: Although they all claim to care, no other Arab nation ever offers to take in the Pals from their 'oppression'. Why is that?
Wahabism seems to have 'taken the cake' when it comes to extremity. At least by today's standards. Of course, there was the crusades...
"Intercontinental trains will go a long way towards salvation, if we use them well."
Or the cultural fear will ultimately blow them up. Don't get me wrong Doc, I hope you're right. But if one culture fears another, the hate that can result from it can lead to things like 9/11.
The truth is, hardcore Wahabi's fear the kind of change that is occurring in their world, a world where women might be able to get a job or wear blue jeans once in a while. A world where 'pure' Islamic law might not be the law of the land. Western influences are shaking the foundations of their culture and they fear it. Some will fight any way they can. This is what al Qaeda is all about.
Understand me here - I'm not saying one is better than another (Americans have their own set of issues), I'm saying that one is influencing another more directly. It is far more likely that our Western 'decadence' is rubbing off on them rather than they other way around.
Case in point: None of our female students from Saudi or Pakistan ever wore any form of covering here at school unless a special occasion called for it. But you can bet that it all goes back on before they get home. One girl told me that if she went back home without it she was likely to be hit by a rock - which can be legally thrown by a passerby. And yet, her parents sent her here to be educated in America.
It seems a strange sort of hypocrasy but it's really no different than our local Amish who would never own a car, but be glad to take advantage of the newest automated milking machinery.
Look, that's not what I'm saying at all! Yes, I did a Google search before I posted. Go ahead and investigate terrorist activities in Morocco over the past several months. It's not like you can ignore them or the fact that they have, for the most part, been linked to al Qaeda in one way or another.
That said, if I had a mod point I'd give you one because you are totally right about Spain and the Basques. As an American (and therefore removed from most of this strife), I'm afraid I do tend to focus on Muslim terrorists because - unlike the Basques - they attacked us here. The hardcore segment (al Qaeda for instance) seem to have no points other than, death to Isreal, death to the 'infidels' (whoever the clerics say they are that month), removal of all foreigners from Arab held lands, and general subjugation of all other religions and peoples world-wide. They doesn't seem to be a middle ground in reasoning with them, even if that were an option.
The Basques are pretty uncouth also as they have targeted officials and skyscrapers. While they are not united (the ETA is but one group), most would be pacified if given their own national identity. That, at least, seems more reasonable to me, and certainly something to talk about. That doesn't mean they couldn't engineer a tunnel bombing, I just think al Qaeda would be the more likely to do it. That's not being a creedist or racist, that's being a realist.
As an aside, the Basques have apparently been doing a good deal of their training in North Africa. Care to guess how they're sponsored or who they train with? Their goals may be different but their 'tools of the trade' are the same.
While the gov't of Morocco is very strict (any terrorists they catch are subjected to long sentences), it is it's location in addition to harsh tactics that would make a tunnel like this a tasty target indeed.
Keep in mind, Saudi claims to be strict on terrorist activity as well, but most of the 9/11 'martyrs' were from that country. Proof that laws and civilization mean nothing to these people if its not their particular brand of Islam.
Not to be a wet blanket here but doesn't Morocco have issues with terrorism? Like, a LOT of them? Seriously, this tunnel just sounds like the ultimate target for these whacko groups.
They'd better have a lot of security/protection and check those SHOES!
It won't matter what the cost of gas, 5, 10, 15 dollars because ultimately people will pay it when there's no other reasonable alternative.
Case in point: All those toll roads. It's said that the tolls are necessary to keep the roads running, however there are plenty of roads out there that seem to manage just fine on gas taxes.
So why the extra $$? To cut down on the usage of the road! Force people to use more public transportation. Guess what? Places like the Northern Virgina Reston/Tyson's Corner toll road in Virgina are still bumper to bumper even though the tolls keep getting more and more ridiculous.
Of course, the only alternative if you live in Reston and want to get to DC is to take a bus... On the highway... Which.. Is.. Full of cars! Grrrrrrr.
Thanks 'Infinate', that was really helpful.
...it's sure to bring out the assholes like you. Sorry, sometimes good things happen under Bush. Why does that bother you so much? Isn't 'good', good no matter whose leadership it falls under?
Wait a second. You aren't 'Goth' by any chance are you?
The female Cylon certainly has a belief in God - whatever he or she or it is and takes it seriously when she says, "You don't have to mock my faith..."
It's certainly an interesting concept. The Cylons leave the colonies and find... God? Hmmm... What other plot does this remind me of?
Think 'Trek'.
Yeah baby! Too bad it wasn't New Hampshire though...
"Live free or DIE!"
OTOH, death might be too light for these spamming bastards...
Dear sir,
As an American citizen (and therefore not a constituent) I realize that this email probably won't mean much to you. However, I just wanted to encourage you folks to pass that tax on MP3 players and all forms of digital media. I don't think 20% is near high enough, but I'm sure it will mean plenty of business for your neighbors down south.
You know, with our flagging economy we could really use the extra sales here in the States.
Thanks, and keep up the good work!
Sincerely,
Chuck Hunnefield
Lancaster, PA, USA
...and do it NOW, is ORGANIZE! Put this to the people. I can see the commercials already - like Walmart's happy face logo replacing prices except way higher ones this time.
Since it appears that consumers in Canada are able to be trampled on just as much as they are in the U.S., why don't some of the retailers who are going to feel the pinch put pressure on the lawmakers?
...I mean, customers - who would be thrilled just to get more than 64k ISDN at home. Maybe they shouldset their sights a little more realistically, eh?
What if you're not from the U.S. but have to put up with this bullshit from SCO? What happens here will affect every other nation - thanks to our hand-in-hand trade laws.
What recourse do Linux users from other nations have against SCO? They already got the smackdown from Germany, and so have backed off, BUT this court case may decide the future of Linux as a going concern and there are companies and people's lives staked on it's success.
So while a DDOS may be distasteful, I can certainly empathize with the folks who are responsible.
"Reading through posts on linux usenet groups, I get the feeling he has verypoor understanding of how copyright works."
;)
Oh. You mean like Darl McBride and SCO.
You know this 'Java Desktop' thing has little or nothing to do with Java. But the funny thing was the guy who was interviewed who said something like, 'Well I don't know why we'd use it. It uses Java, and Java crashes computers..." Hmmm.. Good reporting there. Why not ask a chimneysweep or a horsemaster next?
"Ripping the nametag Linux off the OS software and replacing it with a Java title is something a greedy company would do."
Maybe, but I like to think more of it as something that a company that wants to MAKE MONEY would do. You'll recall, that's why companies often do this sort of thing.
The real question is: WHY?
Answer: To not only sell customers on the the desktop, but on the backend server architecture as well. The word 'Java' helps Sun distinguish itself from every other Linux distro.
You watch, Novell and Red Hat will eventually do this also with their distros. It's a good and important step in Linux' evolution.
No, I totally agree with you, and I don't - certainly not anymore. It's just that Sun has lately been known for sailing without a rudder.
It appears they're back on course!
"Just wait until X starts crashing on them and they can't get their plug'n play scanner working..." Blah, Blah, Blah.
Hmmm.. Installing software or hardware in this sort of environment shouldn't be left to users in the first place. If YOU don't know what you're doing that's your own problem.
I know plenty of doctors offices locally either using Unix-based apps under Windows (which really sucks), or are still using DOS-based ones (Wow, pick your poison). Please keep in mind that a national healthcare network shouldn't have to worry about whether or not it can play Half-Life 2.