Democrats and the sane Republicans (all 4 of them) successfully filibustered the bill that would make most of the PATRIOT Act provisions permanent.
Throughout the whole process, Democrats indicated that the process was rushed and was being purposefully forced into year-end votes by the GOPist leadership. Throughout the whole process, Democrats indicated their support for a 3-month extension of the controversial provisions to allow for more debate. GOPists rejected this outright.. they said the House wouldn't pass it (they will within an hour), and that Bush would veto it (he won't). Everything changed with the filibuster.
It has never been the position of the Democratic Party that the PATRIOT Act should be abolished.
Aldrich Ames, as a spy, is not a "US Person" under FISA. However, the physical search provision of the law was not enacted until after Ames had been caught. Note that the Clinton Administration went to Congress and convinced them to change the law. No such thing has occurred with Bush. To him, merely informing Congress was good enough.
So, to summarize: Were the Ames searches legal? No, not at the time they were carried out. Does that make any of the current action legal? No.
"He did it first!" is not a defense. If you're going to justify this program, do so with a logical and legal argument, not the argument of a 4 year-old.
You know.. that doesn't sound so bad on it's face.. I didn't get too much into the details (only read the FAQ). While I understand why one would exempt business-to-business transactions, I think that introduces a problem of what constitutes a business transaction, who decides if it's a business transaction, who verifies that business transactions are actually business transactions, etc. Also, used items are not taxed. So you could setup a business who buys items (tax free) and then sells them, slightly used, to consumers (tax free!). It seems like a giant loophole, to me.. and that issue didn't appear to be addressed in the FAQ.
Who is with me in asking for an amendment limiting all laws to one topic, 200 words or less, and only can pass with a signature of the President and a signature of a random person with a 3rd grade education who agrees that even they understand the law?
I smacked you yesterday about these ridiculously stupid legislative ideas.. and here you are again. The system in place has worked for 200+ years. That's practically an eternity in government terms (excluding Iceland).
Why do you think a rule or amendment limiting bill length will do anything? What cannot be done with one bill will simply be done with two, three, or a hundred. Germanity rules are way too difficult to enforce, especially when you get into spending bills.
Now, as to your ridiculous statement regarding a random person with a 3rd grade education.. how exactly does that method fit in with the idea of a Representative elected government? That's right, it doesn't, because it's a fucking stupid idea.
You are acting on the premise that others owe you their labour.
No, I believe that businesses that provide essential services should be required to follow certain terms of business in limited circumstances. If they don't like that, then they can go into another business. In my world, people trump business. There are far too many people who, like yourself, believe the opposite (be it directly or indirectly).
No one is forced to provide their labor if they don't want to. They can always work for someone else that does not provide an essential service. Again, people trump business. A corporation should not have the same rights as a person.
Where are you supposed to live while you're saving up cash to buy a house? Your arguments conveniently ignore reality, like most free market arguments.
While most of the points about OnStar are correct, I disagree with some of the other sentiments. Before we do get into that, you should be aware that OnStar employees were using the technology to listen in on celebrities as they rode around in their vehicles. The company claims that safeguards have been put in place to prevent this from happening again. Of course, as they are a private corporation, there is no way to verify this.
Now then, onto this bit:
Businesses have no power over you; government does.
Businesses most certainly DO have power over us. To say otherwise is a joke. Yes, one can always choose to not do business. However, to do so usually means giving up all of the modern amenities that we consider essential to life.
Let's take buying a home. Most people do not have enough cash saved up to simply buy a house outright. So what we do is borrow money from a bank. The bank determines if they are going to lend money based on a multitude of factors. One of these is a little number called your FICO score, aka Credit Score. This number is computed by a private business based on data collected and provided by other private businesses. You have very little, if any, input into what goes into this magical number. It is a secret as to how the number is calculated. Up until last year, you had to pay people just for the privilege of seeing your magic number. Anyone can demand that they see your magic number as a condition of doing business with them. And guess what, if you or other people look at your magic number too many times, you get penalized! Ridiculous!
So, you might say that people who are going to lend you large sums of money have the right to know what your general credit history is. Fine. You can always rent, right? Guess what.. landlords in many markets also use this magic number to determine if you are a 'qualified tenant'. It doesn't matter how much money you make. If your magic number isn't high enough, or if you don't have a magic number, you're simply a bad person and clearly don't deserve a home. But you can always live without a roof over your head, right?
What about your insurance company? Do you think they should be able to use your credit score as an excuse to jack up your insurance rates? You can't drive a vehicle without insurance in many states. But that's right, you can always choose not to drive! Ha!
How about electricity? If your magic number isn't high enough, utility companies will demand a deposit before giving you service. But you can always live without electricity and heat, right? It's your choice! Business has no power over you!
I do understand the difference between business and government. Government is accountable to the people, and Business is accountable to the government. Together, regulation of business and government accountability are the two requirements to prevent tyranny of the people. Unfortunately in my country we currently lack both of these things, and we are experiencing the results of such a misguided philosophy.
If you read the Carter/Clinton executive orders, they clearly state that all surveillance shall be conducted under the rules outlined by the FISA law. Ames, as a spy, falls outside of the definition of 'United States Person' in the FISA law, and could therefore be subject to surveillance.
The main problem is that the Ames searches happened before the law was changed to permit physical searches. The law was modified as a result of the Ames case.
Were the actions of the Clinton administration correct? No, not really. Does that excuse any of the current actions? Of course not.
What's most hilarious is that the GOPists are hiding behind a goddamn SPY AND TRAITOR as some sort of defense for the current actions.
There's absolutely no logic behind a word limit for bills. What can't be done in one bill would just be done in two, or three, or a hundred, having the exact opposite effect of what is intended.
There's nothing wrong with the current rules. They've worked for the past 200 years. What's changed is that we no longer hold our elected officials accountable. We continue to vote for politicians who put corporations ahead of people.
They are interesting? Did you fucking read them? (Or perhaps you wrote them, Mr. AC)
They would, with sufficient time, result in all laws being abolished, and the budget being reduced to $0. Now, I know there are some freaks out there who think this is a good thing, but the rest of us live in reality.
Again, the ideas are simply laughable. I challenge anyone to post a serious defense of such ridiculous ideas.
Not really. It would be much like mod chips, imo. A Canadian (or other civilized nation.. Sweden, etc.) company sells the hardware, but with no software. You download the software and flash the hardware.
As the sibling says, it doesn't work the same because of the angles. However, I am a Dvorak user and I don't buy special keyboards. You get used to the jagged look of the keyboard, and in terms of the actual feel, there's very little difference.
Dvorak is nearly 80 years old. I don't think there can be any royalty requirement... and I've never heard of that before. Dvorak keyboards are expensive simply because there is lower demand.
Overtimes are pretty rare in the NFL, and when they do happen, they're usually not that long. The fact of the matter is that the TV stations only schedule 3 hours for NFL games, when the average game length is over 3 hours. On top of that, the games never start exactly at 4:15. It's a recipe for disaster, but it's no one's fault except for the networks.
How the fuck did you manage to beat GnG once? I could only get to like the 5th or 6th level, and that was even using save states. I always run out of time. The thing that makes that game so difficult is the momentum.
No, you played the same games.. you just somehow responded to some other post than the OP.
The OP stated that the 'killing motions' were repetitive. Having played the first game in the series, I wholeheartedly agree. Yes, they're cool, but after the 500th time.. it's just not the same. And the slo-mo was so annoying to me. I just wanted to kill the fuckers and get back to the puzzles.
Oh man, my next drivers' license photo would be a fiasco.
Dunno about your state.. around these parts they only use the face on a DL. Now if you could grow (or recreate with makeup) a certain pattern of acne, perhaps...
I'm as much a Bush hater as anyone else.. and I loved Clinton, but his administration supported things like ECHELON, DMCA, and the Clipper Chip. That doesn't mean that all Democrats are anti-privacy, of course.. and the triangulation wing of the Democratic party is going out of style.
Slashdot Mirror
So have I.. but in an executable package.
Let's try it with facts this time.
Democrats and the sane Republicans (all 4 of them) successfully filibustered the bill that would make most of the PATRIOT Act provisions permanent.
Throughout the whole process, Democrats indicated that the process was rushed and was being purposefully forced into year-end votes by the GOPist leadership. Throughout the whole process, Democrats indicated their support for a 3-month extension of the controversial provisions to allow for more debate. GOPists rejected this outright.. they said the House wouldn't pass it (they will within an hour), and that Bush would veto it (he won't). Everything changed with the filibuster.
It has never been the position of the Democratic Party that the PATRIOT Act should be abolished.
"Trust, but verify."
Can anyone tell me who said that?
Aldrich Ames, as a spy, is not a "US Person" under FISA. However, the physical search provision of the law was not enacted until after Ames had been caught. Note that the Clinton Administration went to Congress and convinced them to change the law. No such thing has occurred with Bush. To him, merely informing Congress was good enough.
So, to summarize: Were the Ames searches legal? No, not at the time they were carried out. Does that make any of the current action legal? No.
"He did it first!" is not a defense. If you're going to justify this program, do so with a logical and legal argument, not the argument of a 4 year-old.
You know.. that doesn't sound so bad on it's face.. I didn't get too much into the details (only read the FAQ). While I understand why one would exempt business-to-business transactions, I think that introduces a problem of what constitutes a business transaction, who decides if it's a business transaction, who verifies that business transactions are actually business transactions, etc. Also, used items are not taxed. So you could setup a business who buys items (tax free) and then sells them, slightly used, to consumers (tax free!). It seems like a giant loophole, to me.. and that issue didn't appear to be addressed in the FAQ.
Who is with me in asking for an amendment limiting all laws to one topic, 200 words or less, and only can pass with a signature of the President and a signature of a random person with a 3rd grade education who agrees that even they understand the law?
I smacked you yesterday about these ridiculously stupid legislative ideas.. and here you are again. The system in place has worked for 200+ years. That's practically an eternity in government terms (excluding Iceland).
Why do you think a rule or amendment limiting bill length will do anything? What cannot be done with one bill will simply be done with two, three, or a hundred. Germanity rules are way too difficult to enforce, especially when you get into spending bills.
Now, as to your ridiculous statement regarding a random person with a 3rd grade education.. how exactly does that method fit in with the idea of a Representative elected government? That's right, it doesn't, because it's a fucking stupid idea.
You are acting on the premise that others owe you their labour.
No, I believe that businesses that provide essential services should be required to follow certain terms of business in limited circumstances. If they don't like that, then they can go into another business. In my world, people trump business. There are far too many people who, like yourself, believe the opposite (be it directly or indirectly).
No one is forced to provide their labor if they don't want to. They can always work for someone else that does not provide an essential service. Again, people trump business. A corporation should not have the same rights as a person.
Where are you supposed to live while you're saving up cash to buy a house? Your arguments conveniently ignore reality, like most free market arguments.
While most of the points about OnStar are correct, I disagree with some of the other sentiments. Before we do get into that, you should be aware that OnStar employees were using the technology to listen in on celebrities as they rode around in their vehicles. The company claims that safeguards have been put in place to prevent this from happening again. Of course, as they are a private corporation, there is no way to verify this.
Now then, onto this bit:
Businesses have no power over you; government does.
Businesses most certainly DO have power over us. To say otherwise is a joke. Yes, one can always choose to not do business. However, to do so usually means giving up all of the modern amenities that we consider essential to life.
Let's take buying a home. Most people do not have enough cash saved up to simply buy a house outright. So what we do is borrow money from a bank. The bank determines if they are going to lend money based on a multitude of factors. One of these is a little number called your FICO score, aka Credit Score. This number is computed by a private business based on data collected and provided by other private businesses. You have very little, if any, input into what goes into this magical number. It is a secret as to how the number is calculated. Up until last year, you had to pay people just for the privilege of seeing your magic number. Anyone can demand that they see your magic number as a condition of doing business with them. And guess what, if you or other people look at your magic number too many times, you get penalized! Ridiculous!
So, you might say that people who are going to lend you large sums of money have the right to know what your general credit history is. Fine. You can always rent, right? Guess what.. landlords in many markets also use this magic number to determine if you are a 'qualified tenant'. It doesn't matter how much money you make. If your magic number isn't high enough, or if you don't have a magic number, you're simply a bad person and clearly don't deserve a home. But you can always live without a roof over your head, right?
What about your insurance company? Do you think they should be able to use your credit score as an excuse to jack up your insurance rates? You can't drive a vehicle without insurance in many states. But that's right, you can always choose not to drive! Ha!
How about electricity? If your magic number isn't high enough, utility companies will demand a deposit before giving you service. But you can always live without electricity and heat, right? It's your choice! Business has no power over you!
I do understand the difference between business and government. Government is accountable to the people, and Business is accountable to the government. Together, regulation of business and government accountability are the two requirements to prevent tyranny of the people. Unfortunately in my country we currently lack both of these things, and we are experiencing the results of such a misguided philosophy.
If you read the Carter/Clinton executive orders, they clearly state that all surveillance shall be conducted under the rules outlined by the FISA law. Ames, as a spy, falls outside of the definition of 'United States Person' in the FISA law, and could therefore be subject to surveillance.
The main problem is that the Ames searches happened before the law was changed to permit physical searches. The law was modified as a result of the Ames case.
Were the actions of the Clinton administration correct? No, not really. Does that excuse any of the current actions? Of course not.
What's most hilarious is that the GOPists are hiding behind a goddamn SPY AND TRAITOR as some sort of defense for the current actions.
There's absolutely no logic behind a word limit for bills. What can't be done in one bill would just be done in two, or three, or a hundred, having the exact opposite effect of what is intended.
There's nothing wrong with the current rules. They've worked for the past 200 years. What's changed is that we no longer hold our elected officials accountable. We continue to vote for politicians who put corporations ahead of people.
They are interesting? Did you fucking read them? (Or perhaps you wrote them, Mr. AC)
They would, with sufficient time, result in all laws being abolished, and the budget being reduced to $0. Now, I know there are some freaks out there who think this is a good thing, but the rest of us live in reality.
Again, the ideas are simply laughable. I challenge anyone to post a serious defense of such ridiculous ideas.
You mean like modchips where those guys from california got arrested for selling modded xboxes?
No, I don't. Do you want to try reading my post again?
Not really. It would be much like mod chips, imo. A Canadian (or other civilized nation.. Sweden, etc.) company sells the hardware, but with no software. You download the software and flash the hardware.
Do you know how laws are abolished or modified? A bill is passed.
Did you take any civics class? Or do you have any knowledge of how the system works? Your ideas are simply laughable.
As the sibling says, it doesn't work the same because of the angles. However, I am a Dvorak user and I don't buy special keyboards. You get used to the jagged look of the keyboard, and in terms of the actual feel, there's very little difference.
Dvorak is nearly 80 years old. I don't think there can be any royalty requirement... and I've never heard of that before. Dvorak keyboards are expensive simply because there is lower demand.
Overtimes are pretty rare in the NFL, and when they do happen, they're usually not that long. The fact of the matter is that the TV stations only schedule 3 hours for NFL games, when the average game length is over 3 hours. On top of that, the games never start exactly at 4:15. It's a recipe for disaster, but it's no one's fault except for the networks.
How the fuck did you manage to beat GnG once? I could only get to like the 5th or 6th level, and that was even using save states. I always run out of time. The thing that makes that game so difficult is the momentum.
We certainly played entirely different games.
No, you played the same games.. you just somehow responded to some other post than the OP.
The OP stated that the 'killing motions' were repetitive. Having played the first game in the series, I wholeheartedly agree. Yes, they're cool, but after the 500th time.. it's just not the same. And the slo-mo was so annoying to me. I just wanted to kill the fuckers and get back to the puzzles.
Oh man, my next drivers' license photo would be a fiasco.
Dunno about your state.. around these parts they only use the face on a DL. Now if you could grow (or recreate with makeup) a certain pattern of acne, perhaps...
No, I said Congressman, not Senator.
I don't think number of retractions is a measure of accuracy. One could simply refuse to issue retractions, ala Drudge, and be 100% accurate!
I'm as much a Bush hater as anyone else.. and I loved Clinton, but his administration supported things like ECHELON, DMCA, and the Clipper Chip. That doesn't mean that all Democrats are anti-privacy, of course.. and the triangulation wing of the Democratic party is going out of style.
I'm against Bush as much as anyone else.. but CHB simply is not a reputable source.
Remember the lack of airlines for weeks?
No, I don't. Airspace was re-opened on September 13. Most airlines resumed revenue flights within a couple of days.