Nope, the only things the Nazis weren't as good at as the British was in WINNING and WRITING HISTORY as victors. See, they lost... and losing entails having everyone's sins blamed upon you. The Soviets won... so nobody (at least until recently) from the "western" world even knew the sheer NUMBERS of people that Lenin starved to death and the myriads that Stalin just plain ordered killed.
However, as in Nazi Germany, so in Soviet USSR, the main orchestrators and hatchet men were mostly Jewish. Ironic? I think so. First communists in my own homeland were Jews also. That there were "progroms" afterwards has always fascinated me, since Jews and Gypsies (the targets of pogroms) were generally the first adopters of communism wherever it showed up in Eastern Europe. Strange that. I wonder if it has anything to do with making credible the idea of "Israel, Jews' last hope" type thing?
As hated as they were in so many places, it makes me WONDER, why they would want to become a single, concentrated target, that anyone with a few nukes can raze to the ground. Why would such supposedly clever people let themselves be lead by the nose into a "backs to the wall" situation?
There's a difference between foreign nationals, and foreign citizens. See, most of the "patriot" types, while they have a fairly good point (as the other reply said "not unwelcome", "nor uncommon" they get the "foreigner" term because their language has been dumbed down. Most do not understand how the game of words is played out there, to their detriment.
Anyways, its one thing to be a foreign national on American soil... its another to be a US citizen or a foreign citizen. Both of those directly imply that the individual has willingly sworn fealty to the almighty government of (insert country name here). What the GP was attempting to say is simple. Foreign CITIZENS own those companies... banks, central banks, etc. Its one thing for foreign nationals to come HERE... its another for them to be doing the bidding of a government.
We won't argue the validity of the idea of coercive government in the first place, since such ideas are far too forward thinking for the average slashdotter, but lets at least look at it as it is. Foreign nationals owning property in America, AOK... those can also be first generation immigrants who know that citizenship is fealty... thus, while their children will be American nationals, they will retain their nationality and swear fealty to NO government... or they can play the citizenship game to be able to travel through conventional means.
Frankly, I would have expected the dissolution of governments in general to be viewed as a positive thing... but most people prefer to cling to tyrants rather than trek into that "brave new world" that might be so easily accomplished through mere and massive civil disobedience to the tyrants. But when neighbors would rather rat out neighbors than stand together and clean house, the price for freedom of any kind becomes such that most cattle are unwilling to pay it. Such is life.
Ironically, it might surprise you to know that the Manhattan project wasn't the "only nuke in town". Everyone had a nuclear project, which is why the Enola Gay was in such a hurry to get to Hiroshima and torch the place with a nuke... why? Because the Russians were almost there, and the Germans would've beaten us to it had a few Jewish boys not defected and stolen a LOT of research and given it to the third entrant.
So actually, if you want to be honest, you would admit that the german nukes were first, and would've burnt London or Moscow long before we burned Hiroshima and Nagasaki... why? Because the Manhattan project was a crash course in reproducing what the germans had. The russkies also picked up on the german project and didn't really "need" our help, any more than we needed theirs. The work was german and was stolen by defectees who, like rats on a sinking ship, knew where their bread would be best buttered... so they jumped ship and went to the place with the best butter and bread. America's USA.
Technically the dupes were the German people, who were left with MORE bills to pay, and demonized by education systems worldwide, including their own, for something that they were no worse off for doing than the English or French or any other colonial tyrannies of their day (nor the USA for that matter, but that is an ongoing issue, and I'm curious how the victors will write about us, some day?)
From personal experience, I can tell you that you NEVER get caught "off guard" if you're actually prepared.
As for "gaining my trust"... even my own MOTHER doesn't know my passwords, nor is she likely to gain them from me. Why? For obvious reasons, and some not so obvious ones. Its called "need to know". If she doesn't know them, she's less likely to choose something similar for, say, her hotmail or gmail account... or less likely to write it down to remember it, or less likely to send it in clear text.
I have relatives who were caught off guard walking the streets in their native hometown, while I choose not to be caught off guard even in my own back yard or bedroom. Why? Put it simply, A, my own safety is MY priority, and B, I actually care about not being caught off guard.
Those whom I referred to as "stupid" and "ignorant" are people who neither value their safety, nor their privacy, nor the organization they are members of. Generally, the bigger an organization is, and the bigger the disconnect is between employees and employers, the more likely it is that data security will only be followed on the surface to avoid being fired or punished, but will not be taken seriously in any other case. How do I know this? I've seen it when I did IT, I've seen it when running the family business (hell, secretary was leaving people's payroll list on the desk, wide open for anyone to read the weekly payrolls and client lists, and yes, I almost fired her on the spot. I didn't, but that's because I couldn't fire people, parents did that part of the business.)
At risk of dating myself here, I will mention that during the whole Mitnick thing, (big press about social engineering "dark side hacker" back then) I wrote a paper in a sociology class, and proved it beyond my wildest dreams. (Granted the presentation was done to a batch of people with glazed eyes.) The topic? That despite all the hullabaloo, the vast majority of "the masses (tm)" are still just as brick/rock stupid or at least very ignorant, just as they were before social engineering was brought to the newsfront by over eager media people looking for someone to demonize.
Do not be upset. Stupid people are there so that intelligent or smart people are given a reason to shine. If everyone was smart, you'd be another drop in the bucket, but if you are, and they are not, then be happy you're stronger, smarter or better off, enjoy the advantage, help others if you want, or avoid helping them, all up to you.
All in all (back to my paper in question) I think I only had a few people turn me down for providing private info. It was then that I realized that "security" auditing was a joke for any company that is not so small that the employees and employer know and care about each other. Tall order in today's societal tendency for a lack of responsibility. Until people are held accountable for their actions by other people, regardless of the piece of paper they hide behind (be it a corporate charter or some other set of excuses for bringing harm to others), until people are held accountable by those whom they harm, nothing will change. Therefore, I wager nothing will EVER change, since the vast majority are cowards. The upside, is that this has created a veritable "garden of eden" for those of us that do not suffer from lack of courage or lack of vision.
If there truly is a God, he must be one sarcastic dude, because, as far as I can tell, he despises stupid, weak people, and does everything possible to give them a shock to wake them up. And, despite my dislike for Churchill, this quote is a classic "sometimes a man may trip over the truth, but sadly, very often he just picks himself up and goes on." So don't feel pissed that most employees don't care. Their entire social structure is built on irresponsibility, rudeness, and triviality. Why do you expect them to behave as exemplars of honor, honesty and integrity, when the very system they seek to be rewarded by, is not based on such ideas? (No, paying lip service to "honesty" does not make one honest, same thing with honor or integrity or a hundred or more other ideas one can name.)
If it turns out to help enable a product (the ideology of it isn't all that bad either, at least not as outlined in The Cathedral and the Bazaar) as good as the ones that the GPL helped to shape, it will be worth it.
It all remains to be seen, glad to see someone out there is actually getting things done in the software/web arena. Anyways, I'm off to pursue other things today. Won't be around to answer the usual deluge of angry replies.
Hell, IMHO, the USA should've never had a big military, we didn't need it, the country is 90% indigestible (heavily armed populace, with plenty of civvies capable of very good marksmanship and other "skills", might not hold off an army, but can make effective occupation undesirable even to the Chinese who don't really give a shit about their military men whatsoever).
Had there not been an integrated and huge army, the USA might've never entered into the first world war, and germany would've properly crushed the english as they deserved. Then, Europe might've not gone half socialist and half communist. Had this not occurred, Hitler would've never existed as a big politician, because the germans would've not been betrayed in their negotiated surrender (for which Wilson betrayed them by imposing conditions unagreed upon before the surrender). And if by some miracle Hitler would've come to power without the massive aid of German anger at defeat and betrayal, his obedient "integrated" military would've crushed Stalin's obedient military, and probably removed soviet communism from the world. But much like how twice as many jews as were reported to have lived in the whole of Europe (and probably "the world" at the time have now been "discovered" to have been killed in the camps, it is apparent that history is changed to accommodate the victors, and the victors are not the Americans, nor the Russians, nor the people of any country that partakes of these wars. The leaders are the politicians and the influential men who own them. They always have been.
Had Europe been allowed to burn in the flames of the tyranny of its own making, perhaps today the world would be a better place. But this is no different than treating symptoms. You either treat the underlying cause, or you stay sick but mask the symptoms until the disease is so advanced, and you've paid so much that you either can't afford the medication anymore, or the disease breaks out either way. Its much healthier, cheaper, and faster to let it break out and ride it out, or actually TREAT THE DISEASE. The disease is obedient, fearful, stupidity. In other words, plain human stupidity, at that.
Ironically, all that government "did" could've been done cheaper, better and more easily had they NOT integrated the armed forces, had they NOT set themselves up as master and executioner of communications, etc. I'm not at all sorry to say that we do have to disagree on those points. By the looks of it, government is a might tad unhappy that people have access to information and are so freely giving it around. Government meaning an institution that is like a living organism in that its self preservation is the prime directive of all its lower cells, while its higher cells (politicians, and those who actually own politicians) are more interested in their personal gain. Sort of how the body does everything it can to survive, but the mind can occasionally sacrifice the body for a cause it sees as worthwhile... the same is true of political and military rulership organs. They're willing and able to sacrifice the lower cells of the body (read the plebeians and willing servants/military) in order to achieve their own prosperity, and happiness.
In other words, you tell me that I cannot HIRE (aka contract/accord/agree/reward) someone else to manage my sewage? And perhaps reward them as they see fit, not as someone at a completely removed level sees fit?
You seem to want to force people to accept that government is the ONLY way things get done. Personally I have noticed that most government services are... ahem... SHIT. Wherever a private alternative was, it was either forced out of business by government interference, subsidized if it was a poor business or poorly performing, or it provided a better service. And half the time, there were people who were not willing to participate. For example, I had a damn good time up at an old relative's mountain ranch while I traveled back to where I was born. Want to know the irony? He was (before he died) a "subsistence" farmer/herder. Interestingly, when there were shortages in various fuels, energy, etc, when there were riots, revolts, brutal put downs of said revolts, that old farmer living up in a place no government thug cared to visit for any reason, he lived just fine. I used some of his "facilities" or as you would put it, "lack thereof"... and found myself revolted, at first, until I realized NOTHING he had would actually have "broken down" or "flooded" or "not worked" when the government turned off the utilities, either to punish those speaking out, or those unwilling to yield to the wolves... AHEM... as you call them "shepherds".
So as far as I'm concerned, you and I can disagree there. Also, he had other people watch his sheep, not the government. When the communists came, they butchered his sheep and forced him to move to the city. Strangely, they let him keep his house, so long as he worked in the fine "cooperative" they set up. Why? Because his house was a little ranch on a desolate mountain side that the commies in their ever present governmental state of mind, quickly butchered devoid of wildlife. They didn't log it as quickly, so by the time they "left" he was able to return, renovate and live out his days away from the city and the ever present lung cancer that is such a lovely part of that "living above the level of a subsistence farmer/herder" you speak of. Personally I'd rather live in a yurt village than be forced to live in a big city. Guess its a "priorities" thing.
Someone has actually published a VERY good book (which was later picked up by other writers who've started writing on the issue or researching it). The book in question is short but cites a LOT of case law "Hologram of Liberty". You may want to take a look at it. Its a heart breaker, and its published. Author is one Ken Royce / Boston T. Party.
On a separate point of yours, government IS a business. It is in the business of controlling others, or as it is sometimes known "in the business of governing people". That it does a remarkably good job at governing is obvious, that it does such a remarkably POOR job at solving problems is also obvious. That is because government is not meant to solve problems. Tyranny (essentially "rulership") is not meant to solve people's problems, but the ruler's problems. And government, whether in America, Europe, Asia or Africa, does this remarkably well. Hologram touches on this as well.
Am I holding some distaste for the common man? Yes. More and more every day and with every encounter. Why, you ask? Why not. So far the common man has sold his entire birthright for a mess of porridge, and didn't even get a GOOD quality porridge. Even my dogs are smarter than that, and they're just "dumb animals" right?
Government is only a necessary evil because some government teacher in a government approved or sanctioned school taught us government supplied materials that tell us that government is necessary. As if humans are incapable of resolving their issues amongst each other and require a gigantic institution with armed thugs to force them all into "compliance" for "their own good".
I will not apologize if my views seem abrasive, because I think the time to be "polite" on this issue has long passed. People are sheep because they don't pull their noses away from the pavement for even a single brief moment... and if they do, they are often scared by what they see and quickly dismiss it and return to the pointless rat race they partake in, every day. You'll have to excuse me for being so harsh in what I say, I understand I've pissed off a lot of/.'ers, but at this point, lying to make people happy is about the worst thing one can do.
Running the family business for a few years and firing well paid people or cutting their salaries so the company could continue to pay taxes for their formerly nice salaries is what cured me of collectivism.
Watching various members of my family and friends mortgage their homes or properties to pay tax bills on wage taxes that were demanded by government long before moneys were even collected for jobs done... yeah, that kinda stuff cured me at an early age... thank you.
Government punishes any form of achievement or creativity that it doesn't directly sanction. I've seen proof, and I've been proof. 100% antidote to collectivism and faith in government / politicians, is running your own business, regardless how small or how large, doing something you're good at (and thus cannot be called "incompetent" by any qualified observer) and then watching the money go down the drain. Did you do twice as many jobs in one week than you normally used to? Did your taxes go even higher? Did your men work overtime? Did you notice the insane tax spike from that? Yeah, exactly. On the other hand, if you stop, smell the roses, and learn, you will also notice that government subsidizes bad business. A business with heavy expenses can depend on socialist/welfare for its poor decisions by having the government pay for them or write them off its taxes.
Remarkable how good business is punished through higher taxes, while bad business decisions are rewarded with write offs and tax credits...
A soldier is to OBEY, not think. Soldiers were never intended to make their own decisions, unless to decide which order to obey first. Soldiers are tools, and as such need to be completely dependent on their masters for their thoughts and decisions. If they do not, they might decide to do something else with their lives, or to disobey orders that are either unlawful, outright evil, or against their own interests. Soldiers are the product of collectivism and brainwashing (with very few exceptions) and as such, should stop complaining that they are tools. Going into said line of work without their eyes open was THEIR mistake, not that of the command authorities.
Wooo hooo, there we go, solve the problem of government not getting enough money out of people's pockets by finding new and VERY inventive ways to tax the shit out of them! There you go, central planning brilliance at work!
Just deserts. Worship governments and authoritarian thugs, and they will reach into your mind and body after they're done cleaning out your pockets and home.
Interesting... so lets see... socialists basically live by the principle that "society" is more important than any single individual. If society prospers by basically owning and dictating to all, and occasionally slaughtering the "undesirables", society as a whole gains.
Interestingly, the same worship of the group rather than respect for the individual is part of Christian Right Wingers (who LOVE to use government power to dictate to others what to think, how to think, how to live, where and why and even IF to live)... "social conservatives" are merely religious fanatics of other bents, who are usually the types that desire to use government power to oppress their neighbors...
And "liberals"... sorry, did I miss something? As has been par for the course, most of the old communists and socialists have "evolved" to be "social democrats" or "liberals" or "progressives". Perhaps you ought to do your homework. Sweden is famous for being one of the most heavily socialistic nations on the face of the planet. Even Japan and most especially England, barely come in second... mostly due to the taxes and heavy social controls exhibited in Sweden.
As a trio of my Swedish acquaintances told me when I sought to move there, years ago "you would be crazy to do so, even we're moving out, and we approve of the politics!"
Ironically, the government never has. The last time I knew someone silly enough to try to get the government to collect a debt, they got about 120 to 200 bucks a month on a debt of 300 grand. Would've probably taken a few years and the last payment, due to government inflation of money supply would have probably has no value compared to the materials and labor that the original 300k debt had bought. But then again, if government won't control people... what will? I mean, its not like you can teach your kids to accord respect so that they may be respected, or honor contracts and accords that they enter into, of their own free will, right? I mean, damn, schools don't teach people to be honest, they just teach kids not to get caught, since only those who get caught, get punished by "authorities" right?
Heh, irony is, poor parenting, and abdication of responsibilities has more to do with why our world is so "fucked up" than any amount of government coercion of schooling or anything else. If parents were willing to do their jobs, and if people lived up to their responsibilities, well damn... we'd have already colonized the damn solar system. But since the people have to be FORCED by outside forces (often religious fear or government thugs with weapons) to get along with their own families and neighbors, what can we expect of them except to continue to ask for more of the same.
I guess leading by example is the only thing to do. Hmmm... and since the examples will likely never be publicized in the government influenced medias, the masses would never find the examples unless they were out actively searching for them, in the past, and the present. And they'll never be on the front page. Of the only thing you can be sure, is that if something of actual concern is printed, it is always on the back pages of the paper when a huge scandal is breaking on the front page. That one, is actually something I've noted to be without fail. New OJ scandal, had a federal reserve policy change on the back pages. Britney's baby, Michael Jackson's kiddie scandals... yep, money policy + extra inflation on the back pages of my local "Daily Press" and "Times". No surprise. But until I knew to look, I didn't see that stuff either. Frankly, I just want to say I'm not mad at you man. More like disappointed that so many start to ask questions, but always hit some kind of invisible ceiling, instead of asking more and more questions and breaching all barriers in their path. THAT is what upsets me...
Heh, well the people obviously don't have the guts to save themselves... so they'll have to keep enslaving themselves to each Promised Land and Promised Messiah that someone comes up with.
Oh well... the more I hear them act like this, the more I realize they got EXACTLY what they deserved. Stupidity SHOULD be painful... and their beloved governments, religions, etc, have given the stupid exactly what they were clamoring for.
Amazing that it seems most of them lump me in with their favorite opposition, religious socialists and religious fascists... as if somehow, atheist socialists or atheist fascists were any less dogmatic, or any less stupid for letting others think for 'em.
Thanks for clarifying. Well typed:)
Not sure WHY they lump me in with their pro marriage anti marriage morons when I've already said that I think the gov'co should stay OUT of people's contracts.
You forgot the most important quote that should be on your chain:
"Any government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take everything you've got." - attributed to Thomas Jefferson
To translate for those hard of reason: "Any government big enough to redistribute the fruits of other people's labor to YOU by force, is big enough to take everything it wants from you, also by force. It is also big enough to run your life, and kill you or enslave you on a whim or a trumped up charge. It can also watch you and make a panopticon of your daily life. And you will like it, and clamor for it to change only enough that you won't notice the ubiquity of the abuses. Yes indeed, you will... like it." - Me
Ironically, shortly after 2001, realizing what was coming in the USA, I wanted to move... and I looked at several countries. Sweden was a candidate... as was Canada. Three of my friends moved from Sweden to Japan, England and Germany, citing "less government intrusion in their lives" among the reasons. I've already visited Canada and Germany, so I wasn't exactly "impressed". (Their security people at airports are just as humorless and almost as stupid as the average TSA marshmallows I've met so far.)
Back to Sweden. Last I recall, you people have one of those lovely countries where it is GREAT to be lower income, or no income, but shit to be upper anything... great place to hunt reindeer from what my friends tell me, but you'll pardon me if I stick to Holland.:) Not that I don't like Swedish people, but it seems Holland is a bit less heavy handed on all issues.
PS - if your teachers/professors are well paid and your facilities are state of the art, either you're getting free tax money from the USA or the UN (again, USA, mostly) or someone there is getting heavily taxed to pay for those quality educations. And as for your questions, when I put myself through college, I worked, and I wrote essays and applied to a LOT of scholarships, all of them private. My government grants (yes I was one of those "gifted and talented" kids) was barely 1/4th of my expenses for my first year alone... the rest was out of pocket and scholarships. If I could do it, even though my parents came here with not a dime to their names and kids in tow, I'd say you can do it. Education didn't help them, it wasn't recognized. They did, however put their minds to use and built a business in an emerging market, a business, may I add, that was completely unrelated to their fields of studies in their communist homeland. Failures didn't stop them... and if they could raise funds mowing lawns and washing dishes in restaurants despite having Masters degrees, what's to stop you people from stepping on your prides and getting something done? Oh wait, must be Tee Vee watching, or gods only know what... I can't say for sure.
Now excuse me, I have coffee awaiting me... good luck to you.
I see no failure of logic... if you give them the right to take from you what they desire, namely the fruits of your labor, you've already granted them control over your life and the products of that life (labor, time, resources, etc) and thus you are their slave. Why should a master not be allowed to "observe" his property? (Namely, you and the others who clamor for government handouts/controls/wealth redistribution, etc.)
I for one would not want my livestock getting out of hand, and I'm sure your beloved nanny state thugs feel the same... and guess what... you suckers are THEIR property... by consent, no less (you voted, regardless of "for whom" you voted, remember that.)
I must have missed the part where I was defending the rights of the banks or corporate entities... I didn't know a piece of paper HAD any rights... Same with people who are unwilling to fight for their rights. Having the "RIGHT TO OWN PROPERTY" is not the same thing as "HAVING SOMEONE ELSE BE FORCED TO GIVE YOU THEIR PROPERTY"... And I'm not a capitalist... I'm just me, and I happen to have a wee bit of faith in that a free market works. I've lived under communism in childhood and this iron fist in the velvet glove bullshit you call "capitalism" (but is in reality a thinly veiled love child of fascism and socialism), and the ONLY thing that provides people with what they want today, and the only thing that provided the people with what they wanted back then was the FREE MARKET... note, that corporations do not operate on a free market... they operate on a dominated and centrally planned economic system... which has not a damn thing in common with an actual free market.
I don't expect you or the so called "capitalists" to understand this. The only "free markets" I've ever seen were black markets and backwater "bazaar" type markets in my native lands. Hard to explain. Personally though, I haven't forgotten how nicely "planned economies" work... I've had to wake up at 5 in the morning and stand in line for stuff before school. Came home afterwards to find out that mom and dad didn't get goods that day because the shipment ran out. Planned economies my ass.
Incorrect, you mistake "the public" with "the government"... while one may pretend to serve the other or BE the other, and the public may have delusions of grandeur that it can, or will EVER control the government, make no mistake about it, those who intend to rule, will rule, and those who intend to be ruled fairly or otherwise, will be RULED... period.
I'm glad you can define terms, but in order to take from people and give to others, you require a form of authoritarianism or totalitarianism, because few would give 50% of what they make when their 40+ hours a week job is barely enough to pay the bare minimum BEFORE they are leeched off to pay for government "aid" programs. If people actually did the math of HOW MUCH they actually pay, for how much they actually get back... they'd stop paying taxes tomorrow.
Wait wait.. I got it... so lets see... the Swedish are bad when they spy on you and behave like good little socialists, but they're GOOD when they "tax the rich" like the good little socialists they are... (which includes pretty much anyone that has any means of production, their own or someone else's).
I fail to understand the hypocritical nature of socialists... its good when they fuck your neighbor, cause his car is nicer, but its bad when they spy on you so they can fuck you if they find out you've got a nice car too.
Oh well, the stupidity of the masses. Some day people might even wake up. I'm not holding my breath.
What I mean is simple, governments are never allowed to FULLY expose the real culprit for all the woes of mankind (namely their existence, and the idiotic, questionless obedience of the masses who actually believe governments are needed.)
Question-less obedience to "authority" be it religious, secular or otherwise, that is the major culprit, and that is the major reason why the few have ALWAYS ruled the many. Where people do not give a shit about government, there is a high degree of freedom on the ground, regardless of what the paperwork says. Where the people worship the government, neighbor tyrannizes neighbor far more effectively than any secret police (I know, I've lived in such a place for most of my young life, and caught the last decent days of the USA some years back, the USA of today is falling faster and faster into 100% visible, socialist/fascist statism... and its a hybrid worthy of note, because statism is its only possible title.)
Had WW1 been allowed to run its course instead of the USA intervening, Europe would've gotten its just deserts for 1000 years or more of tyranny (almost 3000 if you count the Greeks and the Romans) and its people might have woken up. Instead they still live entranced by their beloved "all giving" government... guess the idea never arises in all these fine European scientific minds that have criticized my comments in the last few days... conservation of energy is fine with me, then WHERE does the energy come, that is offered to the people in the forms of "free goods and free services" from government? Doesn't that energy in the form of energy, labor and resources have to come from somewhere? Unless governments have truly harnessed Zero Point Energy, and that is highly doubtful, its a fairly good chance that they still ROB Peter to pay Paul, and those people can ALWAYS depend on the support of Paul, and if Peter is stupid, he will defend the system too, until he runs short of resources to accomplish some personal goal, then things get ugly, as well they should.
(For a clarification of the reasons why the USA REALLY entered the two world wars, there is a bit on that issue in Creature from Jekyll Island, it was reviewed here recently (about time), the author discusses the more accurate reasons why the USA entered the two World Wars, and it had to do with credit lines (in gold) extended from the Morgan and Warburg banking families to England, which would've been left without repayment if the Germans won either war. The USA is the world's "largest collection agency"... and to presume anything else is to presume that someone OTHER than the English based bankers and power brokers (Crown Street, London, UK anyone?) runs the USA and most of the world is to be ignorant AND willfully so. Research those boys. It should be eye opening.)
"There is no situation, no matter how miserable that it cannot be made more so by the intrusion of government thugs."
The original said cop, but I've updated it for the 20th and 21st century. I'm with you on this call Guppy06, the idiocy of the populace is to believe 100% of what they "learn" in school. We're lied to, the guys and girls over seas are lied to, their enemies are lied to. The only ones of us that stand any chance of making sense of this shit are the ones stepping back, rather than diving into the whole chaotic mess, "sword in hand."
That being said, I'm hoping everyone starts asking themselves, "who gains"... and step back BEYOND the ones you see on the horse. Who is pulling strings, whose power is consolidated. Stop thinking small, stop thinking elections and generals and grunts and stupid people and terrorists. These are all puppets dangled in front of you. Step further out and look at the grand scheme of things. What changes. Who gets what? Who has been getting what. Who changed and what did they changed. What television and high school taught "heroes" were actually traitors to any principle that Americans once held dear (even if it was 230 years ago)?
Once you step back far enough, this whole mess becomes easier to sort out, and that is the point where questions start becoming visible that were impossible to put into perspective when caught up in the "democrats vs republicans", "warmonger fascists versus control freak socialists", "us vs them", "consumerism vs environmentalism"... all religions, all polarizing factions. So few of the people today seek balance, so few seek the definitions of freedom and of justice. And if we do not apply the words we use, by their true definition, can we truly be upset when the so called "leaders" do not, either? After all, if you do not reserve and protect YOUR rights YOURSELF, you DO NOT HAVE THEM! Period.
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Nope, the only things the Nazis weren't as good at as the British was in WINNING and WRITING HISTORY as victors. See, they lost... and losing entails having everyone's sins blamed upon you. The Soviets won... so nobody (at least until recently) from the "western" world even knew the sheer NUMBERS of people that Lenin starved to death and the myriads that Stalin just plain ordered killed.
However, as in Nazi Germany, so in Soviet USSR, the main orchestrators and hatchet men were mostly Jewish. Ironic? I think so. First communists in my own homeland were Jews also. That there were "progroms" afterwards has always fascinated me, since Jews and Gypsies (the targets of pogroms) were generally the first adopters of communism wherever it showed up in Eastern Europe. Strange that. I wonder if it has anything to do with making credible the idea of "Israel, Jews' last hope" type thing?
As hated as they were in so many places, it makes me WONDER, why they would want to become a single, concentrated target, that anyone with a few nukes can raze to the ground. Why would such supposedly clever people let themselves be lead by the nose into a "backs to the wall" situation?
There's a difference between foreign nationals, and foreign citizens. See, most of the "patriot" types, while they have a fairly good point (as the other reply said "not unwelcome", "nor uncommon" they get the "foreigner" term because their language has been dumbed down. Most do not understand how the game of words is played out there, to their detriment.
Anyways, its one thing to be a foreign national on American soil... its another to be a US citizen or a foreign citizen. Both of those directly imply that the individual has willingly sworn fealty to the almighty government of (insert country name here). What the GP was attempting to say is simple. Foreign CITIZENS own those companies... banks, central banks, etc. Its one thing for foreign nationals to come HERE... its another for them to be doing the bidding of a government.
We won't argue the validity of the idea of coercive government in the first place, since such ideas are far too forward thinking for the average slashdotter, but lets at least look at it as it is. Foreign nationals owning property in America, AOK... those can also be first generation immigrants who know that citizenship is fealty... thus, while their children will be American nationals, they will retain their nationality and swear fealty to NO government... or they can play the citizenship game to be able to travel through conventional means.
Frankly, I would have expected the dissolution of governments in general to be viewed as a positive thing... but most people prefer to cling to tyrants rather than trek into that "brave new world" that might be so easily accomplished through mere and massive civil disobedience to the tyrants. But when neighbors would rather rat out neighbors than stand together and clean house, the price for freedom of any kind becomes such that most cattle are unwilling to pay it. Such is life.
Ironically, it might surprise you to know that the Manhattan project wasn't the "only nuke in town". Everyone had a nuclear project, which is why the Enola Gay was in such a hurry to get to Hiroshima and torch the place with a nuke... why? Because the Russians were almost there, and the Germans would've beaten us to it had a few Jewish boys not defected and stolen a LOT of research and given it to the third entrant.
So actually, if you want to be honest, you would admit that the german nukes were first, and would've burnt London or Moscow long before we burned Hiroshima and Nagasaki... why? Because the Manhattan project was a crash course in reproducing what the germans had. The russkies also picked up on the german project and didn't really "need" our help, any more than we needed theirs. The work was german and was stolen by defectees who, like rats on a sinking ship, knew where their bread would be best buttered... so they jumped ship and went to the place with the best butter and bread. America's USA.
Technically the dupes were the German people, who were left with MORE bills to pay, and demonized by education systems worldwide, including their own, for something that they were no worse off for doing than the English or French or any other colonial tyrannies of their day (nor the USA for that matter, but that is an ongoing issue, and I'm curious how the victors will write about us, some day?)
From personal experience, I can tell you that you NEVER get caught "off guard" if you're actually prepared.
As for "gaining my trust"... even my own MOTHER doesn't know my passwords, nor is she likely to gain them from me. Why? For obvious reasons, and some not so obvious ones. Its called "need to know". If she doesn't know them, she's less likely to choose something similar for, say, her hotmail or gmail account... or less likely to write it down to remember it, or less likely to send it in clear text.
I have relatives who were caught off guard walking the streets in their native hometown, while I choose not to be caught off guard even in my own back yard or bedroom. Why? Put it simply, A, my own safety is MY priority, and B, I actually care about not being caught off guard.
Those whom I referred to as "stupid" and "ignorant" are people who neither value their safety, nor their privacy, nor the organization they are members of. Generally, the bigger an organization is, and the bigger the disconnect is between employees and employers, the more likely it is that data security will only be followed on the surface to avoid being fired or punished, but will not be taken seriously in any other case. How do I know this? I've seen it when I did IT, I've seen it when running the family business (hell, secretary was leaving people's payroll list on the desk, wide open for anyone to read the weekly payrolls and client lists, and yes, I almost fired her on the spot. I didn't, but that's because I couldn't fire people, parents did that part of the business.)
At risk of dating myself here, I will mention that during the whole Mitnick thing, (big press about social engineering "dark side hacker" back then) I wrote a paper in a sociology class, and proved it beyond my wildest dreams. (Granted the presentation was done to a batch of people with glazed eyes.) The topic? That despite all the hullabaloo, the vast majority of "the masses (tm)" are still just as brick/rock stupid or at least very ignorant, just as they were before social engineering was brought to the newsfront by over eager media people looking for someone to demonize.
Do not be upset. Stupid people are there so that intelligent or smart people are given a reason to shine. If everyone was smart, you'd be another drop in the bucket, but if you are, and they are not, then be happy you're stronger, smarter or better off, enjoy the advantage, help others if you want, or avoid helping them, all up to you.
All in all (back to my paper in question) I think I only had a few people turn me down for providing private info. It was then that I realized that "security" auditing was a joke for any company that is not so small that the employees and employer know and care about each other. Tall order in today's societal tendency for a lack of responsibility. Until people are held accountable for their actions by other people, regardless of the piece of paper they hide behind (be it a corporate charter or some other set of excuses for bringing harm to others), until people are held accountable by those whom they harm, nothing will change. Therefore, I wager nothing will EVER change, since the vast majority are cowards. The upside, is that this has created a veritable "garden of eden" for those of us that do not suffer from lack of courage or lack of vision.
If there truly is a God, he must be one sarcastic dude, because, as far as I can tell, he despises stupid, weak people, and does everything possible to give them a shock to wake them up. And, despite my dislike for Churchill, this quote is a classic "sometimes a man may trip over the truth, but sadly, very often he just picks himself up and goes on." So don't feel pissed that most employees don't care. Their entire social structure is built on irresponsibility, rudeness, and triviality. Why do you expect them to behave as exemplars of honor, honesty and integrity, when the very system they seek to be rewarded by, is not based on such ideas? (No, paying lip service to "honesty" does not make one honest, same thing with honor or integrity or a hundred or more other ideas one can name.)
If it turns out to help enable a product (the ideology of it isn't all that bad either, at least not as outlined in The Cathedral and the Bazaar) as good as the ones that the GPL helped to shape, it will be worth it.
It all remains to be seen, glad to see someone out there is actually getting things done in the software/web arena. Anyways, I'm off to pursue other things today. Won't be around to answer the usual deluge of angry replies.
Hell, IMHO, the USA should've never had a big military, we didn't need it, the country is 90% indigestible (heavily armed populace, with plenty of civvies capable of very good marksmanship and other "skills", might not hold off an army, but can make effective occupation undesirable even to the Chinese who don't really give a shit about their military men whatsoever).
Had there not been an integrated and huge army, the USA might've never entered into the first world war, and germany would've properly crushed the english as they deserved. Then, Europe might've not gone half socialist and half communist. Had this not occurred, Hitler would've never existed as a big politician, because the germans would've not been betrayed in their negotiated surrender (for which Wilson betrayed them by imposing conditions unagreed upon before the surrender). And if by some miracle Hitler would've come to power without the massive aid of German anger at defeat and betrayal, his obedient "integrated" military would've crushed Stalin's obedient military, and probably removed soviet communism from the world. But much like how twice as many jews as were reported to have lived in the whole of Europe (and probably "the world" at the time have now been "discovered" to have been killed in the camps, it is apparent that history is changed to accommodate the victors, and the victors are not the Americans, nor the Russians, nor the people of any country that partakes of these wars. The leaders are the politicians and the influential men who own them. They always have been.
Had Europe been allowed to burn in the flames of the tyranny of its own making, perhaps today the world would be a better place. But this is no different than treating symptoms. You either treat the underlying cause, or you stay sick but mask the symptoms until the disease is so advanced, and you've paid so much that you either can't afford the medication anymore, or the disease breaks out either way. Its much healthier, cheaper, and faster to let it break out and ride it out, or actually TREAT THE DISEASE. The disease is obedient, fearful, stupidity. In other words, plain human stupidity, at that.
Ironically, all that government "did" could've been done cheaper, better and more easily had they NOT integrated the armed forces, had they NOT set themselves up as master and executioner of communications, etc. I'm not at all sorry to say that we do have to disagree on those points. By the looks of it, government is a might tad unhappy that people have access to information and are so freely giving it around. Government meaning an institution that is like a living organism in that its self preservation is the prime directive of all its lower cells, while its higher cells (politicians, and those who actually own politicians) are more interested in their personal gain. Sort of how the body does everything it can to survive, but the mind can occasionally sacrifice the body for a cause it sees as worthwhile... the same is true of political and military rulership organs. They're willing and able to sacrifice the lower cells of the body (read the plebeians and willing servants/military) in order to achieve their own prosperity, and happiness.
In other words, you tell me that I cannot HIRE (aka contract/accord/agree/reward) someone else to manage my sewage? And perhaps reward them as they see fit, not as someone at a completely removed level sees fit?
You seem to want to force people to accept that government is the ONLY way things get done. Personally I have noticed that most government services are... ahem... SHIT. Wherever a private alternative was, it was either forced out of business by government interference, subsidized if it was a poor business or poorly performing, or it provided a better service. And half the time, there were people who were not willing to participate. For example, I had a damn good time up at an old relative's mountain ranch while I traveled back to where I was born. Want to know the irony? He was (before he died) a "subsistence" farmer/herder. Interestingly, when there were shortages in various fuels, energy, etc, when there were riots, revolts, brutal put downs of said revolts, that old farmer living up in a place no government thug cared to visit for any reason, he lived just fine. I used some of his "facilities" or as you would put it, "lack thereof"... and found myself revolted, at first, until I realized NOTHING he had would actually have "broken down" or "flooded" or "not worked" when the government turned off the utilities, either to punish those speaking out, or those unwilling to yield to the wolves... AHEM... as you call them "shepherds".
So as far as I'm concerned, you and I can disagree there. Also, he had other people watch his sheep, not the government. When the communists came, they butchered his sheep and forced him to move to the city. Strangely, they let him keep his house, so long as he worked in the fine "cooperative" they set up. Why? Because his house was a little ranch on a desolate mountain side that the commies in their ever present governmental state of mind, quickly butchered devoid of wildlife. They didn't log it as quickly, so by the time they "left" he was able to return, renovate and live out his days away from the city and the ever present lung cancer that is such a lovely part of that "living above the level of a subsistence farmer/herder" you speak of. Personally I'd rather live in a yurt village than be forced to live in a big city. Guess its a "priorities" thing.
Someone has actually published a VERY good book (which was later picked up by other writers who've started writing on the issue or researching it). The book in question is short but cites a LOT of case law "Hologram of Liberty".
You may want to take a look at it. Its a heart breaker, and its published. Author is one Ken Royce / Boston T. Party.
On a separate point of yours, government IS a business. It is in the business of controlling others, or as it is sometimes known "in the business of governing people". That it does a remarkably good job at governing is obvious, that it does such a remarkably POOR job at solving problems is also obvious. That is because government is not meant to solve problems. Tyranny (essentially "rulership") is not meant to solve people's problems, but the ruler's problems. And government, whether in America, Europe, Asia or Africa, does this remarkably well. Hologram touches on this as well.
Am I holding some distaste for the common man? Yes. More and more every day and with every encounter. Why, you ask? Why not. So far the common man has sold his entire birthright for a mess of porridge, and didn't even get a GOOD quality porridge. Even my dogs are smarter than that, and they're just "dumb animals" right?
Government is only a necessary evil because some government teacher in a government approved or sanctioned school taught us government supplied materials that tell us that government is necessary. As if humans are incapable of resolving their issues amongst each other and require a gigantic institution with armed thugs to force them all into "compliance" for "their own good".
I will not apologize if my views seem abrasive, because I think the time to be "polite" on this issue has long passed. People are sheep because they don't pull their noses away from the pavement for even a single brief moment... and if they do, they are often scared by what they see and quickly dismiss it and return to the pointless rat race they partake in, every day. You'll have to excuse me for being so harsh in what I say, I understand I've pissed off a lot of /.'ers, but at this point, lying to make people happy is about the worst thing one can do.
Running the family business for a few years and firing well paid people or cutting their salaries so the company could continue to pay taxes for their formerly nice salaries is what cured me of collectivism.
Watching various members of my family and friends mortgage their homes or properties to pay tax bills on wage taxes that were demanded by government long before moneys were even collected for jobs done... yeah, that kinda stuff cured me at an early age... thank you.
Government punishes any form of achievement or creativity that it doesn't directly sanction. I've seen proof, and I've been proof. 100% antidote to collectivism and faith in government / politicians, is running your own business, regardless how small or how large, doing something you're good at (and thus cannot be called "incompetent" by any qualified observer) and then watching the money go down the drain. Did you do twice as many jobs in one week than you normally used to? Did your taxes go even higher? Did your men work overtime? Did you notice the insane tax spike from that? Yeah, exactly. On the other hand, if you stop, smell the roses, and learn, you will also notice that government subsidizes bad business. A business with heavy expenses can depend on socialist/welfare for its poor decisions by having the government pay for them or write them off its taxes.
Remarkable how good business is punished through higher taxes, while bad business decisions are rewarded with write offs and tax credits...
A soldier is to OBEY, not think. Soldiers were never intended to make their own decisions, unless to decide which order to obey first. Soldiers are tools, and as such need to be completely dependent on their masters for their thoughts and decisions. If they do not, they might decide to do something else with their lives, or to disobey orders that are either unlawful, outright evil, or against their own interests. Soldiers are the product of collectivism and brainwashing (with very few exceptions) and as such, should stop complaining that they are tools. Going into said line of work without their eyes open was THEIR mistake, not that of the command authorities.
Just deserts, IMHO.
Wooo hooo, there we go, solve the problem of government not getting enough money out of people's pockets by finding new and VERY inventive ways to tax the shit out of them! There you go, central planning brilliance at work!
Just deserts. Worship governments and authoritarian thugs, and they will reach into your mind and body after they're done cleaning out your pockets and home.
Interesting... so lets see... socialists basically live by the principle that "society" is more important than any single individual. If society prospers by basically owning and dictating to all, and occasionally slaughtering the "undesirables", society as a whole gains.
Interestingly, the same worship of the group rather than respect for the individual is part of Christian Right Wingers (who LOVE to use government power to dictate to others what to think, how to think, how to live, where and why and even IF to live)... "social conservatives" are merely religious fanatics of other bents, who are usually the types that desire to use government power to oppress their neighbors...
And "liberals"... sorry, did I miss something? As has been par for the course, most of the old communists and socialists have "evolved" to be "social democrats" or "liberals" or "progressives". Perhaps you ought to do your homework. Sweden is famous for being one of the most heavily socialistic nations on the face of the planet. Even Japan and most especially England, barely come in second... mostly due to the taxes and heavy social controls exhibited in Sweden.
As a trio of my Swedish acquaintances told me when I sought to move there, years ago "you would be crazy to do so, even we're moving out, and we approve of the politics!"
Ironically, the government never has. The last time I knew someone silly enough to try to get the government to collect a debt, they got about 120 to 200 bucks a month on a debt of 300 grand. Would've probably taken a few years and the last payment, due to government inflation of money supply would have probably has no value compared to the materials and labor that the original 300k debt had bought. But then again, if government won't control people... what will? I mean, its not like you can teach your kids to accord respect so that they may be respected, or honor contracts and accords that they enter into, of their own free will, right? I mean, damn, schools don't teach people to be honest, they just teach kids not to get caught, since only those who get caught, get punished by "authorities" right?
Heh, irony is, poor parenting, and abdication of responsibilities has more to do with why our world is so "fucked up" than any amount of government coercion of schooling or anything else. If parents were willing to do their jobs, and if people lived up to their responsibilities, well damn... we'd have already colonized the damn solar system. But since the people have to be FORCED by outside forces (often religious fear or government thugs with weapons) to get along with their own families and neighbors, what can we expect of them except to continue to ask for more of the same.
I guess leading by example is the only thing to do. Hmmm... and since the examples will likely never be publicized in the government influenced medias, the masses would never find the examples unless they were out actively searching for them, in the past, and the present. And they'll never be on the front page. Of the only thing you can be sure, is that if something of actual concern is printed, it is always on the back pages of the paper when a huge scandal is breaking on the front page. That one, is actually something I've noted to be without fail. New OJ scandal, had a federal reserve policy change on the back pages. Britney's baby, Michael Jackson's kiddie scandals... yep, money policy + extra inflation on the back pages of my local "Daily Press" and "Times". No surprise. But until I knew to look, I didn't see that stuff either. Frankly, I just want to say I'm not mad at you man. More like disappointed that so many start to ask questions, but always hit some kind of invisible ceiling, instead of asking more and more questions and breaching all barriers in their path. THAT is what upsets me...
Heh, well the people obviously don't have the guts to save themselves... so they'll have to keep enslaving themselves to each Promised Land and Promised Messiah that someone comes up with.
Oh well... the more I hear them act like this, the more I realize they got EXACTLY what they deserved. Stupidity SHOULD be painful... and their beloved governments, religions, etc, have given the stupid exactly what they were clamoring for.
I've been saying EXACTLY what you said!
Amazing that it seems most of them lump me in with their favorite opposition, religious socialists and religious fascists... as if somehow, atheist socialists or atheist fascists were any less dogmatic, or any less stupid for letting others think for 'em.
Thanks for clarifying. Well typed :)
Not sure WHY they lump me in with their pro marriage anti marriage morons when I've already said that I think the gov'co should stay OUT of people's contracts.
You forgot the most important quote that should be on your chain:
"Any government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take everything you've got." - attributed to Thomas Jefferson
To translate for those hard of reason: "Any government big enough to redistribute the fruits of other people's labor to YOU by force, is big enough to take everything it wants from you, also by force. It is also big enough to run your life, and kill you or enslave you on a whim or a trumped up charge. It can also watch you and make a panopticon of your daily life. And you will like it, and clamor for it to change only enough that you won't notice the ubiquity of the abuses. Yes indeed, you will... like it." - Me
Ironically, shortly after 2001, realizing what was coming in the USA, I wanted to move... and I looked at several countries. Sweden was a candidate... as was Canada. Three of my friends moved from Sweden to Japan, England and Germany, citing "less government intrusion in their lives" among the reasons. I've already visited Canada and Germany, so I wasn't exactly "impressed". (Their security people at airports are just as humorless and almost as stupid as the average TSA marshmallows I've met so far.)
Back to Sweden. Last I recall, you people have one of those lovely countries where it is GREAT to be lower income, or no income, but shit to be upper anything... great place to hunt reindeer from what my friends tell me, but you'll pardon me if I stick to Holland. :) Not that I don't like Swedish people, but it seems Holland is a bit less heavy handed on all issues.
PS - if your teachers/professors are well paid and your facilities are state of the art, either you're getting free tax money from the USA or the UN (again, USA, mostly) or someone there is getting heavily taxed to pay for those quality educations. And as for your questions, when I put myself through college, I worked, and I wrote essays and applied to a LOT of scholarships, all of them private. My government grants (yes I was one of those "gifted and talented" kids) was barely 1/4th of my expenses for my first year alone... the rest was out of pocket and scholarships. If I could do it, even though my parents came here with not a dime to their names and kids in tow, I'd say you can do it. Education didn't help them, it wasn't recognized. They did, however put their minds to use and built a business in an emerging market, a business, may I add, that was completely unrelated to their fields of studies in their communist homeland. Failures didn't stop them... and if they could raise funds mowing lawns and washing dishes in restaurants despite having Masters degrees, what's to stop you people from stepping on your prides and getting something done? Oh wait, must be Tee Vee watching, or gods only know what... I can't say for sure.
Now excuse me, I have coffee awaiting me... good luck to you.
I see no failure of logic... if you give them the right to take from you what they desire, namely the fruits of your labor, you've already granted them control over your life and the products of that life (labor, time, resources, etc) and thus you are their slave. Why should a master not be allowed to "observe" his property? (Namely, you and the others who clamor for government handouts/controls/wealth redistribution, etc.)
I for one would not want my livestock getting out of hand, and I'm sure your beloved nanny state thugs feel the same... and guess what... you suckers are THEIR property... by consent, no less (you voted, regardless of "for whom" you voted, remember that.)
I must have missed the part where I was defending the rights of the banks or corporate entities... I didn't know a piece of paper HAD any rights... Same with people who are unwilling to fight for their rights. Having the "RIGHT TO OWN PROPERTY" is not the same thing as "HAVING SOMEONE ELSE BE FORCED TO GIVE YOU THEIR PROPERTY"... And I'm not a capitalist... I'm just me, and I happen to have a wee bit of faith in that a free market works. I've lived under communism in childhood and this iron fist in the velvet glove bullshit you call "capitalism" (but is in reality a thinly veiled love child of fascism and socialism), and the ONLY thing that provides people with what they want today, and the only thing that provided the people with what they wanted back then was the FREE MARKET... note, that corporations do not operate on a free market... they operate on a dominated and centrally planned economic system... which has not a damn thing in common with an actual free market.
I don't expect you or the so called "capitalists" to understand this. The only "free markets" I've ever seen were black markets and backwater "bazaar" type markets in my native lands. Hard to explain. Personally though, I haven't forgotten how nicely "planned economies" work... I've had to wake up at 5 in the morning and stand in line for stuff before school. Came home afterwards to find out that mom and dad didn't get goods that day because the shipment ran out. Planned economies my ass.
Incorrect, you mistake "the public" with "the government"... while one may pretend to serve the other or BE the other, and the public may have delusions of grandeur that it can, or will EVER control the government, make no mistake about it, those who intend to rule, will rule, and those who intend to be ruled fairly or otherwise, will be RULED... period.
I'm glad you can define terms, but in order to take from people and give to others, you require a form of authoritarianism or totalitarianism, because few would give 50% of what they make when their 40+ hours a week job is barely enough to pay the bare minimum BEFORE they are leeched off to pay for government "aid" programs. If people actually did the math of HOW MUCH they actually pay, for how much they actually get back... they'd stop paying taxes tomorrow.
Wait wait.. I got it... so lets see... the Swedish are bad when they spy on you and behave like good little socialists, but they're GOOD when they "tax the rich" like the good little socialists they are... (which includes pretty much anyone that has any means of production, their own or someone else's).
I fail to understand the hypocritical nature of socialists... its good when they fuck your neighbor, cause his car is nicer, but its bad when they spy on you so they can fuck you if they find out you've got a nice car too.
Oh well, the stupidity of the masses. Some day people might even wake up. I'm not holding my breath.
What I mean is simple, governments are never allowed to FULLY expose the real culprit for all the woes of mankind (namely their existence, and the idiotic, questionless obedience of the masses who actually believe governments are needed.)
Question-less obedience to "authority" be it religious, secular or otherwise, that is the major culprit, and that is the major reason why the few have ALWAYS ruled the many. Where people do not give a shit about government, there is a high degree of freedom on the ground, regardless of what the paperwork says. Where the people worship the government, neighbor tyrannizes neighbor far more effectively than any secret police (I know, I've lived in such a place for most of my young life, and caught the last decent days of the USA some years back, the USA of today is falling faster and faster into 100% visible, socialist/fascist statism... and its a hybrid worthy of note, because statism is its only possible title.)
Had WW1 been allowed to run its course instead of the USA intervening, Europe would've gotten its just deserts for 1000 years or more of tyranny (almost 3000 if you count the Greeks and the Romans) and its people might have woken up. Instead they still live entranced by their beloved "all giving" government... guess the idea never arises in all these fine European scientific minds that have criticized my comments in the last few days... conservation of energy is fine with me, then WHERE does the energy come, that is offered to the people in the forms of "free goods and free services" from government? Doesn't that energy in the form of energy, labor and resources have to come from somewhere? Unless governments have truly harnessed Zero Point Energy, and that is highly doubtful, its a fairly good chance that they still ROB Peter to pay Paul, and those people can ALWAYS depend on the support of Paul, and if Peter is stupid, he will defend the system too, until he runs short of resources to accomplish some personal goal, then things get ugly, as well they should.
(For a clarification of the reasons why the USA REALLY entered the two world wars, there is a bit on that issue in Creature from Jekyll Island, it was reviewed here recently (about time), the author discusses the more accurate reasons why the USA entered the two World Wars, and it had to do with credit lines (in gold) extended from the Morgan and Warburg banking families to England, which would've been left without repayment if the Germans won either war. The USA is the world's "largest collection agency"... and to presume anything else is to presume that someone OTHER than the English based bankers and power brokers (Crown Street, London, UK anyone?) runs the USA and most of the world is to be ignorant AND willfully so. Research those boys. It should be eye opening.)
"There is no situation, no matter how miserable that it cannot be made more so by the intrusion of government thugs."
The original said cop, but I've updated it for the 20th and 21st century. I'm with you on this call Guppy06, the idiocy of the populace is to believe 100% of what they "learn" in school. We're lied to, the guys and girls over seas are lied to, their enemies are lied to. The only ones of us that stand any chance of making sense of this shit are the ones stepping back, rather than diving into the whole chaotic mess, "sword in hand."
That being said, I'm hoping everyone starts asking themselves, "who gains"... and step back BEYOND the ones you see on the horse. Who is pulling strings, whose power is consolidated. Stop thinking small, stop thinking elections and generals and grunts and stupid people and terrorists. These are all puppets dangled in front of you. Step further out and look at the grand scheme of things. What changes. Who gets what? Who has been getting what. Who changed and what did they changed. What television and high school taught "heroes" were actually traitors to any principle that Americans once held dear (even if it was 230 years ago)?
Once you step back far enough, this whole mess becomes easier to sort out, and that is the point where questions start becoming visible that were impossible to put into perspective when caught up in the "democrats vs republicans", "warmonger fascists versus control freak socialists", "us vs them", "consumerism vs environmentalism"... all religions, all polarizing factions. So few of the people today seek balance, so few seek the definitions of freedom and of justice. And if we do not apply the words we use, by their true definition, can we truly be upset when the so called "leaders" do not, either? After all, if you do not reserve and protect YOUR rights YOURSELF, you DO NOT HAVE THEM! Period.