Maybe I'm crazy, but usually Uncle Sam is representative of the U.S. government, or possibly the country. But I don't think most people associate him with the 'cyberangels', which, incidentally, sounds like saturday afternoon programming on UPN.
I have only heard news reporters complain that this might happen. All the actual intel people suggested one of the following:
More thorough checks on airplane passengers (like those already in place in Europe)
A repeal of a Clinton directive that disallowed the intelligence community from employing those with records of human rights violations. This was meant to discourage encouragement of unsavory people, but in reality it means you are not allowed to recruit moles from terrorist organizations (which you need if you want to fight terrorists)
More human intelligence. At least Tom Clancy suggested this:) He said we only have about 600 CIA operatives on the ground despite our millions of dollars.
U.S. forces do everything possible, including endangering their own lives, to avoid collateral damage. Nevertheless, there will always be accidents, especially when governments (iraq, for example) have no regard for the lives of their own citizens.
A deliberate and devastating attack directly targeted towards causing civilian casualties during peacetime is deplorable and cowardly. The U.S. has never done that, and even if we had, it would not be justification for the attacks yesterday.
Bush is the head of the Bush administration, so one can presume that it was him that made the decision.
There are several thousand (I forget the exact number) people in bush's administration and several million in the government as a whole. Bush probably did not make this decision.
Now, bush probably hired people that hired other people that made the decision, but to portray him as making all decisions we don't like is innacurate:)
Well, he never really comes out with any cogent arguments about why deterrence doesn't work. He makes arguments about why nuclear deterrence doesn't work now, but I don't think anybody would argue that.
He also argues that nuclear weapons were horrible because they become the ultimate power... which is precisely why I think they were great. The U.S. and Soviet respective nuclear doctrines would never allow them to launch a first strike (as long as jfk remains dead). Being afraid is far nobler than being dead.
Anyway, I don't really care about nukes anyway... just saying that an ounce of prevention is stronger than a pound of cure. And the only prevention that works well at the moment is military power. It would be nice if that weren't the case.
Unfortunately, we need a military to protect our economic interests. We need intelligence (aka cia etc) to protect our economic and diplomatic interests.
It's a long-term goal, really. But isn't peace worth it?
While every peace activist in the world will cry foul, peace is so worth it that we spend umpteen billion dollars a year on defense because it is a deterrent.
For example, if there were no nuclear weapons, we would have had WWIII and IV already. Millions of people (including civilians) would have died.
What we really need is goodwill.:) Nations unwilling to work together would be detrimental even if they were unarmed.
Has anybody noticed that the U.S. has the DMCA and nobody else has anything similar? (rhetorical):)
How about that most of the entertainment industry is based in the U.S. and/or targeted towards U.S. audiences? (Not trying to be U.S.-centric here... there IS plenty of foreign entertainment, I just think that it is bigger here).
Then, is it so hard to believe that the U.S. would have the most oppressive laws regarding copyright protection? Much like France and Germany have the most oppressive laws regarding Nazi's? I'm sure middle-eastern countries bend over backwards to suit oil production. (etc.)
We still need to get rid of the DMCA:). I just dispute the idea that the U.S. is a bastion of totalitarianism because we have bad laws for understandable reasons:)
About the wearables... like PC's are now, they'll be really hot sellers when they cost 500 bucks. But being in the business right now is not nearly as profitable as it will be when wearables do cost $500.
Some technologies come out too soon. The broadband and wireless markets aren't what they need to allow companies to make enough money for net-radio to be profitable.
Compares this to the wearable computer market. I think xybernaut nearly went out of business... everybody (read : every geek) wants a wearable, but not many people want to pay 2-4k for one.
It isn't like these technologies are dead (like internet retail was said to be in 94-97). Everybody jumped on it before it really became a good idea. Five years down the road when we have better wireless and more broadband, everybody will be surprised by the 'rebirth' of net-radio.:)
since the US state
department has quietly stopped obeying an international treaty to do the same for foreigners caught in America.
There was a lot of press about this concerning the two german brothers in (insert name of correct southwestern state here).
The real reason for the problem is that
It would basically have to be an addition to miranda, since, as in the case of the german brothers, they had dual citizenship and it just hadn't occurred to anybody that they were also german
Coming out of europe, ironically, with their pronounced regional problems that still exist today (see northern ireland, scotland, the basque region, and others my small intellect have missed) we have very powerful _states_, who do many criminal prosecutions. The State Department and DOJ cannot force the state/county/municipal DOJ's to do much of anything, including informing foreign citizens of their consular rights, and (presumably) informing foreign consulates of the arrests of their citizens.
No, my theory doesn't explain it... except that, if you look at my comment, I also posted this...
That wouldn't explain the often lower salaries at private schools... except that parents then have to pay for school twice (since vouchers are unconstitutional and all).
The low salaries, I believe, are because they are geared towards what parents can actually afford, and teachers and staff have idealogical motivations for working cheaply. (usually religious schools)
It also kind of brings up the issue that society may not be able to afford to pay teachers enough money.
If you read this, it's only because the messaging system has worked (I Like It).
I think you can actually get your own FBI records through the FOIA. Anyway, the FBI was kind of messed up in the past, but I think they're more legit now. And, furthermore, although just the fact that they *have* an investigation on you can be harmful, no court will admit illegally collected evidence.
You're leaving out my favorite instance of FBI opression... the KKK.
Why is it my favorite? Because it kind of discredits ideas that the FBI is part of a right-wing conspiracy.
At any rate, the FBI doesn't pull the kind of crap now that it did then. The media wouldn't stand for it, for one.
Sure, there is FBI misconduct. But there is no way to prevent misconduct in any group of people. And it isn't unreasonable for any group of people to protect their own in cases of wrongdoing. And if a group of people doesn't have the opportunity to make mistakes, it's because they aren't doing anything.
Not carte blanche for the FBI, of course... I just dislike the/. a priori premise of "because it could be abused".
I think the reason that teachers get paid so
very little is because they are paid by the
government.
Who do you know that works for the government and makes lots of money? They do exist, but for 99% of these jobs, people could be making far more in the private sector.
And, teachers work for the very worst (in terms of wages) type of government... local government.
That wouldn't explain the often lower salaries at private schools... except that parents then have to pay for school twice (since vouchers are unconstitutional and all).
I agree. I've been programming for real:) for about a year now. I'm starting to get really annoyed with java about the lack of operator overloading and genericity.
I find it humorous, because two of the 'advantages' of java were simplicity through lack of support of templates and operator overloading.
But, now that the language is mature, and the people using it want a more mature language, they are probably going to add genericity back in:).
Which kind of leads me to the thought that, in general, the whole idea of 'leaving features out because they aren't used' is flawed. Leaving features out for other reasons is good. But perceptions of lack of use are not.
I've actually been thinking about this for a while... remember the big outbreak on/. a while ago about the proposed IETF (I think) standard to allow wiretapping? It was shot down, and there were many self-backpats, because we had shown The Man Who's Boss.
Unfortunately, The Man still needs to fight crime (and, if he tried not to, how the heck would he explain this to his sometimes-boss, The People?), hence, Carnivore, developed by the FBI, something that we probably find far more unappetizing than a community-built standard.
to eliminate the tyranny of time and space limitations.
This time and space flaming has got to end. Granted, time and space have a monopoly on time and space, but it is a *benevolent* monopoly, which is ok with every legislative body in the world except the EU. Time and space have prevailed as the primary purveyors of time and space through quality, perseverance, and generous donations to any political party that would take their money. So, lay off, slashdot!
This is, IMO, not so much a technological problem as it is a police
corruption issue.
I disagree... give any group of people this power, and they would abuse it. I can't think of any group of people that doesn't have some bad eggs.
The reason I bring this up is because it is a case where there is a clear technical solution... control the data, and let police officers know that their queries will be audited to make sure they are using the data properly.
Imagine if your workplace allowed anybody to view the payroll. Imagine the chaos that would ensue. This is what happens to the police (or anybody) when you give them uncontrolled access to anything like this.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe I'm crazy, but usually Uncle Sam is representative of the U.S. government, or possibly the country. But I don't think most people associate him with the 'cyberangels', which, incidentally, sounds like saturday afternoon programming on UPN.
Everybody considers themselves an expert at everything even though they are probably only an expert at zero to one things.
Contrasted to slashdot, where we know everything about law enforcement, the government, and defense. :)
Just stuff I picked up from CNN yesterday ...
A deliberate and devastating attack directly targeted towards causing civilian casualties during peacetime is deplorable and cowardly. The U.S. has never done that, and even if we had, it would not be justification for the attacks yesterday.
There are several thousand (I forget the exact number) people in bush's administration and several million in the government as a whole. Bush probably did not make this decision.
Now, bush probably hired people that hired other people that made the decision, but to portray him as making all decisions we don't like is innacurate :)
He also argues that nuclear weapons were horrible because they become the ultimate power ... which is precisely why I think they were great. The U.S. and Soviet respective nuclear doctrines would never allow them to launch a first strike (as long as jfk remains dead). Being afraid is far nobler than being dead.
Anyway, I don't really care about nukes anyway ... just saying that an ounce of prevention is stronger than a pound of cure. And the only prevention that works well at the moment is military power. It would be nice if that weren't the case.
It's a long-term goal, really. But isn't peace worth it?
While every peace activist in the world will cry foul, peace is so worth it that we spend umpteen billion dollars a year on defense because it is a deterrent.
For example, if there were no nuclear weapons, we would have had WWIII and IV already. Millions of people (including civilians) would have died.
What we really need is goodwill. :) Nations unwilling to work together would be detrimental even if they were unarmed.
Has anybody noticed that the U.S. has the DMCA and nobody else has anything similar? (rhetorical) :)
How about that most of the entertainment industry is based in the U.S. and/or targeted towards U.S. audiences? (Not trying to be U.S.-centric here ... there IS plenty of foreign entertainment, I just think that it is bigger here).
Then, is it so hard to believe that the U.S. would have the most oppressive laws regarding copyright protection? Much like France and Germany have the most oppressive laws regarding Nazi's? I'm sure middle-eastern countries bend over backwards to suit oil production. (etc.)
We still need to get rid of the DMCA :). I just dispute the idea that the U.S. is a bastion of totalitarianism because we have bad laws for understandable reasons :)
About the wearables ... like PC's are now, they'll be really hot sellers when they cost 500 bucks. But being in the business right now is not nearly as profitable as it will be when wearables do cost $500.
Compares this to the wearable computer market. I think xybernaut nearly went out of business ... everybody (read : every geek) wants a wearable, but not many people want to pay 2-4k for one.
It isn't like these technologies are dead (like internet retail was said to be in 94-97). Everybody jumped on it before it really became a good idea. Five years down the road when we have better wireless and more broadband, everybody will be surprised by the 'rebirth' of net-radio. :)
Tis no flamebait (Tis a remorseless eating machine)
Primary school?
Take your kilogram and go home. We're happy with our slugs here in the good old U.S. of A.
There was a lot of press about this concerning the two german brothers in (insert name of correct southwestern state here).
The real reason for the problem is that
No, my theory doesn't explain it ... except that, if you look at my comment, I also posted this ...
That wouldn't explain the often lower salaries at private schools ... except that parents then have to pay for school twice (since vouchers are unconstitutional and all).
The low salaries, I believe, are because they are geared towards what parents can actually afford, and teachers and staff have idealogical motivations for working cheaply. (usually religious schools)
It also kind of brings up the issue that society may not be able to afford to pay teachers enough money.
I think you can actually get your own FBI records through the FOIA. Anyway, the FBI was kind of messed up in the past, but I think they're more legit now. And, furthermore, although just the fact that they *have* an investigation on you can be harmful, no court will admit illegally collected evidence.
Why is it my favorite? Because it kind of discredits ideas that the FBI is part of a right-wing conspiracy.
At any rate, the FBI doesn't pull the kind of crap now that it did then. The media wouldn't stand for it, for one.
Sure, there is FBI misconduct. But there is no way to prevent misconduct in any group of people. And it isn't unreasonable for any group of people to protect their own in cases of wrongdoing. And if a group of people doesn't have the opportunity to make mistakes, it's because they aren't doing anything.
Not carte blanche for the FBI, of course ... I just dislike the /. a priori premise of "because it could be abused".
Who do you know that works for the government and makes lots of money? They do exist, but for 99% of these jobs, people could be making far more in the private sector.
And, teachers work for the very worst (in terms of wages) type of government ... local government.
That wouldn't explain the often lower salaries at private schools ... except that parents then have to pay for school twice (since vouchers are unconstitutional and all).
Take the MPAA to court and put out a subpoena for the methods that were used to incriminate these people. :)
It's all daniel webster's doing, and he only did it because you brits were being rather stubborn at the moment.
I find it humorous, because two of the 'advantages' of java were simplicity through lack of support of templates and operator overloading.
But, now that the language is mature, and the people using it want a more mature language, they are probably going to add genericity back in :).
Which kind of leads me to the thought that, in general, the whole idea of 'leaving features out because they aren't used' is flawed. Leaving features out for other reasons is good. But perceptions of lack of use are not.
Unfortunately, The Man still needs to fight crime (and, if he tried not to, how the heck would he explain this to his sometimes-boss, The People?), hence, Carnivore, developed by the FBI, something that we probably find far more unappetizing than a community-built standard.
karb: I'm going to kuro5hin!!
to eliminate the tyranny of time and space limitations.
This time and space flaming has got to end. Granted, time and space have a monopoly on time and space, but it is a *benevolent* monopoly, which is ok with every legislative body in the world except the EU. Time and space have prevailed as the primary purveyors of time and space through quality, perseverance, and generous donations to any political party that would take their money. So, lay off, slashdot!
Cool thing was, the class a few years later than me actually had a phone interview with him about one of his books.
Not much of a remembrance, just an author who'd take time out of his schedule to talk to a freshman writing class had to be pretty cool :)
I disagree ... give any group of people this power, and they would abuse it. I can't think of any group of people that doesn't have some bad eggs.
The reason I bring this up is because it is a case where there is a clear technical solution ... control the data, and let police officers know that their queries will be audited to make sure they are using the data properly.
Imagine if your workplace allowed anybody to view the payroll. Imagine the chaos that would ensue. This is what happens to the police (or anybody) when you give them uncontrolled access to anything like this.