Absolutely!!! I am a teacher, and I make wayyyy too much. I'm going to go demand a reduction in my pay. The only people who should earn megabucks are businessmen. After all, they sell shit, while teachers only educate the next generation.
Some days I feel like being helpful and try to deliver soft-spoken, insightful commentary. On others, I feel like foaming at the mouth and biting anyone that comes within a meter's range.
But on any day whatsoever, I rage when some numbskull blurts out trite pap like "If you don't like the law, change it." The thing is, with the stroke of a pen, a hundred congressional idiots can make a mistake that affects millions of lives, and takes the collective action of tens of thousands of people several decades to rectify. That shit just burns my ass.
Call me a cynic; but there are many people trying to change many laws --- laws that need changing, like laws that penalize people for engaging in victimless crimes --- without success. Furthermore, civil disobedience doesn't look like a viable alternative: its success depends on garnering the sympathy of the electorate. Alas, the people have many other things to worry about besides someone smoking a joint, sleeping with a prostitute, or publishing a program that encodes mp3's --- things like racial tensions, the War in Iraq, the economy, or who Brad Pitt is sleeping with this week.
If the government were REALLY interested in saving lives, they would outlaw automobiles altogether. They are the #1 cause of death in the U.S. for people between the ages of 15 and 40, IIRC. Furthermore, I see plenty of morons behind the wheel of an automobile, juggling their cellphone, hamburger, map, and cd --- all of whom are licensed drivers.
So, 20% is acceptable, while 50% is outrageous. THAT is what your argument boils down to. At what percentile does one form of government beat the other into the ground?
How about we get everyone up to well-fed, in good health, and somewhere to live, before talking about which system is superior? A few % either way doesn't bestow that many bragging rights.
private property --- that I cannot grow marijuana on; that I can get sued over if someone gets injured on; that the police can enter and search, without my knowledge and without a warrant if I am suspected of being a terrorist; that I must have permission to build on, or run a business on; that can be seized under mere suspicion of being used to traffic drugs on, and that is the imminent domain of the government.
freedom --- To address this, I have to know what kind of freedom we are talking about.
voting --- Tell that to the thousands of registered black voters that were disenfranchised during the 2000 presidential election.
high standard of living --- Does that include the millions who don't have health insurance? Or who are homeless? Or who are unemployed/underemployed? Or who stand in the food lines during the winter time? Or the elderly who can't afford the skyrocketing cost of their medications?
I still say, the whole show is run by a few rich and powerful individuals. You can call it democracy, fascist state, republic, monarchy, whatever. For most people, it's still spelled S-H-I-T.
in the end extreme forms of monarchy, fascism, communism, and totalitarianism are all the pretty much the same thing: a couple guys at the top get to decide how everything is going to work and who gets to live and who gets to die and everyone else is a slave.
And in the American republic, things are different how???
It's possible to fight stuff like this but you have to take off the tinfoil hat and learn how the game is really played. As it is, you've already surrendered without a fight and are looking for excuses for why you forfeited the game. There are already lots of lobby groups out there that started with nothing but now have enough votes and a big enough war chest from member donations to put up a credible fight.
Yeah! You mean like NORML and BACH?
Marijuana ought to be completely legal any day now, huh? I won't hold my breath (pardon the pun).
by effectively condoning this sort of abuse of the law in a relatively harmless case, society is raising a whole generation who have no respect for the law
I propose that this has been going on for a loooong time. I lost any respect for the law about two decades ago. Why should I have anything but contempt for the law when:
1) The government mandates that I, a grown adult, must wear a seatbelt when I am in a car.
2) The government can seize my home and car, under mere suspicion of being used to transport and hold illegal narcotics, and sell them off when I cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the property is innocent.
3) I can be charged for murder or assault with a deadly weapon when a burglar or killer breaks into my home seeking to relieve me of my property or my life, and I defend myself with a gun.
4) I can be released from prison after a few years for killing someone, as opposed to being released after a few decades for selling LSD to an undercover cop.
There are so many many more reasons for me to respect and obey the law. I say, FUCK the law! It is written by the rich, to protect the rich --- and that does not include me.
Of course, the irony here is that these companies are introducing "features" to prevent a certain type of behavior, and thereby cause more people to adopt that very behavior.
Witness, different regions for DVD's. This bullshit invariable drives some people to download what they want, region free, cost free. Oh, but that's WRONG WRONG WRONG. Apparently, only the corporations have the right to be greedy.
Before anyone starts in with "Well, the corporations are obeying the law, but pirates are violating it", I say --- those laws are continually be extended in favor of, and paid for, those selfsame corporations.
During my sophomore year in high school, a buddy and I discovered a CBM 8032 (with a tape drive) in the couselor's office, and obtained permission to come in during lunch to fiddle with it. We learned BASIC on that machine and programmed a very crude version of Pac-Man. Then I purchased a C64 and went on from there.
By the same token, it could be argued that people decided what they wanted/didn't want, and constructed their religions to reflect their personal preferences. Some people like to kill, so they invent Mars. Some people like to drink and fuck, so they invent Bacchus, etc., ad infinitum.
Slashdot Mirror
Absolutely!!! I am a teacher, and I make wayyyy too much. I'm going to go demand a reduction in my pay. The only people who should earn megabucks are businessmen. After all, they sell shit, while teachers only educate the next generation.
The screenplay is the core of any movie, beyond the director's vision and beyond the trappings of its presentation.
Compare Hitchcock's Psycho with Gus Van Sant's remake and then come back and say that again with a straight face.
Is there really anything new to be said about this that hasn't been repeated a million times before?
25% of the comments will be "MPAA SUX0R! Information wants to be free!"
50% of the comments will be "If you do the crime, do the time!!"
25% of the comments will be offtopic, random garbage.
This comment, of course, falls in the last category.
One could, of course, build one.
Some days I feel like being helpful and try to deliver soft-spoken, insightful commentary. On others, I feel like foaming at the mouth and biting anyone that comes within a meter's range.
But on any day whatsoever, I rage when some numbskull blurts out trite pap like "If you don't like the law, change it." The thing is, with the stroke of a pen, a hundred congressional idiots can make a mistake that affects millions of lives, and takes the collective action of tens of thousands of people several decades to rectify. That shit just burns my ass.
Call me a cynic; but there are many people trying to change many laws --- laws that need changing, like laws that penalize people for engaging in victimless crimes --- without success. Furthermore, civil disobedience doesn't look like a viable alternative: its success depends on garnering the sympathy of the electorate. Alas, the people have many other things to worry about besides someone smoking a joint, sleeping with a prostitute, or publishing a program that encodes mp3's --- things like racial tensions, the War in Iraq, the economy, or who Brad Pitt is sleeping with this week.
Tell me exactly what it is that I've stolen.
Bingo! Software copyrights are understandable. Software patents are ridiculous.
I'm very choosy about which laws I break.
Here is an alternative --- I can dislike the patent and use MP3's also. If you don't like people "borrowing" your stuff, keep it to yourself.
If the government were REALLY interested in saving lives, they would outlaw automobiles altogether. They are the #1 cause of death in the U.S. for people between the ages of 15 and 40, IIRC. Furthermore, I see plenty of morons behind the wheel of an automobile, juggling their cellphone, hamburger, map, and cd --- all of whom are licensed drivers.
You mean like alcohol and certain prescription drugs?
Then, one day you walk into McDonalds, and the employees are wearing buttons that say "Over 5 billion years serving."
Better check again. The mean, median, and mode are ALL averages.
Like J.R. "Bob" Dobbs says,
You know how dumb the average guy is. By definition, half of them are even dumber than that.
So, 20% is acceptable, while 50% is outrageous. THAT is what your argument boils down to. At what percentile does one form of government beat the other into the ground?
How about we get everyone up to well-fed, in good health, and somewhere to live, before talking about which system is superior? A few % either way doesn't bestow that many bragging rights.
In order:
private property --- that I cannot grow marijuana on; that I can get sued over if someone gets injured on; that the police can enter and search, without my knowledge and without a warrant if I am suspected of being a terrorist; that I must have permission to build on, or run a business on; that can be seized under mere suspicion of being used to traffic drugs on, and that is the imminent domain of the government.
freedom --- To address this, I have to know what kind of freedom we are talking about.
voting --- Tell that to the thousands of registered black voters that were disenfranchised during the 2000 presidential election.
high standard of living --- Does that include the millions who don't have health insurance? Or who are homeless? Or who are unemployed/underemployed? Or who stand in the food lines during the winter time? Or the elderly who can't afford the skyrocketing cost of their medications?
I still say, the whole show is run by a few rich and powerful individuals. You can call it democracy, fascist state, republic, monarchy, whatever. For most people, it's still spelled S-H-I-T.
in the end extreme forms of monarchy, fascism, communism, and totalitarianism are all the pretty much the same thing: a couple guys at the top get to decide how everything is going to work and who gets to live and who gets to die and everyone else is a slave.
And in the American republic, things are different how???
It's possible to fight stuff like this but you have to take off the tinfoil hat and learn how the game is really played. As it is, you've already surrendered without a fight and are looking for excuses for why you forfeited the game. There are already lots of lobby groups out there that started with nothing but now have enough votes and a big enough war chest from member donations to put up a credible fight.
Yeah! You mean like NORML and BACH? Marijuana ought to be completely legal any day now, huh? I won't hold my breath (pardon the pun).
by effectively condoning this sort of abuse of the law in a relatively harmless case, society is raising a whole generation who have no respect for the law
I propose that this has been going on for a loooong time. I lost any respect for the law about two decades ago. Why should I have anything but contempt for the law when:
1) The government mandates that I, a grown adult, must wear a seatbelt when I am in a car.
2) The government can seize my home and car, under mere suspicion of being used to transport and hold illegal narcotics, and sell them off when I cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the property is innocent.
3) I can be charged for murder or assault with a deadly weapon when a burglar or killer breaks into my home seeking to relieve me of my property or my life, and I defend myself with a gun.
4) I can be released from prison after a few years for killing someone, as opposed to being released after a few decades for selling LSD to an undercover cop.
There are so many many more reasons for me to respect and obey the law. I say, FUCK the law! It is written by the rich, to protect the rich --- and that does not include me.
You are going to have a hard time squeezing things like transformers, induction coils, and power supply capacitors onto a chip.
Of course, the irony here is that these companies are introducing "features" to prevent a certain type of behavior, and thereby cause more people to adopt that very behavior.
Witness, different regions for DVD's. This bullshit invariable drives some people to download what they want, region free, cost free. Oh, but that's WRONG WRONG WRONG. Apparently, only the corporations have the right to be greedy.
Before anyone starts in with "Well, the corporations are obeying the law, but pirates are violating it", I say --- those laws are continually be extended in favor of, and paid for, those selfsame corporations.
Surely they mean SNOBOL.
During my sophomore year in high school, a buddy and I discovered a CBM 8032 (with a tape drive) in the couselor's office, and obtained permission to come in during lunch to fiddle with it. We learned BASIC on that machine and programmed a very crude version of Pac-Man. Then I purchased a C64 and went on from there.
Those were the days.
By the same token, it could be argued that people decided what they wanted/didn't want, and constructed their religions to reflect their personal preferences. Some people like to kill, so they invent Mars. Some people like to drink and fuck, so they invent Bacchus, etc., ad infinitum.
Quantum Cretinism???