"Actually, if typical kids are anything like what _I_ remember in high school,. it will train kids on how to recognize surveillance & encourage their creativity on how secretly, cleverly & thoroughly they can destroy said surveillance devices."
TRUE, but that is what it would teach YOUR kids, I was talking about the kids of the person to whom I replied.
What kids take away from their environment and school depends a great deal on the attitudes of their parents. Very seldom do people (not just kids) come away from the same experience with the same lessons learnt, or the same attitudes. Learning is tempered and changed by many factors such as predisposition, social mores and values, strength (or weakness) of character, etc. In other words (from reading between the lines of your post): I would think your kids (if you have any) would have strong opinions, not be easily persuaded, and would "stick up" for themselves. The poster I replied to on the other hand, probably has kids that knuckle under at the slightest amount of pressure, would turn their friends in to save their own hide at the drop of a hat, and are probably afraid of their own shadow (perfect employees for McDonalds)
No, they WON'T! With this kind of surveilance you are teaching them that it's ok to have your privacy violated. They will grow up to be real wimps and give away all the freedoms that so many have died to obtain and keep. I have kids myself and never have, never will, subject them to this. I just teach them right from wrong, then TRUST them to follow through, they have NEVER let me down, and many parents commend me and my wife for bringing up such great kids. We Americans have been brainwashed into thinking that someone else always needs to take care of us and stick their nose in our business, this is patently childish; I guess many of us never really grow up.
It should scare the HELL out of everyone to have this going on. It starts small with things you really don't object to because on the surface they seem to help... so you give up a little freedom for security, then a little more, then a little more, until something happens that you think is going too far then you find out you no longer have a choice in the matter because you gave up your right to decide bit by bit. We all need to take responsibility on our OWN shoulders, grow up and get everyone elses noses the hell out of our business. People in the Soviet Union are more free than we are! But if you like being under constant scrutiny you can always move to China.
Beg to differ. This is NOT about national security, this is about making a quick buck from the gullible. Anyone who DOES take this seriously is a MORON as you so aptly put it.
He may not care what I listen to, but he sure as hell does care HOW i do it. Who says I steal anyway. YOU get clue that SOME of us just object to DRM WITHOUT swapping music or downloading from P2P. Just becasu I am against DRM does not mean I am FOR stealing music. If I just wanted to steal music I would not give a flying fuck about DRM.
Where there is smoke there is FIRE. The really sad part is that the majority of voters are actually unaware of the issue to begin with. It speaks volumes that Diebold et al are actually taking action to try and give the "warm fuzzies"
Anyone who ISN'T DRM-obsessed is in the same position as those who supported Hitler in his early days (i.e. before anyone knew what his agenda was all about). DRM seems ok now, but just wait and see where it goes if we allow it.
YES! If you support DRM in any way, I'm calling you a Fascist, just as you imply that everyone opposed to DRM is a pirate.
A good start, but I'm not paying for ANYTHING with DRM embedded. PERIOD. Big brother is all over the fucking place, and I for one am not inviting him into my house. 'NUFF SAID
All the discussion about the merits of pornography and kid's exposure is irrelevant. The point is: good, bad, or indifferent this apporach DOES NOT WORK. It is like building high walls around national monuments so that pigeons won't shit on them. The only thing you accomplish is that people won't SEE the pigeon shit on the monuments (they won't get to enjoy the monuments either). We already have enough unworkable and unenforceable legislation bleeding us taxpayers to death. It should be enough to acknowledge that there is a problem, admit we don't have a solution, and then take whatever time is needed to come up with a workable solution rather than knee-jerk legislation which does nothing other than restrict your rights and cost a whole bunch of money just to give a few narrow-minded idiots an UNJUSTIFIED warm fuzzy.
Your other comments have been addressed by others, but as for:
Fifth, and I know it's not quite the same, but how many people feel offended because at some parks, God Bless America is sung during the seventh inning stretch? I have yet to see anyone complaining to Major League Baseball that it offends them. I have yet to hear any fans or players complain about it. You know why? Because it's in honor of the country, not of a religious deity.
It's because you won't have a truant officer knocking at your door if you decide NOT to attend a game.
But I DO agree that not all religious symbols and expressions are "forcing religion" on others, just in cases where you have a captive audience or "undue influence" like a teacher/student relationship. No one is forcing you to teach in a public school, if you must display a cross, Bible, etc., there are many religious schools where you could teach and be commended for your dedication.
Finally I do agree that we are losing our freedoms at an alarming rate due to apathy and ignorance, but I think religious freedoms are still far from being lost or curtailed (as long as they are mainstream Christian beliefs).
It IS alarming that so many think that freedom of religion means the right to push MY religion down YOUR throat.
"Actually, the puritans weren't bothered by persecution, they just wanted to be the persecuters.
They had no problem persecuting Catholics and others who were different from themselves, once they got here."
OUCH!!! Touche, I stand corrected!
The Pledge Of Allegiance as it stands after the "Knights Of Columbus" got their way IS just a public PRAYER. One cannot take the separation of church and state too far. This country was founded by people escaping religious persecution and they tried to set up a government where no one would have to undergo that persecution or predjudice again.
The Ten Commandments are far from being universally accepted, have you already forgotten 9/11?
How would you feel about: One Nation under Satan. or One Nation in a universe devoid of God. If you object to these, then you should understand what the objection is to "one nation under God" (just the other side of the same coin). Where did you get the idea that reciting the pledge was voluntary??
This would be a good time to take a chapter from the ride-sharing community and put together a pool of people who travel from-to the same (or close) destinations and arrange to periodically swap their passes, even better swap in the middle of the trip whenever transferring is required. That ought to confuse the heck out anyone trying to track an individual.
(these cards might also be a somewhat justifiable reason to take up identity theft)
Unfortunately the spammers will always win. It is WE (collectively not individually) who are responsible for the proliferation of spam. Spammers are in business to make money and if all those blithering idiots out there who actually RESPOND (i.e. who buy the crap the spammers are selling) would stop, the spam would simply go away because it would no longer be profitable. STOP BUYING THE SHIT THE SPAMMERS SELL. If you simply MUST have the product or service they offer, just go DIRECTLY to the supplier of the product or service. Cut out the middle man and he/she WILL go away.
Since when has the inability to enforce a law ever stopped the law from being enacted? e.g. drug laws pornography laws, gun laws, etc., etc
This has got to be the first "unenforceable" law that I actually agree with. Maybe we can take the same approach as the RIAA and just scare the shit out of spammers as well as make examples of a few of the more blatant violators. If we are gonna live in a "Police State" it might as well be one without spam (or at least with strong anti spam laws)!
"If he can figure that one out, then he is certainly qualified to be govenor of California"
No... The TERMINATOR is certainly qualified to be governor of California... Would Probably be quite an improvement too!
Slashdot Mirror
"Actually, if typical kids are anything like what _I_ remember in high school,. it will train kids on how to recognize surveillance & encourage their creativity on how secretly, cleverly & thoroughly they can destroy said surveillance devices."
TRUE, but that is what it would teach YOUR kids, I was talking about the kids of the person to whom I replied.
What kids take away from their environment and school depends a great deal on the attitudes of their parents. Very seldom do people (not just kids) come away from the same experience with the same lessons learnt, or the same attitudes. Learning is tempered and changed by many factors such as predisposition, social mores and values, strength (or weakness) of character, etc. In other words (from reading between the lines of your post): I would think your kids (if you have any) would have strong opinions, not be easily persuaded, and would "stick up" for themselves. The poster I replied to on the other hand, probably has kids that knuckle under at the slightest amount of pressure, would turn their friends in to save their own hide at the drop of a hat, and are probably afraid of their own shadow (perfect employees for McDonalds)
No, they WON'T! With this kind of surveilance you are teaching them that it's ok to have your privacy violated. They will grow up to be real wimps and give away all the freedoms that so many have died to obtain and keep. I have kids myself and never have, never will, subject them to this. I just teach them right from wrong, then TRUST them to follow through, they have NEVER let me down, and many parents commend me and my wife for bringing up such great kids. We Americans have been brainwashed into thinking that someone else always needs to take care of us and stick their nose in our business, this is patently childish; I guess many of us never really grow up.
It should scare the HELL out of everyone to have this going on. It starts small with things you really don't object to because on the surface they seem to help... so you give up a little freedom for security, then a little more, then a little more, until something happens that you think is going too far then you find out you no longer have a choice in the matter because you gave up your right to decide bit by bit. We all need to take responsibility on our OWN shoulders, grow up and get everyone elses noses the hell out of our business. People in the Soviet Union are more free than we are! But if you like being under constant scrutiny you can always move to China.
Beg to differ. This is NOT about national security, this is about making a quick buck from the gullible. Anyone who DOES take this seriously is a MORON as you so aptly put it.
He may not care what I listen to, but he sure as hell does care HOW i do it. Who says I steal anyway. YOU get clue that SOME of us just object to DRM WITHOUT swapping music or downloading from P2P. Just becasu I am against DRM does not mean I am FOR stealing music. If I just wanted to steal music I would not give a flying fuck about DRM.
Where there is smoke there is FIRE. The really sad part is that the majority of voters are actually unaware of the issue to begin with. It speaks volumes that Diebold et al are actually taking action to try and give the "warm fuzzies"
Anyone who ISN'T DRM-obsessed is in the same position as those who supported Hitler in his early days (i.e. before anyone knew what his agenda was all about). DRM seems ok now, but just wait and see where it goes if we allow it. YES! If you support DRM in any way, I'm calling you a Fascist, just as you imply that everyone opposed to DRM is a pirate.
A good start, but I'm not paying for ANYTHING with DRM embedded. PERIOD. Big brother is all over the fucking place, and I for one am not inviting him into my house. 'NUFF SAID
All the discussion about the merits of pornography and kid's exposure is irrelevant. The point is: good, bad, or indifferent this apporach DOES NOT WORK. It is like building high walls around national monuments so that pigeons won't shit on them. The only thing you accomplish is that people won't SEE the pigeon shit on the monuments (they won't get to enjoy the monuments either). We already have enough unworkable and unenforceable legislation bleeding us taxpayers to death. It should be enough to acknowledge that there is a problem, admit we don't have a solution, and then take whatever time is needed to come up with a workable solution rather than knee-jerk legislation which does nothing other than restrict your rights and cost a whole bunch of money just to give a few narrow-minded idiots an UNJUSTIFIED warm fuzzy.
Your other comments have been addressed by others, but as for: Fifth, and I know it's not quite the same, but how many people feel offended because at some parks, God Bless America is sung during the seventh inning stretch? I have yet to see anyone complaining to Major League Baseball that it offends them. I have yet to hear any fans or players complain about it. You know why? Because it's in honor of the country, not of a religious deity. It's because you won't have a truant officer knocking at your door if you decide NOT to attend a game. But I DO agree that not all religious symbols and expressions are "forcing religion" on others, just in cases where you have a captive audience or "undue influence" like a teacher/student relationship. No one is forcing you to teach in a public school, if you must display a cross, Bible, etc., there are many religious schools where you could teach and be commended for your dedication. Finally I do agree that we are losing our freedoms at an alarming rate due to apathy and ignorance, but I think religious freedoms are still far from being lost or curtailed (as long as they are mainstream Christian beliefs). It IS alarming that so many think that freedom of religion means the right to push MY religion down YOUR throat.
"Actually, the puritans weren't bothered by persecution, they just wanted to be the persecuters. They had no problem persecuting Catholics and others who were different from themselves, once they got here." OUCH!!! Touche, I stand corrected!
The Pledge Of Allegiance as it stands after the "Knights Of Columbus" got their way IS just a public PRAYER. One cannot take the separation of church and state too far. This country was founded by people escaping religious persecution and they tried to set up a government where no one would have to undergo that persecution or predjudice again.
The Ten Commandments are far from being universally accepted, have you already forgotten 9/11?
How would you feel about: One Nation under Satan. or One Nation in a universe devoid of God. If you object to these, then you should understand what the objection is to "one nation under God" (just the other side of the same coin). Where did you get the idea that reciting the pledge was voluntary??
but it's hardly "PressPlay with the Napster's name"
if it looks like a duck.....
and it's quacking pretty loudly!
too little too late.
"Incidentally I find it really interesting that everyone seems to assume from the start that any ballot tampering would be directed by the GOP."
Who Else?????????????????
If the shoe fits.........
This would be a good time to take a chapter from the ride-sharing community and put together a pool of people who travel from-to the same (or close) destinations and arrange to periodically swap their passes, even better swap in the middle of the trip whenever transferring is required. That ought to confuse the heck out anyone trying to track an individual.
(these cards might also be a somewhat justifiable reason to take up identity theft)
Unfortunately the spammers will always win. It is WE (collectively not individually) who are responsible for the proliferation of spam. Spammers are in business to make money and if all those blithering idiots out there who actually RESPOND (i.e. who buy the crap the spammers are selling) would stop, the spam would simply go away because it would no longer be profitable. STOP BUYING THE SHIT THE SPAMMERS SELL. If you simply MUST have the product or service they offer, just go DIRECTLY to the supplier of the product or service. Cut out the middle man and he/she WILL go away.
Since when has the inability to enforce a law ever stopped the law from being enacted?
e.g. drug laws
pornography laws,
gun laws,
etc., etc
This has got to be the first "unenforceable" law that I actually agree with. Maybe we can take the same approach as the RIAA and just scare the shit out of spammers as well as make examples of a few of the more blatant violators. If we are gonna live in a "Police State" it might as well be one without spam (or at least with strong anti spam laws)!
"If he can figure that one out, then he is certainly qualified to be govenor of California" No... The TERMINATOR is certainly qualified to be governor of California... Would Probably be quite an improvement too!