...and cancelling the next election if it looks like it might go poorly for him.
I actually expected that to happen in 2004...until Kerry won the primary. As a result of that, the status quo was in no danger...this time. If Bush actually had a worthy opponent, I believe that the election would have been "delayed".
I'm simply spelling that what I stated was not an opinion. I'm well aware that too many people consider it to be just a "goddamn piece of paper". And that there are very few that really care about enforcing the one we have, and that the idea of true individual freedom is dying a slow death, somewhat accelerated by recent events in the states. I'm also aware that the U.S. is making most noise about such freedoms, but it turns out that's all it is...just a lot of noise.
I guess I'd better get crackin'...get it? C'mon LAUGH! All I need is a proxy up in the states...right? That's how my friends get DirecTV. They just bill it to an American address and bring the box down here. It might not be legal, but everybody gets paid, anything else is irrelevent.
...and they should be summarily shot or something.
Just be sure to get the right guy. And the 50 million or so of his buddies.
It's the other voters, the dumb-asses, who are letting it happen.
At least you're not blaming the media, like so many others are. However, we are to blame for not putting up a good fight. Also remember that if you voted for either of the majors, then yes, you too, are to blame indeed. You are still supporting the status quo.
Again, it's because the voters don't care that this has happened. And in the absence of our authority, this is the only way things can happen. These politicos, just like little kids and puppy dogs, will do whatever they can get away with. It's perfectly natural. And if they continue not to care who's going to do it for them? What is there to stop it if we don't? Only pure luck as far as I can see. As long they continue to vote for "big money" there is very little that can stop this concentration of power...and money. I'm telling you that only we can save ourselves. There is no Santa Clause, Superman, or God that will come down and save us. It's just you and me and..what...100 million others? We just have to do our best to get our friends and neighbors to take a real interest. We must show the clear and present danger that we are in all its gory details. We must put up a better propaganda machine than what they have. And that's a pretty big task, considering that they have the entire Hollywood propaganda machine on their side. Again showing how easily we are distracted. Until we have a gun to our heads to force us to vote for the incumbant parties, I will continue to insist that we alone are responsible for our gov't. Not that it helped on the long run, but it was our vigilance that got rid of Nixon. But that was short lived and it became business as usual when Reagan was elected. It was as if Watergate and the lies about Vietnam never happened. Right now we have some of Nixon's old gang working under the present regime. Rumsfeld and Cheney are amongst the biggest criminals on the planet...yet there they are...as powerful as ever. Why? Because that's the way the majority of people who voted wanted it. Because the majority of voters are too damn lazy and complacent to seek out the truth, which has always been right under their noses all along.
I have absolutely no idea what you mean by that. My point is that all these horrible things are happening is because we let it happen. You are trying to shed the blame to outside forces. And that's just plain false. The American gov't is a more perfect reflection of it's people than most people will admit.
I can understand this sentiment for now, but I would like to see Linux surpass Windows. Maybe if that happens, we'll see Windows emulate Linux. It already emulates Mac OS9. And with Vista, it will emulate OSX.:-)
Money and media get them elected, for the most part. With enough money, you can run enough ads to convince enough people to vote for you....emphasis mine
You seem to be ignoring your own statement. The important part is that you have to convince them. Just because people are easy to convince, that doesn't make it the media's or the money's fault. You're playing the same blame game that they do. And furthermore, thanks to the net, they are starting to lose control of information(why do you think they're trying so hard to control it?). I will not sympathise with people who simply take info that is spoon fed to them via the mass media at face value. There are too many other sources now. So, ignorance is no longer an excuse, not that it ever was. It's the same as the cops telling us that ignorance of the law is no excuse to break it. If you want to uphold the constitution, then ultimately "We the people" have to do it. It is our responibilty, and if we can't handle it, then we don't deserve a representitive gov't.
Bush's approval rating is through the floor. If he ran in 2008 against Hillary Clinton, I'd say Ralph Nader would win by a landslide...
I can virtually guarantee that would never happen. First, Hillary seems to be fairly popular amongst the masses. Second, the majority of voters are fairly comfortable, and are not about to rock the boat. Third, despite what the papers said, I contend that Bush's approval ratings was just as low in '04. Kerry's was lower. That's why he lost. However, I do accept that voter fraud was a real possibilty in 2000 and 2004. Here again, it is we who let it happen. If we don't stand up this will continue. We have to stop it. Don't expect anyone to do it for us. In this regard Kennedy was right, "Ask not what your country can do for you...".
You do understand that the executive branch is an elected position, right? You can make all the claims about money and media you want, but it still takes 51% of the vote to take power. If Bush/Cheney could run again, you can bet they would win again. Unless the economy tanks. As long as people can make their payments and have some left over for a case of beer, they aren't going to give a tinker's damn about the executive branch, or any other branch.
As long as the average citizen is so easily distracted by glitz and bling, I will not lay blame to those forces outside their own heads for their problems. I said it before, and I'll say it again, Look in the mirror, boy.
How does the average citizen take a stand and agitate for real change...
Why does everone call the politicians "dumb"? Cold, calculatiing, greedy, ambitious, but certainly not dumb. The dumb ones get caught. No, the "dumb" part come from those who elect, then re-elect them.
If people want a fascist government they should have voted for one...
They did... covertly. This is what people want. Otherwise neither major party would win an election. Most don't care what kind of gov't they have as long as they believe they are living prosperously. Take Austrailia, for example. Most people are against the war, yet they re-elected the man that put them into it. Why? Because "it's the economy, stupid". Domestically, things are running fairly smoothly. Come election time, that's all they see. Same thing happened in the states and Britain. It's not that people are asleep. It's that they are simply looking after their own self interests, above all others. To me, what's really sad, it's that people that were oppressed become the oppressors when the chance arises. After 9/11 racial profiling becaome perfectly okay to the people that were crying about it before as long as it's not applied tto them. The fact is that most people really want their gov't to protect and care for them. They don't care how. In the end, nothing changes. This is nature's way. We are doing nothing that could be called exclusively human. As the song goes: "You and me baby ain't nuthin' but mammals So let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel..."
Oh, I get it. Everybody else is so much "worse". So it's okay for us to act badly so long as it doesn't appear to be as bad as the "other guy". So China has 32 journalists in prison. The Americans have 5 that we know about(this doesn't count those in prison for not revealing their sources, how convenient). That's okay in your book? It's certainly what you're implying. It might behoove you to check out the reasons that the "freedom loving" Americans have them locked up. Of course we won't know that because the "reasons" are classified. I know, you're going to tell me that we don't execute journalists. No, we "outsource" that job to the extremists. Just like we don't torture prisoners. We just reward the other inmates to do it for us. You just go on believing their spin, like they're actually telling the truth or something.
Why do you need 80GB for internet and word processing again?
Because it's becoming difficult to find anything smaller? However, I do have a 2gig bigfoot running on a Cyrix and 8meg of EDO RAM if you're interested...with Windows 3.1 on it. That ought to be enough for most people. And I betcha that most of today's viruses require win95 or "better"(could anybody verify that, please?), so you'll be very safe. Actually, the thing is a beautiful museum piece, and I won't give it up for a million bucks...Well, maybe for a million...That's still pretty decent money here.
1. If you're not in Utah, don't worry. This isn't going to affect you.
Yeah, until one of these types win a seat in the U.S. senate or house. Then it bcomes a natioanl problem. Just think of people like Senator Hatch. We should never let these kind of people have so much power. For example, if the people of Utah want to let the RIAA wreck their computers, great, but we need a way to protect the rest of us from them.
...just imagine what kind of ideas they would get out of such obviously subversive literature!
We don't have to imagine anything. It's all there on the news every day. The bible could be just as accurately called "The Never Ending Story". It's pretty sad how little things have really changed since the time the old testament was written. And, on that subject, I see the same thing right here on good old slashdot. These kind of stories pop up over and over, and I see the same comments come up everytime. Almost word for word. It's as if it was the first time anybody ever heard of it. I could cut and paste comments I made two years ago, and it might get modded up(or down as the case may be) like it's never been said before. We know how to deal with this. Why aren't we doing it?
Remember, making that cd you listen to, or that mp3 you just downloaded, took time, took money and is someones lively hood.
Then we should have to pay to watch and listen to commercials. They take time and money to make also. One the other hand, most people in the front office are paid when the contract is signed before the first frame is shot. The others get paid when the work is in the can, or during production. That work in the can is what promotes the product actually being sold. I make a demo of my work so that people can see it and hire me if they like it. Then I will get paid for performing work. Why are we treating the musicians differently? All those CDs on the shelf are demos. They are ads promoting the band in question. This is so we can pay them when they perform work. Otherwise I will expect payment for all those demos I released.
do you understand they've built a kind of mafia and monopoly...
Monopoly or not, nobody is forcing us to buy any of it.
Saying it would go away if people didn't want it is very naive, kind of like saying Republican neo-cons will go away because most people don't like what they're doing
Nothing naive about it. They will go away the moment people stop supporting them and voting for them. Nobody's forcing us to vote for them either. The fact is that the majority of people who voted do like what they're doing. Unless you have solid evidence that states otherwise.
In short, the choice is ours to make, not the RIAA's, neo-cons', or anybody else's. Get 51% to vote your way and the problem will go away in the following January(plus or minus a few years).
Slashdot Mirror
...and cancelling the next election if it looks like it might go poorly for him.
I actually expected that to happen in 2004...until Kerry won the primary. As a result of that, the status quo was in no danger...this time. If Bush actually had a worthy opponent, I believe that the election would have been "delayed".
I'm simply spelling that what I stated was not an opinion. I'm well aware that too many people consider it to be just a "goddamn piece of paper". And that there are very few that really care about enforcing the one we have, and that the idea of true individual freedom is dying a slow death, somewhat accelerated by recent events in the states. I'm also aware that the U.S. is making most noise about such freedoms, but it turns out that's all it is...just a lot of noise.
I guess I'd better get crackin'...get it? C'mon LAUGH! All I need is a proxy up in the states...right? That's how my friends get DirecTV. They just bill it to an American address and bring the box down here. It might not be legal, but everybody gets paid, anything else is irrelevent.
...and they should be summarily shot or something.
Just be sure to get the right guy. And the 50 million or so of his buddies.
It's the other voters, the dumb-asses, who are letting it happen.
At least you're not blaming the media, like so many others are. However, we are to blame for not putting up a good fight. Also remember that if you voted for either of the majors, then yes, you too, are to blame indeed. You are still supporting the status quo.
Again, it's because the voters don't care that this has happened. And in the absence of our authority, this is the only way things can happen. These politicos, just like little kids and puppy dogs, will do whatever they can get away with. It's perfectly natural. And if they continue not to care who's going to do it for them? What is there to stop it if we don't? Only pure luck as far as I can see. As long they continue to vote for "big money" there is very little that can stop this concentration of power...and money. I'm telling you that only we can save ourselves. There is no Santa Clause, Superman, or God that will come down and save us. It's just you and me and..what...100 million others? We just have to do our best to get our friends and neighbors to take a real interest. We must show the clear and present danger that we are in all its gory details. We must put up a better propaganda machine than what they have. And that's a pretty big task, considering that they have the entire Hollywood propaganda machine on their side. Again showing how easily we are distracted. Until we have a gun to our heads to force us to vote for the incumbant parties, I will continue to insist that we alone are responsible for our gov't. Not that it helped on the long run, but it was our vigilance that got rid of Nixon. But that was short lived and it became business as usual when Reagan was elected. It was as if Watergate and the lies about Vietnam never happened. Right now we have some of Nixon's old gang working under the present regime. Rumsfeld and Cheney are amongst the biggest criminals on the planet...yet there they are...as powerful as ever. Why? Because that's the way the majority of people who voted wanted it. Because the majority of voters are too damn lazy and complacent to seek out the truth, which has always been right under their noses all along.
We all still remember what happened in Itchy and Scratchy Land...
I have absolutely no idea what you mean by that. My point is that all these horrible things are happening is because we let it happen. You are trying to shed the blame to outside forces. And that's just plain false. The American gov't is a more perfect reflection of it's people than most people will admit.
I can understand this sentiment for now, but I would like to see Linux surpass Windows. Maybe if that happens, we'll see Windows emulate Linux. It already emulates Mac OS9. And with Vista, it will emulate OSX. :-)
Money and media get them elected, for the most part. With enough money, you can run enough ads to convince enough people to vote for you....emphasis mine
You seem to be ignoring your own statement. The important part is that you have to convince them. Just because people are easy to convince, that doesn't make it the media's or the money's fault. You're playing the same blame game that they do. And furthermore, thanks to the net, they are starting to lose control of information(why do you think they're trying so hard to control it?). I will not sympathise with people who simply take info that is spoon fed to them via the mass media at face value. There are too many other sources now. So, ignorance is no longer an excuse, not that it ever was. It's the same as the cops telling us that ignorance of the law is no excuse to break it. If you want to uphold the constitution, then ultimately "We the people" have to do it. It is our responibilty, and if we can't handle it, then we don't deserve a representitive gov't.
Bush's approval rating is through the floor. If he ran in 2008 against Hillary Clinton, I'd say Ralph Nader would win by a landslide...
I can virtually guarantee that would never happen. First, Hillary seems to be fairly popular amongst the masses. Second, the majority of voters are fairly comfortable, and are not about to rock the boat. Third, despite what the papers said, I contend that Bush's approval ratings was just as low in '04. Kerry's was lower. That's why he lost. However, I do accept that voter fraud was a real possibilty in 2000 and 2004. Here again, it is we who let it happen. If we don't stand up this will continue. We have to stop it. Don't expect anyone to do it for us. In this regard Kennedy was right, "Ask not what your country can do for you...".
Um, so says you.
No, so says this . Even if the gov't is wiping it's butt with it.
As far as Microsoft is concerned, antitrust law is a paper tiger.
The Executive branch can... blah, blah, blah...
You do understand that the executive branch is an elected position, right? You can make all the claims about money and media you want, but it still takes 51% of the vote to take power. If Bush/Cheney could run again, you can bet they would win again. Unless the economy tanks. As long as people can make their payments and have some left over for a case of beer, they aren't going to give a tinker's damn about the executive branch, or any other branch.
As long as the average citizen is so easily distracted by glitz and bling, I will not lay blame to those forces outside their own heads for their problems. I said it before, and I'll say it again, Look in the mirror, boy.
How does the average citizen take a stand and agitate for real change...
One at a time if need be.
I'm soaking my cutting blades in alcohol right now...
Do you really believe that infection will be a problem?
Why does everone call the politicians "dumb"? Cold, calculatiing, greedy, ambitious, but certainly not dumb. The dumb ones get caught. No, the "dumb" part come from those who elect, then re-elect them.
If people want a fascist government they should have voted for one...
They did... covertly. This is what people want. Otherwise neither major party would win an election. Most don't care what kind of gov't they have as long as they believe they are living prosperously. Take Austrailia, for example. Most people are against the war, yet they re-elected the man that put them into it. Why? Because "it's the economy, stupid". Domestically, things are running fairly smoothly. Come election time, that's all they see. Same thing happened in the states and Britain. It's not that people are asleep. It's that they are simply looking after their own self interests, above all others. To me, what's really sad, it's that people that were oppressed become the oppressors when the chance arises. After 9/11 racial profiling becaome perfectly okay to the people that were crying about it before as long as it's not applied tto them. The fact is that most people really want their gov't to protect and care for them. They don't care how. In the end, nothing changes. This is nature's way. We are doing nothing that could be called exclusively human.
As the song goes:
"You and me baby ain't nuthin' but mammals
So let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel..."
Oh, I get it. Everybody else is so much "worse". So it's okay for us to act badly so long as it doesn't appear to be as bad as the "other guy". So China has 32 journalists in prison. The Americans have 5 that we know about(this doesn't count those in prison for not revealing their sources, how convenient). That's okay in your book? It's certainly what you're implying. It might behoove you to check out the reasons that the "freedom loving" Americans have them locked up. Of course we won't know that because the "reasons" are classified. I know, you're going to tell me that we don't execute journalists. No, we "outsource" that job to the extremists. Just like we don't torture prisoners. We just reward the other inmates to do it for us. You just go on believing their spin, like they're actually telling the truth or something.
That's like blaming a State for US-wide laws.
I still blame California for Sonny Bono. And Utah for Senator Hatch.
...I call it yet another stab into the heart of freedom and liberty.
Brought to you by...the majority of people who vote.
Why do you need 80GB for internet and word processing again?
Because it's becoming difficult to find anything smaller? However, I do have a 2gig bigfoot running on a Cyrix and 8meg of EDO RAM if you're interested...with Windows 3.1 on it. That ought to be enough for most people. And I betcha that most of today's viruses require win95 or "better"(could anybody verify that, please?), so you'll be very safe. Actually, the thing is a beautiful museum piece, and I won't give it up for a million bucks...Well, maybe for a million...That's still pretty decent money here.
1. If you're not in Utah, don't worry. This isn't going to affect you.
Yeah, until one of these types win a seat in the U.S. senate or house. Then it bcomes a natioanl problem. Just think of people like Senator Hatch. We should never let these kind of people have so much power. For example, if the people of Utah want to let the RIAA wreck their computers, great, but we need a way to protect the rest of us from them.
...just imagine what kind of ideas they would get out of such obviously subversive literature!
We don't have to imagine anything. It's all there on the news every day. The bible could be just as accurately called "The Never Ending Story". It's pretty sad how little things have really changed since the time the old testament was written. And, on that subject, I see the same thing right here on good old slashdot. These kind of stories pop up over and over, and I see the same comments come up everytime. Almost word for word. It's as if it was the first time anybody ever heard of it. I could cut and paste comments I made two years ago, and it might get modded up(or down as the case may be) like it's never been said before. We know how to deal with this. Why aren't we doing it?
It is govt protection that allows those monopolies to exist in the first place. They can't do it on their own.
Remember, making that cd you listen to, or that mp3 you just downloaded, took time, took money and is someones lively hood.
Then we should have to pay to watch and listen to commercials. They take time and money to make also. One the other hand, most people in the front office are paid when the contract is signed before the first frame is shot. The others get paid when the work is in the can, or during production. That work in the can is what promotes the product actually being sold. I make a demo of my work so that people can see it and hire me if they like it. Then I will get paid for performing work. Why are we treating the musicians differently? All those CDs on the shelf are demos. They are ads promoting the band in question. This is so we can pay them when they perform work. Otherwise I will expect payment for all those demos I released.
do you understand they've built a kind of mafia and monopoly...
Monopoly or not, nobody is forcing us to buy any of it.
Saying it would go away if people didn't want it is very naive, kind of like saying Republican neo-cons will go away because most people don't like what they're doing
Nothing naive about it. They will go away the moment people stop supporting them and voting for them. Nobody's forcing us to vote for them either. The fact is that the majority of people who voted do like what they're doing. Unless you have solid evidence that states otherwise.
In short, the choice is ours to make, not the RIAA's, neo-cons', or anybody else's. Get 51% to vote your way and the problem will go away in the following January(plus or minus a few years).