Though you've already been corrected on budgets, I'd still like to address this from my perspective.
I am a liberal at heart. I believe in equality, and I don't really have a problem with helping people in need. If I knew that my tax money would go only to good things, I would have absolutely no problem with a welfare state.
But my tax money is going toward killing people who've never threatened us and imprisoning others who've never hurt a single creature. I cannot, in good conscience, endorse the strengthening of this government in hopes that it will never do these things. With great power comes great tyranny, abuse, and corruption.
Maybe if I were a "true" liberal I could overlook the blatant unethical side-effects of government for free education and health care. But I can't. I first and foremost believe that everyone has the right to live and to live freely. A government that does not have the superfluous resources to do good things also does not have the resources to do bad things. It's just that simple.
Some liberals will say "a starving man is not a free man" and that a government can more effectively take care of its citizens than the citizens. I happen to be a little more cynical than that.
Btw - that's actually why I'm a little worried about electing a democrat president this election - the democrats are in a very good strategic position in the house and senate this year, and will likely maintain their lead in the house and create one in the senate. Which removes the separation of powers again next year if we don't elect a republican president, and suddenly instead of rubber-stamping terror bills and invasions we're rubber stamping a whole new level of welfare state. Exactly. Political gridlock is the only way citizens are safe in this country. People complain that the President and/or Congress "can't get anything done" when one branch is of the opposite party... well, when did that stop being a good thing?
What really scares me is when this final "party-check" doesn't work... like 70% of what we've seen from the Democratic congress so far.
I've encountered countless amounts of commercial software, hardware products and services where the company states that they are very secure, but when investigating things myself, I find that its trivial to circumvent their security. Consumers deserve better than this and its all of our responsibilities to make all people aware of these problems. Actually, one of my customer sites isn't using passwords specifically because they demanded that logging in be easy. Yeah, I had to write that code while simultaneously assuring my boss that it's "as secure as can be". I pretty much hated my life after having to design a legitimate login system and then having to hack in a back door so that these doofs could use barcodes to log in. Barcodes that anyone can photocopy.
I'd be happy with just being able to install "Documents and Settings", "Program Files", and *all temp/cache folders* on different partitions than "Windows".
I can do it, but it's damn near impossible. Lots of dicking around.
Another good point is that antidepressants DO have a wide variety of documented effects which are not superficially related to depression. For example, Wellbutrin (Bupropion hcl) is somewhat of a wonderdrug. It boosts libido, causes you to lose weight since it's a stimulant, has other stimulant-like effects, helps you quit smoking, and even helps back pain apparently (though it's not prescribed for that).
If it can help against smoking addiction, it's possible that it can help with depressed feeling addiction. If depression causes loss of libido, it will help that. If you're depressed because you're fat and don't have the energy to exercise, a stimulant is a great way to get you going.
So it's quite possible that the side-effects of the drug are what make it effective, but those side-effects have to coincide with your goals. If somebody wants to change and is sick of being depressed, then an anti-depressant WILL work and it's not just the placebo effect. It will give boosts in the areas that need help, most likely energy. However, if you're just a random person in a study without any specific life goals, then what exactly are you going to do with that energy?
One of my favorite quotes - Thomas Jefferson to William S. Smith Paris, Nov. 13, 1787:
God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, & always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. We have had 13. states independent 11. years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century & a half for each state. What country before ever existed a century & half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.
They could always just limit the maximum connections of a particular client to, say, 100. "100 simultaneous connections are reasonable for all legal uses of the Interweb."
What I have a real problem with is that the customers don't get the information on how the traffic is "shaped". What exactly causes this to kick in? Without telling the customer, I think they are engaging in a deceptive practice, and should be fined, hard. Excuse me if I don't hold my breath. Regardless of what point(s) are argued in court, I have a feeling that the ruling will not be in the consumers' favor.
That's nice and all, but the taxpayers who are footing the bill were told that the war was for WMDs and their protection. Not the protection of the Iraqi citizens. If it was the humane aspect of it, we should have invaded Iraq back when we were selling them the WMDs which they used against their own citizens.
Furthermore, Saddam kept that place in line with his secret service better than we apparently can with our entire military. Non-Muslims are persecuted more now than they were under Saddam's rule. Iraq's shaping up to be a nice "democratic" theocracy with a healthy dose of anarchism.
Sorry, that's a poor example. Keeping the economy "good" all the time is like trying to be happy all the time. Without going into too many details, we're metaphorically taking the plane higher so we can crash harder. Eventually the tinkering catches up, as we're seeing with the value of the dollar overseas and countries ceasing to trade oil in USD.
People wouldn't be losing their houses had the interest rates not been artificially low in the first place, prompting them to spend money.
This is exactly what we want. We don't need new laws. The efficiency of a government is inversely proportional to the amount of freedom of its citizens.
As an interesting side-note, Spanish cuisine basically centers around pork because of the Spanish Inquisition. Chances are that if you ate pork in public you wouldn't be persecuted.
Welcome to modern day America, where White Men are simultaneously racist evil corporate rulers who don't care about their companies, are hidden members of the KKK, and misogynist and redneck slobs who can't take care of themselves and only care about beer and football...:P. Except white males get the last laugh, because they are still the richest and most powerful.
It's important that we all know what the government's up to and why it's doing what it's doing.
The government is punishing sinus sufferers. You may say, "So what? Let's joke about it, ha ha ha!"
Well, for some people, pseudoephedrine is the only available drug that makes their daily lives worth living. Just wait until you have to jump through 10 hoops and be recorded as a potential terrorist for something you need.
Phenylephrine won't even help me when I have sinus problems. To me it is like taking a placebo.
I actually wrote my senator a nasty email about the pseudoephedrine ban. Although, he's Feingold so he's already probably doing awesome things. But a few words of encouragement don't hurt.
Long story short, I faxed my drivers license to a website and buy ephedrine in bulk now. It's about 3x as effective as pseudoephedrine.
One thing for sure is that Iran is not Iraq 2. There aren't many parallels between them, and the biggest and most important difference in my opinion is this: In Iran Mahmoud is subject to checks and balances, he isn't a dictator and he has to watch where he treads. Economic sanctions and internal political pressure will definitely be enough, I would be astonished if it came to war. Iraq stopped trading oil in US dollars and we invaded them... Iran recently stopped trading oil in dollars and we are threatening them despite the recent intelligence report.
I don't believe that the Iranian people are all too upset at their government. Actually, they are. It's just that our actions keep bringing them together, whereas if we left them alone they'd change drastically.
For example, we aren't too happy with George W Bush, our current leader, yet when a tragedy happens or we are threatened, we seem to rally behind the current leader.
The only ones who benefit from international saber-rattling are the "establishment" who would otherwise be kicked out of power. There is actually a lot of discontent with the current leadership of Iran, but by threatening Iran we only strengthen them.
That's why the constitution says that all power not explicitly granted to the federal government should go to the states or the people. Far too much emphasis is put on federal politics when the city and state politicians make most of the decisions that influence your daily life.
I think that's the major problem with US politics right now - people think that federal and local ideologies must be the same, and that if you don't support federal infrastructure building via income tax then you don't support local roads via property tax.
There are different levels of governance where different laws & bureaucracies work more efficiently. This continual trend toward a strong federal government, imposing homogeneity on a wide variety of American subcultures, has certain consequences. Unfortunately, one of these is monumental inflation since the federal government is the only level which can create currency (although the constitution says they shouldn't really, since the constitution explicitly mentions gold and silver).
Really, all Ron Paul is arguing is that we should follow the Constitution and amend it if it is so "out dated". If we followed the constitution, the federal government would pretty much be limited to national defense - which is the level at which defense best serves everybody, I might add.
Slashdot Mirror
Ha-ha, I get it! It's a pun.
Though you've already been corrected on budgets, I'd still like to address this from my perspective.
I am a liberal at heart. I believe in equality, and I don't really have a problem with helping people in need. If I knew that my tax money would go only to good things, I would have absolutely no problem with a welfare state.
But my tax money is going toward killing people who've never threatened us and imprisoning others who've never hurt a single creature. I cannot, in good conscience, endorse the strengthening of this government in hopes that it will never do these things. With great power comes great tyranny, abuse, and corruption.
Maybe if I were a "true" liberal I could overlook the blatant unethical side-effects of government for free education and health care. But I can't. I first and foremost believe that everyone has the right to live and to live freely. A government that does not have the superfluous resources to do good things also does not have the resources to do bad things. It's just that simple.
Some liberals will say "a starving man is not a free man" and that a government can more effectively take care of its citizens than the citizens. I happen to be a little more cynical than that.
What really scares me is when this final "party-check" doesn't work... like 70% of what we've seen from the Democratic congress so far.
I'd be happy with just being able to install "Documents and Settings", "Program Files", and *all temp/cache folders* on different partitions than "Windows".
I can do it, but it's damn near impossible. Lots of dicking around.
That is a good point.
Another good point is that antidepressants DO have a wide variety of documented effects which are not superficially related to depression. For example, Wellbutrin (Bupropion hcl) is somewhat of a wonderdrug. It boosts libido, causes you to lose weight since it's a stimulant, has other stimulant-like effects, helps you quit smoking, and even helps back pain apparently (though it's not prescribed for that).
If it can help against smoking addiction, it's possible that it can help with depressed feeling addiction. If depression causes loss of libido, it will help that. If you're depressed because you're fat and don't have the energy to exercise, a stimulant is a great way to get you going.
So it's quite possible that the side-effects of the drug are what make it effective, but those side-effects have to coincide with your goals. If somebody wants to change and is sick of being depressed, then an anti-depressant WILL work and it's not just the placebo effect. It will give boosts in the areas that need help, most likely energy. However, if you're just a random person in a study without any specific life goals, then what exactly are you going to do with that energy?
A magical garbage bag that never fills up!
The phenomena is called masturbation. I'm sure everyone here is aware of it.
Exactly. The Flying Spaghetti Monster is on your side.
They could always just limit the maximum connections of a particular client to, say, 100.
"100 simultaneous connections are reasonable for all legal uses of the Interweb."
Then all p2p would be fucked, not just BT.
They already make houses out of materials which exhibit the properties you seek.
They're called "Legos".
That's nice and all, but the taxpayers who are footing the bill were told that the war was for WMDs and their protection. Not the protection of the Iraqi citizens. If it was the humane aspect of it, we should have invaded Iraq back when we were selling them the WMDs which they used against their own citizens.
Furthermore, Saddam kept that place in line with his secret service better than we apparently can with our entire military. Non-Muslims are persecuted more now than they were under Saddam's rule. Iraq's shaping up to be a nice "democratic" theocracy with a healthy dose of anarchism.
Sorry, that's a poor example. Keeping the economy "good" all the time is like trying to be happy all the time. Without going into too many details, we're metaphorically taking the plane higher so we can crash harder. Eventually the tinkering catches up, as we're seeing with the value of the dollar overseas and countries ceasing to trade oil in USD.
People wouldn't be losing their houses had the interest rates not been artificially low in the first place, prompting them to spend money.
This is exactly what we want. We don't need new laws. The efficiency of a government is inversely proportional to the amount of freedom of its citizens.
As an interesting side-note, Spanish cuisine basically centers around pork because of the Spanish Inquisition. Chances are that if you ate pork in public you wouldn't be persecuted.
It's important that we all know what the government's up to and why it's doing what it's doing.
The government is punishing sinus sufferers. You may say, "So what? Let's joke about it, ha ha ha!"
Well, for some people, pseudoephedrine is the only available drug that makes their daily lives worth living. Just wait until you have to jump through 10 hoops and be recorded as a potential terrorist for something you need.
Phenylephrine won't even help me when I have sinus problems. To me it is like taking a placebo.
I actually wrote my senator a nasty email about the pseudoephedrine ban. Although, he's Feingold so he's already probably doing awesome things. But a few words of encouragement don't hurt.
Long story short, I faxed my drivers license to a website and buy ephedrine in bulk now. It's about 3x as effective as pseudoephedrine.
That's my tinfoil hat speaking.
I went to an Iran speech by Gary Sick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Sick (former Carter adviser & author of October Surprise http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_surprise_conspiracy) where he argued that Iranian politics is somewhat similar to American politics.
For example, we aren't too happy with George W Bush, our current leader, yet when a tragedy happens or we are threatened, we seem to rally behind the current leader.
The only ones who benefit from international saber-rattling are the "establishment" who would otherwise be kicked out of power. There is actually a lot of discontent with the current leadership of Iran, but by threatening Iran we only strengthen them.
That's why the constitution says that all power not explicitly granted to the federal government should go to the states or the people. Far too much emphasis is put on federal politics when the city and state politicians make most of the decisions that influence your daily life.
I think that's the major problem with US politics right now - people think that federal and local ideologies must be the same, and that if you don't support federal infrastructure building via income tax then you don't support local roads via property tax.
There are different levels of governance where different laws & bureaucracies work more efficiently. This continual trend toward a strong federal government, imposing homogeneity on a wide variety of American subcultures, has certain consequences. Unfortunately, one of these is monumental inflation since the federal government is the only level which can create currency (although the constitution says they shouldn't really, since the constitution explicitly mentions gold and silver).
Really, all Ron Paul is arguing is that we should follow the Constitution and amend it if it is so "out dated". If we followed the constitution, the federal government would pretty much be limited to national defense - which is the level at which defense best serves everybody, I might add.
The fix on this page works: https://bugs.launchpad.net/xine-lib/+bug/108453
In your config file put:
engine.decoder_priorities.win32a:5
engine.decoder_priorities.win32v:5