"This is simply a Union pass-through program to funnel tax money into Democrat re-election campaigns."
Except that it can't be, because Unions don't want good teachers to be singled out and rewarded. They have fought it every time.
Union pass-throughs almost always involve benefits for ALL teachers, not just one group. After all... it's a Union.
With that much money over and above what they say they'll give teachers, I'm sure much of the money will go to the union leader's pockets and also to help prop up union pensions, of which many are grossly under-funded, having been raided by union leadership and/or funds never deposited, but siphoned away for both legitimate and not-so-much expenses. That's not even considering losses from the battles and defeats in WI and elsewhere, and the bad economy.
I have serious doubts this program will even go forward in any meaningful way, outside of the unions getting the money, followed by delays, lawsuits, etc. By the time it actually comes to implementing the program, if it ever gets that far, the election will be long past and the money long gone. Unions taught Hollywood about accounting.
In other words, I don't care about the physics or the chemistry or the meteorology. CO2 can't possibly cause global warming because it would interfere with someone's profit margin.
Nice straw-man you built there. Did you have adult help?
No, I said that *regardless* of whether AGW is actually serious and a problem or not, unless the largest, most populous parts of the world that produce, or soon will be, the majority of CO2 are willing to even consider participating, any efforts on our part alone is worse than simply useless in making any meaningful change to the global climate, it actually harms our economy and punishes our people with lower standards of life to no good end and weakens the US as a power.
Whenever the US has shown economic/military/political weakness, wars have historically and will be started by those hostile to the US and the West.
Think on a larger global scale and base it on what has happened again and again, the patterns that repeat through centuries of history.
Of course, there's the old canard, eh? "The one thing we learn from history is that we never learn from history."
One billion to give 2500 teachers a $20K stipend. So it costs $400K per teacher to provide that $20K raise?!!!!
Well, they need that extra $380K of taxpayer's hard-earned money per teacher for the Unions to donate back to Obama's and other Democrat's re-election campaigns. Why else would this program be proposed during an election year? Duh.
Don't tell me you actually believe Obama gives two shits about educating kids (besides his own in private schools), do you? An educated electorate is the very last thing Progressives in either Party want!
This is simply a Union pass-through program to funnel tax money into Democrat re-election campaigns.
Only a dyed-in-the-wool Republican would be retarded enough to say in one sentence that Obama puts corporations at the for front (sic) and in the next sentence claim that he is anti business.
Obama engages in "crony-Capitalism" where favored businesses, corporations, and individuals who support he and his agendas receive special treatment, access to power, and sweetheart deals at taxpayer's expense. It could probably best be described as a form of "soft Fascism". Just look at all the Goldman-Sachs people who hold positions of power in the Obama WH.
Obama Administration: Deputy Director, National Economic Council - Former Goldman Sachs Title: Financial Analyst
Obama Administration: Chairman, President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board - Former Goldman Sachs Title: Board Member (Chairman, 1990-94; Director, 2005-)
Obama Administration: Commissioner, Commodity Futures Trading Commission - Former Goldman Sachs Title: Partner and Co-head of Finance
Obama Administration: Undersecretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs, State Department - Former Goldman Sachs Title: Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs Group
Obama Administration: Ambassador to Germany - Former Goldman Sachs Title: Head of Goldman Sachs, Frankfurt
Obama Administration: Chief of Staff to Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geitner - Former Goldman Sachs Title: Lobbyist 2005-2008; Vice President for Government Relations
Obama Administration: Advisor to Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geitner - Former Goldman Sachs Title: President and Chief Operating Officer (1999-2003)
Republican or Democrat, this should make you disgusted and angry.
(I suspect the Founders did not envision the massive career Congress we have now).
The Founders and framers of the Constitution were most vehemently against the idea of career politicians. They envisioned the Citizen-Statesman, who would sacrifice time away from their main jobs/careers/businesses, to briefly serve and represent their fellow citizens, and then return to their civilian lives.
The career political animals that inhabit Washington D.C. these days would horrify them.
They also envisioned that government would, as governments tend to do, grow and expand in size, power, and scope, and that citizens would need to rise up in armed revolt every few decades and hang some politicians.
We're frankly long, long overdue for some public hangings in D.C. according to those who founded this nation. The Progressives and Democrats of today who think simply reducing the rate of growth of some little government program is some kind of atrocity would be horrified at the Founders vision for government downsizing, which began at the end of a gallows's rope and at the point of civilian cannon, musket, & sword. They didn't screw around, and they took their politics with deadly seriousness.
Erm, democracy and republic aren't two mutually exclusive things. A republic is, put simply, little more than a nation where there is no monarch. It doesn't stop it being a democracy.
The US is a specific type of republic, a "representative republic", which, very briefly, is where citizens, divided into regional sovereign states, vote to elect representatives to protect and promote their interests, values, and views in the governance of their community, state, and nation.
You're quite correct that, up until very recently, far too few citizens had anything like a decent understanding of our government structure and the reasons why it was designed the way it was at it's founding.
However, I am cautiously optimistic and encouraged by the fact that the recent rapid and profound changes being made are causing more and more citizens to notice and begin to educate themselves and get involved, particularly as these changes are, and are increasingly going to, significantly change the conditions and type of society under which we live.
I'm going to get modded down, but I frankly don't give a damn.
It's watermelons all the way down.
Green on the outside, red on the inside.
All the proposed "solutions" to AGW basically boil down to "You 1st-world Western Capitalist nations are to blame for all the pollution, give us your wealth and cripple your industries and economies!", all the while completely ignoring most of the world's most populous and polluting nations and regions like China, India, etc, meaning that any reductions in the West will come to exactly diddly in actually having any meaningful effect on climate.
It doesn't really even matter whether AGW theories are correct or not. Until India, China, et al play ball (which they currently have no intentions whatsoever of doing), anything done in the West is simply a foot-gun contest.
Redistributing wealth won't reduce any claimed "warming". It just furthers anti-Western, anti-Capitalist ideologies and agendas.
You can choose what you buy, can't you? The other countries are free to choose, if they want to produce stuff that damages the environment, they can sell it to anyone else.
Oh, so we should just outsource our negative externalities to other places with those brown/yellow-skinned people living in poverty?
How very cosmopolitan of you.
Also, you don't think there is any middle ground for reducing or better thinking our current regulations?
No I don't. Current regulations are not even enough.
That's the way comrade! No compromise, no retreat! Gaia must be cleansed of this evil technology and industry! Hunter-gatherer society, FTW!
Perhaps if businesses were held accountable for the the full lifetime of their products, they would innovate more environmentally friendly products, or at least products that could be dismantled and recycled easier.
Or they could decide, after comparing risk/reward and cost/benefit, that investing in research, development, and manufacturing of tech products just isn't worth it, sell off their factories and assets, and go into making shoelaces or something instead, or simply stick their capital in offshore accounts and collect interest.
Congratulations! You've just killed the tech industry and crippled the entire species' technological development.
Unintended consequences are a bitch
Or do you prefer everyone live in an agrarian society? Hunter-gatherer, perhaps, if those nasty farms pollute too much and/or cows produce too much CO2?
I can't believe it's cheaper to dig millions of tons of rock to extract metals and other shit than it is to recycle our trash.
The problem in the US is that complying with the myriad environmental regulations, which were passed to protect the environment, makes the cost of dealing with all the toxic compounds that are produced and/or freed during the process of a high-yield-percentage recycling program, especially for electronics, exceed what they can recover.
Why not try to create a better informed electorate? One which understands that software patents deter competition and stifle innovation.
What does it matter how informed and clued-in the electorate is if the politicians won't listen?
Don't get me wrong. I fully support efforts to inform and involve more people in the process. First, however, one must have a government that will respond and be accountable to the electorate. Career politicians have the time to form networks of cronies in and out of government to secure their positions and power, and to insulate themselves from public accountability.
As far as the new politicians, if they lie about their intentions and/or behave badly they must be voted out. There's no "Pre-Crime" that can determine this ahead of time. The electorate can only try to vet candidates as well as possible, and kick them to the curb if they prove untrustworthy.
The only course we can take to truly protect ourselves against government corruption is to limit the amount of power and wealth they control, and the amount of time they have to abuse it. Nobody is going to try to bribe/influence a politician to get government subsidies, for example, if said politician/government hasn't the power or wealth to provide such subsidies.
This in turn will be a disincentive to those contributing/spending large amounts of campaign and lobbying money, since their returns on their "investment" will be greatly reduced or eliminated. The framers of the Constitution knew this, and deliberately hamstrung the central government for precisely these reasons.
The more power and wealth government controls, the more money it's worth spending to those seeking influence. The reverse is also true, which is the point.
It has become part of the culture and popular language usage.
That's because it's an easy cop out that cannot be falsified, eg: the OP used it used in response to facts that did not support his parinoia.
Just because one is paranoid does not mean that nobody is out to get you. Paranoia is a logical reaction when somebody or something *is* out to get you. Considering that the natural progression of government is to expand in size, scope, and power while individual liberty shrinks, OP's reaction is not unreasonable.
"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel." - Patrick Henry
"The Price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilance." - Thomas Jefferson
"The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases." - Thomas Jefferson
"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." - John Adams
You've wasted time in your life that you'll never get back... "Hopefully soon to be" is not "is"... try speaking to the current congressperson...
You mean continue talking to the guys that routinely ignore their constituents, lie to us in the face of obvious factual contradictions, and only listen to those throwing hookers, bags of cash, and coke at them?
That's worked so well so far, hasn't it?
The definition of insanity comes to mind.
Toss all incumbents out. Demand term limits. Eliminate career politicians.
Can we stop using this old folksy saying now? It just isn't true.
No.
The *concept* communicated by that saying is a valid one, even if the actual "froggy-facts" don't support it's literal meaning in the real world. It has become part of the culture and popular language usage.
They may not have known that it didn't permanently record. They just saw a camera affixed to the guy's face and acted.
No.
They saw a prosthetic device affixed to the guy's face.
Because they feared what they did not understand simply because of it's appearance, and in addition, despite documentation he carried for this purpose they assaulted him.
I don't know how much clearer this can be made that they feared him because of his appearance with prosthesis.
> "Still boils down to fear of cybernetic prosthesis."
No, it boils down to the guy taking pictures of the premises. It being a prosthesis is irrelevant.
As far as I could tell from the admittedly-scant information the/. story and linked article provided about Mann's implants & digital vision augmentations, it seems they were not designed, nor had as a normal function, the ability to photograph/video-record on command. The pictures of Mann's attackers were said to have resulted from the attacker's damaging the system resulting in the images being frozen in buffers.
If McDonalds or any other business that deals directly with the public in such a manner has a problem with the possible capabilities of such prosthesis, then they need to post high-visibility signage at the entrances stating that those with electronic-based prosthesis are not welcome on the premises.
Assault & battery is not an acceptable response in any civilized society. Then again, the French have never been in danger of being accused of being overly-civil to Americans visiting France. It's one of the main reasons I as a blues musician have turned down opportunities to do tours in France, despite the love the French have for American blues music.
Personally I blame the eventual end of Iceland's anarchy on the fact that it was a capitalist anarchy rather than a collectivist one.
If it's truly anarchy, then there is no collectivism or capitalism, except perhaps among small groups of individuals. Both capitalism and collectivism require a structure, which is anathema in anarchy.
Besides, collectivism (socialism/communism/fascism) has killed many tens of millions (Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Hitler, Mussolini). Collectivism in the real world that means everyone, except those in power, share an equal amount of misery.
Capitalism is abominable, horrible, and outcomes for individuals vary widely. However, it's still the best system ever devised for empowering the individual person and allowing them the most personal liberty and freedom possible.
>Capitalism is the only system ever created where wealth is a renewable resource for everyone as long as they are willing to work and/or come up with an idea, skill, invention, or service thatâ(TM)s valuable to someone else.
>Capitalism has raised more people from poverty and raised more people to higher standards of living than any other system ever created.
>Capitalism has allowed more people to live in more freedom than any other system ever invented.
>Capitalism has allowed the US to provide more humanitarian assistance to those in need around the world than any other system or country in history, usually more than all the other countries and organizations combined for any particular example.
May I suggest reading up a bit on history from first-sources.
Oh, and "socialist-libertarianism"? Hello, Captain Oxymoron. There's no such thing except in the fevered dreams of ivory-tower academics and armchair ideological experts, and would fall victim to many of the same quirks of basic human nature that causes and has caused socialism and other forms of collectivism to fail. Collectivist strategies only work in relatively small groups and/or groups with unique cultural and social attitudes and thinking.
And at the risk of going off-topic, you might want to read this article. TLDR: turns out Darrell Issa outright lied about the most important details of Fast and Furious.
TFA says that a "Fortune" magazine investigation says that they, the "Fortune" journalists, not any impartial authority, don't think the sales were illegal or unusual. No evidence presented. Just opinion. Seeing the slant most of their reporting has taken, I'd sooner believe Bernie Madoff when he claims innocence.
Executive privilege protects members of the executive branch from certain actions from members of the legislative and judicial branches.
It protects members of the Executive branch and their consultants and advisors. Seeing as Obama has seen fit to stuff the WH full with Goldman-Sachs people in a merry-go-'round between GS and the WH, many of whom are the exact same people involved in the economic mess, that makes it quite plausible that Obama could well declare EP over damaging documents and testimony concerning these shenanigans if the investigation gets close to the WH, even if it might be likely to be overruled by some judicial body. That takes time, as they will delay and stonewall. Meanwhile, the delays and stonewalling keeps Obama & Company safe till after the election.
I didn't like that executive privilege had been invoked 25 times since Reagan: three times by Reagan, one time by the first President George H.W. Bush, 14 times by President Clinton, six times by George W. Bush then, and I don't like it now when used by Obama.
You're blindly-partisan attitude and blinkered thinking are two of the biggest reasons the US is in the state it's in today.
And it's way too convenient that Goldman was representing a competitor (Nuance) at the same time.
Goldman was negligent and possibly also double-dealing.
Goldman's only hope here is to get out on a standing issue. If Goldman actually has to go to trial on this, they're screwed. A jury will crucify them. And rightfully so.
My wild guess? This settles before trial for a couple hundred million.
Nah.
Obama will simply declare "Executive Privilege", like he did to cover for himself and Holder, and GS execs will walk away.
How and why? Well, because GS are the Obama WH Executive Advisors.
Obama Administration: Deputy Director, National Economic Council Former Goldman Sachs Title: Financial Analyst
Obama Administration: Chairman, PresidentÃ(TM)s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board Former Goldman Sachs Title: Board Member (Chairman, 1990-94; Director, 2005-)
Obama Administration: Commissioner, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Former Goldman Sachs Title: Partner and Co-head of Finance
Obama Administration: Undersecretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs, State Department Former Goldman Sachs Title: Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs Group
Obama Administration: Ambassador to Germany Former Goldman Sachs Title: Head of Goldman Sachs, Frankfurt
Obama Administration: Chief of Staff to Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geitner Former Goldman Sachs Title: Lobbyist 2005-2008; Vice President for Government Relations
Obama Administration: Advisor to Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geitner Former Goldman Sachs Title: President and Chief Operating Officer (1999-2003)
I've never driven a go-kart with a skin like that though. Then again, I'm an adult, and I probably wouldn't fit in it. Too bad their whole spec sheet is an image. I'd like to run it through a translator to see how pathetic the rest is.
Any volunteers who read Japanese who can translate it?
Yes, of course.
Basically, it says; "If Solyndra can get $500M for smoke & mirrors, we'll all be able to retire to Tahiti with more money than Bill Gates after Obama's DoE/EPA makes this the only vehicle legally allowed to be sold in the US!"
I'm sorry to say, however, that the 24-hr cable news daytime staple filler of car chases will become very boring. Especially when a 6-yo on his Big Wheel performs the PIT maneuver to stop the fleeing criminals.
HTH
Strat
Modded "Flamebait"?
I'm shocked!
I didn't know there was that much hatred and animosity towards Big Wheels on Slashdot! Are Big Wheels a "tool of the 1% to disenfranchise the 99%" or something?
I've never driven a go-kart with a skin like that though. Then again, I'm an adult, and I probably wouldn't fit in it. Too bad their whole spec sheet is an image. I'd like to run it through a translator to see how pathetic the rest is.
Any volunteers who read Japanese who can translate it?
Yes, of course.
Basically, it says; "If Solyndra can get $500M for smoke & mirrors, we'll all be able to retire to Tahiti with more money than Bill Gates after Obama's DoE/EPA makes this the only vehicle legally allowed to be sold in the US!"
I'm sorry to say, however, that the 24-hr cable news daytime staple filler of car chases will become very boring. Especially when a 6-yo on his Big Wheel performs the PIT maneuver to stop the fleeing criminals.
i'm not a paranoid schizophrenic, but we are talking about an amazing fantastic control device for locking our behavior into that of perfect little worker bees. maybe not even in overt ways, ie, somebody with an agenda: i'm talking in subtle, unpurposeful ways only visible by analyzing the overall effects of overlapping algorithms
super creepy dystopian thoughts here
You mean we could evolve into something like this?
Slashdot Mirror
With that much money over and above what they say they'll give teachers, I'm sure much of the money will go to the union leader's pockets and also to help prop up union pensions, of which many are grossly under-funded, having been raided by union leadership and/or funds never deposited, but siphoned away for both legitimate and not-so-much expenses. That's not even considering losses from the battles and defeats in WI and elsewhere, and the bad economy.
I have serious doubts this program will even go forward in any meaningful way, outside of the unions getting the money, followed by delays, lawsuits, etc. By the time it actually comes to implementing the program, if it ever gets that far, the election will be long past and the money long gone. Unions taught Hollywood about accounting.
Strat
In other words, I don't care about the physics or the chemistry or the meteorology. CO2 can't possibly cause global warming because it would interfere with someone's profit margin.
Nice straw-man you built there. Did you have adult help?
No, I said that *regardless* of whether AGW is actually serious and a problem or not, unless the largest, most populous parts of the world that produce, or soon will be, the majority of CO2 are willing to even consider participating, any efforts on our part alone is worse than simply useless in making any meaningful change to the global climate, it actually harms our economy and punishes our people with lower standards of life to no good end and weakens the US as a power.
Whenever the US has shown economic/military/political weakness, wars have historically and will be started by those hostile to the US and the West.
Think on a larger global scale and base it on what has happened again and again, the patterns that repeat through centuries of history.
Of course, there's the old canard, eh? "The one thing we learn from history is that we never learn from history."
Strat
One billion to give 2500 teachers a $20K stipend. So it costs $400K per teacher to provide that $20K raise?!!!!
Well, they need that extra $380K of taxpayer's hard-earned money per teacher for the Unions to donate back to Obama's and other Democrat's re-election campaigns. Why else would this program be proposed during an election year? Duh.
Don't tell me you actually believe Obama gives two shits about educating kids (besides his own in private schools), do you? An educated electorate is the very last thing Progressives in either Party want!
This is simply a Union pass-through program to funnel tax money into Democrat re-election campaigns.
Strat
Only a dyed-in-the-wool Republican would be retarded enough to say in one sentence that Obama puts corporations at the for front (sic) and in the next sentence claim that he is anti business.
Obama engages in "crony-Capitalism" where favored businesses, corporations, and individuals who support he and his agendas receive special treatment, access to power, and sweetheart deals at taxpayer's expense. It could probably best be described as a form of "soft Fascism". Just look at all the Goldman-Sachs people who hold positions of power in the Obama WH.
Obama Administration: Deputy Director, National Economic Council - Former Goldman Sachs Title: Financial Analyst
Obama Administration: Chairman, President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board - Former Goldman Sachs Title: Board Member (Chairman, 1990-94; Director, 2005-)
Obama Administration: Commissioner, Commodity Futures Trading Commission - Former Goldman Sachs Title: Partner and Co-head of Finance
Obama Administration: Undersecretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs, State Department - Former Goldman Sachs Title: Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs Group
Obama Administration: Ambassador to Germany - Former Goldman Sachs Title: Head of Goldman Sachs, Frankfurt
Obama Administration: Chief of Staff to Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geitner - Former Goldman Sachs Title: Lobbyist 2005-2008; Vice President for Government Relations
Obama Administration: Advisor to Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geitner - Former Goldman Sachs Title: President and Chief Operating Officer (1999-2003)
Republican or Democrat, this should make you disgusted and angry.
Strat
(I suspect the Founders did not envision the massive career Congress we have now).
The Founders and framers of the Constitution were most vehemently against the idea of career politicians. They envisioned the Citizen-Statesman, who would sacrifice time away from their main jobs/careers/businesses, to briefly serve and represent their fellow citizens, and then return to their civilian lives.
The career political animals that inhabit Washington D.C. these days would horrify them.
They also envisioned that government would, as governments tend to do, grow and expand in size, power, and scope, and that citizens would need to rise up in armed revolt every few decades and hang some politicians.
We're frankly long, long overdue for some public hangings in D.C. according to those who founded this nation. The Progressives and Democrats of today who think simply reducing the rate of growth of some little government program is some kind of atrocity would be horrified at the Founders vision for government downsizing, which began at the end of a gallows's rope and at the point of civilian cannon, musket, & sword. They didn't screw around, and they took their politics with deadly seriousness.
Strat
Erm, democracy and republic aren't two mutually exclusive things. A republic is, put simply, little more than a nation where there is no monarch. It doesn't stop it being a democracy.
The US is a specific type of republic, a "representative republic", which, very briefly, is where citizens, divided into regional sovereign states, vote to elect representatives to protect and promote their interests, values, and views in the governance of their community, state, and nation.
You're quite correct that, up until very recently, far too few citizens had anything like a decent understanding of our government structure and the reasons why it was designed the way it was at it's founding.
However, I am cautiously optimistic and encouraged by the fact that the recent rapid and profound changes being made are causing more and more citizens to notice and begin to educate themselves and get involved, particularly as these changes are, and are increasingly going to, significantly change the conditions and type of society under which we live.
Strat
I'm going to get modded down, but I frankly don't give a damn.
It's watermelons all the way down.
Green on the outside, red on the inside.
All the proposed "solutions" to AGW basically boil down to "You 1st-world Western Capitalist nations are to blame for all the pollution, give us your wealth and cripple your industries and economies!", all the while completely ignoring most of the world's most populous and polluting nations and regions like China, India, etc, meaning that any reductions in the West will come to exactly diddly in actually having any meaningful effect on climate.
It doesn't really even matter whether AGW theories are correct or not. Until India, China, et al play ball (which they currently have no intentions whatsoever of doing), anything done in the West is simply a foot-gun contest.
Redistributing wealth won't reduce any claimed "warming". It just furthers anti-Western, anti-Capitalist ideologies and agendas.
Strat
Ah, I see the Democrat/Obama campaign astroturfing spin-control shills are out in force modding down "inconvenient truths".
And they say there aren't any jobs out there!
Strat
You can choose what you buy, can't you? The other countries are free to choose, if they want to produce stuff that damages the environment, they can sell it to anyone else.
Oh, so we should just outsource our negative externalities to other places with those brown/yellow-skinned people living in poverty?
How very cosmopolitan of you.
That's the way comrade! No compromise, no retreat! Gaia must be cleansed of this evil technology and industry! Hunter-gatherer society, FTW!
You're on the drugs, aren't you?
Strat
Perhaps if businesses were held accountable for the the full lifetime of their products, they would innovate more environmentally friendly products, or at least products that could be dismantled and recycled easier.
Or they could decide, after comparing risk/reward and cost/benefit, that investing in research, development, and manufacturing of tech products just isn't worth it, sell off their factories and assets, and go into making shoelaces or something instead, or simply stick their capital in offshore accounts and collect interest.
Congratulations! You've just killed the tech industry and crippled the entire species' technological development.
Unintended consequences are a bitch
Or do you prefer everyone live in an agrarian society? Hunter-gatherer, perhaps, if those nasty farms pollute too much and/or cows produce too much CO2?
Strat
So, what will they do when visual prosthesis becomes more common, will we hear phrases like "we don't serve your kinmd in here! Get lost Po!
Well, that's what C3PO was told at the cantina on Tatooine. :P
I could see the day when augmented people need a civil rights movement to protect them from arbitrary discrimination.
Strat
I can't believe it's cheaper to dig millions of tons of rock to extract metals and other shit than it is to recycle our trash.
The problem in the US is that complying with the myriad environmental regulations, which were passed to protect the environment, makes the cost of dealing with all the toxic compounds that are produced and/or freed during the process of a high-yield-percentage recycling program, especially for electronics, exceed what they can recover.
Unintended consequences are a bitch.
Strat
Why not try to create a better informed electorate? One which understands that software patents deter competition and stifle innovation.
What does it matter how informed and clued-in the electorate is if the politicians won't listen?
Don't get me wrong. I fully support efforts to inform and involve more people in the process. First, however, one must have a government that will respond and be accountable to the electorate. Career politicians have the time to form networks of cronies in and out of government to secure their positions and power, and to insulate themselves from public accountability.
As far as the new politicians, if they lie about their intentions and/or behave badly they must be voted out. There's no "Pre-Crime" that can determine this ahead of time. The electorate can only try to vet candidates as well as possible, and kick them to the curb if they prove untrustworthy.
The only course we can take to truly protect ourselves against government corruption is to limit the amount of power and wealth they control, and the amount of time they have to abuse it. Nobody is going to try to bribe/influence a politician to get government subsidies, for example, if said politician/government hasn't the power or wealth to provide such subsidies.
This in turn will be a disincentive to those contributing/spending large amounts of campaign and lobbying money, since their returns on their "investment" will be greatly reduced or eliminated. The framers of the Constitution knew this, and deliberately hamstrung the central government for precisely these reasons.
The more power and wealth government controls, the more money it's worth spending to those seeking influence. The reverse is also true, which is the point.
Strat
Just because one is paranoid does not mean that nobody is out to get you. Paranoia is a logical reaction when somebody or something *is* out to get you. Considering that the natural progression of government is to expand in size, scope, and power while individual liberty shrinks, OP's reaction is not unreasonable.
"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel." - Patrick Henry
"The Price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilance." - Thomas Jefferson
"The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases." - Thomas Jefferson
"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." - John Adams
I would rather err on the side of caution.
Strat
You've wasted time in your life that you'll never get back... "Hopefully soon to be" is not "is"... try speaking to the current congressperson...
You mean continue talking to the guys that routinely ignore their constituents, lie to us in the face of obvious factual contradictions, and only listen to those throwing hookers, bags of cash, and coke at them?
That's worked so well so far, hasn't it?
The definition of insanity comes to mind.
Toss all incumbents out. Demand term limits. Eliminate career politicians.
Strat
No.
The *concept* communicated by that saying is a valid one, even if the actual "froggy-facts" don't support it's literal meaning in the real world. It has become part of the culture and popular language usage.
Deal.
Strat
They may not have known that it didn't permanently record. They just saw a camera affixed to the guy's face and acted.
No.
They saw a prosthetic device affixed to the guy's face.
Because they feared what they did not understand simply because of it's appearance, and in addition, despite documentation he carried for this purpose they assaulted him.
I don't know how much clearer this can be made that they feared him because of his appearance with prosthesis.
Strat
As far as I could tell from the admittedly-scant information the /. story and linked article provided about Mann's implants & digital vision augmentations, it seems they were not designed, nor had as a normal function, the ability to photograph/video-record on command. The pictures of Mann's attackers were said to have resulted from the attacker's damaging the system resulting in the images being frozen in buffers.
If McDonalds or any other business that deals directly with the public in such a manner has a problem with the possible capabilities of such prosthesis, then they need to post high-visibility signage at the entrances stating that those with electronic-based prosthesis are not welcome on the premises.
Assault & battery is not an acceptable response in any civilized society. Then again, the French have never been in danger of being accused of being overly-civil to Americans visiting France. It's one of the main reasons I as a blues musician have turned down opportunities to do tours in France, despite the love the French have for American blues music.
Strat
Personally I blame the eventual end of Iceland's anarchy on the fact that it was a capitalist anarchy rather than a collectivist one.
If it's truly anarchy, then there is no collectivism or capitalism, except perhaps among small groups of individuals. Both capitalism and collectivism require a structure, which is anathema in anarchy.
Besides, collectivism (socialism/communism/fascism) has killed many tens of millions (Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Hitler, Mussolini). Collectivism in the real world that means everyone, except those in power, share an equal amount of misery.
Capitalism is abominable, horrible, and outcomes for individuals vary widely. However, it's still the best system ever devised for empowering the individual person and allowing them the most personal liberty and freedom possible.
>Capitalism is the only system ever created where wealth is a renewable resource for everyone as long as they are willing to work and/or come up with an idea, skill, invention, or service thatâ(TM)s valuable to someone else.
>Capitalism has raised more people from poverty and raised more people to higher standards of living than any other system ever created.
>Capitalism has allowed more people to live in more freedom than any other system ever invented.
>Capitalism has allowed the US to provide more humanitarian assistance to those in need around the world than any other system or country in history, usually more than all the other countries and organizations combined for any particular example.
May I suggest reading up a bit on history from first-sources.
Oh, and "socialist-libertarianism"? Hello, Captain Oxymoron. There's no such thing except in the fevered dreams of ivory-tower academics and armchair ideological experts, and would fall victim to many of the same quirks of basic human nature that causes and has caused socialism and other forms of collectivism to fail. Collectivist strategies only work in relatively small groups and/or groups with unique cultural and social attitudes and thinking.
Strat
Just noticed this reply.
And at the risk of going off-topic, you might want to read this article. TLDR: turns out Darrell Issa outright lied about the most important details of Fast and Furious.
TFA says that a "Fortune" magazine investigation says that they, the "Fortune" journalists, not any impartial authority, don't think the sales were illegal or unusual. No evidence presented. Just opinion. Seeing the slant most of their reporting has taken, I'd sooner believe Bernie Madoff when he claims innocence.
Executive privilege protects members of the executive branch from certain actions from members of the legislative and judicial branches.
It protects members of the Executive branch and their consultants and advisors. Seeing as Obama has seen fit to stuff the WH full with Goldman-Sachs people in a merry-go-'round between GS and the WH, many of whom are the exact same people involved in the economic mess, that makes it quite plausible that Obama could well declare EP over damaging documents and testimony concerning these shenanigans if the investigation gets close to the WH, even if it might be likely to be overruled by some judicial body. That takes time, as they will delay and stonewall. Meanwhile, the delays and stonewalling keeps Obama & Company safe till after the election.
I didn't like that executive privilege had been invoked 25 times since Reagan: three times by Reagan, one time by the first President George H.W. Bush, 14 times by President Clinton, six times by George W. Bush then, and I don't like it now when used by Obama.
You're blindly-partisan attitude and blinkered thinking are two of the biggest reasons the US is in the state it's in today.
Strat
And it's way too convenient that Goldman was representing a competitor (Nuance) at the same time.
Goldman was negligent and possibly also double-dealing.
Goldman's only hope here is to get out on a standing issue. If Goldman actually has to go to trial on this, they're screwed. A jury will crucify them. And rightfully so.
My wild guess? This settles before trial for a couple hundred million.
Nah.
Obama will simply declare "Executive Privilege", like he did to cover for himself and Holder, and GS execs will walk away.
How and why? Well, because GS are the Obama WH Executive Advisors.
Obama Administration: Deputy Director, National Economic Council
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Financial Analyst
Obama Administration: Chairman, PresidentÃ(TM)s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Board Member (Chairman, 1990-94; Director, 2005-)
Obama Administration: Commissioner, Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Partner and Co-head of Finance
Obama Administration: Undersecretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs, State Department
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs Group
Obama Administration: Ambassador to Germany
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Head of Goldman Sachs, Frankfurt
Obama Administration: Chief of Staff to Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geitner
Former Goldman Sachs Title: Lobbyist 2005-2008; Vice President for Government Relations
Obama Administration: Advisor to Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geitner
Former Goldman Sachs Title: President and Chief Operating Officer (1999-2003)
Strat
Would you prefer that nobody leaked anything and that the faulty medical imaging devices were released to hospitals?
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Yes.
Litigiously,
-United States Trial Lawyers Association
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Strat
Modded "Flamebait"?
I'm shocked!
I didn't know there was that much hatred and animosity towards Big Wheels on Slashdot! Are Big Wheels a "tool of the 1% to disenfranchise the 99%" or something?
Strat
I've never driven a go-kart with a skin like that though. Then again, I'm an adult, and I probably wouldn't fit in it. Too bad their whole spec sheet is an image. I'd like to run it through a translator to see how pathetic the rest is.
Any volunteers who read Japanese who can translate it?
Yes, of course.
Basically, it says; "If Solyndra can get $500M for smoke & mirrors, we'll all be able to retire to Tahiti with more money than Bill Gates after Obama's DoE/EPA makes this the only vehicle legally allowed to be sold in the US!"
I'm sorry to say, however, that the 24-hr cable news daytime staple filler of car chases will become very boring. Especially when a 6-yo on his Big Wheel performs the PIT maneuver to stop the fleeing criminals.
HTH
Strat
i'm not a paranoid schizophrenic, but we are talking about an amazing fantastic control device for locking our behavior into that of perfect little worker bees. maybe not even in overt ways, ie, somebody with an agenda: i'm talking in subtle, unpurposeful ways only visible by analyzing the overall effects of overlapping algorithms
super creepy dystopian thoughts here
You mean we could evolve into something like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yBnl_krN_U
Strat