You say that like you think that's not exactly what the US wants?
All the cyber contractors have been itching for it for ages. The lobbyists are simply going to going to start to get a return on their investment.
Cha ching!
Yeah, it's all about job security for a bunch of government contractors.
It couldn't possibly be to prevent Iran from detonating the first working nuke they can patch together in Jerusalem and setting off a horrible, and *nuclear*, conflict with millions dead, and plunge the world into chaos & war.
Nah.
Couldn't possibly be that. Even though Ahma-Nutjob has repeatedly and sincerely publicly promised to do just that.
When do we start taking our enemy's repeatedly stated and plainly spoken basic intentions at face value? The world tends, for some strange reason, to want to ignore plain statements and intentions from such people and regimes. Germany was ignored in the 1930s as well.
It feels almost like the 1930s again. Anti-Semitism is on the rise worldwide again, just as then. Jews are being portrayed as the evil behind all the world's woes again, just as then.
History repeats itself. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like too many people are intelligent enough, or have been taught enough history, to see that the evil & hatred we had once defeated is rising again. Or they naively hope to benefit politically from the hatred, and so go all-in supporting it.
There IS NO SOFTWARE SOLUTION that will keep your kids safe on the 'net.
Period.
You'll simply have a *very* false sense of security, a hole in your time/budget, and kids that learn first that you're not very smart, and second, that the game to play is "find ways around limitations my parents set for me". That, and they'll also quickly learn all about "two girls, one cup", "lemonparty", and probably "goatse" as well.
Either be around when they're using the 'net, or turn the damn thing *off*, and tell them to do something else. It's really not that hard.
Sure, you won't be "cool". You might not be your kid's "friend" any more, at least for a while. They might even tell you "I HATE you!!".
Suck it up. YOU are the adult here. YOU set rules & limits. You're supposed to be a parent, not their buddy. Your job isn't being "cool". Your job is doing "parent" things, like make unpopular decisions that they may not understand for years yet, if ever.
Try setting rules that they're not to go online without a parent around. Take a crucial cable with you, or lock it up, when you're not there. Put the computer in the family/living room.
You have to decide whether the time you spend doing things other than supervise your children's 'net use is more important than they are. Software can't do it. It's just there to salve your conscience with illusion, and make money from your guilt.
Because the alternative is MUCH WORSE. Yes, let's get back to the system and methods used to utterly destroy the US and World Economies, and turned the US from possibly the most admired and greatest nation in the world to the almost universally-hated Pariah it is today.
They have DESTROYED AMERICA as we knew it. Keep up the good work! The rest of the world isn't quite bankrupt yet.
I agree that both choices suck. Both Romney and Obama are Progressives, though Romney is not anywhere near as hardcore a kool-ade-drinking Progressive as Obama.
Progressives in BOTH parties are indeed destroying the US. This has been going on since Woodrow Wilson, who reinstated segregation in the Civil Service after years of integration
"In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson ordered the segregation of the federal Civil Service.[12] White and black people would sometimes be required to eat separately, go to separate schools, use separate public toilets, park benches, train, buses, and water fountains, etc. In some locales, in addition to segregated seating, it could be forbidden for stores or restaurants to serve different races under the same roof."
It's Progressives, by definition, that wish to ignore/bypass/render irrelevant the US Constitution and eventually install a ruling intellectual elite. They don't believe people are capable of, nor should they be allowed to, rule themselves. It's right in the name; "Progressive", as in to "progress" past the Constitution and the limits it imposes on government power, and replace the rule of law deriving from the Constitution with the law of men, or in other words, rule by whatever those in power want to order at the time.
Obama's bypassing of Congress is a prime current example, a prime past example was FDR's threat to pack the SCOTUS unless they caved and reversed their original rulings throwing out large parts of the New Deal as unconstitutional. The two times in US history that ethnic groups were rounded up and placed in internment camps, the orders came from Progressive US Presidents.
Representations about the sort of split artists have with "middle men" are casually fraudulent [wordpress.com] and slanted pro-Free Content propaganda.
Yeah, sure. "Pro-Free Content propaganda" my ass.
The link below is a more accurate description of how the "music biz" works as it relates to artists and their relationship with the labels.
BTW, I'm a semi-pro musician myself and I also hope the labels and distributors go belly-up. So do the signed artists I work & perform with regularly. The only signed artists that care about people sharing music are the very few at the top that are being marketed hard by the labels and have sold out (Metallica, I'm looking at YOU), or are in a weak position with their label and cave to pressure to join the anti-sharing propaganda machine.
Disabling the fast-forward function on a DVR would likely spark a backlash from subscribers, and make it more difficult for Time Warner Cable to compete with DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV), Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and other multichannel providers that distribute DVRs that allow subscribers to skip commercials.
So... You're ROCKSTAR PR department lets THIS part slip but... I'm lost.
You're lost because the other shoe hasn't dropped yet.
What do you bet that, after a time, a way will be found to have the government enforce it's inclusion in any DVR produced or distributed domestically or imported into the US? After the next round of spectrum auctions or the ones after that kills OTA TV, that's it. Game over. At least for most folks.
They've learned to do this crap in steps so as not to boil the frog too quickly, and alarm it into escaping the pot.
Schumer and all his Progressive pals in both parties think that they are above/beyond the limits set by the Constitution on their power.
That's the whole concept of Progressivism. That the Constitution is old, outdated, unnecessary, too hard to amend, and a hindrance to government doing what it wants.
When they talk about "fundamental change" that's what they mean. A government no longer limited by the Constitution.
We didn't carpet-bomb Iraq or Afghanistan with H-bombs and turn them into glass parking lots for Disney-Middle-East, nor did we drop enough nerve gas to float a cruise ship across in either country.
The Second Amendment codifies the Right to Keep and Bear Arms to embed the capability for revolution in US society, which was founded by revolution. Those who would take your weapons would make you slaves.
Totally agree, and yes, I was aware of that bill Chucky & friends (fiends?) are pushing that you linked to, but thanks. Proud gun owner and NRA lifetime member here.
The more people that know the kind of freedom-destroying POS that Schumer is, the better. That's a large part of the reason for my posting that he should be swinging from the end of a rope instead of holding a position of power.
Yet another mealy-mouthed, two-faced, lying, dinosaur of a career politician that should be swinging from the end of a rope instead of being in a position of government power.
A Google drone might spot a greenhouse in my backyard and target horticultural product ads at me. The horror!
A government drone might spot the same greenhouse and target a SWAT raid on me. Or a Hellfire missile.
If Chucky and his TLA buddies can fly a drone over me, I should be able to fly a drone over Chucky & friends.
Maybe an open-source drone project for civilians to counter the governments domestic drone spying with their own spy drones? I bet a few civilian drones buzzing over these politician's own homes and offices would get some attention.
And if the government decides to severely restrict civilian drone use while giving free reign to TLA/LEO drones, maybe my experience with designing military missile & torpedo guidance/targeting systems could find civilian counter-applications.
I think I can count the number of times I've gotten paid to play in public on one hand.
Like almost any other line of employment, you have to work at it, network heavily, and do what it takes to land a gig. After a few gigs to establish that you're a viable and worthwhile artist/band, you can then approach booking agents about getting on their artist/venue booking rotation. Nobody is going to seek you out to give you money. The competition is enormous.
Bottom line on making money from live performances is that, if you're a reasonably-talented musician/band that wants to play paying gigs, you play as many paying gigs as you're willing, able, and talented enough to play, considering the "willing" part includes doing the footwork necessary to land the jobs.
But I guess it's different in that I started the game knowing a) I could record my own music and b) that I was never going to become a millionaire this way.
One shouldn't have any delusions of grandeur. Extremely few musicians/bands will make more money than they could for the same number of hours working at a convenience store. That doesn't even count time spent at personal practice and band rehearsals. Most will spend more on their instruments/equipment than they will ever make from playing bars & clubs.
I play blues. If I were to set out to choose the genre of music I was least likely to make money at, I couldn't have picked better. I play blues because that's what I feel and play best. I don't do it just for the money. The money is simply a means to keep playing. And CDs/recordings are just another means of promoting what you do: Performing music for an audience.
"lock-step": When Rush Limbaugh's fans take pride in being called "ditto heads," what does that tell you?
Well, that depends on the observer's point of view. People who wish to denigrate and dismiss that group's point of view would have all sorts of unflattering interpretations. Those without an agenda much less so. Those without an agenda might even think it may be turning a label placed on them by ideological opponents into a badge of honor.
Is it a NTS though if the alleged fallacy-rebuttal is in fact part of the definition of something? If by definition fear of change truly is contrary to the genuine nature of capitalism then it is not a fallacy to genuinely assault the legitimacy of claiming the title "capitalist" applies.
You can use logic & reason and arrive at this conclusion.
I can use logic & reason and arrive at this conclusion.
"...most U.S. students struggle with the reasoning skills needed to investigate multiple variables, make strategic decisions, and explain experimental results."
Which, sadly, reduces the odds in favor of those in the largest/. demographic getting that far along in the critical-thinking process. The discussion from that point typically degenerates and becomes pointless to continue, as those replying are incapable (or unwilling at that point) of following the reasoning & logic.
As TFA states, very few artists make any money from touring and live performances.
If TFA does say that, then it and you are flat-out wrong.
Most artists/bands make the majority of their money from music in playing bars/clubs/festivals/etc for pay. The only ones that make any real money at all from recordings are the tiny, tiny percentage of artists/bands that sign with a big label, *and* happen to be the "flavor du jour" being pushed by that label. Even many signed touring acts make more money from performances and merch sales than the recording sales.
Here's an excellent, though depressing, piece on how things work for bands/artists with labels.
Venue owners believe they are doing the musician a favour by letting them play in their venue. Now go explain how to make a living off that mentality?
I think you're the one guilty of making ignorant statements.
I'm a semi-pro musician. Although the pay rates haven't been great, every bar/club/venue I know of that has live music pays to book bands/musicians to perform. Unless it's a "coffee house" type thing where anyone can just get up and perform.
I and many of my fellow not-signed-with-a-big-label musicians/bands give away recordings (CDs and free downloads). We live in the reality of today where recordings are only promotional tools, not an end product themselves.
[Congratulations] After billions of dollars we have produced an education system churning out children that cannot think for themselves.
It's working precisely as designed.
Churning out young Liberal/Progressives who are taught what to think, not how to think, and leaving them without critical thinking abilities is a feature, not a bug, as far as government is concerned.
If it's any consolation, they *did* learn something...how to sing "Mmm-mmm-mmm...Barack Hussein Obama...".
> If it has stopped moving, subsidize it through sweetheart government deals, loans, and giveaways that benefit your campaign contributors while eliminating competition from small players, erecting barriers to entry, and screwing over any private people/entities that had already invested unless it's a labor union...they automatically go to the front of the line of the taxpayer-funded gravy train.
"new rules to measure Internet traffic along national borders and bill the originator of the traffic, as with international phone calls."
Wow, what a great idea for continuing to oppress people. This way I won't share my wonderful ideas with people in their countries. I'll just setup a filter so they can't access my content. They lose and will stay back in the dark ages. How about we also build a brick wall around them?
Empires and totalitarian regimes have always had a fondness for walls.
Great Wall
Berlin Wall
And, coming soon thanks to a UN bureaucracy near you if these people get their way:
And please, let's not bring out that tired "shouting 'fire!' in a crowded theater" thing in this thread. That's been rehashed to death on/. and elsewhere. This is about political speech.
Strat
So, like... shouting "fire" at a crowded political rally...?
Well, with the possible exception of an OWS rally/protest.
They'd just trample you trying to light joints & crack pipes. Buying disposable lighters supports the Capitalist oppressors!
How do you fight this with truth? Truth may set you free, but it will not get you elected. People don't want to hear about difficult decisions and hard labor. They want ponies.
You keep repeating the truth. Shout it from the figurative rooftops. Show your reasoning and evidence. The truth will set all of us free. If it didn't, there wouldn't be such intense, and even violent and illegal, efforts to silence those who speak out.
Don't lose hope. Get motivated. People will surprise you. Tides are turning, and people are waking up. Shit is getting serious and affecting Joe Sixpack, his job, his family, and his lifestyle...and that's getting his attention. Talk to your friends, coworkers, family. Pester them to register and to vote. Sitting on one's hands and bemoaning the situation only guarantees things get worse.
It used to be the case in this area that driving around with a TEA Party bumper sticker got you cursed at and fists shaken at you, even got your car "keyed" in parking lots. These days? People honk, smile, & wave. People see your TEA Party sticker in a parking lot, wait for you to return to your vehicle, and invite you to coffee (actually happened to me). This is in Michigan, too, of all places, headquarters for the auto unions and historically heavily Liberal/Progressive. People have had a now-3rd-world-Detroit, with other MI cities close on their heels, and the auto bailouts, failed stimulus, and Obamacare, give them a rude awakening.
I hear you on the "informed & educated voter" topic, and agree to a great extent. However, I think (hope) that people today have an advantage that will mitigate these factors; the internet.
The ability to inform and educate oneself, and be able to do it rapidly, is something that's never existed before as it does now. This has to play a role. How much is unknown. But, it gives hope along with the other general changes among people I've observed of late.
Similarly, Communists in 1917 Russia used their free speech (not really a right, but they had it anyway) to kill tens of millions in 20th century. A certain other person, let he remain unmentioned here, used his right of free speech (which he did have) to construct one of evilest empires in history of the planet. (Pol Pot is nervously smoking in the corner.)
Inverse it is, yes.
It's not those you've mentioned whose power of free speech is the active vector here.
It is the elimination/suppression of other speech that is the evil part, and enables further evil.
The answer to speech you dislike/disagree with is always *more* speech (voice your views as well), not less (suppressing/silencing opposing voices/opinions), in any society that could reasonably be called "free".
The US is falling into this abyss as well as the UK, under an ever-expanding government. To my "scoring", the UK is ahead in blatant, "in your face" public domestic surveillance, but the US is far ahead in covert domestic surveillance.
And please, let's not bring out that tired "shouting 'fire!' in a crowded theater" thing in this thread. That's been rehashed to death on/. and elsewhere. This is about political speech.
The U.S. was founded on the notion of decentralized and localized government with a mostly powerless point of union called the Federal Government;
Yeah, that was done by the Articles of Confederation [wikipedia.org]. The first federal government of the USA. It was an abysmal failure. The US constitution had a much stronger central federal government and worked a lot better.
I believe he meant the US Constitution, not the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution is exactly that...a blueprint for a weak, mostly powerless central government, with most power devolving to the States and the People.
Jesus, I guess the OP was partially right, we really have forgotten our history.
Indeed. You should pick up a copy of "Common Sense" by T. Paine (or one of the better modern-wording reprints).
really, they're not disarming you - they're just making you a little more responsible for your actions. It really doesn't matter if your guns have your name and address stamped on them, you still get to have guns and you still get to shoot whoever you want - only now, you're less likely to be able to shoot anyone and walk away thinking no-one will know you did it. If your shooting someone was above-board, you'd be hanging around to explain why you did it anyway. So what's the fuss about?
If I'm shooting someone criminally, like an ex-wife, I simply plan to use one of my revolvers, or police my brass/use a brass-catcher. Gangsters, drug cartels, etc won't care, as they mostly use stolen guns anyway. This is not about catching lawbreakers.
This is about making it more difficult and expensive to both manufacture and own a personal firearm, and to cause those with legacy firearms to eventually be forced to either register or dispose of them, as well as to assemble a list of gun owners and the weapons they own to facilitate eventual confiscation.
As was said in the movie "The Outlaw Josey Wales": "There's another old saying, Senator. Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining."
I've come to see over the decades that most who desire strong central government and central planning are ill-equipped for critical thinking. Or are part of a minority ideological segment that desires radical political change towards a more socialist/communist/fascist government.
Usually both.
I'll leave the possible correlations/causations for another post.
Slashdot Mirror
You say that like you think that's not exactly what the US wants?
All the cyber contractors have been itching for it for ages. The lobbyists are simply going to going to start to get a return on their investment.
Cha ching!
Yeah, it's all about job security for a bunch of government contractors.
It couldn't possibly be to prevent Iran from detonating the first working nuke they can patch together in Jerusalem and setting off a horrible, and *nuclear*, conflict with millions dead, and plunge the world into chaos & war.
Nah.
Couldn't possibly be that. Even though Ahma-Nutjob has repeatedly and sincerely publicly promised to do just that.
When do we start taking our enemy's repeatedly stated and plainly spoken basic intentions at face value? The world tends, for some strange reason, to want to ignore plain statements and intentions from such people and regimes. Germany was ignored in the 1930s as well.
It feels almost like the 1930s again. Anti-Semitism is on the rise worldwide again, just as then. Jews are being portrayed as the evil behind all the world's woes again, just as then.
History repeats itself. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like too many people are intelligent enough, or have been taught enough history, to see that the evil & hatred we had once defeated is rising again. Or they naively hope to benefit politically from the hatred, and so go all-in supporting it.
Strat
There IS NO SOFTWARE SOLUTION that will keep your kids safe on the 'net.
Period.
You'll simply have a *very* false sense of security, a hole in your time/budget, and kids that learn first that you're not very smart, and second, that the game to play is "find ways around limitations my parents set for me". That, and they'll also quickly learn all about "two girls, one cup", "lemonparty", and probably "goatse" as well.
Either be around when they're using the 'net, or turn the damn thing *off*, and tell them to do something else. It's really not that hard.
Sure, you won't be "cool". You might not be your kid's "friend" any more, at least for a while. They might even tell you "I HATE you!!".
Suck it up. YOU are the adult here. YOU set rules & limits. You're supposed to be a parent, not their buddy. Your job isn't being "cool". Your job is doing "parent" things, like make unpopular decisions that they may not understand for years yet, if ever.
Try setting rules that they're not to go online without a parent around. Take a crucial cable with you, or lock it up, when you're not there. Put the computer in the family/living room.
You have to decide whether the time you spend doing things other than supervise your children's 'net use is more important than they are. Software can't do it. It's just there to salve your conscience with illusion, and make money from your guilt.
This isn't rocket surgery.
Strat
Because the alternative is MUCH WORSE. Yes, let's get back to the system and methods used to utterly destroy the US and World Economies, and turned the US from possibly the most admired and greatest nation in the world to the almost universally-hated Pariah it is today.
They have DESTROYED AMERICA as we knew it. Keep up the good work! The rest of the world isn't quite bankrupt yet.
I agree that both choices suck. Both Romney and Obama are Progressives, though Romney is not anywhere near as hardcore a kool-ade-drinking Progressive as Obama.
Progressives in BOTH parties are indeed destroying the US. This has been going on since Woodrow Wilson, who reinstated segregation in the Civil Service after years of integration
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_segregation_in_the_United_States
"In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson ordered the segregation of the federal Civil Service.[12] White and black people would sometimes be required to eat separately, go to separate schools, use separate public toilets, park benches, train, buses, and water fountains, etc. In some locales, in addition to segregated seating, it could be forbidden for stores or restaurants to serve different races under the same roof."
It's Progressives, by definition, that wish to ignore/bypass/render irrelevant the US Constitution and eventually install a ruling intellectual elite. They don't believe people are capable of, nor should they be allowed to, rule themselves. It's right in the name; "Progressive", as in to "progress" past the Constitution and the limits it imposes on government power, and replace the rule of law deriving from the Constitution with the law of men, or in other words, rule by whatever those in power want to order at the time.
Obama's bypassing of Congress is a prime current example, a prime past example was FDR's threat to pack the SCOTUS unless they caved and reversed their original rulings throwing out large parts of the New Deal as unconstitutional. The two times in US history that ethnic groups were rounded up and placed in internment camps, the orders came from Progressive US Presidents.
Strat
Representations about the sort of split artists have with "middle men" are casually fraudulent [wordpress.com] and slanted pro-Free Content propaganda.
Yeah, sure. "Pro-Free Content propaganda" my ass.
The link below is a more accurate description of how the "music biz" works as it relates to artists and their relationship with the labels.
http://www.negativland.com/news/?page_id=17
BTW, I'm a semi-pro musician myself and I also hope the labels and distributors go belly-up. So do the signed artists I work & perform with regularly. The only signed artists that care about people sharing music are the very few at the top that are being marketed hard by the labels and have sold out (Metallica, I'm looking at YOU), or are in a weak position with their label and cave to pressure to join the anti-sharing propaganda machine.
Strat
Disabling the fast-forward function on a DVR would likely spark a backlash from subscribers, and make it more difficult for Time Warner Cable to compete with DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV), Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and other multichannel providers that distribute DVRs that allow subscribers to skip commercials.
So... You're ROCKSTAR PR department lets THIS part slip but... I'm lost.
You're lost because the other shoe hasn't dropped yet.
What do you bet that, after a time, a way will be found to have the government enforce it's inclusion in any DVR produced or distributed domestically or imported into the US? After the next round of spectrum auctions or the ones after that kills OTA TV, that's it. Game over. At least for most folks.
They've learned to do this crap in steps so as not to boil the frog too quickly, and alarm it into escaping the pot.
Strat
He [Schumer] isn't above the constitution.
Schumer and all his Progressive pals in both parties think that they are above/beyond the limits set by the Constitution on their power.
That's the whole concept of Progressivism. That the Constitution is old, outdated, unnecessary, too hard to amend, and a hindrance to government doing what it wants.
When they talk about "fundamental change" that's what they mean. A government no longer limited by the Constitution.
Not on MY watch!
Strat
Hey, whaddya want?
We didn't carpet-bomb Iraq or Afghanistan with H-bombs and turn them into glass parking lots for Disney-Middle-East, nor did we drop enough nerve gas to float a cruise ship across in either country.
Sheesh!
You just can't make some people happy.
No matter how much napalm you use!
Strat
"If Chucky and his TLA buddies can fly a drone over me, I should be able to fly a drone over Chucky & friends."
He also wants to disarm you since he clearly knows best how to run a society.
http://www.nraila.org/legislation/federal-legislation/2011/3/schumer-bill-includes-steps-toward-fede.aspx [nraila.org]
The Second Amendment codifies the Right to Keep and Bear Arms to embed the capability for revolution in US society, which was founded by revolution. Those who would take your weapons would make you slaves.
Totally agree, and yes, I was aware of that bill Chucky & friends (fiends?) are pushing that you linked to, but thanks. Proud gun owner and NRA lifetime member here.
The more people that know the kind of freedom-destroying POS that Schumer is, the better. That's a large part of the reason for my posting that he should be swinging from the end of a rope instead of holding a position of power.
Death to tyrants. Sic semper tyrannis.
Strat
You first, Chucky!
Yet another mealy-mouthed, two-faced, lying, dinosaur of a career politician that should be swinging from the end of a rope instead of being in a position of government power.
A Google drone might spot a greenhouse in my backyard and target horticultural product ads at me. The horror!
A government drone might spot the same greenhouse and target a SWAT raid on me. Or a Hellfire missile.
If Chucky and his TLA buddies can fly a drone over me, I should be able to fly a drone over Chucky & friends.
Maybe an open-source drone project for civilians to counter the governments domestic drone spying with their own spy drones? I bet a few civilian drones buzzing over these politician's own homes and offices would get some attention.
And if the government decides to severely restrict civilian drone use while giving free reign to TLA/LEO drones, maybe my experience with designing military missile & torpedo guidance/targeting systems could find civilian counter-applications.
Strat
I think I can count the number of times I've gotten paid to play in public on one hand.
Like almost any other line of employment, you have to work at it, network heavily, and do what it takes to land a gig. After a few gigs to establish that you're a viable and worthwhile artist/band, you can then approach booking agents about getting on their artist/venue booking rotation. Nobody is going to seek you out to give you money. The competition is enormous.
Bottom line on making money from live performances is that, if you're a reasonably-talented musician/band that wants to play paying gigs, you play as many paying gigs as you're willing, able, and talented enough to play, considering the "willing" part includes doing the footwork necessary to land the jobs.
But I guess it's different in that I started the game knowing a) I could record my own music and b) that I was never going to become a millionaire this way.
One shouldn't have any delusions of grandeur. Extremely few musicians/bands will make more money than they could for the same number of hours working at a convenience store. That doesn't even count time spent at personal practice and band rehearsals. Most will spend more on their instruments/equipment than they will ever make from playing bars & clubs.
I play blues. If I were to set out to choose the genre of music I was least likely to make money at, I couldn't have picked better. I play blues because that's what I feel and play best. I don't do it just for the money. The money is simply a means to keep playing. And CDs/recordings are just another means of promoting what you do: Performing music for an audience.
Strat
"lock-step": When Rush Limbaugh's fans take pride in being called "ditto heads," what does that tell you?
Well, that depends on the observer's point of view. People who wish to denigrate and dismiss that group's point of view would have all sorts of unflattering interpretations. Those without an agenda much less so. Those without an agenda might even think it may be turning a label placed on them by ideological opponents into a badge of honor.
What's your point?
Strat
Is it a NTS though if the alleged fallacy-rebuttal is in fact part of the definition of something? If by definition fear of change truly is contrary to the genuine nature of capitalism then it is not a fallacy to genuinely assault the legitimacy of claiming the title "capitalist" applies.
You can use logic & reason and arrive at this conclusion.
I can use logic & reason and arrive at this conclusion.
However, as reported here:
http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/06/19/1742236/us-students-struggle-with-reasoning-skills
"...most U.S. students struggle with the reasoning skills needed to investigate multiple variables, make strategic decisions, and explain experimental results."
Which, sadly, reduces the odds in favor of those in the largest /. demographic getting that far along in the critical-thinking process. The discussion from that point typically degenerates and becomes pointless to continue, as those replying are incapable (or unwilling at that point) of following the reasoning & logic.
Strat
As TFA states, very few artists make any money from touring and live performances.
If TFA does say that, then it and you are flat-out wrong.
Most artists/bands make the majority of their money from music in playing bars/clubs/festivals/etc for pay. The only ones that make any real money at all from recordings are the tiny, tiny percentage of artists/bands that sign with a big label, *and* happen to be the "flavor du jour" being pushed by that label. Even many signed touring acts make more money from performances and merch sales than the recording sales.
Here's an excellent, though depressing, piece on how things work for bands/artists with labels.
http://www.negativland.com/news/?page_id=17
Strat
what an ignorant statement.
Venue owners believe they are doing the musician a favour by letting them play in their venue. Now go explain how to make a living off that mentality?
I think you're the one guilty of making ignorant statements.
I'm a semi-pro musician. Although the pay rates haven't been great, every bar/club/venue I know of that has live music pays to book bands/musicians to perform. Unless it's a "coffee house" type thing where anyone can just get up and perform.
I and many of my fellow not-signed-with-a-big-label musicians/bands give away recordings (CDs and free downloads). We live in the reality of today where recordings are only promotional tools, not an end product themselves.
Strat
[Congratulations] After billions of dollars we have produced an education system churning out children that cannot think for themselves.
It's working precisely as designed.
Churning out young Liberal/Progressives who are taught what to think, not how to think, and leaving them without critical thinking abilities is a feature, not a bug, as far as government is concerned.
If it's any consolation, they *did* learn something...how to sing "Mmm-mmm-mmm...Barack Hussein Obama...".
Strat
Leave it the fuck alone, government.
That's not how government works.
> If it moves, tax it.
> If it is still moving, regulate it.
> If it has stopped moving, subsidize it through sweetheart government deals, loans, and giveaways that benefit your campaign contributors while eliminating competition from small players, erecting barriers to entry, and screwing over any private people/entities that had already invested unless it's a labor union...they automatically go to the front of the line of the taxpayer-funded gravy train.
Strat
Empires and totalitarian regimes have always had a fondness for walls.
Great Wall
Berlin Wall
And, coming soon thanks to a UN bureaucracy near you if these people get their way:
The International Firewall
History repeats itself, indeed.
Strat
Are you a telepath able to read the minds of those who make such comments?
Everyone but you has this ability. Were you not told?
Now stop thinking about your mom that way. That's just so wrong!
Strat
Well, with the possible exception of an OWS rally/protest.
They'd just trample you trying to light joints & crack pipes. Buying disposable lighters supports the Capitalist oppressors!
Strat
ahhhh, I see we have Irony for lunch. /it tastes kind of like goldie or bronzy, except it's made out of iron.
"Ralph" from "The Simpsons":
"I like windows! They taste like "clear"!"
Strat :)
How do you fight this with truth? Truth may set you free, but it will not get you elected. People don't want to hear about difficult decisions and hard labor. They want ponies.
You keep repeating the truth. Shout it from the figurative rooftops. Show your reasoning and evidence. The truth will set all of us free. If it didn't, there wouldn't be such intense, and even violent and illegal, efforts to silence those who speak out.
Don't lose hope. Get motivated. People will surprise you. Tides are turning, and people are waking up. Shit is getting serious and affecting Joe Sixpack, his job, his family, and his lifestyle...and that's getting his attention. Talk to your friends, coworkers, family. Pester them to register and to vote. Sitting on one's hands and bemoaning the situation only guarantees things get worse.
It used to be the case in this area that driving around with a TEA Party bumper sticker got you cursed at and fists shaken at you, even got your car "keyed" in parking lots. These days? People honk, smile, & wave. People see your TEA Party sticker in a parking lot, wait for you to return to your vehicle, and invite you to coffee (actually happened to me). This is in Michigan, too, of all places, headquarters for the auto unions and historically heavily Liberal/Progressive. People have had a now-3rd-world-Detroit, with other MI cities close on their heels, and the auto bailouts, failed stimulus, and Obamacare, give them a rude awakening.
I hear you on the "informed & educated voter" topic, and agree to a great extent. However, I think (hope) that people today have an advantage that will mitigate these factors; the internet.
The ability to inform and educate oneself, and be able to do it rapidly, is something that's never existed before as it does now. This has to play a role. How much is unknown. But, it gives hope along with the other general changes among people I've observed of late.
Strat
Similarly, Communists in 1917 Russia used their free speech (not really a right, but they had it anyway) to kill tens of millions in 20th century. A certain other person, let he remain unmentioned here, used his right of free speech (which he did have) to construct one of evilest empires in history of the planet. (Pol Pot is nervously smoking in the corner.)
Inverse it is, yes.
It's not those you've mentioned whose power of free speech is the active vector here.
It is the elimination/suppression of other speech that is the evil part, and enables further evil.
The answer to speech you dislike/disagree with is always *more* speech (voice your views as well), not less (suppressing/silencing opposing voices/opinions), in any society that could reasonably be called "free".
The US is falling into this abyss as well as the UK, under an ever-expanding government. To my "scoring", the UK is ahead in blatant, "in your face" public domestic surveillance, but the US is far ahead in covert domestic surveillance.
And please, let's not bring out that tired "shouting 'fire!' in a crowded theater" thing in this thread. That's been rehashed to death on /. and elsewhere. This is about political speech.
Strat
I believe he meant the US Constitution, not the Articles of Confederation. The Constitution is exactly that...a blueprint for a weak, mostly powerless central government, with most power devolving to the States and the People.
Jesus, I guess the OP was partially right, we really have forgotten our history.
Indeed. You should pick up a copy of "Common Sense" by T. Paine (or one of the better modern-wording reprints).
Strat
really, they're not disarming you - they're just making you a little more responsible for your actions. It really doesn't matter if your guns have your name and address stamped on them, you still get to have guns and you still get to shoot whoever you want - only now, you're less likely to be able to shoot anyone and walk away thinking no-one will know you did it. If your shooting someone was above-board, you'd be hanging around to explain why you did it anyway. So what's the fuss about?
If I'm shooting someone criminally, like an ex-wife, I simply plan to use one of my revolvers, or police my brass/use a brass-catcher. Gangsters, drug cartels, etc won't care, as they mostly use stolen guns anyway. This is not about catching lawbreakers.
This is about making it more difficult and expensive to both manufacture and own a personal firearm, and to cause those with legacy firearms to eventually be forced to either register or dispose of them, as well as to assemble a list of gun owners and the weapons they own to facilitate eventual confiscation.
As was said in the movie "The Outlaw Josey Wales": "There's another old saying, Senator. Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining."
Strat
My goodness, you are ill-equipped for thought.
I've come to see over the decades that most who desire strong central government and central planning are ill-equipped for critical thinking. Or are part of a minority ideological segment that desires radical political change towards a more socialist/communist/fascist government.
Usually both.
I'll leave the possible correlations/causations for another post.
Strat