How does everyone set their clocks without calling time?
From my cell phone, like I imagine most folks do. Heck, I hardly see anyone my age (late 20's) or younger wearing watches anymore for that same reason.
In my personal experience, government IT projects (especially social welfare systems) tend to have a higher problem rate than commercial projects due to conflicting political goals, pork-barrel spending, and faulty oversight. *shrug*
Hey, I know what you mean, having been on the receiving end of some government IT projects before. Still, I bet a lot of these problems are minimized when the government is paying for something it really wants (as opposed to something mandated by Congress or military-industrial lobbyists.)
Look real hard into the history of the mafia, then come to speak to me about centres of power. You do know what JFK's daddy did for a living, no? The army is damn-nigh inconsequential in such cases.
That's nice, but I have a hard time seeing how the assassination of the head of state counts as a revolution. In a monarchy, maybe. In this country, our military-industrial overlords just slot in the next mouthpiece.
Yea, those F-16 sure work like magic against IED's and snipers in gutters. A citizen militia on its home turf is damn nigh unbeatable
I'm not arguing that. If there was a widespread insurrection of handgun enthusiasts against the government, it would be a bloody stalemate, not a victory for the government or the revolutionaries.
It's one thing to assert that an armed populace can foil a government's operations away from its centers of power, but it's quite a step to assert that said populace can actually strip that government of power with the tools at their disposal, which is how I read the original post.
Unless, of course, they get the military to go along with them, which would take some serious violation of the Second Amendment, judging by the folks I met in the service.
You have it backwards: The incompetence is the propaganda.
Well, we did manage to elect a party for six years, campaigning on the premise that the government is too incompetent to do anything, so they have good reason to believe the propaganda works.
P. J. O'Rourke:
The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it.
Hey mods: how, exactly, is this comment "insightful?" All it does is parrot standard/. groupthink ("Everything the government ever does sucks and doesn't work") without taking into consideration the fact that one of the highest-paying users of contract labor just might be able to afford top-notch engineers when they really care about results.
I mean, it's not surprising that they keep fucking up somethings, but surveillance of American citizens? Sadly, that's something I trust my government to do quite well.
If you read as far as page 3 of TFA, it does. The companies in question would leave themselves wide open to suit otherwise:
Randy Cadenhead, the privacy counsel for Cox Communications, which offers VOIP phone service and internet access, says the FBI has no independent access to his company's switches.
"Nothing ever gets connected or disconnected until I say so, based upon a court order in our hands," Cadenhead says. "We run the interception process off of my desk, and we track them coming in. We give instructions to relevant field people who allow for interconnection and to make verbal connections with technical representatives at the FBI."
I was under the impression that law enforcement had to present a judge with probable cause before somebody could be wiretapped in the USA.
Still do, at least according to TFA:
Randy Cadenhead, the privacy counsel for Cox Communications, which offers VOIP phone service and internet access, says the FBI has no independent access to his company's switches.
"Nothing ever gets connected or disconnected until I say so, based upon a court order in our hands," Cadenhead says. "We run the interception process off of my desk, and we track them coming in. We give instructions to relevant field people who allow for interconnection and to make verbal connections with technical representatives at the FBI."
The article is very well-sourced by FOIA docs and interviews with at least one of the companies in question. Do you have a particular reason to find this unbelievable, or are you taking the classic/.ism "Every single thing the government does sucks and doesn't work" too closely to heart?
So, what you are saying is that, it is perfectly fine to point a finger at another country's human rights violations (etc.) while one's own country's records are dubious at best?
Oh, and I wanted to address this piece of illogic, sense I'm seeing it crop up from other PRC apologists in different threads. The answer is: Yes, as long as you also point the finger at your own country when it fucks up along the same lines. Which I do. A lot. One of the nice things about living in the U.S. is that we don't imprison dissidents until they explicitly threaten or commit violence, no matter howpopulartheymay or may not be.
God, what is it with all you PRC apologists with high UID#s on/. recently?
Get a clue: people have opinions about things they read from all over the world, and most of the people reading this article probably think the U.S. is fucked up as well. So what? Should we not have opinions about things other than the U.S.? First I hear we're too insular, now I'm hearing we're too informed?
Oh, and, by the way: you're going to have a hard time selling a moral equivalency between the U.S. and China in a story where the Chinese government is trying to forcibly alter the religious beliefs of a dissident minority group. We used to do that over here too, but we got over it.
The bottom line is, if there are similar problems at home, why not strive to fix them before trying to meddle in another country's "internal affairs"?
I'm not, and I wish you and this other guy would get that point. I'm saying that American companies can be held fiscally responsible in America for their actions overseas. I'm sorry if some people are having a hard time understanding this and reading far too much into my posts.
You truly believe America is the shining bastion of human rights?
No, but your assumption that I do is really quite cute, as is your assumption that I watch Fox News.
Sucks to be the guy, but he could just have easily reported on the traffic or butterflies along the Mekong instead.
And somehow I have the daft worldview. The fact that the U.S. government is shitty doesn't make the Chinese government any less so, nor does it make your apologetics on their behalf any less ridiculous. Judging by your posts in this thread, you appear to believe that everyone else commenting on this issue is somehow ignorant of reality in the PRC, even though you know nothing about their personal or family connections to that country. In my case, you're selling your bullshit to the wrong guy.
The United States has an expectation that its companies will not collaborate with totalitarian regimes, and even though its government may not be proactive in maintaining this expectation, people certainly have the right to seek damages from U.S. companies who violate this. The fact that you seem to think the Chinese government does not abuse political prisoners, as well as your ability to gloss over the political imprisonment of a reporter over free speech issues as "some guy screwing up and saying the wrong things," shows that you don't have any credibility on this issue, so I'll just burn some Karma by telling you to fuck off and stick to flaming people who will swallow your ignorant bullshit.
The survival of our urban population absolutly depends on the modern agribusiness model.
Tragic, I know. Industrial agribusiness as practiced in the 20th century has created a large population whose food supply is utterly dependent on oil prices, requires rapid technological innovation to come up with new ways to tease productivity from degraded soil, and is greatly composed of nutritionally inferior food. Such has generally been the lot of urban populations in the past (except for the oil issue), but never to the present degree. Of course, we can probably keep it going as long as the economy holds together, but we're setting ourselves up for a serious hurtin' if another depression blows through.
Hey, if I had all the answers to the food supply issues of the 21st century, I'd have a PhD and tenure faster than I can hit the "Submit" button.
For subjective reasons, just like anyone who considers broadband a necessity.
You say that now, but was that the feeling only a short few hunderd years ago when electification was first started?
The U.S. Rural Electrification Act of 1936 was widely demanded by people in rural areas. Rural broadband is not yet at the same point of demand. The people who are making noise about it are a vocal minority, having generally moved from more populated areas.
Perhaps one day, demand will be high enough that we'll see a Rural Broadband Development Act. But in this thread I've been talking about the conditions in my experience of the present, not some hypothetical future, and right now I just don't see enough rural demand for broadband.
Slashdot Mirror
From my cell phone, like I imagine most folks do. Heck, I hardly see anyone my age (late 20's) or younger wearing watches anymore for that same reason.
Oh, he did get that one? I thought the situation was more like this.
Hey, I know what you mean, having been on the receiving end of some government IT projects before. Still, I bet a lot of these problems are minimized when the government is paying for something it really wants (as opposed to something mandated by Congress or military-industrial lobbyists.)
That's nice, but I have a hard time seeing how the assassination of the head of state counts as a revolution. In a monarchy, maybe. In this country, our military-industrial overlords just slot in the next mouthpiece.
Really?
Really?
Really?
Squawk!
I love how AC's set an impossibly low standard of reading comprehension just so they can try to feel better about themselves by ranting at strawmen.
No, you didn't. Back to Digg with you.
I'm not arguing that. If there was a widespread insurrection of handgun enthusiasts against the government, it would be a bloody stalemate, not a victory for the government or the revolutionaries.
It's one thing to assert that an armed populace can foil a government's operations away from its centers of power, but it's quite a step to assert that said populace can actually strip that government of power with the tools at their disposal, which is how I read the original post.
Unless, of course, they get the military to go along with them, which would take some serious violation of the Second Amendment, judging by the folks I met in the service.
Hasn't been that difficult before, and I can't see why it would be now.
Well, we did manage to elect a party for six years, campaigning on the premise that the government is too incompetent to do anything, so they have good reason to believe the propaganda works.
P. J. O'Rourke:
Hey mods: how, exactly, is this comment "insightful?" All it does is parrot standard /. groupthink ("Everything the government ever does sucks and doesn't work") without taking into consideration the fact that one of the highest-paying users of contract labor just might be able to afford top-notch engineers when they really care about results.
I mean, it's not surprising that they keep fucking up some things, but surveillance of American citizens? Sadly, that's something I trust my government to do quite well.
Still do, at least according to TFA:
The article is very well-sourced by FOIA docs and interviews with at least one of the companies in question. Do you have a particular reason to find this unbelievable, or are you taking the classic /.ism "Every single thing the government does sucks and doesn't work" too closely to heart?
What a great functionality to build into America's communications systems. I'm sure that with the vigilant efforts of our brave corporate defenders of freedom, our proactive government security experts, and our craven enablers of fascism, nothing will ever lead to this ability being abused.
Oh, and I wanted to address this piece of illogic, sense I'm seeing it crop up from other PRC apologists in different threads. The answer is: Yes, as long as you also point the finger at your own country when it fucks up along the same lines. Which I do. A lot. One of the nice things about living in the U.S. is that we don't imprison dissidents until they explicitly threaten or commit violence, no matter how popular they may or may not be.
Got it. Oil. Where are you going with this?
If you think we're actually over there to spread "Western values," you're buying the same line that's been sold to America's right wing.
God, what is it with all you PRC apologists with high UID#s on /. recently?
Get a clue: people have opinions about things they read from all over the world, and most of the people reading this article probably think the U.S. is fucked up as well. So what? Should we not have opinions about things other than the U.S.? First I hear we're too insular, now I'm hearing we're too informed?
Oh, and, by the way: you're going to have a hard time selling a moral equivalency between the U.S. and China in a story where the Chinese government is trying to forcibly alter the religious beliefs of a dissident minority group. We used to do that over here too, but we got over it.
And somehow I have the daft worldview. The fact that the U.S. government is shitty doesn't make the Chinese government any less so, nor does it make your apologetics on their behalf any less ridiculous. Judging by your posts in this thread, you appear to believe that everyone else commenting on this issue is somehow ignorant of reality in the PRC, even though you know nothing about their personal or family connections to that country. In my case, you're selling your bullshit to the wrong guy.
The United States has an expectation that its companies will not collaborate with totalitarian regimes, and even though its government may not be proactive in maintaining this expectation, people certainly have the right to seek damages from U.S. companies who violate this. The fact that you seem to think the Chinese government does not abuse political prisoners, as well as your ability to gloss over the political imprisonment of a reporter over free speech issues as "some guy screwing up and saying the wrong things," shows that you don't have any credibility on this issue, so I'll just burn some Karma by telling you to fuck off and stick to flaming people who will swallow your ignorant bullshit.
Tragic, I know. Industrial agribusiness as practiced in the 20th century has created a large population whose food supply is utterly dependent on oil prices, requires rapid technological innovation to come up with new ways to tease productivity from degraded soil, and is greatly composed of nutritionally inferior food. Such has generally been the lot of urban populations in the past (except for the oil issue), but never to the present degree. Of course, we can probably keep it going as long as the economy holds together, but we're setting ourselves up for a serious hurtin' if another depression blows through.
Hey, if I had all the answers to the food supply issues of the 21st century, I'd have a PhD and tenure faster than I can hit the "Submit" button.
I imagine that, if the issue were so clear-cut, the case would have already been thrown out of court.
You must be new here.
Thank you for your input. There's nothing I relish more than rebukes about maturity delivered by libertarians. Good night, flameboy.
For subjective reasons, just like anyone who considers broadband a necessity.
The U.S. Rural Electrification Act of 1936 was widely demanded by people in rural areas. Rural broadband is not yet at the same point of demand. The people who are making noise about it are a vocal minority, having generally moved from more populated areas.
Perhaps one day, demand will be high enough that we'll see a Rural Broadband Development Act. But in this thread I've been talking about the conditions in my experience of the present, not some hypothetical future, and right now I just don't see enough rural demand for broadband.