The Washington Post is a business. Part of big business is to down-play the publicly perceived value of your competition, the editors and writers both know this. They also know that Wiki doesn't mail you a check for expressing your eloquent opinions. While it would be nice if mass media was based on giving unbiased information to a well informed public, that ideal has been quite eroded in the last 25 years. Read all about it. http://www.consortiumnews.com/2000/032000a.html
"freely available public knowledge, without the cruft."- why would The Washington Post which makes it's money and reputation on charging for the distribution of knowledge, ever endorse that?
It's no suprise that a government run educational system is mediocre at best, the same with a government run welfare system and many other poorly executed good ideas. Thomas Paine in "Common Sense" points out:
"... have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas not only are they different, but have different origins. Society is porduced by our wants, and Government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. One encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last is a punisher."
The government is not the right tool for creating educational or other institutions that are the proper role of Society. "Vouchers, vouchers, vouchers" is just a recognition that some things are better done by the benevolent private sector.
Given all that we have been asked to give up in the name of security, the fact that this isn't free shows once again that Homeland Security is about money and power, not the well being of the citizens. Yes there is some private sector company involved, but if Homeland Security pays for it, then it should be a study done for the sake of, maybe National Security. And if that is the case then it should be distributed for free. More likely the case, that company is receiveing a return on a political favor (campain contributions)
I agree that we need our troops to be diplomats in our future "peace keeping actions". The deeper root of the problem is this idea that we can come in from the outside and "nation build". Maybe if the people of nation as for our help in a civil war, we can go in, bomb some stuff and have a new society built up how we want. But helping where help is not wanted seems the fastest road to being hated for being arrogant condescending.
Yes. Going to the moon is next on the list of fun things to do. List of Fun Things to Do. by:GWB 1. War! 2. Have one friend shoot another friend in the face. 3. Send someone to the moon.
So all this oil and coal we are burning didn't come from biomass? You are right if we turn around and burn the stuff, but if we put it back in the ground from where we got the fossil fuels and we put back the same tonnage of carbon as we pull out (difficult I know), then wouldn't the atmospheric carbon levels stay the same?
Some one mod parent up. If Kyoto added a bound carbon/biomass incentive, farmers everywhere could sell ghg emissions. Just back fill all the old strip mines with plant matter.
"Sorry, this boogeyman is real. Human nature being what it is, we need to protect voters from both bribery and extortion, or we have no hope of obtaining honest results."
You are quite correct. If officials had to bribe large numbers of everyday citizens, it would be difficult to hide, were as currently they only have to bribe one or two voting machine company CEOs. No, I'm not being obtuse. Get rid of the electorial college to eliminate "key states" and useless votes and you would have to bribe 1,250,000 people to get 1% of the vote swayed. That many folks can't keep a secret.
"You obviously just made it into THE country (U.S.A.) recently (illegally, no doubt). " Nope. Sorry, I was born in a US Navy hospital, and grew up with the other officers kids. Some of the more impressive US shows of military might (a returning carrier fleet, recommissioning the USS Iowa, etc) were commonplace in my youth. I know plenty about how the US military machine works. "By having more powerful nukes, we can effectively destroy any country (or planet) that decides to use, threatens to use, or test a significantly weaker nuke." That's why we are Team America: World Police.
The US has a long history of owning nukes and a short history of actually using them on an enemy; twice now, in the same war To flip the coin: The US is the only country to ever nuke another country. 100% of all nukes used in war were used by the USA. We also have the largest stock pile of chemical weapons in the world, and the biggest biological arsenel in the world. Oh, and in the last 20 years our military has fired shots on more foreign soil than any other military . How exactly are we the ones that everyone is supposed to trust blindly?
Not everyone is solely interested in power. You're right, people not soley interested in power get jobs. The ones interested in power become politicians.
"the UK is small and insignificant compared to the US." That right there is why Dubya thinks he can tell Tony how to run the UK. Have some national pride and start thinking like a sovereign nation. As an American I can tell you most of us won't do anything about global warming until DisneyLand sinks. I'm looking forward to it.
"Freedom and "good place" do not necessarily coincide." As much as we love the idea of Democracy, there are alot of good arguments for a Benevolent Monarchy as the best form of government. The practicle problem seems to be the benevolent part.
I'm bored of the old Democracy/Republic debate here on/. Why don't we address the term: Representative. Maybe if society had a person on the ballot that was actually representative of the people, the actual values and interestes of the people would be protected. We usually have the wealthy elite on the ballot, guess who's interests are protected?
Great, does this mean we can cover the already flat, already ugly roofs of most commercial buildings with them? Can attractive "solar shingles" be made with them? Can them make up for less efficency with wide scale adaptablity/adoptiblity?
At least we know that he was arrested and charged, not undergoing extraordinary-rendition. Sadly without the prior publicity stating his intent, this may not have been the case.
Slashdot Mirror
so /. can now have a " -1 Kill on Sight" mod? sweet.
The Washington Post is a business. Part of big business is to down-play the publicly perceived value of your competition, the editors and writers both know this. They also know that Wiki doesn't mail you a check for expressing your eloquent opinions. While it would be nice if mass media was based on giving unbiased information to a well informed public, that ideal has been quite eroded in the last 25 years. Read all about it. http://www.consortiumnews.com/2000/032000a.html
"freely available public knowledge, without the cruft."- why would The Washington Post which makes it's money and reputation on charging for the distribution of knowledge, ever endorse that?
The government is not the right tool for creating educational or other institutions that are the proper role of Society. "Vouchers, vouchers, vouchers" is just a recognition that some things are better done by the benevolent private sector.
Can I download it on bittorrent yet?
Given all that we have been asked to give up in the name of security, the fact that this isn't free shows once again that Homeland Security is about money and power, not the well being of the citizens. Yes there is some private sector company involved, but if Homeland Security pays for it, then it should be a study done for the sake of, maybe National Security. And if that is the case then it should be distributed for free. More likely the case, that company is receiveing a return on a political favor (campain contributions)
I agree that we need our troops to be diplomats in our future "peace keeping actions". The deeper root of the problem is this idea that we can come in from the outside and "nation build". Maybe if the people of nation as for our help in a civil war, we can go in, bomb some stuff and have a new society built up how we want. But helping where help is not wanted seems the fastest road to being hated for being arrogant condescending.
Yes. Going to the moon is next on the list of fun things to do.
List of Fun Things to Do. by:GWB
1. War!
2. Have one friend shoot another friend in the face.
3. Send someone to the moon.
"When biomass dies, it either rots or is burnt."
So all this oil and coal we are burning didn't come from biomass? You are right if we turn around and burn the stuff, but if we put it back in the ground from where we got the fossil fuels and we put back the same tonnage of carbon as we pull out (difficult I know), then wouldn't the atmospheric carbon levels stay the same?
Some one mod parent up. If Kyoto added a bound carbon/biomass incentive, farmers everywhere could sell ghg emissions. Just back fill all the old strip mines with plant matter.
"cunning linguists
That's disgusting."
Actually, if done well, it's quite pleasant for all involved.
"Sorry, this boogeyman is real. Human nature being what it is, we need to protect voters from both bribery and extortion, or we have no hope of obtaining honest results."
You are quite correct. If officials had to bribe large numbers of everyday citizens, it would be difficult to hide, were as currently they only have to bribe one or two voting machine company CEOs. No, I'm not being obtuse. Get rid of the electorial college to eliminate "key states" and useless votes and you would have to bribe 1,250,000 people to get 1% of the vote swayed. That many folks can't keep a secret.
"The people" aren't really qualified to make that decision."
Yes, This would seem to be Diebold's official stand on choosing Government officials.
"You obviously just made it into THE country (U.S.A.) recently (illegally, no doubt). "
Nope. Sorry, I was born in a US Navy hospital, and grew up with the other officers kids. Some of the more impressive US shows of military might (a returning carrier fleet, recommissioning the USS Iowa, etc) were commonplace in my youth. I know plenty about how the US military machine works.
"By having more powerful nukes, we can effectively destroy any country (or planet) that decides to use, threatens to use, or test a significantly weaker nuke."
That's why we are Team America: World Police.
The US has a long history of owning nukes and a short history of actually using them on an enemy; twice now, in the same war
To flip the coin: The US is the only country to ever nuke another country. 100% of all nukes used in war were used by the USA. We also have the largest stock pile of chemical weapons in the world, and the biggest biological arsenel in the world. Oh, and in the last 20 years our military has fired shots on more foreign soil than any other military . How exactly are we the ones that everyone is supposed to trust blindly?
North Korea returns to the table, we (Team America) make even more powerful nukes. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2006/10/19/AR2006101901863.html Why do we need even more powerful weapons that we never want to use? How is doing this going to encourage any other country to disarm?
Not everyone is solely interested in power.
You're right, people not soley interested in power get jobs. The ones interested in power become politicians.
"the UK is small and insignificant compared to the US." That right there is why Dubya thinks he can tell Tony how to run the UK. Have some national pride and start thinking like a sovereign nation. As an American I can tell you most of us won't do anything about global warming until DisneyLand sinks. I'm looking forward to it.
"Freedom and "good place" do not necessarily coincide."
As much as we love the idea of Democracy, there are alot of good arguments for a Benevolent Monarchy as the best form of government. The practicle problem seems to be the benevolent part.
I'm bored of the old Democracy/Republic debate here on /. Why don't we address the term: Representative. Maybe if society had a person on the ballot that was actually representative of the people, the actual values and interestes of the people would be protected. We usually have the wealthy elite on the ballot, guess who's interests are protected?
I think it was a comparisson to America males of today with American males of the past. I wonder if the Age of BabyBoomers has any effect on this?
Great, does this mean we can cover the already flat, already ugly roofs of most commercial buildings with them? Can attractive "solar shingles" be made with them? Can them make up for less efficency with wide scale adaptablity/adoptiblity?
Think less of standoffs with the cops and more like 100 hunting rifles on 100 grassy knolls. Fight the people in power, not their stooges.
At least we know that he was arrested and charged, not undergoing extraordinary-rendition. Sadly without the prior publicity stating his intent, this may not have been the case.
Cops shoot citizens all the time.