It functions as an insurance policy against a runaway government just ignoring the constitution and doing whatever it pleases to the population: The population CAN fight back
From where I sit, it looks like your government has been runaway for quite some time and is running further away with each election. It sure looks like it ignores the constitution and does whatever it pleases to the population. Yet the population doesn't fight back.
If your Wife has some huge issue with you talking to your Ex-girlfriend, there are probably other underlying things.
New wives can often feel insecure in the presence of old ex-girlfriends.
After my wife-to-be met a female friend of mine, she seriously tried to sever the ties between us. It took her several years to admit to me that she was afraid I would leave her for that friend (quote: "I felt like you had a lot more in common with her than with me") and for me to convince her that we really were "just friends". They're on good terms now but it took time.
Communication should be open, like this: "Oo, she has a nice ass" [girlfriend turns] "yeah, you're right"
Relationships are funny things, they grow and evolve with time. My wife knows now that no matter how much I ogle the menu and work up my appetite, I'm still dining at home.
We still have "communications" like the above, but they usually go like this (rough English translation): "Oo, she has a nice ass" [wife turns] "Meh, mine's better"
Three people that were against it before they tried it do not a convincing argument make.
That's three people that argued waterboarding was not torture and changed their minds pretty quickly after they experienced it. Also note the law enforcement officer in one of the clips saying that the average person can endure it for 14 seconds.
As I said, plenty of people in the military are required to undergo this treatment. I think the problem is that you and other people are so far removed from real torture these days, you don't even understand the concept.
No, the problem is that you have no idea don't understand the concept. Torture is not what you see in the movies. Torture is simply finding the limits of your tolerance and bringing you to -- and beyond -- that point repeatedly until you break and will do anything to make it stop. Every person is susceptible to some leverage, be it physical, emotional, psychological, financial or otherwise. Every person has a limit to their tolerance. Find the right combination, apply it -- that's torture.
Your argument about the military is bogus. They undergo it once, under controlled conditions, knowing that it will stop when they push the panic button or, at worst, at the end of the exercise. When I was in the military (not the US one), I was required to spend some time in a room with CS gas. IIRC, I did it three times. It was not a fun experience, but it was not "torture" because I knew that it was "safe". However, having experienced the effects of CS gas on the human body firsthand, I can use it as a torture device. All I need to do is to convey three simple points to you: that I will not stop upping the intensity until you give me what I want, that I will stop once I verified to my satisfaction that I got what I want from you, and that, while I prefer to keep you whole (for my own purposes), I don't really mind permanently damaging you in the process. Perhaps even killing you, but not right away, since it would give you a way out.
Torture is mostly psychological -- it's not the tool, it's how you apply it. And what makes waterboarding so effective a tool is the millions of years natural selection had to produce drowning-averse humans. Trust me, you'll do anything to prevent asphyxiation (otherwise, you'd be an evolutionary dead end).
Back to the clips. Notice how the demonstrations stopped the moment the subjects pushed their respective "panic buttons"? Notice the repeated instructions about code words and suchlike? That is what separates it from "real" torture. The military exercises are similar in the respect that those who undergo them know they are safe.
Now, I noticed that you avoided the subject of trying it yourself. I do urge you to do so, it is quite illuminating. To get the maximum effect, hold out the longest possible time and, after it is over but while the experience is still fresh in your mind, contemplate how would you feel if the person administering it would have continued for 20 seconds after you indicated you wanted them to stop.
So yeah, I'd be willing to be waterboarded. And like all techniques meant to momentarily weaken your resolve rather than actually hurt you, no I don't consider it torture.
Signing a petition is very much like grabbing a sign and picketing. On the flip side it is similar to casting a ballot. I don't know which side to agree with on this one.
Here's a solution for you, have three kinds of petitions: One in which the signatures will be a public record -- no privacy. One in which the authenticity of the signatures cannot be verified -- will likely be ignored. One will be registered with a trusted independent 3rd party (e.g., a notary) -- bothersome.
My personal opinion is that a petition should be independently verifiable as to its validity (to make sure there is no petition stuffing going on), and the only way to do that is to make signatory information available to those independent verifiers - and anyone should be able to be an independent verifier.
Just make the petitioning process similar to voting. Every petition should have two checkboxes: [_] FOR, and [_] AGAINST (or AGREE and DISAGREE, etc.) The identity of the signer should be verified, their choice should not. Also the total FOR, AGAINST and invalid "votes" should be available.
A telling sign is the turnover of these people is markedly low.
That, in my opinion, is the best indicator, as it aggregates the employee satisfaction and the management approach. When I interviewed for the company I currently work for, I found several employees on LinkedIn and contacted them with questions. Turned out that the turnover was practically zero (discounting emigration and retirement).
Free speech means you can say unpopular things, things that disagree with the "establishment", things that are inflammatory, things that are downright disgusting (in some segment of the populations opinion)..
Free speech does not mean you can copy things either privately or for profit..
Free speech means that you can sing "Happy Birthday To You" in a restaurant.
Of course. Dividing the year into 25 months instead of the customary 12 is very convenient. That way we can still claim that we have 3 full months of summer.
Slashdot Mirror
From where I sit, it looks like your government has been runaway for quite some time and is running further away with each election. It sure looks like it ignores the constitution and does whatever it pleases to the population. Yet the population doesn't fight back.
If the bell curves intersect, it is quite plausible.
However, would you claim that, on the average, high school dropouts are smarter than people with multiple Masters degrees?
Alternative: vanity license plate.
New wives can often feel insecure in the presence of old ex-girlfriends.
After my wife-to-be met a female friend of mine, she seriously tried to sever the ties between us. It took her several years to admit to me that she was afraid I would leave her for that friend (quote: "I felt like you had a lot more in common with her than with me") and for me to convince her that we really were "just friends". They're on good terms now but it took time.
Relationships are funny things, they grow and evolve with time. My wife knows now that no matter how much I ogle the menu and work up my appetite, I'm still dining at home.
We still have "communications" like the above, but they usually go like this (rough English translation):
"Oo, she has a nice ass"
[wife turns]
"Meh, mine's better"
That's three people that argued waterboarding was not torture and changed their minds pretty quickly after they experienced it. Also note the law enforcement officer in one of the clips saying that the average person can endure it for 14 seconds.
No, the problem is that you have no idea don't understand the concept. Torture is not what you see in the movies. Torture is simply finding the limits of your tolerance and bringing you to -- and beyond -- that point repeatedly until you break and will do anything to make it stop. Every person is susceptible to some leverage, be it physical, emotional, psychological, financial or otherwise. Every person has a limit to their tolerance. Find the right combination, apply it -- that's torture.
Your argument about the military is bogus. They undergo it once, under controlled conditions, knowing that it will stop when they push the panic button or, at worst, at the end of the exercise.
When I was in the military (not the US one), I was required to spend some time in a room with CS gas. IIRC, I did it three times. It was not a fun experience, but it was not "torture" because I knew that it was "safe". However, having experienced the effects of CS gas on the human body firsthand, I can use it as a torture device. All I need to do is to convey three simple points to you: that I will not stop upping the intensity until you give me what I want, that I will stop once I verified to my satisfaction that I got what I want from you, and that, while I prefer to keep you whole (for my own purposes), I don't really mind permanently damaging you in the process. Perhaps even killing you, but not right away, since it would give you a way out.
Torture is mostly psychological -- it's not the tool, it's how you apply it. And what makes waterboarding so effective a tool is the millions of years natural selection had to produce drowning-averse humans. Trust me, you'll do anything to prevent asphyxiation (otherwise, you'd be an evolutionary dead end).
Back to the clips. Notice how the demonstrations stopped the moment the subjects pushed their respective "panic buttons"? Notice the repeated instructions about code words and suchlike? That is what separates it from "real" torture.
The military exercises are similar in the respect that those who undergo them know they are safe.
Now, I noticed that you avoided the subject of trying it yourself. I do urge you to do so, it is quite illuminating.
To get the maximum effect, hold out the longest possible time and, after it is over but while the experience is still fresh in your mind, contemplate how would you feel if the person administering it would have continued for 20 seconds after you indicated you wanted them to stop.
Because cops mostly look after their own interests?
Talk is cheap.
Arrange for a demonstration, like these guys did:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LPubUCJv58
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUkj9pjx3H0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV4a2_appig
You'll change your mind pretty quickly, like those guys did.
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on not understanding it.
-- Upton Sinclair (1878 - 1968)
Here's a solution for you, have three kinds of petitions:
One in which the signatures will be a public record -- no privacy.
One in which the authenticity of the signatures cannot be verified -- will likely be ignored.
One will be registered with a trusted independent 3rd party (e.g., a notary) -- bothersome.
TANSTAAFL.
Have you ever heard the phrase "not in the public interest" uttered by a prosecutor? Ain't selective enforcement grand?
Just make the petitioning process similar to voting.
Every petition should have two checkboxes: [_] FOR, and [_] AGAINST (or AGREE and DISAGREE, etc.)
The identity of the signer should be verified, their choice should not.
Also the total FOR, AGAINST and invalid "votes" should be available.
1. AFAIK, paid vacation does not include overtime either.
2. In a normal country, he'd be chilling his ass in a holding cell.
Thank you.
It is reported that he was "suspended with pay", the equivalent of getting an extra paid vacation time.
It makes me sick.
And they act surprised that people have absolutely zero trust in the system.
Source, please.
You are forgetting the best SF show ever to get canceled.
I believe that IP laws affect. Unless you are a lawsuit, that is.
Can't seem to find it on my map.
That, in my opinion, is the best indicator, as it aggregates the employee satisfaction and the management approach. When I interviewed for the company I currently work for, I found several employees on LinkedIn and contacted them with questions. Turned out that the turnover was practically zero (discounting emigration and retirement).
Free speech means that you can sing "Happy Birthday To You" in a restaurant.
Pray tell what is the size of a soul?
"Anybody disagreeing with me simply hasn't done the research or is evil."
and
"My religion is Life and Objective Reality."
Priceless!
You really should educate yourself on what "democracy" and "constitutional monarchy" mean. The terms are orthogonal.
When will people understand that the "new boss" has always been, and always will be the same as the "old boss"?
No evidence of souls have ever been found in zygotes.
Of course.
Dividing the year into 25 months instead of the customary 12 is very convenient.
That way we can still claim that we have 3 full months of summer.