William Flew with another abortion thread

Anti-abortion billboard sends a rational message and ignites reasonable debate and haha you thought I was serious

 FTF billboard: "Every 21 minutes, our next possible leader is aborted."

Well, so is our next possible dictator.

I prefer to think of it as aborting our next "Justin Beiber". Just for the record, I'm okay with "aborting" the current one, too.

Just to be clear: each aborted fetus is a Satan worshipper.

you may be onto something. if god knows everything... then he knows which babies are going to be aborted and which are not. how then do we know that he isn't putting the evil souls on the ones that are going to be aborted? in conclusion, abortion providers may be doing god's work.

I wonder if there is any statistical analysis that shows how aborting unwanted fetuses results in a smaller criminal element in society.


If people are going to hate Sanger, go for the eugenics angle.

I accepted an invitation to talk to the women's branch of the Ku Klux Klan...In the end, through simple illustrations I believed I had accomplished my purpose. A dozen invitations to speak to similar groups were proffered. ~ Margaret Sanger

Before eugenists and others who are laboring for racial betterment can succeed, they must first clear the way for Birth Control. Like the advocates of Birth Control, the eugenists, for instance, are seeking to assist the race toward the elimination of the unfit. Both are seeking a single end but they lay emphasis upon different methods. ~ Margaret Sanger

She spoke to the KKK's women's group in New Jesery and found it to be an odd experience and did not share their racist goals. Her goal was to help all women take control of their reproductive lives and rarely turned down the opportunity to spread her vision.

When she speaks of a 'new race' and 'racial betterment' she is using the word 'race' as we use the word 'species'. This was what the word 'race' meant then and is why Darwin titled his classic On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.

Sanger was speaking of a new reality for women. A reality not riddled with pregnancy and sickly children.

Point of order: the eggs we eat, as well as acorns, aren't fertilized. They're gametes. That makes them different from embryos.

So there were all these anti abortion assholes running around Ann Arbor last weekend. I say assholes because they would run out into traffic with their giant signs, knock on windows, yell, etc.

As I come up to the State Street Theater I see one of these guys on the side of the road with paramedics working on him and some cops standing around. I ask an officer "So he get hit by traffic?". The cop, with a straight face, responds "It was a 300th trimester abortion attempt by a bus.". Turns out the idiot was so busy dancing around in traffic he failed to see the city bus headed for his ass.

Darwin was so close yet so far.

I've never understood what people hope to solve with billboards and other signs. If a woman is going to get an abortion, a sign isn't going to change her mind any more than a Christian protest at a gay pride parade is going to miraculously de-ghey someone. Frankly, I think these people do it to please themselves moreso than to make any measurable difference. 

Nah, they do it because they know there'll be news articles about it. Then they get more attention, and more like-minded fundies will send them money, so they can get yet more attention and what not.

My biggest gripe about the Pro-life folks is the entire framing of the debate, when they insist the other side is pro-abortion. I'm NOT pro-abortion. I'm definitely against it. However, I realize that it's not my body and I'm in no way in a position to be dictating what anyone else does with their womb. So I vote pro-choice, but these dickwads make it sound like people who agree with this stance are out there Falcon-punching every pregnant woman we come across.

 I don't like abortion. Anyone who actually does and would promote it is a really sick bastard. It is an option of last resort. Personally I'd rather see it used only in cases where the life of the mother is endangered (rape, incest)

Firstly, I don't think anyone "likes" abortion. "Hey, I'm bored. Me too! What do you say we go out and get pregnant and get abortions? Sweet!"

Second, I never got the "except for rape or incest" thing. If you're so concerned about the life of an unborn child, what difference does the conditions under which it was conceived make? Rape, incest, it's all the same to the baby. Be consistent.

William Flew on academic standards

ok here's (part of) the original post that Farkers discussing

Full version is here:

http://chronicle.com/article/Students-Should-Check-Their/126890/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

How could it be that graduate students delivered such appallingly poor papers and presentations? They'd gotten undergraduate degrees; why couldn't they write in sentences? Why were they devoid of originality, analytical ability, intellectual curiosity? Why were they accosting me with hostile e-mails when I pointed out unsubstantiated generalizations, hyperbolic assumptions, ungrounded polemics, sourcing omissions, and possible plagiarism?

The sad thing is, I'm not alone. Every college teacher I know is bemoaning the same kind of thing. Whether it's rude behavior, lack of intellectual rigor, or both, we are all struggling with the same frightening decline in student performance and academic standards at institutions of higher learning. A sense of entitlement now pervades the academy, excellence be damned.

Increasingly, students seem not to realize what a college degree, especially a graduate degree, tells the world about one's abilities and competence. They have no clue what is expected of them at the higher levels of academic discourse and what will be expected of them in the workplace. Having passed through a deeply flawed education system in which no one is paying attention to critical thinking and writing skills, they just want to know what they have to do to make their teachers tick the box that says "pass." After all, that's what all their other teachers have done. (Let the next guy worry about it.)

When teachers refuse to lower standards, those students seem to resort to a new code of conduct that includes acted-out rage, lack of respect, and blame.

Kids these days. Back in MY day, they had respect for their elders! We'd never....grumble grumble....zzzzzzzzz.....

Some students don't seem to understand that they are paying for the opportunity to learn from experts in various fields. They are not paying for grades, they are not paying for a degree, they are not paying to be spoon-fed. They are paying for an opportunity, and it's up to them to make use of it. As an instructor, I will do my best to supply them with the material and background they need to make good use of their opportunity. However, if they cannot or do not master the course goals I will give them a grade that indicates as much.

There are many students who seem to have an entitlement complex. There are many more who appreciate their education and joys to have in the classroom.

If only there was some sort of system, an institution if you will, that could inspire intellectual growth and curiosity.

My law school education was the first intellectually challenging experience of my life. We were held to a high standard and if you didn't like it, you failed and ultimately were kicked out.

so i'm in college (state school and community college) right now and i'd like to complain about the teachers. teachers suck. teachers have gotten progressively lazier and as a result, students are lazier. teachers don't want to grade anything anymore, so every test i take is multiple choice bubbled in on a scantron. we can't see the tests after we turn them in because the teachers want to reuse the same questions over and over again.
in both of my spanish classes last year, we were required to pay a private online company to assign, collect, and grade our homework. i refused to do it and took the 10% hit in my grade.

in my science class, i was required to buy a clicker (and pay a fee to a private company to register it for the class), which is an electronic device that we used to take quizzes. it directly uploads our grades to a website because apparently my teacher waddling her fat ass over to the other side of campus with an armful of scantrons just became too taxing.

i had a medical terminology teacher that had no lesson plan. she just stood in front of the class and read word for word from the book. and the worst part is that she couldn't even pronounce several of the words...even the easily pronouncable ones. i can't believe she gets paid for what she does.

i do get incredibly frustrated at the amount of biatching that goes on by my classmates and i will admit that we're a lazy group, but it's time for teachers to take responsibility too.

While I agree that basic skill levels have declined over the last twenty years, and many students have an inflated sense of entitlement, much of the problem seems the be the author's approach to teaching. In most cases if you are approachable and are willing to explain why you set standards, the students respond positively. If you choose to be an unapproachable autocrat, expect rebellion from the class.

I don't know so much about writing skill among recent graduates, but I do know that we get new teachers in the public school system who know absolutely NOTHING outside of their own limited area of learning.

If they are an English teacher you can talk to them about literature, but if you mention even the most commonly known things about history or science they blank out. And vice versa for the other subject areas.

What ever happened to curiosity?

As much as we make fun of each other here on Fark, I find that the discussions always contain a fairly large number of people who know what they are talking about and even more who at least know a little about the subject.

... In most cases if you are approachable and are willing to explain why you set standards, the students respond positively.

I don't doubt that is true, I would also like to confront the students with the fact that if you pass them through an easy course they will not learn anything, and ignorance will never help them.

Challenge them to learn so that they know what they are talking about.

How's your lecture format? If there's one thing that drove me nuts, it was people who did nothing but read off Powerpoint slides.

I teach art history. Most Powerpoint slides are images, a few are text that emphasizes key vocabulary words or historical events concurrent to the art. I use them as launching points for lectures, never just read them. And I agree, if you're just going to read the Powerpoint, email me the Powerpoint and I'll look at it at home in my pajamas. :)

To be fair, I think you're doing your students a grave disservice by not preparing them for the legions of idiots with MBAs and business degrees who have, as their only apparent skill, the remarkable ability to read, verbatim, every powerpoint slide in their presentation while completely ignoring any and all signs of suffering from the tortured listeners no matter how loud the anguished wails become.

It should be considered self defense to fashion a stale bagel into a shiv and cut those people's throats to make them stop.

William Flew on (subliminal) billboards

Calvin Klein billboard on East Houston and Lafayette streets (Photo/Walter Geis)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Calvin Klein is pushing the line again with one of its ads. Or maybe it isn’t.

The latest Calvin Klein billboard drawing attention from pedestrians — especially men – in the intersection of East Houston and Lafayette streets in lower Manhattan seems, to some, to include a certain sexually suggestive word.

Which word, you ask?

Well, as Ralphie put it in ‘A Christmas Story,’ it’s “THE word, the big one, the queen mother of dirty words, the F-dash-dash-dash word.”

FARK comments:

I'm curious about the kind of person who skips over the half naked lady to take exception with the possibility that a swear word is in the background.

I cannot fathom.

We call them "old church ladies" 'round these parts.


If the U.S. could only export its manufactured outrage we wouldn't have a trade deficit.

I find the woman in the ad attractive, and would like to have sex with her.

I feel strongly enough about this to post a message on the internet on the off chance that someone knows her and can introduce me to her.

Nobody tell these people about French Connection UK, okay?


Wow, that chick really puts the U in "fark", doesn't she?

William Flew on Medical Marijuana

news article

Medical marijuana dispensaries currently under fire from the IRS may have been handed a critical new weapon in their fight to stay open. The National Cancer Institute, one of the many federal agencies who make up the National Institute of Health, has ruled that marijuana does in fact have medical benefits, making it the first federal agency to do so.

The NCI has issued a statement that in clinical trials, cancer patients successfully treated nausea and vomiting, sleeplessness, pain, and loss of appetite using marijuana.  It stated that cannabis was being investigated as having not only a palliative effect on symptoms, but also a possible "direct antitumor effect".

Prohibition is good for business.

The DEA says it has no medical benefit, and DEA agents trump doctors and other scientists when it comes to determining medical benefits of drugs.

Because we all know police officers are smarter then doctors and scientists.

because as we all know, making policy decisions based on personal/petty political and ideological beliefs is MUCH better than basing policy on sound science and open/logical discussion.

The obvious problem is, if they legalize the plant with no stipulations people could just grow it in their back yard and therefore cut out the middleman, so yeah...

when in doubt, it all comes down to money.

Just imagine how much money the government could make by taxing the hell out of it. Logic knows there would be enough customers. The revenue cannabis could generate is massive.

"War on Drugs" = Costs taxpayers and government LOTS of money... needlessly.

Legalize cannabis with heavy taxation = Profits for business. Revenue for government. Giving the end use what he/she already has access too.

Plus, just because it is natural and can be grown doesn't mean everyone is going to grow it and 'cut out the middleman'. Grocery stores aren't suffering because of this fact.

how does it feel to see people finally starting to realize that we've lost the war on drugs? does it make you angry?

William Flew on Evangelical 'Clobber Scriptures'

In his new book, “Fall to Grace: A Revolution of God, Self, and Society,” the younger Bakker makes the case that Christians should reconsider their position on homosexuality. Such views may find a hearing among young evangelicals who are shifting on gay and lesbian rights. If the Christian establishment fails to recognize this shift and adjust its rhetoric, leaders may find their young congregants departing, not defending, their churches.

Mr. Bakker, who is straight and divorced, says that religious people for far too long have used selective “clobber scriptures” to condemn gays and lesbians. A closer look at the teachings of the full biblical narrative, he says, leads us away from this position. “The simple fact is that Old Testament references in Leviticus do treat homosexuality as a sin ... a capital offense even,” Bakker writes. “But before you say, ‘I told you so,’ consider this: Eating shellfish, cutting your sideburns and getting tattoos were equally prohibited by ancient religious law.”

List of actions prohibited by the bible, courtesy of RationalWiki-

Homosexuality, only applies to men- women aren't prohibited. (Leviticus 18:22)
Consuming blood, blood in meat is not exempt. (Genesis 9:4)
Performing any work on the sabbath.(Exodus 20:10)
Cooking a goat in its mother's milk.(Exodus 23:19)
Eating fat.(Leviticus 3:17)
The consumption of pork.(Leviticus 11:7-8)
Eating a fellowship offering more than three days old.(Leviticus 19:5-8)
Bestiality.(Leviticus 19:19)
Planting more than one kind of seed in a field.(Leviticus 19:19)
Wearing clothing woven of more than one kind of cloth.(Leviticus 19:19)
Cutting the hair on the sides of your head or clipping of the edges of your beard.(Leviticus 19:27)
Tattoos.(Leviticus 19:28)
Consulting a psychic or spiritualist.(Leviticus 19:31)
Being a psychic or spiritualist, punishable by death.(Leviticus 20:27)
Touching the dead carcass of a pig.(Deuteronomy 14:8)
Eating aquatic creatures lacking fins or scales.(Deuteronomy 14:9-10)
Transvestism.(Deuteronomy 22:5)
Consuming the meat of strangled animals.(Acts 15:28-29)
For women, speaking in church.(1 Corinthians 14:34-35)
If you are a slave, disobedience.(Ephesians 6:5)

Goddamn (no, really), tattoos AND cut sideburns? He's going to superhell. It's like regular hell, but in a volcano, and a flying robot carries you there.

This was emailed to me years ago, but still makes me laugh.


1. Leviticus 25:44 states that I may possess slaves, both male and female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not to Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?

3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her period of menstrual uncleanliness (Lev. 15:19-24). The problem is, how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

4. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odor for the Lord (Lev.1:9). The problem is my neighbors. They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly states that he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or should I ask the police to do it?

6. A friend of mine feels that, even though eating shellfish is an abomination (Lev. 11:10), it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this? Are there
"degrees" of abomination?

7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle-room here?

8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev. 19:27. How should they die?

9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different crops in the same field, as does his life by wearing garments made of two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them (Lev. 24:10-16)? Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family affair, like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws (Lev. 20:14)?

And from Lev. 21:

18 For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,
19 Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,
20 Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;

We have to shun people with scurvy now? People with flat noses? Any 'blemish' whatsoever? That's going to make high school rough.

It seems that the religious person's choices are:
- do asinine things because the magic book says so
- or declare god was wrong and ignore/rewrite magic book
- or, the most common choice, be a completely unethical douchbag and cherry pick the rules you want to follow while still maintaining that you are following god's word

Of course, the reasonable choice is to admit it is a book written by cavemen for cavemen which has long since outlasted any worth it once had.

William Flew on Donald Trump and Birthers

Donald Trump is serious about this birth certificate thing.


The Donald brought up the subject again yesterday with the ladies of The View, saying, "I want him to show his birth certificate"


"There is something on that birth certificate that he doesn't like," Trump said.


Trump's apparent support of so-called "birthers" didn't sit well with some of The View co-hosts.


As Whoopi Goldberg put it, "That's the biggest pile of dog mess I have heard in ages."


Fox News is promoting Donald Trump's recent call for President Obama to "show his birth certificate." Several Fox News hosts have hyped Trump's comments without noting that Obama released his certificate of live birth from the state of Hawaii when he was a candidate in 2008.


Obama Released Certificate Of Live Birth In June 2008; Experts Confirmed Validity. In June 2008, Obama's campaign made public a copy of Obama's certificate of live birth, which was published on the Internet by numerous media outlets. Many experts, including a team from FactCheck.org, reviewed the document in person and determined it was authentic. On July 27, 2009, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the Hawaii State Department of Health, certified that she had personally seen Obama's birth certificate in the original records maintained by the Hawaii government. [Los Angeles Times, 6/16/08; FactCheck.org, 8/21/08; USA Today, 7/28/09]




FARK Headline: Donald Trump is running for President as a birther, suggesting Obama will have hell toupee


The Republican primaries are going to be farking awesome.


He wouldn't stand a fart's chance in a hurricane of getting elected. He's a pompous moron.


It would be entertaining to see him at the debates though.


I asked yesterday and am going to ask in every birther thread, Is there anyone in the Republican Party who has come out and said Obama is an American Citizen without using weasel words, such as "I take him at his word". An actual declarative statement is what I want.


Sure, who better to run a bankrupt nation than a guy who's bankrupted his own company three times? He's proven he has as much financial savvy as the people running the government now.


Donald Trump is the guy who's famous for no explainable reason


Trump is famous for two reasons:
1. He was something of a real estate mogul back in the '80s
2. His hair is a bird.

Donald Trump is the man whose casinos went bankrupt THREE FARKING TIMES. 
How in the fark does a casino lose so much money that it goes bankrupt THREE FARKING TIMES?
Yeah, THAT is the kind of business expertise we need in the White House.


He doesn't want the gig. He wants free publicity for his next television show/book/attention whoring project. Just like Palin and Huck, he sees this as a way to feed his addiction to celebrityism. The last thing any of them want is the actual job of being president. People expect you to do something if you win.


When will this birther nonsense stop? Seriously, it's all so stupid. Then again, this is the US we're talking about, the place where Sarah Palin, a woman who believes dinosaurs and humans coexisted, is their idea of an ideal president.


The class war is no more. What we have now is a war between the intelligent and the stupid, with a very small faction of wealthy intelligent people switching sides and using the stupids as a means to get their ends.


"He wasn't born here!" = "I can't believe a Negro is president!"


The Republican party needs to learn that pandering to the dumb hillbillies, fundamentalists and paranoid geriatrics will only get them so far. If you spend all your time talking crazy, yeah, you're going to get all the crazy people on your side, but you completely alienate the sane, regardless of political leanings.


If the ballot was between Trump and Palin...
Isn't that a bit like having to choose between ebola and aggressive brain cancer?
...how aggressive?


Does it ever occur to anyone who believes Obama wasn't born in the U.S. that Hillary Clinton would have made sure everyone knew it when she was running against him for president?


For persons born between December 24, 1952 and November 14, 1986, a person is a U.S. citizen if all of the following are true (except if born out-of-wedlock)[7]:


1. The person's parents were married at the time of birth: check
2. One of the person's parents was a U.S. citizen when the person was born: check
3. The citizen parent lived at least ten years in the United States before the child's birth: check
4. A minimum of 5 of these 10 years in the United States were after the citizen parent's 14th birthday:check


The Republicans have alienated too large a fraction of the population, so the only hope they have each time is to whip the far right religious base up to turn out at near 100% by hyping each election as critical because of abortion/christian hegemony/racial purity, although when they get in they obviously do very little about them apart from a few headline grabbing stunts, while spending the majority of the time finding new ways to funnel government money to their backers - which is obviously very easy to do for politicians of all stripes when the political discourse is so debased, and they have managed to corrupt the media to ignore the issue of political bribery, and the judicial branch to declare it a constitutional right of a politician to be bribed.

Over the years there have been some iconic protest pics

You can't get more serious than self-immoliation, although a Buddhist monk probably believed he would reincarnate and get another chance.

At Kent State, young protesters were shot by National Guardsmen (none of whom were ever prosecuted)

And no-one knows for sure what happened to the T Square Tank Guy.

Sometimes there's unconscious humor - Just Do It?

The Westboro Baptists: giving people a whole new set of reasons to hate Christians. They are the extreme end of the religious spectrum who believe that all disasters are God punishing people for their sins. In this case, God is killing American soldiers to pay America back for tolerating homosexuals.

Feminists in Ukraine disrobe to protest various indignities. I can't help but approve. Anything that involves naked women can't be all bad. I like the idea of the  protesters who stage a nude run through the streets of Pamploma the day before the running of the bulls. After all, protest should be about getting others to consider your ideas, and if you antagonise them with violence or hostility, you're not going to make many converts to the cause.

Mind you not everyone gets the joke.

But humor gets the publicity just as much as molotov cocktails.

Your message can be hijacked

There's always someone upset about something

Record Companies Suing For a Bazillion Dollars

Judge: "You want how much from LimeWire?" Records Execs: "75 trillion dollars." Judge: "You do know that's five times the national debt, right?" 


See, if people just bought their music legally, record companies would be tens of trillions of dollars richer. These are reasonable damages that are calculated from the actual destructive effect of downloading of music.


Music pirates are the greatest threat to America that has ever been conceived of.


/potato

All of the music recorded since Edison's wax cylinders isn't worth $75T in the aggregate. Well, except for Radiohead maybe; they're awesome. And that one Zepplin album with the symbols. But all the rest of it is crap.


The thing is is that they didn't lose that much money. People mostly downloaded it because it cost them nothing. If they were forced to spend money to download it, the number of downloads would be significantly reduced. They areusing flawed logic for their equation.


i say the judge allows the award, requires the record companies to recognize the gain right away rather than if they ever actually collect, and then tax them on the income. then when they can't pay, we transfer our national debt to the record industry. ta-da, debt-free USA.


I would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Or at least download it illegally off the internet.


Serious question: Say Limewire agrees to settle for $50M. How much of that money will be awarded to the artists who lost income because of file sharing? How much will be dispersed among RIAA execs in the form of bonuses?


who the hell still uses limewire!?


I know, right? *fires up kazaa*


you both suck


/opens napster


pffft


/connect irc.undernet.org
/j #mp3passion
@find *my*song*
/ctcp fserv_bot_name my_song


Might want to also use: //mode $me +x


You're welcome


/fires up thepiratebay.org


 Blame Congress


This is Fark. We don't blame the government for anything it does. It's all the corporations' fault.


Dude, you can white knight those corporations all you want, they're still not going to sleep with you


What if I white knight the government?


They'll fark you. In fact they'll fark you no matter what you do.


I used Limewire once, and now it hurts when I urinate.


I download to sample. If I like it, I buy it. If I don't...BALEETED


People frequently claim they do this, and sure, it's reasonable that you delete stuff you don't like... but really, you expect us to believe that you download music, decide you like it, and then download it again from a legal source or purchase it elsewhere?


Yeah. I do, because if I really like the band, I want them to get some money so they can keep making music. I know the record company gets more of the money I spend than the band does, but I can't exactly pay the musicians directly for it, so this is the next best option.


/remember how the Tool album 10,000 Days got leaked in its entirety?
//yeah, I downloaded it
///then I bought it once it was officially released
////because Tool is farking awesome


programs like limewire aren't necessary anymore, most albums are on sites like megaupload, mediafire, and rapidshare. I'm surprised they haven't been sued out the ass yet.


I lost a 33 year record collection in a house fire. I had probably three thousand albums, everything from 8-tracks to vinyl to cassettes to CDs, and over five hundred singles, mostly vinyl 45s but some cassette singles.


Oh man. I am so sorry (srsly)... that HAD to hurt. I still have 300 +/- LPs, assorted 45s and hundreds of cassettes from my record store days. I've told both my kids that, should there be a fire, I'm rescuing my autographed SRV, Springsteen, Costello, white vinyl copy of the White Album and brown vinyl copy of Captain Fantastic before coming back for them.


The GDP of the entire world is only $61 trillion. These lawyers are saying that they were damaged in the amount greater than the entire world (including themselves) puts out.


What's even more absurd is the RIAA lawyers saying the entire world's GDP would be 136 trillion has it not been for the people using limewire.

Politicians will say no to the RIAA as soon as the RIAA and members of the content cartels have no more money to bribe politicians.


This is why I promote Piracy as a means of revolution. Once we knock down the content cartels then we can talk about equitable methods of paying artists. As long as the content cartels exist though, no artist has any hope of getting a fair deal.


I'm as liberal as it comes for social issues. I've never once blamed a corporation for doing whatever it can for it's bottom line. They're in the business of making money, not pleasing me. Anyone who says otherwise is delusional. I blame the government for letting corporations get away with what they do, and for basically allowing corporations to run our government. This was my argument before we allowed companies to finance elections openly. Now that Wal-Mart can finance their own candidate for president (out in the open), we're all completely farked. Our government is broken, and until we fix 2 fundamental issues, we will continue to be farked more and more. Gotta reform the election process, and also gotta make it so that only one issue is on one bill.


I kinda prefer it be out in the open, since I know they are going to do it anyway. What I would like is that it be even MORE in the open. I'd like to see the logos of the major donors on all campaign signage, memos, press releases, websites and on the representative's clothes. Like race car drivers and bicycle racers.

Why not? Soup kitchens give away food every day, and yet restaurants are still in business. Similarly, the producers often offer product at higher quality than that which is found for free. Additionally, were you aware that at one time in history, people were not paid for the music they produced? Yet musicians still existed. And they managed it without any copyright laws, too. Of course, none of that music, by people like Mozart, survives to this day. Furthermore, no one makes money today selling Mozart music since it is public domain. Oh, wait. The model doesn't work anymore. It's time to change it. Pretending otherwise is akin to forcing people to ride in horses and carriages through legal chicanery because automobile manufacturers hurt the business of carriage makers and blacksmiths. Times change, things change, and we must change with them.

Willian Flew Speed Camera Fraud

Exerpt from original article about Italian firm making money from speed camera traffic fines.


Diego Barosi, 60, the head of the Garda Segnale Srl photo enforcement firm would bid on municipal automated ticketing machine contracts against shell companies run by his co-conspirators. They would ensure that Garda ended up landing the lucrative deal.

Barosi used about fifty speed cameras, but only two of them were properly calibrated and certified. When a motorist received a citation in the mail, the serial number on the ticket would be from one of the two certified units. The camera actually used was rigged to display speeds fifteen percent higher than actual. This created a significant amount of profit as the contracts gave Barosi's firm forty percent of each ticket he was able to issue.



I STILL don't get the idea behind this. A municipality gives letters of marque to a private corporation to pirate its own citizens at will. No matter how virtuously this starts out, it's like to wind up in a Sheriff of Nottingham scenario at best, or even outright highwaymen at worst; that is just human nature. You cannot give people the ability to simply take things, without the proper oversight by a non-involved third party.

The city and state has a vested interest in it for income. A crooked system just makes them more money. The only way to make this work is have them all checked, and have the money go to some legit charity. But that's not gonna happen. The state will keep it all, and spend it on pork barrel politics, and special interest funding.