While I can appreciate your very valid point about producing results, I will add that fish rot, typically begins from the head down. Where are the VPs who fostered this environment? Don't get me wrong, but I wonder if the average developer gets the same privilege, punishment and compensation for a job poorly done (or not done at all) when compared with the people who actually drove them to become that.

Well put! In the midst of so many a big, systemic problems, we The People get so-called 'Greatest Reform since the 1930s' that really is no reform at all. It is a little bit of window dressing, a little bit of icing of 'we'll get it done in the next round' and a ton of exactly the opposite of what should be happening.

Vested interests have so much clout and so little transparency and it is astonishing the ease with which people are led away from their own interest and worse, made to turn on each other. The easy answer is that the representatives of The People are getting paid off by lobbies but I think that the problem is much worse. When there is no real incentive for them to change, why would they? Where can the People turn to? Both sides are devoid of empathy to the silent public... and the public has no control. What gives?

Suddenly the words "don't retreat, reload", "Kill him" etc. have such a heavy weight to them. What a senseless act, one cannot help but think that such vitrol and caustic rhetoric had some part to do with this heinous act. But who will bring the shock jocks, demagogues to justice? Who will take them to task and not let them hide behind "free speech" specious arguments?

Bingo! Under this so-called NN, would WikiLeaks be lawful or unlawful? I reckon, why bother with these esoteric semantics and rules if they truly want preserve NN for the public (that at worst doesn't care or at best doesn't understand/care)? It would appear that adding exclusions is harder than a blanket rule supporting freedom. If on the other hand, the are not for preserving Net Neutrality but contorting it into something else, then please FCC, at least state the rational and call it Net Neutering or whatever else.

I wish he had started prior to 1810... say in the 1400s and then shown how severe the impact of colonization was upon the countries/locales that later appear to just have begun their existence as 'rich'. It's a good visual representation but by ignoring how rich India and China were prior to Western colonization, it ignores a key part of the world's history and comes off as biased. Hope I'm not too jaded :)

"one of the researchers who helped develop the software for the scanners"

Yep, that's the guy we all want to listen to, after all, he knows best. No Rights/Privacy/Modesty/Health issue here, just move along because umm, your picture is now distorted.

Begone villian! The said 'researcher' should be replaced with a tiny shell script and then unlinked.

I think you hit the nail right on the head! When inappropriate touching becomes normalized, it will cause psychological issues to pop up. There is a definitive argument that when children are brought up in that way, that they will suffer consequences later in life.

In working with children in schools, it is very easy to see that the effects impact every child differently, though you can see some commonalities as well. Girls develop emotionally much faster than boys, so the distinction of sexual touching, even in the context of a doctor or parent is very quickly determined to be 'okay' vs. 'inappropriate'. Boys on the other hand cannot make sense of it and that leads them to regress emotionally. They clam up, become aggressive or completely docile, as if disconnected from their own bodies.

I feel this government sponsored action is wrong simply because it inflicts greater injury to it's Citizens. I would fully support a long prison sentence for the guy/girl who came up with this. Yes, yes, I know I should stop dreaming.

I am appalled by the comments Obama made - We are losing high paid jobs for low paying/low skill ones... where is the balance in that? India is being propped up to be a rival to China, yet, why not come out and say that? The problem is, India is no dummy and if the estimates in my region are any indicator, 1 Engineering Job = 3-4 local service jobs. Now all those jobs and associated multiplier jobs are in India.

In the midst of the Great Recession, I can only see someone akin to Carly "I killed HP" Fiorina brazen enough to make such a statement. That Obama made it, that he makes it in India and not in the US. Sad state of affairs out here when your elected Leader throws you under the bus.

That is precisely why my outrage is at the FTC Director. His response to this fiasco is completely outrageous. I'm generally opposed to cases where offenders 'settle' with the Government because it holds back regulation and stricter laws. In effect, corporations/people with deep pockets get away with a slap on their wrist. In this case, we did not even see that much resolve.

Yet, who is going to hold Mr. FTC Director accountable? The behavior he displays is one of complete detachment from safeguarding the ever more uninformed and (alas) apathetic public - I wish he would have given a full accounting of what was obtained and how it was deleted/purged from further exploitation.

David Vladeck, director of the FTC consumer protection bureau, said the agency will end its inquiry because Google has promised to improve its privacy practices.

Is this promise legally binding? What kind of 'improvement' can the average person expect? What if a person who wants to collect similar information just shows up in front of people's home and the offices of [insert big corporation name here] and tries the same thing. Is the Law the same? Me thinks FTC Director needs to be made accountable.

My girlfriend reported that her Car's A/C had abruptly gone dead.
Upon investigation, some rabbits/roof rats had eaten off the insulation
off wires leading to the A/C unit on the car's exposed under belly.
We initially though the vermin were out there for heat under a chilly
night but this story lends a completely new perspective.

I wonder if other species have similar propensities - Sharks and undersea cables?

If there is anger, it should be towards the Indian Government that uses excuses to mistrusts is own people and at its Draconian measures against Indians.

Blackberry has no choice in this matter, and neither does Pakistan. Easy to blame another when you want to do something wrong yourself.

Bah!

IMHO, these guys are out for a cheap thrill, a book deal and dangerous.

Check this link:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/08/22/men_banned_from_national_parks_after_vandalism/

Here's an excerpt:
"Jeff Michael Deck of Somerville, and Benjamin Douglas Herson, of Virginia Beach, Va., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Flagstaff after damaging a rare, hand-painted sign in Grand Canyon National Park.

They were sentenced to a year's probation, during which they cannot enter any national park, and were ordered to pay restitution.

Authorities said Deck and Herson, both 28, toured the United States from March to May, wiping out errors on government and private signs.

While at Desert View Watchtower on the South Rim on March 28, they were accused of using a whiteout product and a permanent marker to deface a sign that's a National Historic Landmark."

Yep. We have had a rash of people posing as plainclothes Police. They have been stopping Senior citizens and attractive women/teens by creeping up behind them, flashing red and blue lights (behind their vehicle's grill) and asking for everything from money to sexual acts and in general scaring people.

Local government/police now want people to call 911 when they are being followed by a vehicle that does not have police markings before stopping.

Ok I'll bite - What you say is assumes that there is a functioning Law Enforcement institution in the country that is trusted by the public to be fair, mostly honest and trustworthy... which there is not. Instead, there is no Law there greater than that of a weapon in one's hand and the influence of a local warlord. Whether it is due to intimidation of the Police[1] or fake police [2] or corrupt police, there exists a huge credibility gap between the average Joe and Law Enforcement.

Who knows what was going on in that guy's mind but by taking on a checkpoint he did assume a very big risk knowing that incidents like this go unaccounted and he would be dead. Consider that no one keeps count of how many Afghanis (or Iraqis) die. Sure, you could be a trigger happy Cop firing at 2 ton worth of metal coming at you... or you could be a better Cop and follow some other strategy that would inspire greater public confidence and show your professionalism... e.g., give chase and apprehend, or radio others for support.

IMHO, what we lack here is a government, transparency and it really sucks for us to be there and be the enforcers of checkpoints... Worse, when we have Marines covering up Haditha[3] then we get to be the bad guys and it only fuels rage and resentment.

This is a war that has no meaning for us... as each day goes by, it brings more insinuation and bad repute to us, empties our treasury and distracts from more pressing issues. It greatly saddens me to read stuff like this where once the Russians were seen as thugs disguised as the Great Russian Army, now we are maligned in the same way.

[1] http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104607440
[2] Sorry can't find a reference right now
[3] http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5670345
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5439816